ThePearDream's Coyote/Voyager builds (Completed Pics on Pages 7 & 10)
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:51 pm
I'm home sick today with an URTI, so this is a good time to start this build thread.
So, I've got an extra Squier VM Mustang neck laying around from an aborted Short Scale Talman project. I had it on my Jaguar for a few months while I was painting the Jag headstock. It's a real nice, chunky neck (0.89"at the first fret, 0.95" at the 12th), so I'd like to get it back on a body. I've been going back and forth on what to do with this neck for the last year. Mustang? Jaguar? Jag-stang? Something else? What kind of pickups do I want?
Finally, a month or two back, the ideas started to gel into some kind of vision. I already have a Jaguar, so didn't want to do that. I thought about a Warmoth Mustang body, but I want to make my own body - have been for 20 years now. I've been gradually increasing my skills and confidence on my last few projects, doing body repairs and modifications and I think I'm finally ready to attempt a body build. I started leaning towards a Jagstang, using templates from Faction Guitars. But what pickups to use? I don't need another guitar with a strat pickup in the neck, and I don't like humbuckers that much, especially Distortion or JB types that you'd typically see on Jagstangs and I didn't want to do the WRHB like on the Faction template.
Maybe two months back, I saw a post on here (can't find it now), where someone had done some kind of dual single coil pickups, with different magnets on each coil. I thought this was pretty interesting. I don't like humbuckers, but I do like the option of combing single coils in series. Around the same time, I was reading up on some of the pickups on vintage Yamahas, especially the SG-3. So, I combined those ideas into my plan of having dual Jaguar bridge pickups ala the SG-3, with some fancy wiring options, that the Jagstang would have room to support.
I started working on a 3D model of a dual Jaguar pickup. It took two versions to get a model that will work. I have a finished version being printed now in a nice polished plastic.
Once I was sure that my 3D model was good, I used this to create a 2d routing template that is being laser cut in mdf by Ponoko. I received my routing templates from Faction last week, so whenever my alder body blank shows up, I can start working on that. In the meantime, I'm working out a few other details. I'm looking at doing angled controls in the rhythm circuit section, in order to echo the SG-3 influence.
I'm thinking that the bridge pickups will go to the two two-way switches to do Jaguar with series mod switching, before going to a three way toggle for typical N/M/B switching. I'm also looking at a single roller pot for a bass cut control - if possible, I'm thinking I'd like it to only be active when the two bridge pickups are in series. The thought there is that I could have a good bridge "humbucker" tone pre-set when I go to series mode.
So, that's where things stand now. I'm still looking at colors, but would love some input on those - and names too.
So far for names I have JSG-3, but am open to something else.
For colors, I am limited by the rest of my collection. I don't want multiples of the same color, so I have to work with the gaps between what I own and what I already have planned. I am planning on trying out Guitar Paint Guys for the finish. I don't care about Nitro or doing a traditional Fender color on a non-traditional guitar. They have lots of really cool colors. I am planning on using a pearl pickguard with black pickups as a nod to the mustang portion of this.
Here are some options I'm considering:
Orange Firemist Metallic
Firemist Purple Metallic
Cotton Candy Metallic
Solar Gold Metallic
So, I've got an extra Squier VM Mustang neck laying around from an aborted Short Scale Talman project. I had it on my Jaguar for a few months while I was painting the Jag headstock. It's a real nice, chunky neck (0.89"at the first fret, 0.95" at the 12th), so I'd like to get it back on a body. I've been going back and forth on what to do with this neck for the last year. Mustang? Jaguar? Jag-stang? Something else? What kind of pickups do I want?
Finally, a month or two back, the ideas started to gel into some kind of vision. I already have a Jaguar, so didn't want to do that. I thought about a Warmoth Mustang body, but I want to make my own body - have been for 20 years now. I've been gradually increasing my skills and confidence on my last few projects, doing body repairs and modifications and I think I'm finally ready to attempt a body build. I started leaning towards a Jagstang, using templates from Faction Guitars. But what pickups to use? I don't need another guitar with a strat pickup in the neck, and I don't like humbuckers that much, especially Distortion or JB types that you'd typically see on Jagstangs and I didn't want to do the WRHB like on the Faction template.
Maybe two months back, I saw a post on here (can't find it now), where someone had done some kind of dual single coil pickups, with different magnets on each coil. I thought this was pretty interesting. I don't like humbuckers, but I do like the option of combing single coils in series. Around the same time, I was reading up on some of the pickups on vintage Yamahas, especially the SG-3. So, I combined those ideas into my plan of having dual Jaguar bridge pickups ala the SG-3, with some fancy wiring options, that the Jagstang would have room to support.
I started working on a 3D model of a dual Jaguar pickup. It took two versions to get a model that will work. I have a finished version being printed now in a nice polished plastic.
Once I was sure that my 3D model was good, I used this to create a 2d routing template that is being laser cut in mdf by Ponoko. I received my routing templates from Faction last week, so whenever my alder body blank shows up, I can start working on that. In the meantime, I'm working out a few other details. I'm looking at doing angled controls in the rhythm circuit section, in order to echo the SG-3 influence.
I'm thinking that the bridge pickups will go to the two two-way switches to do Jaguar with series mod switching, before going to a three way toggle for typical N/M/B switching. I'm also looking at a single roller pot for a bass cut control - if possible, I'm thinking I'd like it to only be active when the two bridge pickups are in series. The thought there is that I could have a good bridge "humbucker" tone pre-set when I go to series mode.
So, that's where things stand now. I'm still looking at colors, but would love some input on those - and names too.
So far for names I have JSG-3, but am open to something else.
For colors, I am limited by the rest of my collection. I don't want multiples of the same color, so I have to work with the gaps between what I own and what I already have planned. I am planning on trying out Guitar Paint Guys for the finish. I don't care about Nitro or doing a traditional Fender color on a non-traditional guitar. They have lots of really cool colors. I am planning on using a pearl pickguard with black pickups as a nod to the mustang portion of this.
Here are some options I'm considering:
Orange Firemist Metallic
Firemist Purple Metallic
Cotton Candy Metallic
Solar Gold Metallic