Somnospeed
Tele-Meister
I suppose one could argue that this guitar doesn't belong in this forum, but I digress. Underneath this Jazzy exterior lies a '70's Tele Deluxe! 
Backstory:
So I'm a huge fan of the 70's Telecaster Deluxe models with the WRHB. It would have been my Numero Uno main guitar, but I could not stand the neck. Totally sharp edges and I'm a thumb over player. So for me, it was torture; best and worst of both worlds.
I couldn't bring myself to change the neck on such a classic (3 bolt anyway...
) So I decided to keep the WRHB tone and make myself a cool looking, great feeling, easy playing Jazzblaster. I'm a huge Sonic Youth fan and remember searching and searching magazines, VHS videos, DVD's, etc, trying to figure out what frickin' model Jazzmaster Lee Ranaldo was playing. Pre-internet... so I had no idea Lee had them custom made. I thought it was some super-secret Seattle-only guitar that was too cool to find anywhere in my boring town. It turns out no such Jazzmaster existed.
Fast forward 25 years... I finally got one of those exclusive Seattle-only Jazzblasters, but it just couldn't match that Tele Deluxe tone. I thought it must be the pickups but nope, my issue was that I could not adjust tone and volume settings for each individual pickup. The pickups were fine, but with only one tone and one volume, I knew the tones I was looking for where locked in there somewhere, they just needed to be unlocked.
Enter the Jazzblaster Deluxe. I added an additional volume and tone pots, as well as moved the pup selector to the top horn, ala the Tele Deluxe (Did I mention I loved those??
) First test run, it was immediately apparent that having only one vol and tone hides a lot of fine-tuning options on the WRHB. Having doubled the pots does not directly translate to doubling tone adjust options... I say it triples it at least!! YMMV. Granted, I upgraded the pots from 500k to 1Meg and added a treble bleed, but I am factoring that in my assessment. I still say the tone options are free from their two pot chokehold! I eliminated the rhythm circuit entirely because 1. I cannot find even one usable tone in a JM rhythm circuit. 2. I needed the space lol.
Looks wise, et...
I like it. I love it, actually but I admit the placement of the neck pup knobs is not a final design. Being that this is Prototype #1 I wanted to use the current pickguard so I used the original pup selector switch hole for one of the added pots and drilled for the other. But performance-wise, they are perfect. You may have noticed that my two volume knobs are next to each other in a TV-VT pattern, which is an atypical staggering on any guitar. My style of EQ is to find the "sweet spot" in the tone knob each pup and, for the most part, leave the tone knob set at that position. Then I use the two volume knobs as the EQ to adjust tone in the middle position, which I play most. Deeper tone, roll off bridge volume. Vice-versa. So the knobs being located where they are suit my playing style perfect. I can reach each volume knob without moving my hand left or right, away from my strumming position. I can now easily reach each volume with the most minimal arm movement. Mission accomplished!!
Like I said, this is Prototype v1.0. This is my first Jazzmaster ever so I wasn't sure if all those extra pots and wires would even fit inside there lol. Now that I know it does fit and how to do it, I know the final product will be a big improvement over the prototypes. Jazzblaster Deluxe prototype v1.2 soon to come. Stay tuned!!
Backstory:
So I'm a huge fan of the 70's Telecaster Deluxe models with the WRHB. It would have been my Numero Uno main guitar, but I could not stand the neck. Totally sharp edges and I'm a thumb over player. So for me, it was torture; best and worst of both worlds.
Fast forward 25 years... I finally got one of those exclusive Seattle-only Jazzblasters, but it just couldn't match that Tele Deluxe tone. I thought it must be the pickups but nope, my issue was that I could not adjust tone and volume settings for each individual pickup. The pickups were fine, but with only one tone and one volume, I knew the tones I was looking for where locked in there somewhere, they just needed to be unlocked.
Enter the Jazzblaster Deluxe. I added an additional volume and tone pots, as well as moved the pup selector to the top horn, ala the Tele Deluxe (Did I mention I loved those??
Looks wise, et...
Like I said, this is Prototype v1.0. This is my first Jazzmaster ever so I wasn't sure if all those extra pots and wires would even fit inside there lol. Now that I know it does fit and how to do it, I know the final product will be a big improvement over the prototypes. Jazzblaster Deluxe prototype v1.2 soon to come. Stay tuned!!
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