3-pickup Longscale Jaguar

[Aug]

what a sec...

Is that a 25.5" scale neck?  Did you move the bridge?

[mezcalhead]

It's a CIJ neck and a USACG Jazzmaster body with $trat routing. No need to move anything presumably.

[jetset]

Minor update - no new pics yet.  I've finished all the routing, sealed the wood, three coats of sanding sealer, and one coat of white primer.  I'm following the Reranch basic refin steps here: http://reranch.com/solids.htm

I'm doing surf green nitro.  Not sure if I should do a matching headstock.  I may put the CIJ neck I just got on my JM parts guitar and use the USACG JM neck from that guitar on this project - I got a real nice Jag decal so I may do a matching headstock with Jag logo on that neck rather than spraying over the CIJ decal which is nice.  If anyone has experience with masking and shooting a matching headstock I'd appreciate any tips.  I assume I'd just rough sand the top, mask the sides and fretboard, and prime and shoot the top.

I also just picked up some GFS surf strat pickups: http://store.guitarfetish.com/64stvigrbost.html They've been getting rave reviews on the Gear Page and the price seemed to good to pass up.  I'll have to wait to hear what they sound like, but I did email GFS asking if they were planning on doing JM pickups - it'd be nice to have a cheaper alternative to the boutique makers, the un-available USA RI's and the wrong-wound Duncans.

-J.

[burker]

aw man, I love matching headstocks... so +1 on the switching necks idea.....
and surf green... thattd be  supercool.

you have pics of your partsmaster?

your the guy with the pink JM right? that things intense.

[jetset]

Here 'tis:


Original (ebay):
>body w/no extra routs- but had stripped and brush-stained turd brown.  Now refined in reranch olympic white
pickguard - had four mini-toggle switch holes that I patched with spare stumac tortoise material.  It had shunk (as they tend to do) so I also filled the screw holes in the body and re-drilled them to align with the pickguard.  Works great but this body is now pretty much married to this >pickguard.
>bridge pickup and cover (best JM pickup I've ever had/heard)
>sheilding
>rhythm wiring
>trem unit - actually a PAF unit that's older than the body

New:
>USACG neck - their "63" profile with CBS peghead that I shaped to match my old '63 JM
>US RI neck pickup
>main pots, switch
>Mustang bridge
>Trem arm - I got a japanese arm and turned it down to make a nice snug fit.  I find the new US arms are too loose in the old units for my taste.

This was my fave player until I got the pink one - but I think the difference is mostly in my head.

-J

[weijie]

Nice stuff going on there.

How much was shipping for the USACG jazzymaster body?

[jetset]

Shipping was $17.50 to 21228 for the body and pickguard.

I've updated the site with new pics of the color coats:

http://www.thejennifers.com/jag/jag3.html

So far no major problems.  I have about another week to wait for the finish to cure a bit before I can do the final buffing of the body so I can assemble it.  Luckily the furnace room in the basement is nice and dry so it should cure quick hanging in there.
-J

[cmatthes]

Wow - that's looking GREAT!

Thanks for posting the link...

[mynameisjonas]

looking good! can´t wait to see it put together

[jetset]

'Tis done.  Take that Custom Shop!







All the details are updated here:

http://www.thejennifers.com/jag/jag3.html

I'll be adding up all the receipts I have, to come up with a rough $$$ estimate for the project (not including labor of course) for those that are interested.  Gotta go play it now...

[fullerplast]

Looks very nice... great job!

[mjet]

Looks great!

Question for you - I noticed in your play-by-play link you have a photo that shows a detail of the trem unit cutout that needed to have its edges sharpened a bit for the unit to be installed properly. Did you talk with Tommy at USACG about this? I have a USACG Jazzmaster and the previous owner had the same issue and Tommy redid the rout so that everything fit.

But I'm curious to know if they have corrected their overall computerized routing template or whether this will have to be done to each unit individually. If you haven't, you might want to write a quick email to him and send the photo that clearly illustrates the problem.

[jetset]

Good point - I'll drop him a line on the trem rout.  It's not really that big a deal though, it took about three minutes with a small round hand file to fix.
-J

[mjet]

The fact that it's an easy fix is exactly why I think word might not make it back to Tommy - but it does generate grumbles from users, so it's in USACG's interest to tweak it to make it right so people can spend their time talking about how things were perfect "out of the box".

The guy who sold me his USACG JM project had it shipped straight from the shop to a refinisher, so when he got it and tried to install his hardware, he had a nasty shock. He sent it back to Tommy and of course the routs are now fine, but it's easy to see where they were done since they were done to an already-finished body. I probably benefited most from the foul-up since I got it for a good price, but Tommy would likely be the first to admit that knowing what people are saying about your products is the most valuable feedback they can receive.

[mezcalhead]

What a great result!

I want to make an LPB jazzyjag someday ..