Pre CBS Jazzmaster Project (Sonic Blue) DONE

[PJazzmaster]

So I finally finished the project in December 2024. I found the perfect neck for the Body.
A Slabboard neck with a beautiful thick and dark rosewood

BTW: I really like those new Mastery string trees. Yes, not vintage correct for a JM but I love how it suits the guitar.



I am also grad that I found this Canadian Pickguard Company (Realistic Relics) who are doing excellent NOS mint pickguards for Jazzmasters with the period correct 60 degree bevel

The pickguard screws are real vintage ones and the input jack nut is vintage too and made out of aluminum. It come off a 70's CTS tone pot.

The body already started to age and wear over the past few years

[PJazzmaster]

I had a vintage trem unit on it for a while which in borrowed from another guitar but currently I am more than happy with a Mastery Vibrato.
I goal was not to reach 100% vintage accuracy. I wanted to achieve a JM with vintage feel and vibe for rehearsing and playing live - so basically really a workhorse Jazzmaster.

The pickup covers have a mint shade too. These are from the Fender AV 65 line. Not many people know that these covers are mint instead of white. I got a pair of used PU Covers just for this project. Otherwise still the Monty PU's which sound really really awesome, similar to vintage black bobbin ones just a tiny bit more output

[PJazzmaster]

Voila, you can even see at the armrest that the sonic blue is already shining through the mint.
The knobs are mint colored too. These are available from Stewmac.

[PJazzmaster]

The pickup selector switch is also made out of aluminum (I will post a closeup tomorrow).
The Switch itself and the nut are pre CBS.

[PJazzmaster]

[PJazzmaster]

I try to post a picture of the whole guitar tomorrow.

[PJazzmaster]

Here is the aluminum Switch Tip:

[PJazzmaster]

Done

[Ursa Minor]

That’s look incredible! That is the perfect shade of minty sonic blue.

Love the attention to detail you put into this. The aluminum switch tip is cool! Where did it come from? What type of neck did you end up with?

[PJazzmaster]

That’s look incredible! That is the perfect shade of minty sonic blue.

Love the attention to detail you put into this. The aluminum switch tip is cool! Where did it come from? What type of neck did you end up with?

Thank you! Yes, Mike from M.B. Guitars got that mix right.

The switch tip comes from a guy who was selling aluminum Mosrite style switch tips on Reverb.. Unfortunately that was at least 10 years ago and I do not have the name of the seller anymore. I will let you know if I find out.

The neck - haha
Not what most people would expect.

It‘s an off the shelf Mexican Vintera II Jazzmaster neck (so vintage correct radius etc).
This neck is slightly more narrow than an AVRI neck - for example - so it feels more like a vintage neck comparing to most US reissue ones. The rosewood is really nice and thick and the curve at the headstock (where the rosewood meets the maple) is perfectly rounded like a pre CBS slabboard neck. But I got work done to it: removal of the poly finish and adding a few very thin coats of nitro. I was also not very happy with the original decal placement so it got a new decal as part of the refin process. It’s feeling perfect now. Maybe I will be getting a bone nut at some point but for now I am fine with the stock nut.

[Ursa Minor]

Cool! That’s a good call. I went Allparts with a similar build last year mainly because I couldn’t something with a vintage profile and width. I had to compromise on the vintage radius and frets which hasn’t been as bad as I thought. My neck has vintage tall frets and 9.5 radius which ended up pretty comfortable. I’ve really gotten used to the frets which felt weird for a little while. Now I really appreciate the intonation and extra height.

Hot tip! I replaced the stark white dots with maple ones from stew mac. They look great and are close enough to the look of old clay ones for me. Pretty easy install too.

Might still try to find a 7.25 radius neck to try out. I love it for complex chords.

Need to source a decal for mine still. Any tips?

[PJazzmaster]

Oh, I will check those stewmac dots. Thanks!
Referring the decal - see pm.

[UpstairsDuck]

Voila, you can even see at the armrest that the sonic blue is already shining through the mint.
The knobs are mint colored too. These are available from Stewmac.

That color turned out perfect. I love that the visual tweaks you made with extra metal bits that aren't era-correct but feel like they could have been, if that makes sense. Like, I can imagine an alternate history with Fender deciding to add a little more bling to the JM around the time the Jag was being released.

[Ursa Minor]

Oh, I will check those stewmac dots. Thanks!
Referring the decal - see pm.

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

Excellent!