Poplar Jazzmaster

[hockeygoon]

I began working on this project in October and finally got around to finishing it up today.

I started with a template pdf from here (I forget which one now), got Acrobat pro (trial edition) so I could tile the printout, taped it up and transferred to mdf.



Then carefully traced out the outline using a Xacto.




Bandsawn close to the line, then one of those 4-in-1 rasps from HD to get it down to the line.


I then did some matching with the arcs and my forstner bits to cut some holes at the corners of all the control cavity routs. Then a coping saw to cut the main part out.


Template master done. As it turns out I cut the upper control cavity a little big, so had to do some patching to the body.

[hockeygoon]

Rough sawn 8/4 poplar, 2 pieces.


I use hand planes for jointing/thickness planing. My scrub plane in the shot which takes off some serious wood shavings.


Template on the body blank.


Bandsaw the body outline and rout it.





Control cavities routed out.

[hockeygoon]

After getting my pups and pickguard, I could rout the pick up cavities. I'm using GFS soapbar P90s and Warmoth pickguard.


I handplaned the top for the arm thingie and then rasped the belly cut. Its a little chunkier than a stock JM.


I sanded from 80 to 320 and put on some boiled linseed oil, then put the body out in the sun to get a little UV.


Looking better than most poplar. If at this point it looked crappy I was going to put on a coat of shellac and do an opaque finish, but I liked it.

[hockeygoon]

I used Waterlox varnish, I can't recall how many coats, probably 4 or 5. Waterlox is an awesome tung-oil based varnish, but it takes about 30 days or so to cure even though it dries fairly quickly.

I decided not to do the upper control area switches.

GFS P90 pickups, roller bridge.
Warmoth tortise pickguard, 1M pots, and vibrato.
Switchcraft input and toggle.
I used a WD 'big headstock' Strat neck and Fender Am Std tuners.
Strung it up with 11s.







And its new home.

[adjason]

Looks great!

[adirondak5]

Very nice , finish looks great.

[telekazamm]

Now thats what you call hand made!!

[hockeygoon]

Thanks, the setup on this guitar went quicker than the other ones I built. Better string spacing and action too. I guess experience helps and knowing what I didn't like about my other guitars.

I was worried it would be too ice-picky with the 1M pots, but it sounds nice and can get a mellow tone pretty easily.

[flatfive]

Looks great! You did a nice job with the body contours, and
the overall color scheme is nice, too. Nice when you can get
some poplar without any green in it.

How do you like the GFS P-90s? Also, did you have to rout
specifically for those P-90s, or are they the same size as
Gibson or other P-90s? I love P-90s but it's a hassle that
they come in lots of different sizes.

[hockeygoon]

These are my first P90s on a build, so I'm not sure how they compare to others. They fit the Warmoth P90 rout on the pickguard perfectly.

For routing the pup cavity, I got the pickguard first for layout and used a WD Music (I think) P90 template, then just squared the ends to make things easier for fitment. I measured the depth of the screws/polepieces and used a straight edge for routing that little channel. Did the same for the unused upper control cavity wiring channel.

They sound good, as nice as my Hamer with SD P90s. With some OD they snarl, but for jazz tones they are real nice. And with the 1M pots, I can get some pretty bright tones as well. Overall I'd say this is my most versatile guitar, at least with my amps (Epi Valve Sr in the photo, a Fender Blues Jr and a Vox VT15).

Also I'm pretty impressed so far with the roller bridge--string bending hasn't been an issue with the stock style Jazzmaster vibrato, which is a frequent complaint on most vintage JMs and Jaguars.

[Oldschoolwax]

Beautiful, nice work man! I love it, been thinking about building one myself, but I'll buy a body hehehe!

[Drools]

Very nice build.
Could you post a small clip?
Sorry for such a noob question, is the Jazzmaster close/same as the Jaguar?

[hockeygoon]

They share a very similar body shape, but have a few differences.

Jaguar: 2 tall single coils (somewhat like strats), 24" scale, different hardware
Jazzmaster: 2 wide single coils (somewhat like P90s, but flatter and wider, and no adjustable pole pieces), 25.5" scale

Both stock ones have a unique wiring which I didn't include. There are a few youtube clips which explain how those work stock.

[Finastbeans]

This is beautiful, I have been fantasizing about a guitar like this for awhile. What is the sustain like with that tremolo system? Would it be comparable to a strat?

[hockeygoon]

I have a MIJ HSS strat with a floyd rose, so that is the only thing I can compare it to in the Strat family--sustain is much better, but I was never very impressed with the sustain on that strat.

Actually sustain is probably the best of my other guitars too (3 teles, 1 Epi LP, 1 Hamer lp jr, 1 Ibanez artcore semi-hollow) right now.

I'll see if I can make a clip, maybe this weekend (if I'm not shoveling snow all weekend long).

[Teleholder]

That poplar came out looking great! Nice job. Is that brown the natural coloring of the oil finish or did you tint it? Looks really nice.

[hockeygoon]

Hey TH,
Yeah that brown came via the oil and sunlight. Most woods react to UV (kind of a 'suntan') which speeds up the natural aging process. It will get darker over time, though not much more.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though I think I need to fiddle with the electronics a little--I think I grabbed the wrong cap size from my bundle of caps. Still it sounds nice.

[LuvN Guitars]

Nice job, that Poplar looks very nice.