Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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Embenny
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by Embenny » Mon May 22, 2017 1:39 pm

Nice! I built myself a Warmoth JM almost a decade ago when I similarly concluded that no current models offered me what I wanted. Theyre very affordable for the quality you get, in my experience. My sole issue had to do with the finish being so thick that I had to sand around the pickup cavities to get the pickups to fit. It's held up well over the years.
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mathias
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Thu May 25, 2017 9:06 am

I'm thinking out loud here about the 3-pickup wiring. Feel free to chime in with opinions, suggestions, etc.

One idea I got from Curtis Novak was to use the rhythm circuit as separate controls for the middle pickup. Then I can switch it on and off with the slider switch, and I can play only the middle pickup by rolling off the regular volume knob. I may need to change the values here for the roller pots/caps though, as I want the lipstick pickup to retain some chime rather than being solely a rhythm/darker tone.

The other idea I had was to add an additional slider (like the Mustang uses) to the pickguard, down by the pickup selector. This seems doable, so long as I don't mess up the hole. The rhythm circuit would still act as stock. The only downside of this setup is that the middle pickup would always be included with at least the neck or bridge pickups.

I suppose there's more complicated sliders switch configurations that could solo the middle pickup, but that might start to complicate the wiring too much if I'm going to include the rhythm circuits. I haven't actually seen a "jazzmaster with three pickups" schematic online, so I'd be curious to know what others have done.

Thoughts?

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hpr_hpr
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by hpr_hpr » Thu May 25, 2017 9:24 am

mathias wrote: The other idea I had was to add an additional slider (like the Mustang uses) to the pickguard, down by the pickup selector. This seems doable, so long as I don't mess up the hole. The rhythm circuit would still act as stock. The only downside of this setup is that the middle pickup would always be included with at least the neck or bridge pickups.
With a 3 position 2 pole slider it is possible to get middle only, middle off & middle in parallel with whatever other selection is made.
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mathias
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Thu May 25, 2017 10:07 am

hpr_hpr wrote: With a 3 position 2 pole slider it is possible to get middle only, middle off & middle in parallel with whatever other selection is made.
I think I get what you're describing. And I have one of these Mustang slider switches that should allow it.

The part I'm stuck on is where in the circuit it goes relative to the rhythm circuit. The rhythm circuit still needs to be able to kill the middle and bridge pickup in any configuration, so it's "output" is still going to connect to the jack? (As the grey line in Jazzmaster wiring on viewtopic.php?f=29&t=41339" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Edit: Sorry, the link to the picture got chewed up by the forum!))

So that means that my middle pickup would get connected via a switch to the blue wire in that picture? I'm not sure how I'd mute bridge and neck in the final position, though. Would it "interrupt" the blue wire there?

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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by hpr_hpr » Thu May 25, 2017 12:14 pm

OK vintage JM schematic . . . This is off the cuff

IF you want the possibility of the middle with both the Lead and Rhythm disconnect the GREY wire from the output jack tip, that's the one that will go to the switch. You now will have the options of middle+rythm, middle+lead, middle ONLY, rhythm, lead circuits. Rhythm / Lead is switched with the traditional slider switch, the new slider switch switches the middle pickup.

IF you want the middle ONLY with the lead disconnect the BLUE wire from the volume and that's where the return from the switch will go. this gives the middle, middle+lead and lead with the rhythm switch permanently cutting both bridge & middle pickups irrespective of the switch position.

This was Q&D so I'm not entirely sure if it works correctly - didn't have time to trace everything - but it should work I think, at the very least it should be possible to get both these options depending on where you wire in the new switch . . .
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mathias
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Thu May 25, 2017 12:44 pm

Yep, your second option was exactly what I was thinking and looking for -- I want the rhythm circuit to behave as normal and only ever have the neck pickup.

I'll give this a go for wiring once I have the new pickups, and I'll test it out before the guitar is built by taping the pickups in place and just holding the built pickguard up to another guitar. Curious to see whether the third pickup will be worth it, to be honest.

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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:22 pm

Update on this. Got those pickups this week finally, and arranged a drop off with the guy I'm going to have paint and finish building the guitar.

Tonight, I soldered together the pickguard. I ran into some issues: the lipstick pickup I received is a Jaguar size, not a Strat-size per the invoice and based on the strat-sized cutout in the middle on my pickguard. I emailed Curtis Novak about it, but for now, I built up the pick guard without a middle pickup or switch.

A small problem, but easily fixed: the Warmoth pickguard has the routing for the roller pots in the rhythm section off by a bit. I had to enlarge them "outward" towards the edge of the pickguard quite a bit to get the roller pots to roll smooth when the bracket was screwed in. Observations: cellulose smells funny when you file it.

The other issue I ran into was that it seems I got two identical 1Meg pots rather than one Linear and one Audio taper. I wasn't even sure which was which -- online guides for CTS pots didn't help me here, and neither seems to be labeled any differently. So I built it up, and once I know which one seems wrong in the taper, I'll get the right pot to replace it.

Other than that, I held up the built pickguard (with JM pickups taped in place) to my Squier Jazzy and sound was created. !!! The wires all fit into the cavities on the body. I can't complain.

I should have more pictures soon, as tomorrow the body goes off to be painted! And then the box of parts becomes a guitar!

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mathias
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Sat Jun 17, 2017 5:23 am

Debating what to do here with the pickup and pickguard. Right now, I'm doing the "do nothing yet" plan, which means a hole in the pickguard but traditional Jazzmaster wiring. The Warmoth pickguard didn't fit the roller pots right and I might end up replacing either of the 1Meg CTS pots to get the taper right, so I would probably change things in the future.

Option1: I could hold out for a Strat-sized lipstick from Curtis Novak, and adding it just means cutting the wire that runs to the existing 3-position switch, as we discussed. For ease of installation, I might use a mini toggle with a guard, like this:

Image

Drilling a hole seems much easier than filing out a rectangle for a Mustang slider switch. And the mini toggles could arguably be less visual noise than another slider; either way, this guitar is headed towards wacky-60's guitar levels of controls. I'd probably actually add two mini toggles: the other would be for adding a treble bleed cap to the volume.

Option 2: I get a new pickguard without the third pickup hole, preferably a Spitfire guard. I sell the Novak Jaguar-sized Lipstick pickup to help finance it; and I get a better fitting, better looking guard.

Option 3: the noise rock, "do I really need this?" option. Put the Jaguar lipstick pickup behind the bridge with a blend knob instead of a toggle. My guitar painter also builds body blanks, so he has routing templates for a Jaguar pickup and could route this out before paint. I just don't know that I need that sound or that it is worth putting such a nice pickup in that spot. That is, if I really wanted this, I'd go with a GFS gold foil or something.

My goal for the lipstick pickup had been to get some new sounds out of the JM for leads and slide. That plan was before my new amp; where I now find myself fighting harsh treble frequencies fairly regularly.

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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by Rgand » Sat Jun 17, 2017 8:34 am

For what it's worth, it really isn't a major ordeal to file a slide switch hole in the pickguard if you have a set of Swiss files. I did the two in the lower bout. They came out fine. I will admit that toggles are a bit easier, though.
Image

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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:18 am

Yeah. It doesn't seem terrible to add the slide switch. It was just more work than I had time for before I dropped off the body for paint. Still waiting to hear whether I should exchange the pickup.. if I can't, then I'll use the Jaguar-sized lipstick somewhere else or sell it, and order a Spitfire guard.

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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by lammie200 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:26 am

hpr_hpr wrote:...

Get some OSMO Polyx oil for the neck (Amazon has it)
Curious as to why you would use OSMO Polyx instead of something like Tru Oil. I have used the OSMO on floors, but not guitars. Seems a little too waxy to sand, but it might have worked well for you. Tru Oil is for gunstocks which are handled similarly to guitar necks.

http://www.osmona.com/interior/Original_polyx.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Strat Kinman KITA set, Tele SD Seth Lover neck only, Jazzmaster Kinman Thickmaster set, Jazzmaster 12 Rose Picasso set, Martin SC-13E Special, Gibson ES-390, ES-165 490R, ES-165 BJB, Henriksen Jazz Amp x2 for Stereo

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mathias
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by mathias » Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:19 am

lammie200 wrote: Curious as to why you would use OSMO Polyx instead of something like Tru Oil. I have used the OSMO on floors, but not guitars. Seems a little too waxy to sand, but it might have worked well for you. Tru Oil is for gunstocks which are handled similarly to guitar necks.

http://www.osmona.com/interior/Original_polyx.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If I do feel the need to finish the neck, I'll probably just wipe on a small amount of premixed tung oil. I used it on a Telemaster body and it did a good job.

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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by Chiediazanna » Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:35 pm

Rgand wrote:For what it's worth, it really isn't a major ordeal to file a slide switch hole in the pickguard if you have a set of Swiss files. I did the two in the lower bout. They came out fine. I will admit that toggles are a bit easier, though.
Image
Hi Rgand, what's that bridge in the picture of your jazzy project? Think I need one like these in my next project with these features:
- same dimensions and holes of a tele deluxe 72 bridge
- suitable for both hardtail and floating tremolo purposes
- non being expensive like a https://masterybridge.com/product/m7-1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is.
Is it? :whistle:

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Rgand
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by Rgand » Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:53 pm

Chiediazanna wrote:
Rgand wrote:For what it's worth, it really isn't a major ordeal to file a slide switch hole in the pickguard if you have a set of Swiss files. I did the two in the lower bout. They came out fine. I will admit that toggles are a bit easier, though.
Image
Hi Rgand, what's that bridge in the picture of your jazzy project? Think I need one like these in my next project with these features:
- same dimensions and holes of a tele deluxe 72 bridge
- suitable for both hardtail and floating tremolo purposes
- non being expensive like a https://masterybridge.com/product/m7-1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is.
Is it?
It's a Callaham American Standard bridge with Bigby relief cuts (like the Mastery one you linked to) and 3 stainless Bigsby compensated saddles (standard is brass). All totalled, $110, about 2/3 the Mastery price. https://www.callahamguitars.com/tele_br ... atalog.htm Callaham does have a vintage version that is spaced like the older Fenders. This one is suitable for Bigsby but Bill would have to tell you if it would work with a floating trem. Call and ask, he's easy to get hold of and talk with. He can advise you on what will work for your needs.

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Chiediazanna
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Re: Building a Warmoth Jazzmaster

Post by Chiediazanna » Tue Jun 20, 2017 4:09 am

Rgand wrote:
Chiediazanna wrote:
Rgand wrote:For what it's worth, it really isn't a major ordeal to file a slide switch hole in the pickguard if you have a set of Swiss files. I did the two in the lower bout. They came out fine. I will admit that toggles are a bit easier, though.
Image
Hi Rgand, what's that bridge in the picture of your jazzy project? Think I need one like these in my next project with these features:
- same dimensions and holes of a tele deluxe 72 bridge
- suitable for both hardtail and floating tremolo purposes
- non being expensive like a https://masterybridge.com/product/m7-1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is.
Is it?
It's a Callaham American Standard bridge with Bigby relief cuts (like the Mastery one you linked to) and 3 stainless Bigsby compensated saddles (standard is brass). All totalled, $110, about 2/3 the Mastery price. https://www.callahamguitars.com/tele_br ... atalog.htm Callaham does have a vintage version that is spaced like the older Fenders. This one is suitable for Bigsby but Bill would have to tell you if it would work with a floating trem. Call and ask, he's easy to get hold of and talk with. He can advise you on what will work for your needs.

Thanks a lot Rgand. Nothing is cheap in this world! First step for me will be to route my 72 deluxe (aftermarket body) to allow jazzmaster pickups and a matching pickguard. I'll take it slow, still have some guitars to sell before. Again, thanks for the support.

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