"Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
- Kwyjibo
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"Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
This guitar is a confluence of factors. I've always been enamored with Elvis Costello's Jazzmaster but also love Sonic Youth and wanted a Jazzmaster with widerange pickups. This - coupled with the fact that I have too many spare parts lying around - led me to a fun little project:
Build the "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster with as many spare parts that I already own. For aesthetics, I still want to get a black tip for the tremolo bar but not really a priority at the moment. The body is reclaimed cedar and the neck is apparently Canadian rock maple, but I got it from a wholesaler on Ebay so who really knows. I need to dress the frets and file the nut, but it actually feels great. Nice shape. Here is the total breakdown of parts I had to buy:
Curtis Novak Widerange Jazzmaster Pickups: $335
Stewmac Trem: $44
Black switch tip: $6.44
Electronic parts: $64.98
Total cost: $450.42
Build the "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster with as many spare parts that I already own. For aesthetics, I still want to get a black tip for the tremolo bar but not really a priority at the moment. The body is reclaimed cedar and the neck is apparently Canadian rock maple, but I got it from a wholesaler on Ebay so who really knows. I need to dress the frets and file the nut, but it actually feels great. Nice shape. Here is the total breakdown of parts I had to buy:
Curtis Novak Widerange Jazzmaster Pickups: $335
Stewmac Trem: $44
Black switch tip: $6.44
Electronic parts: $64.98
Total cost: $450.42
- Rgand
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
I like it. The natural wood is nice and the holes add to the character. Good choices.
- Maggieo
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
And now, in the least surprising comment ever made as OSG...
I LOVE THAT!!!!!
I LOVE THAT!!!!!
“Now I am quietly waiting for/ the catastrophe of my personality/ to seem beautiful again.”- Frank O'Hara
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.
- N0_Camping4U
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
I really like the body wood. I bet it sounds fantastic.
What's up with that CFM Jazzmaster back there? That looks neat too!
What's up with that CFM Jazzmaster back there? That looks neat too!
"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master."
- Kwyjibo
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- Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 7:11 am
- Location: Philly
- Kwyjibo
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 227
- Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 7:11 am
- Location: Philly
Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
Thanks - it does sound great. It's got a really spanky growl to it. The cedar is pretty snappy and bright (which I wanted) and the widerange humbuckers pull it all together tight, with some added lower end. The cedar is also really resonant/light.N0_Camping4U wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:34 amI really like the body wood. I bet it sounds fantastic.
What's up with that CFM Jazzmaster back there? That looks neat too!
The CFM JM is a 65 AVRI thin skin. Absolutely adore that guitar and it is my favorite for sure, so I wanted to get/make another jazzmaster that I can mod/abuse and not feel badly. That CFM jazzy is the only guitar I baby, i.e. it's the only one I own that gets polished routinely, and by that I mean once every few months lol.
- Maggieo
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
Holy cow! I love it even more now.
Where in Omaha did it come from? Old warehouse, like the Bowery Pine guitars?
“Now I am quietly waiting for/ the catastrophe of my personality/ to seem beautiful again.”- Frank O'Hara
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.
- DJAwsum
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
How are you liking those Novak WR pickups? I have a brand-new, just-ordered pair sitting in front of me - due to be installed in my Jazzy any day. Feared it was heresy to use WR pickups in a Jazzy, so I'm glad to see someone else is as crazy as me. Ha!
- X-Ray Spex
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
Sweet, also how has nobody picked up on that sick G&L in the background?
''It's not what you play, it's what you play'' - Troy Van Leeuwen
- Steadyriot.
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
That's rad! Nice build.
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay
- Kwyjibo
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
- Kwyjibo
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 227
- Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 7:11 am
- Location: Philly
Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
Nah, man, check out Lee Ranaldo's "Jazzblasters" that's who I got the idea from. I really, really like them and they are exactly what I was looking for. Curtis is mad.
As pretty much a single coil disciple, what I love most about them is they retain many of the single coil qualities I am obsessed with, while simultaneously diminishing some of the single coil characteristics that annoy me occasionally, e.g. still very snappy sounding but the low frequencies are tighter, significantly less noisy, I have more "control" over fuzz and high gain sounds
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
Old thread, but whatever. Every guitar in your pictures is sick, not least the SC-2!
- s_mcsleazy
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Re: "Sonic Costello" Jazzmaster Build
kinda similar idea to my guitar "the jankmaster" because i did it as if elvis costello gave his jazzmaster to thurston moore. it's kinda more standard jazzmaster than it used to be.
offset guitars resident bass player.
'Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson? Or do you just want me to solder a couple of resistors into your Muff?'
'Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson? Or do you just want me to solder a couple of resistors into your Muff?'