Parts Jazzmaster transformation

[GotA]

My parts JM build has always been one of my favorite guitars since I put it together in 2017. The only issue I had was the pickups. I tried various sets over the years but was never happy with the balance between neck and bridge. Some sounded better clean, some sounded great dirty but never both. And the noise when using high gain killed me. Then last year I got a great deal on my used vintera tele deluxe. I put some revel wide range humbuckers in last December and I had a moment of clarity...these need to be in my jazzmaster. So a month ago I bought a set of jazzmaster mount WRHBs and Jesse informed me that this week he's making my pickups.

I decided this is a great time to start a WIP thread to also document the transformation. Here she is in her current state.

Current specs:
Fender road worn body, Allparts JMZO neck with nice rosewood, 9.5" radius, Gotoh tuners, bone nut, AVRI trem with stay trem collet and arm, staytrem bridge, fender brown tort pickguard, bootstrap lake surfer pickups.

The pickguard comes in tonight so I'll post pictures tomorrow with a mock-up as I just disassembled the guitar.

[GotA]

The pickguard came in yesterday. I got a decoboom red mars tort. I was never truly happy with the dark brown pickguard I got from fender. Spitfire makes some beautiful work but is a bit out of my price range and this is a great balance of price and quailty. Here it is mocked up on the body.

Was feeling motivated and shielded it so I can start my new wiring this weekend ahead of the new pickups.

[crazyzeke]

I this guitar - the fact you built it yourself adds to the magic of it, I think. It's more yours because it's your handiwork assembling, you know? Nice use of feminine pronoun as well - in my opinion all guitars and cars are female.

Personally I prefer the original darker pickguard you had on there, but then I always found MIJ/CIJ had those vomit red mother-of-bowling-ball ones, so that might be why. I swapped my Jag's for a white pearloid one years ago so it looks like my first guitar, a Vintage Strat copy (white pearloid and sunburst go so well together, I think), but horses for courses eh.

Humbuckers in JMs/Jags is a total win, I've been doing it for years - something about the spiky attack of that trem design gets evened out and thickened a bit by biting bullet and bringing 'buckers, as does changing JM/Jag stock 1M lead circuit tone pots for 500K ones, as I did. I got a good deal on a Strat Hot Rails STR-1b for like £69 (nice!) on Amazon a while back, and other than having to use totally different screws due to Jag being into body rather than Strat being into pickguard, it wasn't too hard to fit even for an idiot like me. I ignored the coil tap though; I'd like to use it but the only way I could see without routing anything, which I refuse to do, was lose the thin switch and honestly I use that all the time. Plus, I have a Meteora which has amazing coil taps - if I want single coil vintage Tele twang territory, it'll do it - so I didn't bother. As it's paired with a SJAG3n which is RWRP, both pickups on is out of phase so it goes full on Brian May for screaming lead work, it's awesome, and it gets even more searing with the thin switch enabled. I thought about putting another Hot Rails in the neck, but that out-of-phase tone alone, plus how warm the neck is and it being the only remaining single coil, was reason to leave it alone.

---

I'm surprised you went for a StayTrem over a Mastery though? I'd love to know the reasoning behind that.

[GotA]

I this guitar - the fact you built it yourself adds to the magic of it, I think. It's more yours because it's your handiwork assembling, you know? Nice use of feminine pronoun as well - in my opinion all guitars and cars are female.

Personally I prefer the original darker pickguard you had on there, but then I always found MIJ/CIJ had those vomit red mother-of-bowling-ball ones, so that might be why. I swapped my Jag's for a white pearloid one years ago so it looks like my first guitar, a Vintage Strat copy (white pearloid and sunburst go so well together, I think), but horses for courses eh.

Humbuckers in JMs/Jags is a total win, I've been doing it for years - something about the spiky attack of that trem design gets evened out and thickened a bit by biting bullet and bringing 'buckers, as does changing JM/Jag stock 1M lead circuit tone pots for 500K ones, as I did. I got a good deal on a Strat Hot Rails STR-1b for like £69 (nice!) on Amazon a while back, and other than having to use totally different screws due to Jag being into body rather than Strat being into pickguard, it wasn't too hard to fit even for an idiot like me. I ignored the coil tap though; I'd like to use it but the only way I could see without routing anything, which I refuse to do, was lose the thin switch and honestly I use that all the time. Plus, I have a Meteora which has amazing coil taps - if I want single coil vintage Tele twang territory, it'll do it - so I didn't bother. As it's paired with a SJAG3n which is RWRP, both pickups on is out of phase so it goes full on Brian May for screaming lead work, it's awesome, and it gets even more searing with the thin switch enabled. I thought about putting another Hot Rails in the neck, but that out-of-phase tone alone, plus how warm the neck is and it being the only remaining single coil, was reason to leave it alone.

---

I'm surprised you went for a StayTrem over a Mastery though? I'd love to know the reasoning behind that.

Thanks, Ive built a number of parts guitars from the ground up and it's always a labor of love. As for the pickguard, I just felt the dark one is too dark especially against sunburst. This new one sits between the old one and the CIJ bright red ones, so to me it was a happy medium. I have a love/hate relationship with humbuckers, either too dark or overly compressed. The wide range where like the best parts of single coil and humbuckers for me so putting them in the JM made total sense. They really need the 1meg pots to bring out the best in them IMO. As for the staytrem, when I got it I was ordering the collet and thought why not try it. I never had issues with the mustang bridge and having the fixed string spacing made total sense. It was cheaper than a mastery and I figured if it didn't work out I could flip it and get a mastery. I've never had issues with it and I like that it rocks like the original bridge, plus I think it looks better

[crazyzeke]

Thanks, Ive built a number of parts guitars from the ground up and it's always a labor of love.

That's a nice way to put it - I know a few techs who build, including the chap who made me a MOSFET booster based on the Catalinbread SCP, and really tweaking stuff to make it all fit together, schematically/physically/tonally, is part of the process.

I have a love/hate relationship with humbuckers, either too dark or overly compressed.

Depends on the 'buckers sir! I find JMs and Jags are good platforms for them as they are naturally bright and twangy, so if you choose a good one it'll smooth that out without completely neutering the legendary spiky offset attack. The Fireball ones in the Meteora are nice, and tap well too. Low output so they're a bit more dynamic and bright than most; Fender knew what they were doing there.

I recently tracked a song where the two electric rhythms are the Meteora on coil tap for twang, I think bridge (panned left) and middle (panned right) and I never thought I'd do that with tapped 'buckers but yeah, they work well either way.

They really need the 1meg pots to bring out the best in them IMO.

Yeah I initially thought that too, but on my Jag at least, there's so much distance between the rhythm and lead circuits I always ended up compromising one to suit the other, so you end up with an ear-searingly bright lead to compromise for the rhythm circuit, or a muddy rhythm circuit to balance out the brightness of the lead. 250K like a Strat would have been too far, but 500K like a Gibson (the donor guitar for them was an old busted Epi SG, including the speed knobs) works well. Also makes the thin switch do more, which as someone who needs to play funk for band reasons often is pretty useful if I don't have time to do a guitar swap (or the Meteora has thrown a string at a gig and can't be switched to).

As for the staytrem, when I got it I was ordering the collet and thought why not try it. I never had issues with the mustang bridge and having the fixed string spacing made total sense. It was cheaper than a mastery and I figured if it didn't work out I could flip it and get a mastery. I've never had issues with it and I like that it rocks like the original bridge, plus I think it looks better

Yeah on Jags I've only ever had stock bridge, Mustang bridge clone (one of the ones where the saddles don't quite push together as they're too narrow), tried a Gibson ABR-1 style but obviously the camber mismatch was a problem (Gibson 12" and CIJs have 7.25" for those reading who don't know what I'm talking about), and the Mastery, which went on the guitar and stayed there. Mastery was such a new company when I spoke to them I basically ordered from Woody directly, and had a nice back and forth with him about offsets years and years ago; I suppose mine is the Mk. I bridge with the different-sized logo but I don't think the design has changed much. Sustain, tuning stability, tone and feel all improved as compared to the others I had and it barely ever needs reintonating.

I was in a guitar store having a conversation about StayTrem earlier this week - how do they compare to the Mustang bridges, my point of reference? It looks like the saddles are bigger/more dense but I could be wrong.

ANYTHING is better than the stock bridge, where the saddles and bridge posts themselves often sink without Loc-Tite or whatever and poke you in the fingers with the grub screws.

[GotA]

I was in a guitar store having a conversation about StayTrem earlier this week - how do they compare to the Mustang bridges, my point of reference? It looks like the saddles are bigger/more dense but I could be wrong.

The staytrem is sort of the better version of the mustang. It's got more sustain and feels more substantial. Its like somewhere between the mastery and mustang bridge. Moves super smooth and louder than the mustang but no rattles.

I decided to ditch the rhythm circuit for now, I never use it but I can always reconnect it or do something different with it. I prefer the more simplistic and streamlined wiring. I wired it up and got it ready for when my WRHBs get here. Going with a treble bleed cause 1meg pots lol.

[crazyzeke]

The staytrem is sort of the better version of the mustang. It's got more sustain and feels more substantial. Its like somewhere between the mastery and mustang bridge. Moves super smooth and louder than the mustang but no rattles.

Is it bad that I now want another Jag just to test that out, so I don't have to de-string my #1 which is behaving well recently? Damn GAS.

I decided to ditch the rhythm circuit for now, I never use it but I can always reconnect it or do something different with it. I prefer the more simplistic and streamlined wiring. I wired it up and got it ready for when my WRHBs get here. Going with a treble bleed cause 1meg pots lol.

Put a Josh Japan Fuzz circuit in it! Simple circuit, wouldn't need much room, first in the chain before anything else that way as it interacts with the volume control... but then I suppose you still have a spare dial for something else. I'm trying to work out where the battery would go though.

[GotA]

Put a Josh Japan Fuzz circuit in it! Simple circuit, wouldn't need much room, first in the chain before anything else that way as it interacts with the volume control... but then I suppose you still have a spare dial for something else. I'm trying to work out where the battery would go though.

I'd rather be dead than do anything JHS. I've been building pedals for over a decade and built hundreds of pedals and all Josh does is rip other people off and claim credit for someone else's circuit. But I don't see the appeal of an onboard circuit myself. Power could be worked out through a trs cable or battery but it introduces a new potential set of issues especially noise. I'll leave the pedals on the floor. I swap stuff out too much to be stuck with just one Fuzz Face. Much better fuzz out there than a FF too.

[crazyzeke]

I'd rather be dead than do anything JHS. I've been building pedals for over a decade and built hundreds of pedals and all Josh does is rip other people off and claim credit for someone else's circuit.

I wondered if you'd say something like that. I've never seen him do that myself; he seems to be quick to credit pedals that are clones or modified clones of other people's work which is fine, so I wonder if it's some kind of smear thing as the stigma has been around him and his brand for years.

But I don't see the appeal of an onboard circuit myself. Power could be worked out through a trs cable or battery but it introduces a new potential set of issues especially noise. I'll leave the pedals on the floor. I swap stuff out too much to be stuck with just one Fuzz Face. Much better fuzz out there than a FF too.

Yeah this does give me a new and better thought though - what about building a clean boost into the guitar? I basically never play without a Catalinbread SCP clone style circuit pedal a friend of mine built in my guitar rig signal path, so I figured it might be worth building it directly into the rhythm circuit pocket of the Jag. My main concern would be dead battery = no output but if the rhythm circuit switch is used for bypass and it's a true type (bypass not font ) then it'll just turn into a kill switch when ON. What are your thoughts on this? If not for you then for me. I'm loving this idea because as much as I love the rhythm circuit, it's easily emulated by using the neck pickup and rolling the tone down on the lead circuit.

[GotA]

I wondered if you'd say something like that. I've never seen him do that myself; he seems to be quick to credit pedals that are clones or modified clones of other people's work which is fine, so I wonder if it's some kind of smear thing as the stigma has been around him and his brand for years.

The lizard queen is another perfect example. Two classic diy circuits that were crammed together and neither were given credit by Josh or EHX. My issue is Josh in videos tries to come of sincere but on his products like the thunderbolt or twin twelve his advertising would have you believe he created an original circuit emulating whatever amp using discrete jfets to simulate tubes but they are R.O.G. diy circuits lol. You build enough pedals and study enough schematics you spot stuff instantly. The diy community ain't got much love you Josh.

Yeah this does give me a new and better thought though - what about building a clean boost into the guitar? I basically never play without a Catalinbread SCP clone style circuit pedal a friend of mine built in my guitar rig signal path, so I figured it might be worth building it directly into the rhythm circuit pocket of the Jag. My main concern would be dead battery = no output but if the rhythm circuit switch is used for bypass and it's a true type (bypass not font ) then it'll just turn into a kill switch when ON. What are your thoughts on this? If not for you then for me. I'm loving this idea because as much as I love the rhythm circuit, it's easily emulated by using the neck pickup and rolling the tone down on the lead circuit.

If it were me, I would try to have a rechargeable 9v connection somehow. Batteries are lame and bad for the environment. Making it fit is the hard part. But if you can make it work then I say do it because the rhythm circuit is only so useful and can be emulated well enough with the lead circuit tone down.

[crazyzeke]

The lizard queen is another perfect example. Two classic diy circuits that were crammed together and neither were given credit by Josh or EHX. My issue is Josh in videos tries to come of sincere but on his products like the thunderbolt or twin twelve his advertising would have you believe he created an original circuit emulating whatever amp using discrete jfets to simulate tubes but they are R.O.G. diy circuits lol. You build enough pedals and study enough schematics you spot stuff instantly. The diy community ain't got much love you Josh.

Ah yeah, see I figured it'd end up being something like that - if you're crediting properly when using a common circuit or derivation of one, or cloning something old or whatever and telling folks that's what you're doing, that's fine, but using other people's work without crediting is plagiarism, and there's an excellent video on IP theft which sums it up better than I could if you have 6 hours. Openly acknowledging you're using someone else's work as a basis for your own is acceptable, but passing someone's own work off as your own, yep, line crossed. Sadly the music biz is all about stuff like that, i.e. Page passing off old blues as his own to get royalties on certain Zep records (The Lemon Song clearly being Killing Floor with a few variations, making me wonder if that's why Rolling Stone and others thought LZ were overrated back in the 70s as they were more easily able to spot the riffs Page was lifting), it's all super contentious stuff.

If it were me, I would try to have a rechargeable 9v connection somehow. Batteries are lame and bad for the environment. Making it fit is the hard part. But if you can make it work then I say do it because the rhythm circuit is only so useful and can be emulated well enough with the lead circuit tone down.

Yeah I was working out where the power would go with my more technically savvy friend, I don't think you could fit it in the rhythm circuit compartment along with the SCP board, even on a long thin board. The route on my CIJ is about 1 and 1/8 of an inch deep up top. I actually think the second roller pot, that's used for tone, might have to be sacrificed to get the board in there, perhaps then the screws used to retain it could hold the SCP board in place instead. I have a feeling it'll be a case of housing the power under one of the two lead circuit plates.

It'll be potentially interesting to do though, as I don't recall ever seeing anyone fit a clean boost into a Jag, and reminds me of what Johnny Marr did with the rhythm circuit on his signature model, i.e. repurposing it to be more useful to him. And I've just realised him and J Mascis share both initials and having an offset sig model in common

[Larry Mal]

Ah yeah, see I figured it'd end up being something like that - if you're crediting properly when using a common circuit or derivation of one, or cloning something old or whatever and telling folks that's what you're doing, that's fine, but using other people's work without crediting is plagiarism, and there's an excellent video on IP theft which sums it up better than I could if you have 6 hours. Openly acknowledging you're using someone else's work as a basis for your own is acceptable, but passing someone's own work off as your own, yep, line crossed. Sadly the music biz is all about stuff like that, i.e. Page passing off old blues as his own to get royalties on certain Zep records (The Lemon Song clearly being Killing Floor with a few variations, making me wonder if that's why Rolling Stone and others thought LZ were overrated back in the 70s as they were more easily able to spot the riffs Page was lifting), it's all super contentious stuff.

This is a very interesting video, thanks.

[GotA]

The pickups shipped yesterday so hopefully soon I'll be dropping them in to wrap this up. Decided to ditch the stock knobs and go with witch hats because they just look so badass.

[crazyzeke]

The pickups shipped yesterday so hopefully soon I'll be dropping them in to wrap this up. Decided to ditch the stock knobs and go with witch hats because they just look so badass.

Witch hats are awesome and they match the sunburst really well

[GotA]

The past couple weeks have been hectic and draining between work and home. But this week I found the time to wrap up the jazzmaster. The revel WRHBs came in and I finished wiring up the pickguard.

After putting some new pickup foam in I put it all back together. Some EB slinky 10-48 strings and did a full setup.

Sounds amazing. The pickups are bold and articulate but still very much like a Jazzmaster. Gotta find some time to do sound sound clips soon. Also, the decoboom pickguard looks fantastic. Here's some outdoor pictures on my back deck.