1Q22 challenge - New Jaguar build begins - finally!!

stickyfiddle · April 2022

You know when you think you have everything you need and then you start putting bits together and you realise neither of the sets of ferrules that are in the box with the machineheads actually fit the machineheads that are in the box? Yeah...

40 minutes later and I've worked out these tuners match* my MIJ Paisley Tele and were replaced about 10 years ago with a matching set. Those wider ferrules were still on that guitar because apparently 2012 Mike didn't think it was important. I have now extracted those ferrules and will put them on the Jag with the old MIJ tuners. And then go an order a proper set of klusons for both guitars because FFS...

*actually a 5+1 mismatched set, but whatever..

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Success!!

Note the different final post. That will make my brain itch, but it’s rock & roll, right?

Sporky · April 2022

Don't you put that one first and make up something about break angles that the cork sniffers will lap up?

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Sporky said:

Don't you put that one first and make up something about break angles that the cork sniffers will lap up?

I genuinely did think it’s good that it’s the high E as it holds the string marginally lower, which means less pressure on the string tree and hence less friction and better tuning. But I also thought “fuck that”

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Today’s progress. Half the wiring is done and what’s left is basically just joining the various circuits together. All being well I should be in good shape to finish tomorrow.

It’s at the point where it feels like a guitar, rather than just a collection of parts, which is nice. Proper photos when it’s done

downbytheriver · April 2022

stickyfiddle said:

I call this photo “bloody hell why didn’t I build an Esquire??”

It does have an air of impending gorgeousness though…

paulnb57 · April 2022

Stunning colour, it really does have an air of impending gorgeousness

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Yeah, it's not bad

Full credit to @lamf68 for the finish!!

Deadman · April 2022

Yeah, Rich is the man.

Lovely colour, I’m hankering after painting something gold soon too. Just looks so good.

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcwWwLtW8AIDnvX.jpg

dean111music · April 2022

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, it's not bad

Full credit to @lamf68 for the finish!!

This looks awesome! Where did you get the body from? Are jags and jazz on the heavier side v strats and teles? Extra body mass and metal?

Andyjr1515 · April 2022

Yes. Looking great.

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Cheers chaps

dean111music said:

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, it's not bad

Full credit to @lamf68 for the finish!!

This looks awesome! Where did you get the body from? Are jags and jazz on the heavier side v strats and teles? Extra body mass and metal?

I would definitely say my JM is a bit heavier than my Strat, with the extra body mass (I would reckon the trem & bridge is about the same on both). I'm not sure on this Jag yet but the body felt quite light when bare. Will let you know when it's complete. Off the shelf ones from Fender can certainly be boat-anchors, but they aren't always. My old MIJ was under 9lb and super comfortable.

Body was from Guitarbuild and finished by Rich otherwise known as @lamf68 on here and Guitar Resurrection on facebook. A talented chap and an absolute gent.

I would note a couple of things on the body itself... Rich mentioned the body wasn't quite as ready for finishing as he'd have liked - just a couple of imperfections that wouldn't bother me but might piss off others, so something to be aware of.

More annoying was the bridge ferrule locations. They were just fractionally wider apart (max 0.5mm, maybe less) than needed to fit the mastery properly. That would be no issue if you use a traditional JM or Staytrem that pivots, but it was enough that the Mastery wouldn't quite fit first time. Of course I only realised this after fitting the ferrules, which meant 20 minutes with soldering iron and pliers, then a little bit of careful filing to widen the holes just the tiniest amount. It's fine now and I don't mind scuffed ferrules as I can't see them and it's a relic anyway, but obviously it's annoying. I'm not saying this is even necessarily a GB issue; I'm genuinely not sure how close the tolerances normally would be on these sorts of things. I don't know if anyone else has any experiences to add here?

lamf68 · April 2022

stickyfiddle said:

Cheers chaps

dean111music said:

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, it's not bad

Full credit to @lamf68 for the finish!!

This looks awesome! Where did you get the body from? Are jags and jazz on the heavier side v strats and teles? Extra body mass and metal?

Body was from Guitarbuild and finished by Rich otherwise known as @lamf68 on here and Guitar Resurrection on facebook. A talented chap and an absolute gent.

I would note a couple of things on the body itself... Rich mentioned the body wasn't quite as ready for finishing as he'd have liked - just a couple of imperfections that wouldn't bother me but might piss off others, so something to be aware

While I don’t take on many paint jobs these days this one was one I fancied for the light ageing alone, as Mike says this was a piss poor body off guitarbuild, I thought it was a reject body, a lot of the edges required loads of sanding to remove tooling marks and there were knots in the body that they normally reject and sell on through a third party, this is one of a very few down the years that I’ve seen that were hours away from being able to lay paint on as guitarbuild are normally outstanding! Obviously slipped through the net. I’m more amazed at how quickly it’s arrived in Abu Dhabi….

stickyfiddle · April 2022

lamf68 said:

stickyfiddle said:

Cheers chaps

dean111music said:

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, it's not bad

Full credit to @lamf68 for the finish!!

This looks awesome! Where did you get the body from? Are jags and jazz on the heavier side v strats and teles? Extra body mass and metal?

Body was from Guitarbuild and finished by Rich otherwise known as @lamf68 on here and Guitar Resurrection on facebook. A talented chap and an absolute gent.

I would note a couple of things on the body itself... Rich mentioned the body wasn't quite as ready for finishing as he'd have liked - just a couple of imperfections that wouldn't bother me but might piss off others, so something to be aware

While I don’t take on many paint jobs these days this one was one I fancied for the light ageing alone, as Mike says this was a piss poor body off guitarbuild, I thought it was a reject body, a lot of the edges required loads of sanding to remove tooling marks and there were knots in the body that they normally reject and sell on through a third party, this is one of a very few down the years that I’ve seen that were hours away from being able to lay paint on as guitarbuild are normally outstanding! Obviously slipped through the net. I’m more amazed at how quickly it’s arrived in Abu Dhabi….

It was actually pretty slow getting here with Aramex. They had a 3-day hold up for the custom process that normally only takes 12 hours or so. Maybe cos Ramadan kicked off this week.

Anyway, I'm super happy with it - full credit to you!

stickyfiddle · April 2022

And lo.. a guitar was born

Wiring neat enough and worked first time. The short-style toggle fits nicely.

Testing with my standard "tap pickups with a pen" method..

I guess about right with my usual cardboard shims. Aptly taken from a bit of Fender packaging

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Neck on and ready for strings!

I have strung it and got the action in roughly the right place. It'll need a chunk of fettling over the next few days but I'll let it settle with string tension first. I reckon string tree and logo will go on at the weekend, and a bit of extra rolling of the fretboard edges is always needed.

I'm generally happy with it so far. It sounds about right, though the primary volume taper is shite. I wired the rhythm circuit to mirror whatever the toggle is set to, so you lose the ability to go from bridge flat out to "woolly neck" but you can still get pretty wooly and more likely if I did use it that would be for a clean vs solo option. And I'm glad I have that toggle as Jag wiring has always been annoying. This seems like a decent quality of life upgrade and I don't care about the strangle switch so will probably leave that slot empty for now.

A couple of ongoing niggles - the pickguard is shite and doesn't quite line up with the control plates. I'll need to get a proper Fender one I think as 2/3 of the plates are OEM so that should fit nicely. I may need to re-drill a couple of mounting holes, so I haven't drilled all of them yet.

The neck is very nice and the 7.25"/vintage fret combo doesn't bother me at all so far. Maybe because this is never going to be a guitar for big bends. It will definitely need a few setup tweaks once the neck has settled but the frets seem smooth and flat and the mastery is fantastic. It's nowhere near ideal yet but is already possibly the best Jag I've played.

It's a noisy bugger so I may need to work out if that's just because I'm in a room with dimmers or something else going on. As I type this I have just realised I didn't attached the bridge ground wire, so that may help matters...

Proper pics when the tarting up process is complete!

downbytheriver · April 2022

That is properly gorgeous

stickyfiddle · April 2022

Yeah, not bad is it?

I have a medium size to-do list:

finesse position of guard and control plates. I've checked my orders and they're all USA-spec parts other than the toggle plate, so should fit together better. Not a massive issue but a little odd
get a better main vol pot as it's bobbins, despite being CTS custom
fit new tuners (they're in the post!)
more foam under the bridge pickup - it doesn't want to sit as high as I want it
shielding? Need to do a bit of google on that. IIRC the old ones came with brass plates in the cavities, so that might be worth trying.
polish up the neck a little bit - it's too satin at the mo
string tree
decal
truss rod
final check of action & intonation. They're already not bad but can always be improved
and an amber switch tip - HUGELY important

EDIT: to add more and give myself a checklist of stuff I can tick off...

a couple of layers of cardboard under the toggle plate to raise that flush with the pickguard
a couple of layers of cardboard between the top plate and switch to lower that just a tiny bit
nudge the placement of the rhythm pots as one is scraping just slightly on something
maybe a bone nut, but we'll see how this one fares over the next few weeks
tighten the staytrem collet (see below..)

I think that's it. Maybe...

stickyfiddle · April 2022

...aaaand tighten the staytrem collet, which has just come loose

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1Q22 challenge - New Jaguar build begins - finally!!

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