robert(o) JM project

[ludger]

My Jazzmaster is slowly coming together. I'll use this thread to post progress pics and questions that the wonderful group at ShortScale will hopefully answer.

Here's what I have so far:



I just got the MOP today. Now I'm waiting for the router attachment for the dremel to get started on the blocks.

Still need to get:

wiring and all pots and switches
mustang bridge, saddles and cups
neck pickup
copper shielding tape
jack
strap buttons
screws
(Did I forget anything?)

Here's my tape job for the blocks:



First question of this thread:

Here is a pic of the neck (almost) in the pocket. It's about a millimetre off. My question is do I shave that millimetre from the left side of this pic or from the right side of this pic or a tiny bit from both sides?



Thanks for your help.

[robert(original)]

try using a dremel and hitting the corners with it like the mexi fenders and cbs fenders.
do a lil on both sides i would say. there really is only a marginal difference between the two, but non the less its enough to stop it from fitting right off the bat.
do you need a jazzy neck pickup?
i have a seymour duncan hot for jazzmaster with 2 cream u.s. covers.
(it was installed on the 83 tele, but i sold that and kept the pickup itself)
if you want it just shoot me a pm, it was only installed for a few months and still has all the lead wire left.

[jcyphe]

With the small headstock the dots look way better, like 65 style dot-neck. But it's your project .

[Justin J]

the dots do look way cool. and aged ice blue would complement it very well. though i see you've chosen sherwood green, not a bad choice.

guitar center hollywood has an ice blue dots 'n' binding '65 jaguar aged to a delightful shade of green, that until recently was locked up tight in a glass case with the hefty price tag of $7500. I finally got a chance to play it and was completely unimpressed with the sound. my '62 sounds way better.

[ludger]

With the small headstock the dots look way better, like 65 style dot-neck. But it's your project .

Thanks for the advice but I've always wanted a blocks & bound neck since I first saw one. The headstock is the only thing I won't be completely 100% happy with. I would've liked a big fat CBS one but where am I going to find a bound one for 150 bucks?

do you need a jazzy neck pickup?

I don't think I'm going to get a seymour duncan for this. I have Quarter Pounders in my Jag and was looking to put some P90s in it. I don't yet own a guitar with those type of pups.

try using a dremel and hitting the corners with it like the mexi fenders and cbs fenders.
do a lil on both sides i would say. there really is only a marginal difference between the two, but non the less its enough to stop it from fitting right off the bat.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to get at this tomorrow (or this weekend).

the dots do look way cool. and aged ice blue would complement it very well. though i see you've chosen sherwood green, not a bad choice.

I love the look of sherwood green. I wanted my jag to be SG but couldn't find one and got OTM instead.

[ludger]

Thanks to the tutelage and encouragement of More Cowbell I decided to attempt the blocks and binding thing. Here are some pics from the process (and some questions at the end):

I borrowed a dremel from my uncle and bought a router attachment off ebay (5 bucks!) to do this:



Used that saw in front to cut the MOP I bought off eBay and sanded it down:



Slopped some plastic wood in and squished the MOP down:



This is before any sanding is done. You can see the raised corners at the bottoms of most of the blocks:



It's definitely not perfect but I'm happy with how it turned out. Here is the final product:




Now for some questions:

When I was grinding the corners off the MOP I got a little careless and managed to hit a couple frets. Does this mess my neck up now?




Also, a tip: Always check the depth level before you route after putting down the router for the day. My wife knocked it off the table and I guess it changed the depth 'cause when I routed this one it was a bit deep:

[matte30is]

Where did you get the neck and how much?

[More Cowbell]

AWESOME JOB DUDE!!!!!!!!!!

[Hurb]

You got bigger nuts than me dude..I'm still too scared to do the blocks on my neck

good job.

[Wonka]

Muy profesionale! That looks better than some of the inlays on Epiphone's I've seen. Are you able to umm shim the route that went too deep?

[Tex-czech]

you could tape up your fret board and use light steel wool to smooth out frets.

[Sublimedo]

you could tape up your fret board and use light steel wool to smooth out frets.

yep, light sanding can fix it. You can always replace frets too. FRET NOT!

[ludger]

Where did you get the neck and how much?

Ebay...here's the listing.

Are you able to umm shim the route that went too deep?

Yeah, I put a bunch of plastic wood in it. I didn't let it dry enough before I started sanding it down so it came loose. I put more plastic wood in it and it seems okay now.

you could tape up your fret board and use light steel wool to smooth out frets.

yep, light sanding can fix it. You can always replace frets too. FRET NOT!

So if I do that it won't cause me to have to get a fret dressing?

Thanks for your words of encouragement and responses everyone.

[robert(original)]

play it and see how it works out.
good job duder!!!!
now someone just has to do black blocks on maple, that will get the coat for sure!!!!
thats one of those 165 dollar allparts necks right?
i wonder if it would worth making it a large headstock and doing the inlays............

[mewithoutus]

dude great job. it looks spiffy.

[astro]

Pure awesomeness. I, too, am too chicken to ever attempt to add blocks to a neck, so kudos to you!

[r40f]

i've had some very nasty gouges in one of my guitars' frets... so deep that the string would get stuck in them on certain frets. i sanded the frets in question down until they were smooth enough so that i could at least play the notes without it getting caught. but then the note actually "died" in that it wouldn't play at all. i'm not an expert by any means on set ups, so i don't know how crazy you can get with sanding down all the frets, but i think i would have to re-fret most or all of the neck if i wanted to get back those few notes i can't play.

i can't tell exactly how much that nick affects the fret from the pictures... so, i guess it would be worth it to try sanding it down as has been suggested, but ultimately, it could make that a bad fret anyway. although if i was in your position and i knew how, i'd probably replace the fret even at this point

looks great anyhow - good luck!

[DGNR8]

Fuckin A, bud. Nice work. A little aging is all that thing needs. I need to finish assembling mine. I have a few that could be finished in about an hour. I know it is incomprehensible, but that's what a little heartbreak will do sometimes.

[ludger]

I had THE hardest time drilling the holes connecting the neck and body. Three times and I'm still not sure it's right. I doweled them twice. And I keep stripping the screws once I reach the maple. What am I doing wrong? How do you do this?

(I'm tempted to get robert to sell me another body cause I think I deformed the neck pocket too much)

I think I've finally got it lined up (according to the string anyways) -
Toe Shot:


A couple of days ago I ordered a nut, some copper tape, a string tree, pickup screws (and neck screws 'cause of the four I stripped)

I ordered some stuff from Parts is Parts and this is the e-mail they sent me:

Thank you for shopping at Parts is Parts. (pickup) Screws are backordered. Fender has no ETA available for them, so they may take a while. We will charge and ship your order when they arrive. Thank you.

Shit...more waiting.

Now all I have left to buy is the neck pickup.

[TheBurbz]

I'm doing blocks myself at the moment, I did them by hand using pro wood chisels though. I've done about 7 frets so far and they are all perfect, not a single bit out although it does take approx. 20 minutes for each fret this way, I think the result is worth it, I'll post pics when I'm done.

P.S. Sorry to steal your thread