Thinline Jaguar

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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joshinrva
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Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:21 pm

I'm making a Thinline Jaguar and would appreciate advice. I've got everything but the pickups and conductive paint now, and am about to start on sanding sealer, primer, Crown Royal Purple, and several layers of clear nitro, finishing with some Finesse IT II compound after a few weeks of curing. For electronics, I managed to get some white switchcraft switches, Mojotone 1meg and 500k pots, .01uF, and .003uF caps, and the 56k resistor, and a mess of grounding claws. Since it's hollowbody on the wings, I think I may be able to skip some of the ground claws, but that part is a bit fuzzier to me. For the neck, I scrounged up a Musikcraft Jaguar neck that feels like it may need some fretwork on the edges. The TUSQ nut will probably need to be cut too. The Kluson tuners look fine.

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joshinrva
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Sun Oct 24, 2021 1:11 pm

Just starting with sanding sealer. I don't see too much mention here about neck pockets, but it sounds like wood on wood is best. That seems to be what Dan Erlewine recommends. F-hole is also a bit of a challenge. Tape underneath may need to get reapplied. There's a bit of wood between the bottom and the top of the wing here, so I can't really fit a tool under the hole. Used a strat spring tool to get as far as I could.

Before sanding:
Image
Last edited by joshinrva on Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Steadyriot.
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by Steadyriot. » Sun Oct 24, 2021 1:58 pm

Tip with f-holes is blowing up a balloon inside. Maybe more if one doesn’t cover the whole hole.
I’d check if my paint doesn’t dissolve latex beforehand though; but I’ve had some succes with this method. Getting tape in there sucks.
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

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joshinrva
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Sun Oct 24, 2021 3:58 pm

Steadyriot. wrote:
Sun Oct 24, 2021 1:58 pm
Tip with f-holes is blowing up a balloon inside. Maybe more if one doesn’t cover the whole hole.
I’d check if my paint doesn’t dissolve latex beforehand though; but I’ve had some succes with this method. Getting tape in there sucks.
Thank you! I will give it a try. Pics once I figure out how to add those.

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joshinrva
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:34 pm

Color spray over cardboard was not a winning strategy. That worked fine for sanding spray and primer, but pooled on the back, and then stuck to the front. I guess I'm going to try hanging from the shed now (it's a little house with exposed cross-beams).

Any suggestions on removing the stuck cardboard and paint runs?

I'm thinking of wet sanding with 400 or 600 grit, which I don't have. 220 and 320 seem too coarse. You're not supposed to sand metallics, but this is just the first coat, and it's going to look terrible if I don't. No pictures until I figure out a hosting platform.

Before sanding with 600:
Image
Image
Last edited by joshinrva on Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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windmill
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by windmill » Thu Nov 11, 2021 6:55 pm

Keen to see the pictures. Before and after.

:)

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by my main man » Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:10 am

joshinrva wrote:
Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:34 pm
Color spray over cardboard was not a winning strategy. That worked fine for sanding spray and primer, but pooled on the back, and then stuck to the front. I guess I'm going to try hanging from the shed now (it's a little house with exposed cross-beams).

Any suggestions on removing the stuck cardboard and paint runs?

I'm thinking of wet sanding with 400 or 600 grit, which I don't have. 220 and 320 seem too coarse. You're not supposed to sand metallics, but this is just the first coat, and it's going to look terrible if I don't. No pictures until I figure out a hosting platform.
Not sure how bad it is, but you could try using a hairdryer to heat the paint up (be careful not to get it too hot) and then use a tweezers or something to get the cardboard pieces off.

Realistically, you might have to sand everything down and start over. It's frustrating when that happens, but you'll be much happier in the end that you didn't half-ass it and rush it.

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joshinrva
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:58 pm

my main man wrote:
Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:10 am
joshinrva wrote:
Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:34 pm
Color spray over cardboard was not a winning strategy. That worked fine for sanding spray and primer, but pooled on the back, and then stuck to the front. I guess I'm going to try hanging from the shed now (it's a little house with exposed cross-beams).

Any suggestions on removing the stuck cardboard and paint runs?

I'm thinking of wet sanding with 400 or 600 grit, which I don't have. 220 and 320 seem too coarse. You're not supposed to sand metallics, but this is just the first coat, and it's going to look terrible if I don't. No pictures until I figure out a hosting platform.
Not sure how bad it is, but you could try using a hairdryer to heat the paint up (be careful not to get it too hot) and then use a tweezers or something to get the cardboard pieces off.

Realistically, you might have to sand everything down and start over. It's frustrating when that happens, but you'll be much happier in the end that you didn't half-ass it and rush it.
I'm hoping wet sand may work. I guess I could just try a sponge on the cardboard, but I was planning on starting with 600 or so with a light touch. Just ordered some from stewmac. I had to wait a month or so for this to be available. Re Ranch seems like a pretty small store.

I do have a heatgun. Was thinking of warm water first, though.

Warm soapy water and dobe sponge didn't cut it. 600 grit sandpaper wet felt smooth to the touch. Got a bit of the primer off on the edge. I don't think that's captured well here.

Image
Image

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:33 pm

Here it is with three coats of Crown Royal Purple. It started dripping off the bottom with the last coat (fourth), so I wiped that off with a rag. It is getting kind of cold here. I'm just keeping the paint indoors, but not preparing in warm water first since that seemed to make the sanding sealer and primer sputter out. It's been pretty smooth at just room temperature.

There are a couple of spots pooling on the back still. The front looks serviceable. I don't know how this is going to look under two cans of clear gloss. It feels like there's a couple more coats left in the can. I intend to use it all on the body and leave the neck as is with the light Musikcraft finish. Need to start working on the frets on that.

Image
Image

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by ludobag1 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:36 am

seriously ,metalics don't allow hazard ,if your coat isn't perfect the varnish will not embellish the defects but will reveal more
with metallics paint the rules are
perfectsanding body with 320 grit
porefilling if necessary (mahogony ,ash or wood that need )
sanding saler sand to 320
primer sand to 320 or more like 400 /600
fews light coat of metalic to have the effect of particules stand not lying (mist coat allowed to finish)
no sand before varnish
varnish with fews mist coat and drying between to avoid troubles with metallics
more coat of varnish
put one more there is not enought as you think cause the curves and radius always miss during final sanding after drying

if one of this step is bad redo the precedent step to have something good ,solic colors are easyer and forgiving rather than metallics paint

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joshinrva
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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Sun Nov 28, 2021 3:23 pm

ludobag1 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:36 am
seriously ,metalics don't allow hazard ,if your coat isn't perfect the varnish will not embellish the defects but will reveal more
with metallics paint the rules are
perfectsanding body with 320 grit
porefilling if necessary (mahogony ,ash or wood that need )
sanding saler sand to 320
primer sand to 320 or more like 400 /600
fews light coat of metalic to have the effect of particules stand not lying (mist coat allowed to finish)
no sand before varnish
varnish with fews mist coat and drying between to avoid troubles with metallics
more coat of varnish
put one more there is not enought as you think cause the curves and radius always miss during final sanding after drying

if one of this step is bad redo the precedent step to have something good ,solic colors are easyer and forgiving rather than metallics paint
Thank you for the advice!

The primer looked clean.

Image
I lightly sanded it with 320 to make sure it was smooth. Other than some spurting on the first coats of sanding sealer and primer, I didn't start having problems until the color coat. It sounds like I should take it down, sand out the bubbles, and lightly touch them with the remaining paint before hanging it back up for clear coat. I don't think it will be as big of a deal if the clear coat bubbles because I can sand that out, right?

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by ludobag1 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:41 am

your primer need sanding to be real flat (the stripe you see in the color coat doesn't to be here )if you are not real flat at this step don't go to color coat (look at your curve ,radius )the better the primer you made the better the result will be(the goal of primer is to permit adherence of paint on an uniform surface and to be easy sandable to have a good result )
after the color coat must be thin and uniform with no run ,buble ect ....

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Fri Dec 10, 2021 5:39 pm

Just got the pickups - earlier than I expected. Body still needs work before applying clear coats. The run at the bottom pooled up. The horn doesn't look great, but I'll try touching it up with light coats when it warms up a bit.

Image

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by joshinrva » Mon May 23, 2022 3:12 pm

Those 3d-printed roller knobs stripped out when I tried to install them. Does anyone know of metal unpainted or white rollers?

I also learned it's a very bad idea to put grounding screws in the bottom of a hollowbody. That should have been obvious. I was trying to follow the vintage jaguar specs.

https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... A_SISD.pdf

The grounding page had the output jack on the wrong peg, which I did with my Telecaster build too. After fixing that, all the switches and knobs seem to work.

I just finished soldering everything. The guitar took a fall on a concrete floor when I was spraying the clear coat, so the finish is even worse than before. I suppose I should sand it down and repaint it, but it's playable now. Spent the day tuning, setting relief, checking action and pickup height, setting intonation and playing a bit (TRAIN). Pics to come when I get the volume and tone knobs and the strap buttons I had to reorder.

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Re: Thinline Jaguar

Post by bodhi » Mon May 23, 2022 10:07 pm

I'm not aware of any white roller knobs, but I believe that someone here spray-painted some of the chrome parts white in a build (firebird pickup something something?). I'm going to try that myself once I get around to a build, but it's still months away...
Jazzmaster project (got a body, placeholder neck, some pickups and ideas)
Tokai Telecaster Thinline with Creamery Pickups Filtertron and Tapped Tele
Blake Mills-inspired Strat project w/ Gold Foil and slide pickup

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