Jagmaster Repair Question

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:16 pm

This was my first project guitar and it tough cause I just finished fixing the grounding problems. I spent lots of time making my vision come to life and it's tough to see it die. Kinda feels like a pet died or something.

At least I can use the body to learn to paint now.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:56 pm

taylornutt wrote:This was my first project guitar and it tough cause I just finished fixing the grounding problems. I spent lots of time making my vision come to life and it's tough to see it die. Kinda feels like a pet died or something.

At least I can use the body to learn to paint now.

Dude that fucking sucks. You could try this:

Link

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:19 pm

I also thought about filling in the claw cavity and trem hole and turn it into a proper Jazzmaster. Not sure if all that filler would be hold up. The crack extends pretty far down.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:25 pm

doing a proper jazzmaster would be awesome. That'd be totally do able with filling in the trem, you could route out the cracked area and glue in a wood block to let you sleep easier about it. The bridge wouldn't even be placed where the cracks are, it'd be lower, towards the butt of the guitar.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:30 pm

Goots. wrote:doing a proper jazzmaster would be awesome. That'd be totally do able with filling in the trem, you could route out the cracked area and glue in a wood block to let you sleep easier about it. The bridge wouldn't even be placed where the cracks are, it'd be lower, towards the butt of the guitar.

I have to make sure the crack is fixable underneath, because the body shifted so much. I don't want this problem following me later. Does the Jagmaster have enough body thickness to do this? I guess I could compare it to my Jag.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:44 pm

From the pictures it doesn't look like the crack made it to the swimming pool route. So technically you could just cut out a section where the trem posts are (or only one of them)that's depth would reach the same as the pool and glue in a wood block. If you're going to convert this baby into a full jazzmaster then you should probably glue a wood block where the trem system is on the back of the guitar. That should give you enough room to drill the new bridge posts for the jm bridge, which would be where you put the new block on the top, covering up the old trem route. The thickness of a jag body is large enough to fit a jazzmaster tremolo, it's been done before. There was an old thread about it on this site and a recent one by cross who has a profile here but posts on offsetguitars.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:31 pm

I just thought of something you could do. you could get rid of the posts and put a 6 point trem in. just plug the holes from the posts with dowels or widdled down pieces of wood. glue them in there and it should probably hold everything together pretty well I would think. then you could drill it for a normal 6 point trem.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 1:27 am

Sorry--I didn't see this. Stupid Safari problems have me online less. I had a similar problem with a cracked Mustang trem hole. I used glue and putty, but I was also going to paint after.

Have you tried just gluing it? Wood glue can work wonders. But you would have to find a way to clamp it tightly to itself. Since I haven't seen it, I can't tell what amount of wiggle room the trem needs in that rout. Since this is a common weak area, you might want to glue a small block inside that trem hole, up against the part that is cracking. That would give you hidden reinforcement. Again, clamping is key. They should have designed it with a steel plate like the one in my skull.

Another idea would be like a headstock tuner hole fix, where you drill a slightly larger hole and fill it with a hardwood dowel, covered in wood glue. This would make the spot even stronger than the rest of the wood. The only risk would be in drilling away too much of the dowel so that there is nothing left of it to hold together, which is why you would want to drill it larger than the part actually needs. But the glue in the cracks may make a lot if difference. The only downside to that is that you would be missing paint at that spot. You may be able to match it with Testors model paint. I have used putty that is strong enough to put screws in, but I don't know if I could trust it for that.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:57 am

Although it looks bad, this is very, very fixable.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:45 am

i can't believe it split so deep! def do jazzmaster if you don't repair it back to 2 post style trem.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:53 pm

I made a quick video of the damage with my HD Flip Camera. My pics don't show the full extent of the damage. The crack extends all the way through

[youtube][/youtube]

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:25 pm

saw one restauration by Time Luthiers Ny.

http://www.timeelect.com/bbf.htm
http://www.timeelect.com/dkkc.htm

used Brass reinforcement.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:29 am

Well, yeah. Can't you just carefully machine a 10 pound block of brass and lower it in there? I would love to have that machining capability.

The tinkering part of my brain wants to put a syringe of glue into the crack just to see what happens. If it fixes it, you win. If it doesn't, hello Jazzmaster. I didn't realize what a botch it was, going all the way through. I wonder if it was dropped, or if it just tears out like that.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:55 am

Let's go with the Jazzmaster idea for a second.

I found this Tremolo Cavity filler block.
http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.p ... tail&p=148

I did something like this, except I would sand down and repaint the whole body before installing the bridge and tremolo
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =8&t=31202

If went that route, then does that change my repairs? Do I simply fill the holes and cracks, glue in the filler block, sand it smooth, cutout holes for the new bridge and tremolo, install the new hardware, tear it down, paint , and reassemble it?

I have a AVRI Jaguar that I can use as a reference point for installing the bridge and tremolo. Are the bridges and tremolos on Jaguars in the same location as they are on Jazzmasters? I know the Jags are 24" and Jazz are 25.5", but does that move those components as well. I could buy a Jazzmaster guitar template, but I was hoping to avoid spending the extra money. I assumed I could 25.5" inches from the nut and that's where the Saddles of the bridge should be and then space the trem the same as my Jag. If anyone has a template for this part I would appreciate it.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 am

You should measure 25.5" from the nut of the guitar to the body where you should draw a straight line and drill in the bridge mounting cups.

That was the thread I was talking about. I wouldn't buy the hipshot trem filler, a couple pieces to shape because you should cut out the place where the cracks are. You'll need more wood than just the trem filler, unless you are just gonna put a jazzmaster pickguard over the crack and forget about it. Or glue it, Icey's links look like interesting ideas to get acquainted with.

dgnr8 wrote:The tinkering part of my brain wants to put a syringe of glue into the crack just to see what happens. If it fixes it, you win. If it doesn't, hello Jazzmaster.

That's a good call, especially if you don't want to go through all the modifications if you'd rather have the strat trem.

► Show Spoiler

It looks like if you were to move this comparison image to be bridge + bridge then it'd be the same distance. So jaguar measuring maybe a go? wait for a second opinion.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:29 am

I am leaning in the Jazzmaster direction right now. I have been wanting to try my hand at painting, though I hate to loose the CAR color. Anyone tell me where I can get a template for a jazzmaster. I would rather not buy one. I need to get a trace to be able to install tremolo and jazz bridge.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:55 am

can you cut your own template and get access to a large printer? I can find this pdf i've got that shows the body measurement. I was talking to this dude today about how he wanted to essentially make a 3 pup jagmaster and I was like, why don't you just use a jagmaster body (he wants to use a blank or something) and he was talking about how they're smaller than jazzy's. Can anyone back that up?

shouldn't effect the jazzmaster build, just get the measurements right.

measurements: http://www.mediafire.com/?qywkmt44f4e

edit: why don't you paint it car if you hate to lose the color?

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:56 am

as far as i know, jagmasters are the same size as jaguars. at least my vista body is identical to my CIJ jag body.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:57 am

sweet, thanks rod.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:06 am

hotrodperlmutter wrote:as far as i know, jagmasters are the same size as jaguars. at least my vista body is identical to my CIJ jag body.

If the Jagmaster is the same as a Jaguar body, then should I place the tremolo using Jaguar body measurements?