I got a Jagmaster quite cheap and am planning to do some mods. Its getting shipped right now, so I dont know what model exact it is, but it comes with a 24 inch neck.
From Jagmaster fotos I see a relatively cheap tremolo system, I think the sustain block is thinner than the standard Strat ones. One possibility is to block it completely or to fill the cavities and install a Mustang or a modified TOM bridge.
..stoptail I dunno, as a Jazzmaster Tremolo needs further wood removed. I surely want to cut the pickguard to a Jaguar-somewhat-style and maybe Fender-wide-range-Humbucker covers..
to fit WRHB you will need to mod th guard.. and maybe the body.. i'm not sure
putting in a mustang trem would look awesome.. but would require a bit of work
the most common is a jazzy/jag trem mod, again requires a bit of work
i found that the block on the stock trem to be more stable then that of any strat i've ever owned.. mind my strats have all been squier bullets.. so not really the best comparison.
I'm pretty sure you'd need to route the body for WRHBs but you may not actually need to . . .
as for blocking a trem, it's not something that requires a lot skill but would take a decent amount of time. you can block them with a piece of 2x4 if you have some small saws, a dremel tool, and sandpaper. you can do it without a dremel, but it certainly helps.
When I put the Jazzmaster pickups in my Jagmaster, it only required a bit of routing on the edges. WRHB isn't as wide as a Jazzmaster pickup but is wider the other way. Routing should minimal if even nececessary. I had to route out my Jaguar HH for a WRHB in the bridge position, but the ocean routes in Jagmaster may be larger.
I chose to lock down my tremolo my Jagmaster, but it was already painted so I didn't want to go threw matching paint. If you are started from a striped body, then it won't be so bad.
I wont install JM pickups in this jag, I prefer the humbucker with splitting..P90, which I love, look a bit strange on this, sadly..
the green is very similar to the thurston moore one, yeah..a kind of cooler green. The picture I used, is of course the Costello JM, which is of ash, and jags are onkly of basswodd and alder.
I get it today or tomorrow, so I´ll check how the trem sounds..
The trem is OK but if you want to upgrade, please don't go GFS. Just get a big steel block MIM Fender tremolo. You can find them all day for like $15 on Ebay and they'll drop in no problemo (might have to file a bit of wood for full range of motion) and they say Fender on their saddles. The only slight difficulty is finding an M5 trem arm in anything other than white.
ok, the project is goin on..I sanded down the whole body and identified its made of 5 pieces of wood. On top and back there is also a kind of veneer, ash-like..
the question now is, do I sand it down or leave it..
5 pieces dont look perfect., but the grain is more natural. When I leave it, it looks kind of unperfect, too..
Yeah, looks quite ok..I´m nor sure about the color..a darker sunburst would be possible, too..to cover the edges a bit.
I´ve been doin hard oil finis on some guitars which feels nice and is not complicated at all.
or a nice poo trans brown?
Last edited by jamba72 on Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
