Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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MrMalopropism
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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by MrMalopropism » Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:25 pm

gutter rock wrote:
sjperry54 wrote:Hey! Another Louisville guy! I think you're number 5 around here. Welcome! I've got a VM JM like yours that is waiting for some mods.
Indeed welcome, from another one of the Louisville guys! Is this town an offset hot spot or what? You certainly wouldn't think that by the rarity of a local guitar store stocking one! I almost bought one of those JM's on clearance for $200. This thread is making me kind of wish I had.

Even Less with the demise of Guitar Emporium... I would go in there all the time, I worked at Book and Music exchange. All the small businesses are dying. GC is killing everyone.

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by MrMalopropism » Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:29 pm

CROSS_guitars wrote:I use bullet strings with Jazz/Jag tremolos. I was having problems with ball ends popping off. It might help to file out the string holes a bit to remove dags.

(whoa, there's a few "that's what she saids" in there)
Yeah, I might even go 12s. I didn't believe the ball ends could turn into projectiles until I saw it with my own eyes. Some guy on YouTube suggested putting a dab of solder on the ends, but I don't think Ill be doing that.

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sjperry54
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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by sjperry54 » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:45 am

Hey... one of the other Louisville guys here. Looking at the photo of your rout, it looks like you might need to square off the upper corners. This is a common problem seen on a lot of aftermarket bodies that can cause the trem to bind. There are threads on OSG that show it. Unfortunately, I suck at searches otherwise I would have included a link. :)

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MrMalopropism
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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by MrMalopropism » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:54 am

sjperry54 wrote:Hey... one of the other Louisville guys here. Looking at the photo of your rout, it looks like you might need to square off the upper corners. This is a common problem seen on a lot of aftermarket bodies that can cause the trem to bind. There are threads on OSG that show it. Unfortunately, I suck at searches otherwise I would have included a link.

I tried to make the bottom slightly longer at the bottom to compensate for that. Well, you are probably right, That may be why it's getting hung up. I am just afraid to try and square the corners with a chisel, afraid Ill butcher it. Thanks Ill try it.

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by p.eat » Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:22 am

MrMalopropism wrote: Image
Anybody else see the face?

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by fullerplast » Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:30 am

Image
Q. Are we not men?

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by Deed_Poll » Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:02 am

p.eat wrote:
Anybody else see the face?
That's the terrified expression on my face before I get dental work done.

And my dental work usually doesn't involve a router :wtf:
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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by triviani » Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:29 pm

Amazing skills you have, I'd ruin the guitar doing these mods..

I saw a pic of someone here that turned the input jack inside out, and suddenly the horrible strat look was solved. I'd give it a try.
An AC30 fired in anger can peel the paint from your automobile...

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by triviani » Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:32 pm

Something like this

Image
An AC30 fired in anger can peel the paint from your automobile...

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by gutter rock » Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:40 am

MrMalopropism wrote:
gutter rock wrote:
sjperry54 wrote:Hey! Another Louisville guy! I think you're number 5 around here. Welcome! I've got a VM JM like yours that is waiting for some mods.
Indeed welcome, from another one of the Louisville guys! Is this town an offset hot spot or what? You certainly wouldn't think that by the rarity of a local guitar store stocking one! I almost bought one of those JM's on clearance for $200. This thread is making me kind of wish I had.

Even Less with the demise of Guitar Emporium... I would go in there all the time, I worked at Book and Music exchange. All the small businesses are dying. GC is killing everyone.
Yeah, the Emporium was really the only hope for finding Jags and Jazzmasters locally. I don't think GC's stores are killing everyone as much as internet sales for music gear. The weird thing about it is that GC is in a huge mountain of debt!

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by sjperry54 » Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:58 am

gutter rock wrote:
Yeah, the Emporium was really the only hope for finding Jags and Jazzmasters locally. I don't think GC's stores are killing everyone as much as internet sales for music gear. The weird thing about it is that GC is in a huge mountain of debt!
Man, I miss G-E! I don't think GC hurts as much as people believe. At least not in Louisville anyway. I talked with Howard at Mom's Music on Mellwood right after GC opened and he said that their business had been great and was actually picking up.

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by MrMalopropism » Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:10 pm

triviani wrote:Something like this

Image

Lolzzzz. whatever makes em' happy, I guess.

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by MrMalopropism » Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:13 pm

sjperry54 wrote:
gutter rock wrote:
Yeah, the Emporium was really the only hope for finding Jags and Jazzmasters locally. I don't think GC's stores are killing everyone as much as internet sales for music gear. The weird thing about it is that GC is in a huge mountain of debt!
Man, I miss G-E! I don't think GC hurts as much as people believe. At least not in Louisville anyway. I talked with Howard at Mom's Music on Mellwood right after GC opened and he said that their business had been great and was actually picking up.
Yeah I bought my lil' Vox practice amp from Mom's music when it was still on Shelbyville rd. Glad to hear they are doing well.

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MrMalopropism
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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by MrMalopropism » Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:43 pm

Mission Acomplished!

Image

I had ALOT of problems getting this thing to return to pitch.
1) because I had the trem hole 2 or 3 mm too far right of the bridge.
2) because I did not make the route the full 1 3/8 in. depth
3) because the Tusq saddles had ALOT of space between them, and combined with the offcenter trem they would slide around when bending.

Took me about a week to get around to deal with these issues but I'm satisfied for the most part.

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There where big gaps between the Saddles, which I imagine would have been fine, if I had placed the Trem in the right location.

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I got one of those roller string trees from StewMac to make myself feel better, I think is looks cool plus it adds to the hole black and silver theme.

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The original saddles on the Mustang bridge where too wide, the Graphtech String savers where too narrow. Time to put those hands together. This is a mixed bag so I solved the problem with a mix of saddles. It works and the string spacing is just right a healthy 52mm E to E and no sliding around.

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Welcome to the family. My favorite axe so far.

That took a lot longer than I thought it would. But I learned quite a bit along the way. I might shield the cavity at some point and maybe look into some of these GFS Jazzmaster pups too. Got my bridge cover coming in the mail this Saturday. Thanks to everyone who gave me helpful suggestions. Until then, on to the next project!

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Re: Butterscotch VM Jazzmaster Project

Post by choicepick » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:35 am

hot damn..one of the nicest looking guitars I've ever seen..love the look of the mixed saddles too!

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