Shortscale Jazzmaster?

[fenderjapan]

shortscale jazzmaster? that would be a jaguar with jazzmaster pickups. why not just do that?

couse i don't  want to

[kwbarnes]

I did it this way - short scale Jagmaster!

[El Reclusa]

shortscale jazzmaster? that would be a jaguar with jazzmaster pickups. why not just do that?

couse i don't  want to

You could get a jag, a set of the Novak JAG JM or whatever they're called pickups- the ones that are JM pickups that drop into a Jaguar with no mods to the body, and instead of the chrome etc get a single piece pick guard and that's basically the same thing without the headache of figuring out moving the bridge etc around.

Or do it the hard way, I guess?

I think I'd prefer a long scale Jag myself, but this could be really cool too. Please post as this idea comes to fruition!

[Rgand]

I did it this way - short scale Jagmaster!

Looks good! I'm curious to hear how it feels with the Jazzmaster sized body and 24" neck.

[higgsblossom]

I would definitely use a Jaguar body for this, the size and length are perfectly balanced with the Jaguar. Use the Novak PUs as mentioned above. All the switches will go into a one-piece guard, the sliders can be replaced by a toggle and... you’re done, here’s your shortscale Jazzmaster!

[RoséBear]

I did it this way - short scale Jagmaster!

Looks good! I'm curious to hear how it feels with the Jazzmaster sized body and 24" neck.

I could be totally wrong, but aren’t the body sizes for the jaguar and jazzmaster the same? Wouldn’t it just feel like a jaguar?

[Rgand]

I did it this way - short scale Jagmaster!

Looks good! I'm curious to hear how it feels with the Jazzmaster sized body and 24" neck.

I could be totally wrong, but aren’t the body sizes for the jaguar and jazzmaster the same? Wouldn’t it just feel like a jaguar?

I had thought that the neck was set in slightly more on the Jaguar. I could be wrong about that, though. At one time I saw a comparison of the two but can't find it right now.

[jonathangolub]

I found this thread while searching for info on this very subject. I have a vintage Jazzmaster with a non-fender neck, and I would like to get a period-correct neck with a rosewood slab board but I can't afford one. I could possibly afford a 24" scale slab board neck though, I've seen a couple for sale from Duo-Sonics, Mustangs and Musicmasters. I think I might like the shorter scale, my hands aren't huge. Would I need to move the bridge up in order to get it to intonate correctly? Trying to figure out if this is a good idea or not. A Fender reissue neck that fits the specs would be $700 new, and a vintage one would be a lot more than that if I was lucky enough to find one.

[601210]

I found this thread while searching for info on this very subject. I have a vintage Jazzmaster with a non-fender neck, and I would like to get a period-correct neck with a rosewood slab board but I can't afford one. I could possibly afford a 24" scale slab board neck though, I've seen a couple for sale from Duo-Sonics, Mustangs and Musicmasters. I think I might like the shorter scale, my hands aren't huge. Would I need to move the bridge up in order to get it to intonate correctly? Trying to figure out if this is a good idea or not. A Fender reissue neck that fits the specs would be $700 new, and a vintage one would be a lot more than that if I was lucky enough to find one.

Here's the difference between a JM and Jag body.



IMO putting a non-vintage neck on a vintage body would be way less of an offense than the amount of mangling you'd need to get the 24" on it, but I also don't really understand the "vintage or bust" mentality. I'd personally rather end up with a half-vintage Jazzmaster than a mixed-vintage Frankenstein.

[andy_tchp]

Best case is it's a terrible idea, and you could expect to cut the value of the (currently non-butchered) vintage body in half, and feature in the 'Why did you do this to me?' thread in the Vintage sub-forum.

[Embenny]

Yeah, there is absolutely no reason to butcher a vintage body for an experiment.

You can rout literally any Jaguar for JM pickups (if Novak JMX-Jags aren't far enough) and have a one-piece plastic pickguard made that looks like a JM. It just makes more sense to go that way.

[Amon 7.L]

Indeed NO.
To this day and age you can score a Jaguar body everywhere for cheap, there's no absolute reason to sabotage a vintage body.
Moreso, if you think about it, just on the crude and brutal job you've got this two options:

A) Jazzmaster body platform:
1. Fill & re-drill the bridge holes;
2. Adjust/re-route the bridge pickup slot;
3. Possibly Adjust/re-route the lower bout control cavity route;
4. Get a custom pickguard.
5. Distance between the bridge and tailpiece will be even more dramatic than a standard Jaguar's, so even shallower break angle.

B) Jaguar body platform:
1. Route for JM pickups;
2. Custom pickguard.

...and, let's not forget about this more versatile solution:

If you tune a Jazzmaster down half a step and put a capo on the first fret you get the Jaguar string tension and scale length, so it's easy to check that much...

[DiAmoroso]

I did it this way - short scale Jagmaster!

Wow, I need this.

[jonathangolub]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm not chopping up my Jazzmaster for this! It's no collector's piece, it's been refinished and the original neck is gone, but I recently dated it to '59 by the pots and pickups so I'm not doing anything but playing it. Keeping my eye out for a good repro neck with the correct scale, recommendations are welcome. Fender makes a '59 60th anniversary slab neck but it's like $700. I've also seen repro necks from Allparts, but the radius is wrong, and there are some Montreaux necks floating around that are pretty good. I'd rather have rosewood than Pau Ferro, but that's an option too.

[Lame Pseudonym]

Oh, I've got one of those.

In a perfect world I would have moved the bridge, because Fender bridges are too far to the right for me. But mine is a string-through Affinity and it would be kind of messy.

So I just ground about two or three mm off the butt end of the neck and it came together real nice-like. I had to grind it anyway since Gibson-scale necks don't normally come roundy-end.

I love it to death. Except I need to paint it so it's a color.