Long-Awaited Review: THE JAGUAR X!!!

[mongoose]

Interesting. You're Tielmanizing your jaguar! (In case you have no clue what I'm talking about, Andy Tielman, leader of the Tielman Brothers, did this to his jazzmaster when forced to play one due to a Fender/management deal. Originally he played with a scarf around the headstock so other people wouldn't notice what he did and copy him, but eventually the scarf went. About half the second-hand jazzmasters in this country (well, before eBay mad importing easy) have four filled holes in the headstock, because indeed everyone and their mother copied the Tielman thing).

I am indeed familiar with the Tielmans, and they were an inspiration for this project (well, at least Andy's Jazzy was). That indo-rock website ruined a whole weekend for me once!

[Stereordinary]

I thought I was just gonna re-radius and slot the bridge that was already there. Don't think we ever went over that though. You should just send me everything you have, don't worry about swapping saddles out.

[Redstar30]

Cool, idea. I have been going back and forth between deciding if I want to convert my Jazzblaster into a 10 string ever since I sold my Coronado XII. This thread is inspiring me to go for it. I was planning on buying one of those warmoth 65 12 string necks and plugging up the extra two tuner holes.

Are you going to use the Jaguar tremolo as is or drill any extra holes into the tremolo plate to accommodate the additional 4 strings?

I'm just gonna go two-in-one-hole (kind of like my ex-wife's website pics ! I am going to disable the vibrato though.

Oh, and I'm rethinking the gold bridge. I tried it and . So I guess I'll just use the 4 gold saddles as planned.

Oh man! The ol’ double “P”. Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything when I read your response cause I would have to spit it out laughing.

I guess that would be easier then what I was going to. I think I might try that first before I drill an extra 4 holes into my tremolo plate.

[mongoose]

I thought I was just gonna re-radius and slot the bridge that was already there. Don't think we ever went over that though. You should just send me everything you have, don't worry about swapping saddles out.

Oh, I guess we never really got too in-depth with our bridge talk. I'll just send you everything I got, you figure out what works best. If that be the gold saddles for the doubles, go for it!

The tuners should be here in a few days, and then the whole shebang is headed for Portland.

[mongoose]

Hurray! After an extended stay in the Chicago USPS impound office, the donor neck (Sep. 97 Vista Jagmaster with bullet truss adjuster) has arrived.

I stripped the superfluous parts from the body (pics posted tomorrow), and will ship the works to Paul on Monday.

I have a semi-high profile gig (a Beatles tribute thing) on Aug 14th, and hope to be able to debut the Jag X at that show. Once I know that she'll be ready, it'll be time to list at least one of my two 12ers on the FS/FT page.

After Paul receives the jag, he'll take over the thread. Stay tuned!

[MattK]

With the gold saddles, you could put them in a glass jar, put on some good quality rubber gloves, and spray some oven cleaner spray into the jar - enough to cover the saddles with a layer of liquid (it may take some time for the foam to dissipate). If you leave them in for a day, it should strip the gold off and leave you with a nickel surface. When you come to get them out of the cleaner, put the jar under a tap and run a stream of tap water into it for a few minutes, agitating gently now and then, to fully flush away all the cleaner solution, it's very caustic. DISCLAIMER - I'M NOT RECOMMENDING YOU DO THIS UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THE RISK AND TAKE PROPER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS! Oven cleaner is unpleasant stuff and can burn skin / damage eyes.

[Aronkovacs]

There is a question I look for answering for a long time: what difference does wood mounting, ring mounting, and pickuard mounting makes? Is wood mounting creates more sustain?

[Keegan]

There is a question I look for answering for a long time: what difference does wood mounting, ring mounting, and pickuard mounting makes? Is wood mounting creates more sustain?

Very little to none. Unless you ask Ed Roman, but he's full of it. Best to do whatever's easiest and/or looks best on the guitar. The type and material of bridge affects sustain the most, second the secureness of the neck pocket, and then things like body wood/construction/fret material/etc.

Having it mounted to the wood might give the illusion of more sustain because the pickups tend to be further away from the strings in that configuration. The magnets cause drag which reduces sustain and creates weird overtones.

[antisymmetric]

There is a question I look for answering for a long time: what difference does wood mounting, ring mounting, and pickuard mounting makes? Is wood mounting creates more sustain?

The type and material of bridge affects sustain the most, second the secureness of the neck pocket, and then things like body wood/construction/fret material/etc.

+1 on that- in the same vein, make sure your frets are seated tightly in their slots. I glue mine in, especially on a refret. Can make a huge difference.

[Aronkovacs]

what about the pickguard mounted ones? those are not in contact with the wood, (see the diffesence of a stret and tele neck pu.) otherwise, what do you use for gluing in frets? superglue?

[antisymmetric]

what do you use for gluing in frets? superglue?

Yep superglue is one of the things, a bit tricky to make it (or any glue) go only where you want it. I suggest buying the DVD set on fretting from Stewmac before attempting it, it sure set me on the right path.

(Sorry Mongoose69, didn't mean to threadjack!)

[mongoose]

With the gold saddles, you could put them in a glass jar, put on some good quality rubber gloves, and spray some oven cleaner spray into the jar - enough to cover the saddles with a layer of liquid (it may take some time for the foam to dissipate). If you leave them in for a day, it should strip the gold off and leave you with a nickel surface. When you come to get them out of the cleaner, put the jar under a tap and run a stream of tap water into it for a few minutes, agitating gently now and then, to fully flush away all the cleaner solution, it's very caustic. DISCLAIMER - I'M NOT RECOMMENDING YOU DO THIS UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THE RISK AND TAKE PROPER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS! Oven cleaner is unpleasant stuff and can burn skin / damage eyes.

Hey, great tip. If Paul decides to in fact use the gold saddles, that might be an option. I actually don't think just having the saddles be gold would bother me though- it would almost draw the eye to the unique aspect (doubled strings) of the bridge. Now the whole gold bridge against all that chrome... urrg!

[mongoose]

I've torn down the donor Jag, removing all the components that won't be used. I'll hopefully be shipping everything off to Paul tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here are a few dis-assembly shots:








Anybody know of a way to identify models of Seymour Duncan Humbuckers?




Original Sep 96 Jaguar neck and donor Sep 97 Jagmaster neck





And next on the mic is my man, Paul; c'mon Paul sing that song!

[Stereordinary]

"Oh I seen the inside o' that Jaguar.
Yeah, said I seen the inside o' that Jaguar.
Wasn't so butchered as I thought it was gonna be,
but man they sure done took a clever to that Jaguar."

[andrewdoeshair]

What can I do to get those duncans and maybe the old switch plate?

I'd pm you, but I'm posting from my phone and everything is extra tedious.