CRAZY NEW BUILD: Fender MONGOOSE... CBS' GREATEST MISSES!

[preservation]

Funny trivia bit: my 11-year old daughter may well have a future in espionage. She actually traced that paper template from an actual BASS V in a rehearsal booth at Chicago Music Exchange while I distracted the salesmen. True story!

amazing. reminds me of that moment in Extract where Mila Kunis steals that "fusion" guitar from under the noses of two brain dead employees.
except your daughter did a spec ops move and MK stole. its too early in the morning WTFBBQ

[wardpike]

To each their own. À chacun, sa même.

[ohm-men]

I quiet like it! It's crazy for sure, but crazier then anything they came up in the 60ties.
I like the"vibe" it has, like something they unearthed from some kind of secret guitar lab. This has to be the "FrankenFender"
Quiet honestly, It looks different, but kudos to you to actually have it build! I'm sure Andrew will do a great job on it.

I have to admit I got something cooking a bit simelar but in a Bass version, involving a XII body I made and a convererted cheapo Bass neck...
Quiet sure I get "barf" all over me aswell ...

[andrewdoeshair]

PAGING STEVE! PAGING STEVE!

I am making the templates right now, and I used a Jag template to place the bridge pickup the same distance from the bridge saddles as they would be on a Jag...


does that look good, or do you want to place it further from the bridge, to reduce that overly-trebley "icepick" sound I hear people crying about?

I'm gonna go back to work on it now and come check back for your response before I do anything with the pickup placement.

[mongoose]

PAGING STEVE! PAGING STEVE!

I am making the templates right now, and I used a Jag template to place the bridge pickup the same distance from the bridge saddles as they would be on a Jag...


does that look good, or do you want to place it further from the bridge, to reduce that overly-trebley "icepick" sound I hear people crying about?

I'm gonna go back to work on it now and come check back for your response before I do anything with the pickup placement.

If it works for a Jag, then it works for me. Besides, I have a suspicion that the neck pickup may be really "bass-y", and I tend to use both together anyway- should balance well.

"MAKE IT SO, NUMBER 1!"

[mongoose]

I have to admit I got something cooking a bit simelar but in a Bass version, involving a XII body I made and a convererted cheapo Bass neck...
Quiet sure I get "barf" all over me aswell ...

I applaud you, Sir! The more and I receive, the happier I am.

[dug]

I have to admit I got something cooking a bit simelar but in a Bass version, involving a XII body I made and a convererted cheapo Bass neck...
Quiet sure I get "barf" all over me aswell ...

I applaud you, Sir! The more and I receive, the happier I am.

LOL! Go for it!

I think its cool.

[andrewdoeshair]

I don't know how much detail everyone wants to know about building a completely unique guitar mostly from scratch, but when I began to make the templates and was a little concerned with the odd extra wide heel shape on this, I scratched my noodle and farted out a plan that I have to admit I am very proud of...

I started with scrap MDF and I drew a center line on it.


Then I drew a perpendicular line to it.


I mounted a piece of scrap pine (which around my garage is proving to be VERY worth the $1.60 per 8 feet) on the edge of that line.


Now, this is only going to work if I'm right in assuming the two protrusions on the back of this heel are identical in shape and size. If one is shorter than the other (I'm 99% certain it's not) then my centerline will be inaccurate and the neck will be mounted crooked ( ).

I pressed the heel against the mounted block, and placed two other blocks firmly against the sides of the heel.


It already held the neck tight enough to hold the weight of the template.


The screws protruded through the back of the template, so I went for my $8 angle grinder (thanks eBay!)


Then after using a jig saw to remove most of the MDF from in the would-be-pocket area, I flush trimmed it with my router.


Now it holds the neck snug enough to support it's weight.


Steve mentioned wanting to make this a Jag/split/Jag pickup setup, so I laid out a few parts on the blank...


This pickup idea reached me after I completed the template for the Jag/Split setup (which took way longer than I expected. Sorry for the delay! I'll have to work on this again Saturday or Sunday...) but it won't matter; I can move things around and make it happen.


Oh yeah, I was going to do a totally simple and easy control route, using a forstner bit and 2 straight cuts just far enough apart to pass my router bit through, but it turned out my forstner bit was too small for the full-size pots. I plan to buy a larger one so I can make this method work in the future...


So now the control route is pretty standard looking...

But this build is otherwise about to be SO much fun

[mongoose]

Man, Andrew- it's so much fun to watch you working on something that I dreamed up and will eventually own.

Really sorry about the last-second pickup change idea. If it proves to be a pain we can always revert to PLAN A. I won't be disappointed!

My heart hasn't raced from a build picture since I saw the semi-assembled TB-64 when Paul posted it- and that was quite a while back.

FUN!

[Jazzprod]

Andrew, this is soooo cool!!! I'll be following this one for sure!!!

[paltic]

amazing build!!!!

[mongoose]

Updated image (still not actual color):



Can't wait!!!

[scotty66]

Updated image (still not actual color):



Can't wait!!!

I like it !

[JSett]

Updated image (still not actual color):



Can't wait!!!

I like it !

what a monster!































...me likey

[Keegan]

I dub it, Nessie.