Jaguar project

[Tom_B]

Hi! First post!

A friend of mine gave me a jaguar body he made. Nothing's routed on it except the neck pocket, so it's kind of a clean slate. I'm not really into tremolos, so I want to use a fixed bridge. I'm usually a tele guy, so I was thinking of going with the old GE Smith style half tele bridge like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Telecaster-G ... 23057424ef

I'm wondering, with the 24 inch scale, how well this would intonate. I know some of the old duo sonics (the reissue, too) come with a three saddle bridge and are the same scale. Does anyone have any insights as to how well these work? Do people usually replace them with a six saddle bridge of some sort?

[Zack]

With that bridge, the jag will have to be a hard tail unless you plan on drilling through the back piece. Hard tail jag would be cool, you were probably planning to do that anyway. As for the 24" scale, as long as you are using a neck that is made for a 24" scale guitar, then measure from the nut to where you'd put yr bridge. You'll need to have room to adjust your saddles to intonate the instrument. So as long as you get yr measurements right, instrument should intonate. The whole 6 saddle to 3 saddle thing is a reliability/taste issue. I've never had a problem with 3 saddle bridges, but some people prefer to go the more modern route. The best thing about it is that you can always put in a modern bridge if you're going for the 3 saddle and hate it.

that bridge is expensive.
good luck on the routes.

shortscael tellayyymastar daylux?

[benecol]

I've never used a tele bridge on a shortscale, but have had plenty of three-saddle tele bridges on teles; in my opinion, the intonation woes are vastly overstated. Unless, of course, you're one of those strobe-tuners-in-a-dust-free-room kinda guys. Looks like a neat solution to me. Welcome to the forums, and keep us posted.

[Tom_B]

Thanks for the quick replies.

Short scale telemaster deluxe! I like it. Hadn't thought of it that way. Yupp, definitely want to go the hardtail route. I actually just found the much cheaper bridge I put on my GE Smith style tele I put together...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wilkinson-Chrome-WT ... 4cee3172c8

I'll probably go with that and, you're right, I can always change it out if the intonation ends up driving me nuts. But I doubt it will. I'll post pics as I go along, but progress will be slow.

I guess I might as well ask about body finishing. I live in NYC so I need to finish it in my small apartment (no spraying)... I was thinking of a dark walnut stain with several coats of tru-oil on top. Any one have any experience doing this? Any stain suggestions (water vs. oil based? US brands?)? Oh, the body's maple.

[Zack]

Cool, I'm working with a maple 1 piece guitar right now. Chicago has a spraypaint ban so buy from reranch to get the colors that I like. I've sprayed indoors before with a face respirator and plenty of open air. If you've got a sunroom of some sort with lots of air, or an area that you can close off (and circulate) from the rest of yr place so the stench doesn't obliterate all the clean air in yr home.

If you go for an oil based dye, then I'm under the impression you'll need to use a spray or rub on clear (if you want a clear) that reacts specifically with oil based paints/dyes. Never tried tru-oil but from what I just read, it seems totally plausible. Air flow is a must though, even if you aren't spraying. Satin finish? Chill.


much more manageable bridge; i've never played with compensated saddles, but have heard good things.

[SKC Willie]

I would put a bigsby on it.

I've always wanted a Jag with a bigsby.

[hotrodperlmutter]

yeah, but you and haze want to put bigsby's on everything.

i would just do a jag up standard, and lock the trem. i don't use a tremolo either, so i keep my jag trem locked.

i think that bridge on the jag is do-able, but i think it will look silly. like a jagcaster kinda thing. on the 50's duo's (similar, cept not string through, yeah?) i always thought those bridges looked cheap. not in the quality sense of the word, but the like the capri pants verbage, 'wotsa matter? didn't have enough for the rest of it?' again, keep in mind that with the ge smith bridge, you'll have to do string through.

personally, i've been thinking of a hardtail jag with a custom tail piece. basically, the trem plate (which could mount flush), and the some bit of modified metal that's basically the string lip cut off, and mounted to the trem plate, so it'd never move. then you wouldn't even have to route the trem pocket.

[SKC Willie]

yeah, but you and haze want to put bigsby's on everything.

I do like my bigsbys

[Mages]

jag trems are way better than bigsbys though. they're easier to string, the handle is more comfortable, the range is more useful and they're not all stiff like a bigsby.

[Tom_B]

Yeah, I do like how all the chrome looks on a jag. I haven't made up my mind, yet. I was also considering doing something totally different like, gasp, no pickguard... But I'd have to do a good job doing the pup routes...

[hotrodperlmutter]

i've been looking for a clear guard for my jag. i think the underside is pretty, which is all dependent on those clean routes.

[Thom]

If I remember rightly BobAC took the guard off his Jag for a a while and liked the look of it "au naturele".

[SKC Willie]

jag trems are way better than bigsbys though. they're easier to string, the handle is more comfortable, the range is more useful and they're not all stiff like a bigsby.

I like the way the bigsby feels better. I do understand why more people would like the Jag trem though. I just like the stiffness of the bigsby. Also, I like how I can add it to guitars that are normally hardtail and if I don't like it, I can take it off without a huge hole in my guitar.

[Tom_B]

I guess I'll start documenting what will probably be a pretty slow build. Here's the body.

[Dice]

Good luck with the project! You can make it any scale you want, so long as you place the bridge the correct distance from the nut.