Parts Jazzmaster transformation

[crazyzeke]

Wow. If you're a regular non-musician it still looks like any old JM, but to a guitarist the pickups being like that immediately makes it look cool and unique. It's literally the first I've seen with those particular pickups in and I like it.

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.

I would LOVE to hear that thing in action - sounds like the manifesto I go with for offsets, which is hotter pickups which are more versatile but don't totally obscure the offsetness of the tone. 10s would be spot on for a JM, it's what I use on my 25.5" Fender and it keeps the feel consistent for bends etc when going between that and the 24" Jag.

[GotA]

I would LOVE to hear that thing in action - sounds like the manifesto I go with for offsets, which is hotter pickups which are more versatile but don't totally obscure the offsetness of the tone. 10s would be spot on for a JM, it's what I use on my 25.5" Fender and it keeps the feel consistent for bends etc when going between that and the 24" Jag.

Things have been hectic at work and home still but I plan on making a video clip of the guitar this weekend so when I get around to it I'll post it. I recently took the gamble on some Amazon neck shims and they worked out really well. 10 dollars for three sizes. I've never shimmed the neck on this particular guitar because I use the staytrem bridge, but I always felt the break angle could be better over the bridge. Did some estimates and basic math and decided to try the .5 degree shim first. Came out great. The guitar is so much more lively and no more random rattles with the increased tension. The trem feels more responsive and the action is more consistent across the entire fretboard now.

[crazyzeke]

Things have been hectic at work and home still but I plan on making a video clip of the guitar this weekend so when I get around to it I'll post it.

Genuinely excited to hear it and I imagine I'm not the only one - if it sounds as sexy as it looks you've got a killer build there. Even the pickguard hue is growing on me. It's a cool instrument in looks alone.

The guitar is so much more lively and no more random rattles with the increased tension. The trem feels more responsive and the action is more consistent across the entire fretboard now.

Yeah it's amazing how much difference a neck shim makes. For me it was about getting the action lower, consistently across the board, so it would be comfy for chords but (mostly) not fret out on wide compound bends in most places. I am happy to take the weaknesses of 7.25" boards for the comfort over long playing/recording/gigging sessions, for sure.

I believe mine is the piece of a Corn Flakes cereal brand that happened to be a good fit, maybe Coco Pops, I don't know as I changed it once to help adjust the break angle and it's better than the first one

[GotA]

Things have been hectic at work and home still but I plan on making a video clip of the guitar this weekend so when I get around to it I'll post it.

Genuinely excited to hear it and I imagine I'm not the only one - if it sounds as sexy as it looks you've got a killer build there. Even the pickguard hue is growing on me. It's a cool instrument in looks alone.

The guitar is so much more lively and no more random rattles with the increased tension. The trem feels more responsive and the action is more consistent across the entire fretboard now.

Yeah it's amazing how much difference a neck shim makes. For me it was about getting the action lower, consistently across the board, so it would be comfy for chords but (mostly) not fret out on wide compound bends in most places. I am happy to take the weaknesses of 7.25" boards for the comfort over long playing/recording/gigging sessions, for sure.

I believe mine is the piece of a Corn Flakes cereal brand that happened to be a good fit, maybe Coco Pops, I don't know as I changed it once to help adjust the break angle and it's better than the first one

My neck is a 9.5" radius so it's kinda the best of bost worlds IMO when it comes to chords, bends and action. 7.25" has to have tall frets for me. But I totally forgot I put a new string tree on. I got one of the reverend three string trees and I really like it. The open G sounds much better now and I think it looks cooler than the vintage butterfly style. It has slightly less break angle and less contact so fewer issues with burrs and getting the string hung up on it.

[javier-san]

This thing turned out really great!

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

That does look very nice. Well done

The bridge pickup seems (rather) high. Aren't you getting spiky tonez?

[GotA]

This thing turned out really great!

Thanks, I'm having a hard time not playing it!

That does look very nice. Well done

The bridge pickup seems (rather) high. Aren't you getting spiky tonez?

Thank you, I think it looks deceiving since I shimmed the neck and raised the bridge. I have both pickups set to 3/32" and with them being wide range humbuckers they sound great at that height to me. For my rig it's the sweet spot, lower and they don't feel as lively and dynamic.

[crazyzeke]

I got one of the reverend three string trees and I really like it. The open G sounds much better now and I think it looks cooler than the vintage butterfly style. It has slightly less break angle and less contact so fewer issues with burrs and getting the string hung up on it.

Interesting - I've always found the open G on my Jag to be a little dead sounding as compared to the B and E. The Mastery bridge helps with this as it helps with a lot of things but doesn't get rid of it entirely, even with a new nut on the neck as of a couple of years ago. Do you think it would fix that? Simple mod to do so I'd consider doing it. I've found owning offsets is all about making a series of adjustments and upgrades, big or small, to get the guitars into more of a sweet spot.

Thanks, I'm having a hard time not playing it!

Sounds like love . Seriously though, do you think it'll become your main, or is something else in the top spot?

[GotA]

Interesting - I've always found the open G on my Jag to be a little dead sounding as compared to the B and E. The Mastery bridge helps with this as it helps with a lot of things but doesn't get rid of it entirely, even with a new nut on the neck as of a couple of years ago. Do you think it would fix that? Simple mod to do so I'd consider doing it. I've found owning offsets is all about making a series of adjustments and upgrades, big or small, to get the guitars into more of a sweet spot.

The G for me would have that open rattle on the open string, from lack of break angle between the back of the string slot and the tuner. This solved that issue.

Sounds like love . Seriously though, do you think it'll become your main, or is something else in the top spot?

haha it really is. I loved the guitar before but now I have no desire to pick anything else up. My tele deluxe with the same WRHBs has been my main squeeze the last year since I got it, but since I finished this, it got dropped like third period math lol

[alexpigment]

Interesting - I've always found the open G on my Jag to be a little dead sounding as compared to the B and E. The Mastery bridge helps with this as it helps with a lot of things but doesn't get rid of it entirely, even with a new nut on the neck as of a couple of years ago. Do you think it would fix that? Simple mod to do so I'd consider doing it. I've found owning offsets is all about making a series of adjustments and upgrades, big or small, to get the guitars into more of a sweet spot.

For what it's worth, I've used this one from Music City Bridge on a guitar:



It worked well for addressing the problem I had (unwanted ringing after the nut), requires no modification, and fits in visually with Fender vintage-style parts. I don't know for certain that it would help your G string, but it's possible.

[crazyzeke]

haha it really is. I loved the guitar before but now I have no desire to pick anything else up. My tele deluxe with the same WRHBs has been my main squeeze the last year since I got it, but since I finished this, it got dropped like third period math lol

That's amazing; I think a lot of guitarists are on the hunt for "the one" and it sounds like you just built yours, which makes it even more special/unique. The advantage of playing one guitar in preference to everything else 90% of the time is you learn it inside out, every foible, and in my personal experience it improves your playing too, not just for that reason but also because you're skipping the "acclimatise to this instrument" time that can happen when swapping them around.

It worked well for addressing the problem I had (unwanted ringing after the nut), requires no modification, and fits in visually with Fender vintage-style parts. I don't know for certain that it would help your G string, but it's possible.

This looks great and I like that it uses the existing mount without making a new screw hole, I assume they've done that so you can keep your vintage Fender stock if needed. Sadly I checked though and shipping is nearly three times what the part is worth to the UK... I might have to look into getting it closer to home