my first short scale guitar...

brandon. · Post by **brandon.** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:55 am

Squier/Fender/Dano Jaguar Hybrid

Got it in a trade with weed_killer. I'm very thankful for the Hamilton connection. I made a post in the Classifieds asking for Jazzmaster parts and he said he had a project for me. I traded a bass I wasn't using and some cash and got this beast.

The neck is from a new Squier Jaguar. The body was made from someone on offset? (weed_killer can clarify). All other hardware is japanese. It has a fancy Cobain style control plate, but weed_killer was nice enough to throw in the standard switch plate too.

The neck is beautiful. Very similar to my CIJ jazzmaster, but 24" obviously. I've never really spent any time with a 24" scale guitar, it's definitely a big change. I find my hand wanting to slide down the neck, but it stops abruptly at the first fret. Hopefully it'll grow on me.

I wired this up quick to get it playing today. I eventually want to make it a "traditional" jaguar with regular pickups and switching.
Here it is:

Some of the plates don't line up 100% pefectly, but I totally love it.

Pickups to 3-way---> output.

I didn't have the cups for that old jazzmaster bridge, but I threw a couple screws in the hole to lift it up a bit, then wrapped the posts with electrical tape to fill the gap. It's a great makeshift setup until the proper bridge comes in.

weed_killer gave me one vintage danelectro lipstick pickup and one new GFS lipstick. So far the GFS is either super quiet, or the Dano is SUPER loud... but both are pretty smooth sounding.

Thanks again to weed_killer for this great project, I can't wait to work on it once the rest of the parts get here.

Dannymec · Post by **Dannymec** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:09 am

This is super cool! Fix up the bridge, get some pots, adjust the pickup heights to balance out more and you have a great guitar. Really jealous of this one actually.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:13 am

if you're ever looking to unload that switch plate, let me know. I'd love to take it off your hands.

Johnny Noir · Post by **Johnny Noir** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:25 am

very cool with that lipstick pickups and switches!!!

spirograph · Post by **spirograph** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:30 am

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Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:06 am

Cool project, good score.
The plates not lining up perfectly almost gives it a vintage vibe, the old scratch plates sometimes used to shrink a little over the years leaving small gaps.

crazygoat · Post by **crazygoat** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:32 am

I like the lipstick pickups, really changes the look

brandon. · Post by **brandon.** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:28 am

I like the way they look too... but would also love a traditional jag look.
The pickups are way out of whack I think. I've got the vintage dano buried into the guitar and it's still way louder than the GFS. Maybe weed_killer knows the score?

Also, direct any aesthetic compliments to weed_killer, he made all the calls on this project so far, I just assembled it.

I have to say, I love all the plates on this thing, it makes it easy to change up the wiring and try new stuff.

Portugalwillie: I'm not the biggest fan of the plate, I might just use the classic 3-switch setup, but I'll let you know if I ever get rid of it.

weed_killer · Post by **weed_killer** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 1:07 pm

I think it would be easier for you to type Ben instead of weed_killer every other sentence, but it's your call

. It isn't a vintage Danelectro pickup, it's a Dan Armstrong lipstick (the other one being by GFS).
I don't know why one would be so much louder, since I never had them wired up. They are four conductor so maybe that's something? The body is two piece alder made by Paul Rhoney a long time ago.
I got the body, plates and lipstick pickups as a project from someone else on offset, so the lipsticks weren't my idea but I like it. It's weird that the plates don't match up nicely to the plates; I've got a
feeling it could be a homemade guard. Also, the 3 way plate is just a temp one made of thin aluminum, cause I didn't have the money at the time for a proper one. I put the Ibanez bass back together
last night, so I'll post some pics of that later.

brandon. · Post by **brandon.** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:06 pm

Awesome, I can't wait to see what it looks like.

I was just saying weed_killer because I wasn't sure if you wanted your "real" name out there for the internet to see.

Here's the shot from last summer.

weed_killer · Post by **weed_killer** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:57 pm

thanks, I hope Ben doesn't pinpoint me down that much. Here's a quick picture of the bass, I just need to find some set screw knobs for it.

► Show Spoiler

h8mtv · Post by **h8mtv** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:02 am

That is so cool. I am using a GFS lipstick in my next build. I love a nice project guitar.

brandon. · Post by **brandon.** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:55 am

Wired in the plate with some switches I found in a box of old guitar parts...
Behold!

Pickups are well balanced and I'm liking all the tones I can get.