70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - DONE! (04/11/21-Page 4)

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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smjenkins
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by smjenkins » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:07 am

What did Mick say? Oh yeah, paint it black!

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CaptainCrunch
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by CaptainCrunch » Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:15 am

Early 60's vibe? Tort on sunburst.
Mid 70's vibe? Black on sunburst.

And yes to the white witch hats!

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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by Steadyriot. » Tue Apr 06, 2021 11:31 am

Black!
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

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countertext
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by countertext » Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:29 pm

black

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CROSS_guitars
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by CROSS_guitars » Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:48 pm

I reckon you could still go tort but a darker brown tort.

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Norrin Radd
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by Norrin Radd » Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:11 pm

I’m a GIANT fan of tort on burst and I always hate black plastics on guitars - all of them.

However, in this case I actually think the black guard works better because of the black block inlays. I’m hating myself for saying this, but go with the black pickguard. :'(

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BTL
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by BTL » Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:45 pm

Looking good, and another vote for black!
Owner, Lowe Custom Guitars

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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by powerdroid » Wed Apr 07, 2021 6:57 am

Looks great with the black!

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smjenkins
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by smjenkins » Wed Apr 07, 2021 7:04 am

Every time I get an an alert for a new post to this thread, I go back and look at this photo and become happy.

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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by ohm-men » Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:49 am

smjenkins wrote:
Wed Apr 07, 2021 7:04 am
Every time I get an an alert for a new post to this thread, I go back and look at this photo and become happy.

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Thanks! :)

Well given the mass of responses to my "Dilema" I think Black is the anwer!
I considered a brown-ish tort, but since I have the black guard already and everytime a look at the body with the black guard, I think, yup that looks pretty good.

Anyway, I've put some effort in this build the last few days and I'm getting to the point where I can start thinking of putting this thing together.
Small setback however, I ordered some parts, inluding a rythem circuit but I received two mini 1 meg pots instead of one 1 meg pot and a 50K pot.
But since I ordered from quiet a reputable store, they fixed the problem immidiatly and they send me the correct 50 K mini pot. So, once this arrives, I'll heat up the soldering iron....

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ejendres
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by ejendres » Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:55 am

Yeah man, the black looks excellent. Definitely the winner imo.

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kamillebidan
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - Update 04/06- Dilema...

Post by kamillebidan » Thu Apr 08, 2021 10:37 pm

This project is so cool! How I wish Fender/Squier would do a proper reissue of 70's JMs and Jags like this!

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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - DONE! (04/11/21-Page 4)

Post by ohm-men » Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:38 am

Well, it's DONE !!! ;D

Pretty happy how it turned out, much better then anticipated.

I did the old "staple" trick and grounded the body at the trem cavety (In order to use the Tusq saddles I saved for this project);
and added a little inscription.

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I also shielded the body using copper tape, tedious job, but worth the time investment;

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And now the guitar in it's full glory...

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Last pic is with the rest of the bunch,
my "50ties style Ash body/gold guard Jm,
The "60's Fender Vintera and my 70's style maple B&B/3 TSB...

"FinnEli" is the name I use for my DIY build guitars, based on the first names of my 2 sons, yup, you guessed it Finn and Eli.
As the 70's style Jazzmaster is something I had on my list for quiet a while, as I'm a product of the 70's myself, I had to put this logo on it.
Fender style, as I think it suits the guitar.

I gotta say I really like the Chinamaster. I'm sure that the Pickup Wizzard pu set I put in it is responsible for most of it.
Sounds quiet good, more in your face then my other Jazzmasters, the maple neck is pretty chunky "U" style and the fretboard is flatter then what I originally anticipated on, but it's not bad, just takes some time to get used too. I did ditch the black plastic nut that came with the neck and replaced it with a Tusq nut I was given by a friend of mine.
The Chinese tremolo unit had ofcourse the 50 mm string spacing, but it panned out quiet nice with the Tusq saddles that turned out to be 10mm instead of the usual 11 mm, so the strings run straight from the trem to the bridge.

The guitar is very snappy sounding, with a hint of Tele and Strat in it, espically in the neck position, the middle position is really nice and rich sounding, perhaps a bit brighter then my other Jazzmasters, but not too overly bright, the P-90/JM style bridge pu is barky (I now understand why people like this P-90/Jazzmaster hybrid pick ups soo much :) ) and the rhythm circuit (which I had to resolder 2 times as the SD diagram turned out to be wrong :wtf: , but I found an old SD Ant II diagram that has an alternative rhythm circuit wiring that I used) sounds a bit brighter as well, even though the correct 50 K mini pot with the 0.22 cap arrived in time and were installed. But it seams I got a bit more "travel" with the tone wheel then with my other Jm's.
It sounds like an all rounder, works nice clean with reverb and delay, with drive it's growling and bright and Fuzzed out is creamy, so I like!

Well, like all projects I ever did, this turned out to be more work then planned, but it turned out the way I wanted.
I didn't count the hours I worked on this guitar, but it was a lot of time. Any, time is plenty due this Covid situation, so it was time well spent!

I wanna thank all of you for the replies, advice and support and kudos to formite "PorkyPrimeCut" for pointing me in the right direction for the neck refin!

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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - DONE! (04/11/21-Page 4)

Post by smjenkins » Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:42 am

I'm loving the final product. I'm glad it sounds great too with your pickup choice. Nice touch with your sons' names on the headstock.

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Norrin Radd
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Re: 70's style Jazzmaster on a budget - AKA the Chinamaster - DONE! (04/11/21-Page 4)

Post by Norrin Radd » Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:36 pm

This is just spectacular! Well done, man. Great family shot too - I totally dig it not seeing anything run of the mill there. Enjoy! 8)

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