HNB's Baritone Jazzmaster

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 2:06 am

I have been really digging Chevelle lately and even though I put baritone strings on my Bass VI, I kind of wanted a more proper baritone guitar. I looked in to the blacktop tele baritones, but read bad stuff about the neck. I also considered buying a Warmoth body and using a conversion neck and then I saw the HH Jazzmasters from China. (Modern series I think.) They have mahogany bodies, humbuckers, tom, and normal trem placement. I want to do a matte black finish, so I figured I might get the red body one to get the black guard and saw an auction for a black body with black guard. Nice thing about it is the seller already replaced the pots and cap with nicer stuff. No pickup rings and pickups, but I wanted to put in different ones anyways. The only blem on the body is a little ding by the forearm contour. Since I am going to sand and paint it anyways, I can fix that before I paint it. I intend to get a conversion neck from Warmoth or Allparts later. Not sure what pickups I want yet. Here are pics from the listing.

1 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

2 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

3 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

4 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

5 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

6 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

7 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

8 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:25 am

Cool project HNB.

I had plans to do something similar with a Squier VM Jazzmaster (get a Warmoth conversion neck and maybe a Staytrem Bass VI bridge if I needed the extra leeway around intonation). My more recent thinking had been to get a Squier VM Bass VI and string it up for A-A. Would work out a lot cheaper (importing the Warmoth neck worked out to be quite pricey). But concerned about the scale length though as I wanted to be able to play it like a guitar. Was that the issue you had with your VI?

Also been watching a number of Japanese baritone Jaguars on eBay. Again, quite pricey with the import tax though (they all seem to be in the US).

Did you ever try the Blacktop Tele?

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 5:48 pm

I like the look of that. The only baritone jazzy on sale atm is the one with a strat jack and that yukky paint job.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:21 pm

They're also 30" scale, presumably because they use the same necks as the Squier VM Bass VIs.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:56 am

I didn't go for the tele because I read iffy things on their necks. I like the Bass VI, but I think the Warmoth conversions are a bit shorter. Like 27 vs 30? I also wanted HH so the Squire bodies would need routing that this one had stock. Also thought the mahogany body might be nicer than basswood.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 5:56 am

It arrived today. I got the parts off (including TOM mounts), lightly sanded the little ding and dropped a bit of zpoxy to fill it. I will let it set for a few days before I sand it flush. Then I will just need to sand the body to be ready for matte black paint. I will be sending my pickguard to Cooterfinger to make me a new one. I want single ply black with no bevel. I also want a tele toggle instead of a les paul style one. Also want a mini toggle between the volume and tone for coil splitting.

Trying to decide on pickups. I have DActivators which have good cred in the baritone forums. I also have a PAF/Super Distortion set that could be nice.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:31 pm

I had a nice Gotoh TOM sitting around and figured I would put it on this to help beef up the bridge from the little one it had. I tried out the hole enlarging technique of using my drill set upping each size one by one until the right size to keep it straight and it worked great.

20150129_095020 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150129_095051 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Only hitch I ran in to was that the 7/16th bit that was the last one to get the right size was too big for my drill.... LOL What I did was twist it by hand since I had used the next smallest down. I got a couple cuts on my fingers, but it worked fine.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 2:54 am

Body sanded with synthetic steel wool. The ding filled pretty well.

Once sprayed, it should be all good.

20150129_183556 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150129_183606 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150129_183620 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 3:46 am

Sent off my stock guard to cooterfinger to have a new one made. I want one ply black with no angled edge. I also asked him to put a tele switch on it and an extra small hole between the volume and tone for my mini toggle for coil splitting.

Guard by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:30 am

Slight change in plan. Got an Allparts neck cheap so I will just down tune it and widen the nut slots. Not sure if 0.12 or 0.13 would be best. Normally I use 0.10s on my guitars.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:46 am

So it'll be 25.5"? My current "baritone" is my Epiphone Dot with a set of flatwound 0.13s. TBH I've not been entirely happy with the results so have been keeping my eyes open for something with a longer scale. I also wondered about using the bottom 6 strings from a 7 string set but haven't tried that yet.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 4:20 pm

Yeah going to try 25.5 with bigger strings for the tension at lower tuning. Nervous about widening a precut nut though.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 4:50 pm

Ha, yeah. I snapped a bit off mine during my somewhat bodged attempt.

Have you got nut files? I was "improvising" and it didn't go all that well

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:35 pm

No files yet. I don't have the nut picked up either though. I have a small file set. Not sure though. LOL

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:54 am

Cooter's guard came in.

Also worked on spraying the headstock.

20150211_184825 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150211_184834 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150211_184906 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:58 am

Looking spiffy, loving the blackout with the matching headstock, too! Gonna be so hot.

When Cindi and I delightfully covered T.Rex's 20th Century Boy (2010 Doom Compilation? Can't quite remember) in proper stonergaze fashion, I double tracked the monstrous main riff on the Jazzmaster strung up with 52-12s , tuned all the way down to C. The nut was obviously not cut for fatties, but it still felt great, stayed in tune, neck didn't budge, and sounded amazing with plenty of tension to buck the flab. I know you'll have heaps of fun

Our ol' pal Aen could probably give a wee bit more advise regarding string gauges + relative tuning on standard Fender scales.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 4:06 am

Thanks! The main thing I am worried about is cutting that darn neck. I don't want to shell out the big bucks for a file set, but I also don't want a crappy nut. LOL Hard to figure out what to do. I even messaged a couple guitar builders via the forum to ask if they would cut a nut for me. LOL

So far, no luck.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:14 am

Electronics (minus pickups) came in.

Still not sure what pickups I want to go with. I have D'Activators but I also have a PAF/Super Distortion combo as well I could use. Looking hot though.

20150221_160332 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150221_160341 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20150221_160347 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:00 am

Worked on the headstock today. Looking sexy!

2015-02-22 19.54.50 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:10 am

This looks like chalkboard paint. Is it chalkboard paint? I want to paint a guitar chalkboard paint now. I could draw different things on it whenever I felt like it.