abw1989 makes a Jazzmonster - Completed!

What's Hot
abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
edited July 2019 in Making & Modding
I've done a kit guitar before which was fun and when I found two decent lumps of wood in my loft when I moved house I fancied making a body from scratch. I'll purchase a neck this time, baby steps and all.

Here is the the end goal:

Some sort of Jazzmaster Les Paul Custom hybrid. Jazzmaster scale length with LP style tunomatic bridge and controls. I have a spare gold covered JB bridge pickup lying around so that will go in, and I'm thinking about a HB sized P90 in the neck.

I can see the main issue having a tunomatic bridge with a Fender style neck angle. Ideas on a postcard anyone....?

Here are the raw materials in all their glory:



They are thick enough that I can cut them in half lengthways and have enough thickness to get a two-piece body out of one of the lumps. This is good as I am bound to mess up the first attempt.

I cut one of the pieces down to size and set about trying to cut them to thickness, approx 42mm. I wanted to do a cut with a jigsaw to give me a line to follow and finish off with a hand saw. I had to rig up a clamping mechanism as I soon realised my clamps weren't big enough... 



I got about this far after an hour of sawing and realised that this was enough. The cut wasn't going straight and I couldn't feel my arms. My current situation is trying to find somewhere with a band saw that will cut down the other lump for me. I told you I would need both....!

If not I'll be looking at buying a Jazzmaster body blank.




0reaction image LOL 3reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
«134

Comments

  • The guitar design looks cool - kinda like an upside-down firebird, with that Gibbo-style hardware...
    You'll need a bit more neck angle for a TOM instead of a fender-style bridge - so your choices are either to re-cut the bottom face of the neck heel (may have to add some extra material first) or angle-rout the bottom of the neck pocket. If you intend to bolt on the neck, though, that latter option presents it's own problems in terms of the screws/plate arrangement, due to the taper. So if you want a bolt/screw-on neck, you're probably better off taking the finish off of the lower face of the neck heel, gluing on a bit of maple and re-cutting the angle. I like to buy the hardware (i.e. bridge) first, to get the measurements/height range etc. , then to get the angles right, draw it all out full-size on the back of a roll of wrapping paper; the shops have plenty of that right now ;-)
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    @philballard ;

    Bolt on was going to be the way forward. The neck is on order and should be with me Tuesday. I like your idea of adding material to the neck heel, much easier than creating an angle in the pocket I think!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • @abw1989 yeah, I agree. You also get more chance to fix it if it doesn't go right first time!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • 0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    @mikem8634 nice find, thanks! 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    Neck has arrived courtesy of CH Guitars:







    Whilst I sort out my situation with with the body and the band saw, I will set about cutting and finishing the headstock. I'll be getting a custom water slide graphic made up. 

    As for shaping the headstock, is the consensus to use a jigsaw or a (handheld) router? I have the Jazzmaster template and some MDF so I could make a routing guide or is this a bit overkill?

    After that I'll be sanding, masking the headstock face off, spraying a black coat, flat it back, apply decal then finish the whole thing in a vintage tint clear coat. 

    Sound about right?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • randellarandella Frets: 4088
    abw1989 said:
    I could make a routing guide or is this a bit overkill?

    It's what I would do, purely on the premise that if I ballsed up the cutting, it'd be less loss if I did it on the MDF rather than the headstock.  You can take your time getting the MDF template just-so, and then it's not a whole lot more work to roughly cut the headstock to shape and then clean it up with a router and your template.

    That's just me though, I like to take time with these things. :)

    If you do go down this route, one thing I would suggest is that you mount your router in some sort of table (a sheet of ply and a Workmate is what I used for a while) rather than trying to do such a fiddly job with the router handheld.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    randella said:
    If you do go down this route, one thing I would suggest is that you mount your router in some sort of table (a sheet of ply and a Workmate is what I used for a while) rather than trying to do such a fiddly job with the router handheld.
    I was thinking about this too. Do you mean to mount the router upside down so that I end up with a crude version of a table router?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • randellarandella Frets: 4088
    edited December 2018
    abw1989 said:
    randella said:
    If you do go down this route, one thing I would suggest is that you mount your router in some sort of table (a sheet of ply and a Workmate is what I used for a while) rather than trying to do such a fiddly job with the router handheld.
    I was thinking about this too. Do you mean to mount the router upside down so that I end up with a crude version of a table router?
    Yeah, that's exactly what I mean.  I used some 12mm sheet (it was MDF, now I think about it) with a hole cut for the base of the router.  On top of the MDF I sat a sheet of acrylic, the router came up from underneath to sit in its hole in the MDF, and screwed in from the top through the plexi.  The whole lot got clamped in a Workmate and the Workmate clamped to my fixed workbench to stop it moving.

    The acrylic is probably unnecessary, but I had it lying around anyway.  You could just as easily screw through the MDF (or ply, or OSB, or a bit of whatever you've got lying around that's true and flat) into the router.

    I ended up installing this lot into the top of the fixed workbench to make it safer.  Which has now been taken out again and replaced by a table saw.  This is what happens when your 'shop' is the utility room.  What I'd give for one of those big American outdoor workshops that every bugger on Youtube seems to have
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • randellarandella Frets: 4088
    It goes without saying and I'm not trying to patronise you, but this is a public forum after all and I should be responsible - be careful.  Be very careful.

    Rigging something up always introduces things you have to think about, the main one being you won't have a no-load power switch with a big 'off' button you can hit without looking.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    @randella good info thanks, I'll probably look at setting up something like that!

    I know what you mean about having a plavlce for handy work... I'm currently working out of my conservatory!

    100% on board with your warnings too, currently nursing a decent scar from poorly clamping a pedal enclosure I was drilling into...! 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    edited December 2018


    A bit of headstock shaping this evening. I took the scale template and overlaid it on my headstock. Tweaked it to fit and traced the new outline back on a piece of paper. I've got some 18mm MDF, enough to make a headstock and body template and set up a routing table as above. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • SporkySporky Frets: 27574
    If you can, cut to a few mm off the line first with a bandsaw or jigsaw, don't try to do all that with the router. 
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    @Sporky absolutely!

    And lots of practice runs too I reckon....!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • SporkySporky Frets: 27574
    Okey doodly - sorry if that sounded obvious. :) 
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    Quick update.

    I heard back from the joiner I took the wood for splitting and squaring into two pieces to glue together. Turns out the chap he had given the job to was a guitarist himself. He didn't like the look of the wood I had, said it was too soft and wouldn't sound great. He said to leave it with him for a couple of days.

    I heard back and he had managed to sort this out for me instead:



    A single piece of Sapele which I think is some sort of African Mahogany! All squared up to the dimensions I wanted and flat sanded for the bargain price of £10.



    Practically finished....
    3reaction image LOL 4reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • @abw1989 that looks like a really nice piece, and a bargain price. I just finished a project in sapele, it's great material. It's often sold as 'African mahogany' but I think it's a separate species really. Works like mahogany, but the interlocked grain can be awkward in places when you're trying to plane it. Just watch the weight - can you weigh the piece you have and do the maths to work out what your body will weigh?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    @philballard it's definitely a hefty lump! I've been meaning to get the scales out to measure it, I'll do it this evening.

    Hopefully I'll have little planing to do, as I got it fully squared off from the joiner. I'll. Just be cutting, routing and sanding all going well! 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    The slab'o'wood weighs in at 12lbs! I think I'll be looking at an 8lb body once it's all shaped and contoured.

    A quick note on the shaping; it seems I didn't quite convert my inches to mm correctly leaving me with a body blank around 20mm narrower than I require for a standard JM shape. I contemplated glueing one of the offcuts in position where I need the extra material. However, this will be quite a thin piece and right near the edge so I'm worried about it snapping off. Instead, I've decided just to reshape the body slightly from my template and go with that. It's more unique and also saves a bit more weight! 



    Also last night I set about starting the routing templates. I managed to get finished the headstock and the humbucker cavity. I'd forgotten how truly horrific and dusty pleasant MDF is to work with...



    I also added a nice contour to the back of the template so that it sits up against the fingerboard flat:



    Ta-daaaa, two finished routing templates:

    Next up will be to make the routing template for the rear control cavity and the body itself.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • I'll watch this with interest, i've always fancied making a body from scratch but the thought of cutting the neck pocket square has always put me off! Good luck and look forward to seeing the next update.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.