Time to come clean about why I'm asking for measurements etc.....

[fullerplast]

it's got the upper routing, so no good for me....go for it, if you want it

Oh yea, huh?

I hadn't thought of that.

I'm leaning towards a swamp ash JM body from allparts for my prototype (especially now that my Teles are done).

Whooo Hoooo! 

[zhivago]

Another option for an alternate bidge offset - $125 (closeout) from Warmoth - the grain isn't as purty as others but for a solid color refin, no worries:

http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guit ... ype=guitar

they look cool...can I get one like that but without the top bout routing?

should be able to, I guess....that way I get the correct holes for the strings to go through and stuff

[zhivago]

it's got the upper routing, so no good for me....go for it, if you want it

Oh yea, huh?

I hadn't thought of that.

I'm leaning towards a swamp ash JM body from allparts for my prototype (especially now that my Teles are done).

Whooo Hoooo! 

happy days...I'm really excited about this...since I have little money, I think I'll buy the bridge next...then the knobs, pots and other small bits....once I get a tracing of the pickguard then that'll be next

and if a CIJ neck finishes cheap, I'll pick one up too.

it'll be a few months till everything is in place, but it's nice to have something to keep me occupied

[nealescott]

john, these guys here... http://pickguards.us/priceotherfenderand.html do electric 12 guards.
not sure what exactly their tortoise looks like though??? but their 'baltic amber' is awesome on my jaguar,
if you want something different and real eyecatching...

[zhivago]

john, these guys here... http://pickguards.us/priceotherfenderand.html do electric 12 guards.
not sure what exactly their tortoise looks like though??? but their 'baltic amber' is awesome on my jaguar,
if you want something different and real eyecatching...

hey thanks for the link, Neale!!

man, you guys are making the sourcing parts bit so much easier!

[fullerplast]

Not bad pricing either!

[zhivago]

definitely affordable!

I need to make a list of all the parts and start crossing things off...

[mynameisjonas]

hey! that looks amazing! and i bet it´d sound really good too with the string-through-body bridge setup. imagine the sustain...

TONE FOR DAYS

[zhivago]

hey! that looks amazing! and i bet it´d sound really good too with the string-through-body bridge setup. imagine the sustain...

TONE FOR DAYS

RAWK!!!

hehehehehehe!!

[Coronado]

Well it looks really good John!

Now I have a problem, my next project was a Jazzblaster and now I'm not so sure about it... 

[vintage-tone]

hi Zhiv,

I can do whatever routings you need. PM me sometimes so we can look into it.

Warmoth / all parts / stew mac also have a large choice of bodies / routings options etc and it's not that costy if you stick to cheaper woods ( no swamp ash for joo !  but it's a blackie anyways  ... )

1st thing and most important part is to pick the scale of the guitar ( distance between your nut and your saddles) full fender scale / shorter scale ?
Once you have picked a neck / scale you'd know where to position your bridge.
The neck pocket also has to be a tight fit to your neck or you will end up with a sloppy wobbly floating neck just like a 3 screws mid 70's strat * snob pre-CBS collector look*
You also have to make sure that the neck pocket has the right depth so you can get the right action / give the neck the desired tilt / adjust your pick up heights.

If you chose to build a guitar around a MIJ neck make sure that the neck is "healthy" . The truss rod must work both ways ( tighten / losen ) and the frets should have no / minimal wear. No broken headstock no lalala and stories they are cheap enough to find a good from the start.
The factory MIJ nut made for guitar X may not fit your body / string spacing perfectly but it's better than none of course.
MIJ rosewood necks are usually "slab board" so you have a thick indian rosewood board, (no MIJ are not brazilian rosewood neh neh neh  ) to work with and they can take several fretjobs. The plastic dots don't look that good but it's possible to "age them some" * snob clay dots fan look*
MIJ neck is a very good start and then, depending on what you find, get a body that will fit it / can be routed for it and so on. It's usually easier to modifiy a body to fit a neck than to build a neck to fit a body 

I hope this helps a bit and makes sens to you ! if you need any help I d be glad to give you a hand.

Tone

[zhivago]

hi Zhiv,

I can do whatever routings you need. PM me sometimes so we can look into it.

Warmoth / all parts / stew mac also have a large choice of bodies / routings options etc and it's not that costy if you stick to cheaper woods ( no swamp ash for joo !  but it's a blackie anyways  ... )

1st thing and most important part is to pick the scale of the guitar ( distance between your nut and your saddles) full fender scale / shorter scale ?
Once you have picked a neck / scale you'd know where to position your bridge.
The neck pocket also has to be a tight fit to your neck or you will end up with a sloppy wobbly floating neck just like a 3 screws mid 70's strat * snob pre-CBS collector look*
You also have to make sure that the neck pocket has the right depth so you can get the right action / give the neck the desired tilt / adjust your pick up heights.

If you chose to build a guitar around a MIJ neck make sure that the neck is "healthy" . The truss rod must work both ways ( tighten / losen ) and the frets should have no / minimal wear. No broken headstock no lalala and stories they are cheap enough to find a good from the start.
The factory MIJ nut made for guitar X may not fit your body / string spacing perfectly but it's better than none of course.
MIJ rosewood necks are usually "slab board" so you have a thick indian rosewood board, (no MIJ are not brazilian rosewood neh neh neh  ) to work with and they can take several fretjobs. The plastic dots don't look that good but it's possible to "age them some" * snob clay dots fan look*
MIJ neck is a very good start and then, depending on what you find, get a body that will fit it / can be routed for it and so on. It's usually easier to modifiy a body to fit a neck than to build a neck to fit a body 

I hope this helps a bit and makes sens to you ! if you need any help I d be glad to give you a hand.

Tone

hey thanks!

I'm gonna go long scale for this one....gonna score some of the cheaper bits for now, as I'm pretty broke....then the neck and body....I'll definetely be bothering everyone when the body is here...it'll probably have to be an Allparts/Warmoth cheapie

it'll be a slow process, but should be fun

[i love sharin foo]

Good luck John! If it turns out to look half as cool as your mock up, it will be one hell of an awesome guitar. Black and tortoise go together PERFECTLY IMHO (but I'm a little biased of course ).

Justin

[matthew]

I've come in a little late, but a while ago there was a query about how similar to a Jazzmaster body shape the XII was.

They are close: in terms of outline, my CIJ Jazzmaster and XII are the same - while I was waiting for the neck to be made, I kept the XII body in the Jazzmaster case - perfect fit! If
only the case was a couple of inches longer (about 1½-2), I could fit the finished product in there. The XII body is a little deeper though.

Swapping between the Jazzmaster and XII, they feel very similar, since getting the XII fixed up and playing that, I've definitely become more comfortable with the Jazzmaster. I guess the more offsets you have, the more familiar they are... (perhaps I should get another one)

But this looks like a good project, I'm looking forward to (eventually) seeing the finished product

[mjet]

my CIJ Jazzmaster and XII are the same - while I was waiting for the neck to be made, I kept the XII body in the Jazzmaster case - perfect fit! If
only the case was a couple of inches longer (about 1½-2), I could fit the finished product in there. The XII body is a little deeper though.

Thanks for that comparison - it's very helpful to have some empirical evidence. When you say "deeper" do you mean that the body is thicker? Or are you talking about the neck pocket?