Ash Jaguar Build

[skipjackrc4]

I've never played a Jaguar, but I like the look of them. So it's time to build one!

I couldn't find any decent ash locally due to the emerald ash bore (probably), so I had to order a blank from Stew Mac. It's decent quality wood and feels pretty light, but there's some pretty bad snipe on both ends that limits the thickness to less than 1.75". I'm not too concerned with losing a bit of thickness, but I'm annoyed that I have to deal with this on such an expensive blank. I'll handle that tomorrow. You can even see it in the photo just past the end of the neck pocket in the strat outline they drew:

I'm using a Mastery vibrato and bridge after reading about all the problems with OEM hardware. One of the things I like about the Jag is all the chrome, but unfortunately the Mastery is only available in brushed Stainless. Oh well. To match the vibrato, I ordered brushed stainless control plates from Faction Guitars. Price for these is a bit high for the quality IMO. The edges need to be eased and the countersinks aren't perfectly centered in the mounting holes. Still, they'll get the job done and match the rest of the hardware. You'll notice that the main control plate is blank - I'm not sure yet where I want to put the output jack, so I left it that way for now to keep options open as the build develops. There's also a decent chance that I won't like the pickup selector's location and decide to move it onto the main plate. I'll have to do a mockup to see if my right hand hits the switch. I'm going to do a 0.5 degree neck angle, so the bridge will be higher than on other Fenders. It's possible that the increased string height will make hitting the selector switch less of an issue.

I'm going with a 24.75" scale length rather than Fender's 24". Finish will be a burst of some sort, either traditional black/red/amber or something more like a dark sienna burst. I'm not a fan of faux tortoise shell pickguards, so it will be B/W/B.

 

[skipjackrc4]

The wiring scheme will also be unique. Roller tone controls on the upper plate along with a phase switch for the bridge pickup. 4-way pickup selector that allows both series and parallel wiring. And two volume knobs on the lower control plate, along with possibly the output jack. No weird circuit switching or filtering found on the original design. With the dual volume and tone controls, it's actually similar to a Gibson scheme with the added series and phase options.

Knobs are all black chrome for contrast with the brushed SS.

 

[skipjackrc4]

The planer snipe in the blank was a bummer, but luckily the newest addition to the shop was able to make quick work of it

I ran it across the jointer twice and then through the planer once. The result was flat within 0.001" over the length and 0.005" over the width. Good enough, though I'll probably try recalibrating the planer to get it closer across the width (and likely make things much worse in the process...). The final thickness was 1.640 - 1.645. I've seen conflicting numbers for the Jaguar body thickness ranging from 1 5/8 to 1 3/4. I was originally targeting 1 3/4, but I guess 1 5/8 will have to do.

Body cut on the bandsaw:

And finished up on the router table:

With the template still attached, I routed out the cavities, excluding the neck pocket for now:

And here we are:

The pickup selector switch didn't quite fit, which I expected based on the control plate's manufacturer's site. I widened the cavity using a Forstner bit like so:

And it now fits well (ignore the lines; I was just messing around with different dimensions):

Tomorrow I'll deal with the neck. Since I'm using a non-standard scale length, I need to draw up a custom template.

 

[Yesyoudidyouare]

Following.

 

[solfege]

Looks great.

Vintage Jag and JM are both 1 and 5/8. The only time they're thicker is if one is installing a strat trem (a la Jagmaster), which for full size block needs 1 3/4.

Happening to have built an ash Jag partscaster myself, I will also add that Jags, with all that metal, tend to be heavy in the first place so you really do. not. need. to. add. weight. with the body.

So yeah, 1 and 5/8 will absolutely do you.

 

[Ronkirn]

Lookin' good.... For me, the Jag was one of Leo's most beautiful guitars... I wish he had offered in in a 25.5 scale too...

 

[FuncleManson]

Awesome. Tons of respect for folks who build from scratch.

 

[TN Tele]

I love a nice Jaguar, good luck with your build.

 

[lariat 99]

Following.
How much does the body weigh?

 

[skipjackrc4]

Following.
How much does the body weigh?

4.5 lbs without body contours or roundover. It's lighter than it looks.

 

[skipjackrc4]

The Whiteside spiral bit left edges that were clean enough that I skipped the spindle and disc sanding steps on the body. I did use a homemade flexible sanding block with p150 to smooth out the machining marks. The curves on a Jag are large enough in radius that the sanding block was able to fit everywhere:

I drew a 24.75 scale neck in Solidedge and printed out the template. After an emergency run to Walmart to buy a glue stick, I attached it to some 3/4 plywood and cut it out. Cleaned it up on the 20" disc and spindle sander.

I cut a couple straight pieces of plywood scrap to use as a template for the neck pocket. They were long enough that I could align the neck with the bridge mounting ferrules.

I cut another plywood scrap to a 5" radius and fit it at the end of the neck. I tacked everything together with CA glue and brad nails.

I used this temporary template to route a solid template, seen here:

I wanted the neck pocket angled at 0.75 degrees to avoid having to shim the neck as is so common with Jags. I've never done an angled neck pocket, so I tried something new.

I started by doing a shallow route with no angle, like so:

Then I setup the router sled set to a 0.75 degree angle. I didn't have any bits with shanks long enough to use a 3/4" template with the router mounted on the sled, so I pulled the template off and used the existing narrow routed edge as the guide. I have a lot of routers, but I'm finding that I like this little cordless trim router for most things. Never though I'd use it for instrument work when I bought it.

And here we are:

 

[skipjackrc4]

While routing the pocket, I made a stupid mistake. My selection of 1/4" radius template bits was somewhat limited, and the depth was set such that the bearing just barely engaged the smooth pocket edge. Normally this would be fine, except that I forgot about the angle - as I moved the router toward the back of the pocket, the bearing fell off the edge because of the angle. The result was a gouge in the edge of the pocket. The gouge falls below the top surface of the body, so it's not visible. You can sort of see it here:

While embarrassing, this is easy enough to fix. I'll cut a thin strip of ash and glue it in. With the top edge of the pocket remaining intact, it will be pretty easy to fit everything with a chisel. After this happened, I immediately ordered every length of 1/2" bit that Whiteside makes so I can prevent this from ever happening again...

 

[theprofessor]

That's a great looking piece of Ash. Sorry about the snipe. That really shouldn't be a part of a body blank Stew Mac is selling. Great work so far!

 

[skipjackrc4]

7/16" roundover applied to the edges, just barely avoiding the neck pocket so it can be safely cut by hand later:

I marked an 8" radius on the back for the tummy cut, using a string and holdfast as a trammel:

I threw together a 25 degree angled fixture to bandsaw the contour:

And then cleaned it up on the spindle sander:

A rasp and the flexible sanding block yield results that are good enough for now:

I marked the forearm contour line based on a strat drawing. I think it was 52 degrees from the center line.

I cut this contour with a rasp. Auriou rasps are definitely worth the hype, btw. It's slightly flatter than I'd like, but there should be enough meat to round it a bit more.

Time to start the neck. I bought some 8/4 maple because I wanted to make some other stuff out the same board that needed the extra thickness. I jointed and planed the neck blank, then hit it with a resaw with a final thickness a little over 1" thick to allow for some additional warping as the stress from the resaw equalizes. I used a 1/4" blade because I was too lazy to switch to a proper blade. As long as you cut slowly, it works fine for a 6" wide board.

I'm letting the board sit for a while to get the movement out of the way. I'll check on it this weekend and see how bad it is.

 

[87Lion]

That is one heck of a jointer!

And I love the grain of the ash body.

 

[skipjackrc4]

That is one heck of a jointer!

And I love the grain of the ash body.

Yeah, I was pretty happy with the quality of the ash. I haven't seen any that good locally.

The jointer is a Minimax fs41ex combo jointer/planer. It's quite a step up from the 50 year old 6" jointer and lunch box planer I had before. I was initially worried about the inconvenience of the switch over process, but it's not bad at all.

 

[Steve Holt]

Excited to see a Jag build!! My favorite fender guitar.

If I could offer a tip from my own experience with jags...

While you still have the body in its current condition route out more wood to connect all the cavities. It's not "original" to fender jags but it is something they started doing in later years, and it makes wiring it up SO much easier.

I've owned 3 fender jags and built one (with a second in process that my brother-in-law is building) Of the 3, only one had the handy extra routes, but I'll be building all of mine that way from now on.

So going from this...

To this...ignore the weird neck pickup route and maple filler piece. That's a long story!

There's not a lot of room in those cavities for extra wire so being able to make the wires be the exact length and be able to lift the plate right up to diagnose/fix any issues is surprisingly helpful.

The pickguard and plates hide all the holes.

[Edit: looks like you already did all this...but all the same for someone else in the future that mint be reading this] And for the love of all that's good, be sure and fit all of your plates with controls in them to make sure they fit before you get to finishing. Jag parts seem to be all over the board. Especially the little roller pots if you'll be using them.

The first template I bought was pretty wonky and I ended up having to fix every single cavity to work right. I went as far as to attach the neck, locate the pickguard and all screw holes, and then locate each plate and drill the screw holes pretty early on. Which is probably a pretty good practice to do all the time, but usually I wait until I'm assembling to do pickguard screw holes.

 

[skipjackrc4]

Excited to see a Jag build!! My favorite fender guitar.

If I could offer a tip from my own experience with jags...

While you still have the body in its current condition route out more wood to connect all the cavities. It's not "original" to fender jags but it is something they started doing in later years, and it makes wiring it up SO much easier.

I've owned 3 fender jags and built one (with a second in process that my brother-in-law is building) Of the 3, only one had the handy extra routes, but I'll be building all of mine that way from now on. View attachment 938439

So going from this...

To this...ignore the weird neck pickup route and maple filler piece. That's a long story!

View attachment 938447



View attachment 938438

View attachment 938436

There's not a lot of room in those cavities for extra wire so being able to make the wires be the exact length and be able to lift the plate right up to diagnose/fix any issues is surprisingly helpful.

The pickguard and plates hide all the holes.

View attachment 938440

[Edit: looks like you already did all this...but all the same for someone else in the future that mint be reading this] And for the love of all that's good, be sure and fit all of your plates with controls in them to make sure they fit before you get to finishing. Jag parts seem to be all over the board. Especially the little roller pots if you'll be using them.

The first template I bought was pretty wonky and I ended up having to fix every single cavity to work right. I went as far as to attach the neck, locate the pickguard and all screw holes, and then locate each plate and drill the screw holes pretty early on. Which is probably a pretty good practice to do all the time, but usually I wait until I'm assembling to do pickguard screw holes.

View attachment 938453

That's a great tip my friend. I had considered doing that, and you've convinced me. That's a beautiful Jag too.

 

[Steve Holt]

That's a great tip my friend. I had considered doing that, and you've convinced me. That's a beautiful Jag too.

Glad I could convince you. It's so much better than jamming a couple wires through a small hole and then running those up to the plate.

Your build is looking great so far. Thanks for the tip on rasps. I do appreciate a good rasp. I have two good ones and they're among my most prized tools.

Have you thought about how you're going to ground the bridge/strings?

 

[TN Tele]

Beautiful Jag build, can you tell us what paint you used for your sea foam green finish ie paint brand and mix, number of coats, clear coats etc? Thanks.