Re: Franken-Jaguar project: Old meets new

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi All,

After years I'm finally putting together the nearest thing I can get to my ultimate guitar short of having one scratch built. Much of this is predicated on me having really very small hands that are getting increasingly more painful coping with the large neck on my modded-out franken-Stratocaster. After much research, and because I love the look of them, I opted for a Jaguar based project. First I'll start with the general Specs and then end with some questions in the hope that someone can lend some much needed expert advice!

So far all I have is a body and the neck (Jaguar Purists look away now - I am doing away with the standard Lead/Rhythm circuitry as this functionality would not suit my playing style, which is post punk and rock style in general with occasional forays into blues-widdling for self-pleasure, however I love the look of the controls).

Body: 2007 Japanese Jaguar HH body Sunburst (No electrics or plates - just the body). Chosen for the dual humbucker and the lack of the Jag Trem. I love a trem unit just not the Jag ones alas.

Neck: 1965 Pre-CBS rare "A"- width Mustang Neck with cool brass Nut. the A width is a dream come true for my little hands. The neck heel fits perfectly into the body although the screw-holes will need a slight widening but other wise all line up perfectly despite the 42 year gap between the parts.

Now the following is a subject to change as all the rest of the parts will be purchase over coming months as finances allow but will eventually feature the following

Body: Fully shielded body cavities.

Strap Buttons: Strap-locks (possibly Schaller)

Bridge: A tune-o-matic bridge. Either standard to enabling file the saddles in line with the necks 7.5 radius or, if it is possible, a Schaller Adjustable Roller bridge for the adjustable string spacing facility - will have to try both and see which feels best I'm guessing. On a side-note does anyone know if the "Adjust-O-MAtic" bridge on Japanese HH Models is actually designed for the 7.5 radius neck?

Pick-ups: Two humbuckers (not sure of make and model but will need to have facility for coil tap functionality - might stick to the trad SD JB' or Dimarzio S-Distortion)

Main controls: Two Volume / One tone. (I will invest in quality pots including the Tone-Pot mod/upgrade i have in my Strat. I know the least about the electrics in this project so if anyone can tell me what is possible with using the best/most powerful pots I'd be grateful to know! I see there are 500k posts and upwards but don't actually know what's 'best'

3-way Toggle switch in the lower front control plate a'la the mod Kurt Cobain had.

The upper control panel will include a switch to coil-tap the humbuckers for the single coil effect. (the rollers will most likely be replaced by switches unless I can figure out a cool mod that could use rollers). I 'may' even go so far to include a tune-o-matic piezo pick-ups for an acoustic sound in which case another switch on one of the control plates will take on this duty.

Other stuff: I may even include a Kill-Switch for Buckethead style noise-horror.

I will do the electrics myself given enough research and will invest in quality parts at all points in the venture. If i fail miserably I will pay someone to do it for me!

The final project will live in a lovelry Fender Braun Gold-lined case.

In an ideal world I'd do something about that eternal Fender folly - the lumpy heel joint but i really haven't come up with a good solution here short of some hardcore carpentry that I am completely unqualified to deal with. Somewhere in my head in the far future I will have a scratch built guitar in a Jagaur style with a through-neck design but this is still the stuff of dreams. In an Ideal world I would also have the neck have binding and block inlays. If this neck works well for me I will eventually have one custom made to the same dimensions or see if it's possible to have this implemented on the '65 neck itself

Questions.

Bridge: Has anyone fitted a Tune-O-Matic bridge to their jaguar - does the radius difference make a total pain in the arse? If so have you filed the saddles to match? Has anyone tried an adjustable roller bridge like those made by Schaller?

Electrics: What is possible in beefing up the volumes and Tone pots? what is all this 500k/1000k malarkey and what difference does it make to the sound? Has anyone got any cool ideas for alternative functions for the plethora of Jaguar controls? I'm not keen on anything that involves digital circuits in this regard but anything else is fair game.

Neck: Is it at all possible to have a neck applied with binding and block pearl inlays? Should I have the headstock decal removed and replaced with a Jaguar decal or simply display the heritage of the neck by retaining the original Mustang decal?. I'm not at all precious about modding an old neck here so if this gives anyone the horrors I appreciate your feelings however to me its simply a guitar neck that suits my girly hands and will be shaped however best fits the scheme of this project. The end pay off will be the best guitar I've owned so far.

Many thanks for your time and considered opinion!

Best regards - Dave

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:32 pm

Oh yeah

Sperzal or Schaller Locking Machhineheads because I've had them on my Strat for 16 years and wouldn't do without them.

Also to put pics up here do we need to host them somewhere then link? Be cool to show you guys where I'm at so far.

spaceghost · Post by **spaceghost** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:55 pm

Black Cat Bone wrote:
Also to put pics up here do we need to host them somewhere then link?

exactly. though a Jag purist, i look forward to seeing this project.

theworkoffire · Post by **theworkoffire** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:12 pm

You might want to have a look at Andy Rothstein's variable coil-split idea for his Jazzmaster: http://www.guitar-mod.com/Merchant2/mer ... y_Code=PJM He's stopped giving out the circuit diagram for it but it's easy to figure out - look on the Seymour Duncan website for spin-a-split diagrams and that'll give you all the information you need.

Andy is on the board here occasionally (http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 21#p143921) so you could try contacting him for the diagram. But if that fails send me a pm.

I'll be documenting the wiring of my Jazzmaster build in a week or two (index.php?topic=7322.0) so watch out there for some humbucker switching madness. I was originally going to go for the variable coil-splits but I think now it will involve series/parallel switches for both humbuckers, and instead of a rhythm circuit the top circuit will put both pickups in series with switched true-bypass pots on the rollers. It might sound terrible, so I'm fully prepared to revert back to something more traditional but there's no harm in trying, eh.

the older brother · Post by **the older brother** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:09 pm

Black Cat Bone wrote: I love a trem unit just not the Jag ones alas.

I'm shocked! It's the ONLY tremolo IMO...

Interesting project - It will be fun to follow.

quarterpound · Post by **quarterpound** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:56 pm

sounds like a cool project. I'm always game for screwing with the purists! Ironic about your taste for the Jag control layout tho - it's the main thing i don't like about them - mainly because i don't like the idea of having controls i don't use! ^^;

You want a 500k vol pot for humbuckers, generally. 1k and 250k are in no way definitively "worse", just different-sounding. The general idea is that 1k would be too shrill and 250k would be too muddy, but tastes do differ - i'd probably throw a resistor on a 500k to shoot for 350k. As far as branding on pots, i wouldn't worry much. A Switchcraft is still only around $5 US. If you are adamant about quality, the solution isn't really to get more expensive pots, but to measure your pots and adjust the resistance as desired. Good luck! Post pix!

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:23 pm

Many thanks for all the comments and advice. I've duly added 500k pots to my my wish list as recomended by Quarterpound. In an odd sort of way I agree with what you say Quarter, I don't want things I wouldn't use so in a sense I'm getting a simple Les Paul kind of set up on a Jaguar a'la Kurt Cobain however instead of just leaving the extra controls dead and unconnected (or taped over!) I decided that I wanted to come up with novel and useful way to make use of them. The coil tapping comes from the fact that I want to be bale to get a full-fat humbucker attack to play with however a good single-coil sound will be good for my band which is influenced a lot by Shellac.

Theworkoffire - that is an awesome project (and what a great looking car too!). I will certainly follow your progress with special attention to the wiring. Funnily enough I nearly based my design around a kind of Jaguar Car colour scheme (perhaps more British Racing Green) not unlike the limited edition Start that was made - see it here: http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/Guitars/El ... p5744.aspx

I had a look at the link you posted and I really need to get on top of what all this means so I think I'm going to be learning a lot in the coming months!

The Older Brother - I give the whammy on my strat so much abuse I am pretty sure that the Jag one would never hold its tune even with a new bridge and locking machineheads! STill I may well swap the body one day since creating a big wall of noise just aint the same without a whammy to tease the sweetness out

Okay here are pics of what I have at the moment of the Jag parts. Also a piccy of my modded out Strat (as I mentioned it earlier and I'm rather proud of it! Its a Japanese custom Photofinish body, an American cream pearloid plate, Graphtec saddles, Sperzal locking tuners and some Tone-Pot mod (clapton one maybe). I believe the Pickups were some Yngwie Malmsteen high-output fender pick-ups *shrugs*. Its got a USA Rosewood neck and yes all those coloured stickers have got the notes written on them because I kind of figured I should learn to play the thing properly and learn my theory. They will come off one day honest! Oh yeah and there is a WW2 badge stuck to it because it looks cool to me. It is absolutely covered in dings and small splits and other such mojo-making goodness - it's been with me since I was 17 and I'm 31 now so we have some history together!

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:30 am

I now have the cash to buy up all the remaining parts and have put together these dressing room pics to help decide - any opinions? Personally at this moment number 5 is making kissy faces at me but then 4 looks so good...and so does 3!

I've tried to fit in a les paul swicth and retain 2 jag switches in 1 however I think I will have to defer to the Cobain model configuration as seen in 2-6.

If I ever get a scratch built neck with the A size nut I might go for one of these:

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Thu May 15, 2008 1:25 am

Moved the neck pup and tail-piece back a bit to be more accurate and added a screw under the bridge a'la HH Pickguards. Also Added a gold kill switch and strap-buttons as well as tinting the dots to reflect the aged creamy look on the Mustang neck:

d-rock · Post by **d-rock** » Thu May 15, 2008 5:04 am

I like the look of #3 without surrounds. With the Jag plates it's too much.

Your small hands dilemma reminds me of that Burger King commercial...sorry I couldn't resist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SltqvE0b9uo

Seems like pretty cool project

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Thu May 15, 2008 5:20 am

d-rock wrote: I like the look of #3 without surrounds. With the Jag plates it's too much.

Here's a side by side comparison:

Heh like the inverse of Big Train's Fat-Handed-Tw*t
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BQyxGTjZi2I

Black Cat Bone · Post by **Black Cat Bone** » Mon May 19, 2008 6:13 am

At this stage I only know the basics and have identified the following bits however I know nothing about resistors or anything else so basicly i hope someone can simply say "You also need x,y and z"

I'll link to the specifics

3 Gold Speed Knobs
http://www.thomann.de/gb/goeldo_dome_sp ... b_gold.htm

1 Fender TBX Tone Pot
http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_tbx_tone_control.htm

2 500k pots for two volumes
http://www.thomann.de/gb/goeldo_el500.htm

4 Jaguar slide switches (THE ROLLERS WILL BE REPLACED WITH SWITCHES!)

http://www.thomann.de/gb/goeldo_wde16.htm

1 3-way toggle
http://www.thomann.de/gb/partsland_toggle_switch.htm

A gold mono jack socket

Lots of cloth covered wire.

Brass shielding tape or brass sheeting to make shielding 'buckets'

And what else?

So basicly I got 4 slide switches to somehow enable the following (taken from a website

With a single 4 wire humbucker, there are six possible modes. (Diagrams & Switch Usage)
1. Series-In Phase This is the standard humbucker wiring. Maximum power output with strong bass and smooth attack. (hum canceling)
2. Single Coil (South) Just the South coil of the pickup alone. Good traditional single coil tone with a sharper attack. (not hum canceling) Use in combination (series or parallel) humbucker in "North coil mode" or a standard single coil (north) for a hum canceling Strat/ P.R.S. style tone.
3. Single Coil (North) Just north coil of the pickup alone. Almost the same tone as the south coil but slightly different due to its different position. (not hum canceling) Use in combination (series or parallel) with another humbucker in "South coil mode" or a standard single coil (South) for a hum canceling Strat/P.R.S. style of tone.
4. Parallel-In Phase Great single coil style tone with no hum. Best option for clean, bright tone without the noise of standard single coil wiring. Strong treble with crisp attack but lower power output. (hum canceling)
5. Series-Out of Phase Thin "phased" sound with good power. Great for funk. (not hum canceling)
6. Parallel-Out of Phase Thinner "phased" sound with low power. (not hum canceling)

Is there a precedent on this forum for this kind of set up?

Really appreciate any help and advice or any links to useful sites.

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