Beer of the Bass Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 (edited) OK, after chatting about this in the Other Instruments section ([url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/208271-squier-vm-jazzmaster-tempted/"]http://basschat.co.u...master-tempted/[/url]), I reckon it would be happier in a thread of its own in Build Diaries. So far I have a guitarbuild.co.uk alder Jazzmaster body and a Dr Parts maple fingerboard Strat neck. I'll stick some pictures up in the next day or two, but the seller's pictures of the body are here: [url="http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage3.aspx?gid=1773413&image=683426967&images=683426967,683426997,683427027&formats=0,0,0&format=0"]http://www.auctiva.c...=0,0,0&format=0[/url] I am determined that the body will be green. At present I'm trying to decide whether to spray it solid green using Molotow paints (or possibly Montana paints which I gather are similar and my local art shop stocks), or whether to attempt a green stained finish with Tru-oil. The neck came unfinished, and I think it will be a nice neck after I've tru-oiled it and dressed the frets. I also need to make a decision on the bridge. My neck has a 12" radius, and the strings will sit quite high above the body if I use the body and neck without modification, so this suggests a tune-o-matic might be good, rather than the more traditional Jazzmaster bridge. Right now I'm still at the stage of gathering parts together, but I'll try and update this with progress as it happens. I think the pickups and hardware will have to wait until next month, as I should have a little cash spare then. Edited July 18, 2013 by Beer of the Bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 Initial experimentation inside the control cavity (since I didn't have any alder scrap) suggests that a stained finish will not look good on this body. The different pieces in the three-piece body absorb the stain differently and the end grain drinks it up like crazy and ends up too dark. So I'm going to go for a solid colour finish on the body and tru-oil the neck. Out of the Molotow paints, I like the green called Carambola. I want to use this yellow tortoiseshell for the pickguard, available from a couple of eBay sellers. Taste and subtlety would be cheerfully absent from this colour scheme, but no-one else would have one like it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Here are some actual pictures of my parts. I've had to widen the neck pocket very slightly, but the resulting fit seems good. The green marks inside the cavity are from trialling some woodstain. I didn't like the colour or effect, but no-one will see the blotches when it's been assembled! I'm quite pleased with this neck for the price (I paid about £33) - it's reasonable looking flatsawn maple, the fretting looks decent and the profile is a fairly mainstream C-shape as might be found on most modern Fenders. Having a separate maple fingerboard but still using a skunk stripe seems like an odd design choice, but I guess I can't expect a faithful vintage repro neck for this price. The next steps are going to be drilling out the body to accept a tune-o-matic, then starting to apply some finish. The body came with most of the surface prep already done, so will just need a light sanding, the neck will benefit from a little finish sanding. I need to smile sweetly at a friend of mine to use his back yard and shed, as I'm in a flat and have no well ventilated space for spraying. I've also decided to try winding my own pickups. I already have the wire and some scrap tufnol sheet to make flatwork. The magnets are on their way from a UK company called Cermag and I'm going to go with the cordless-drill winding method, which seems to have worked for quite a few people. I fully expect this to be a bit of a learning experience... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted July 28, 2013 Author Share Posted July 28, 2013 I've started Tru-oiling the neck. This is four coats into the process, having flattened it back with extra fine steel wool after the first two coats. It's getting a nice satiny sheen already. The body is waiting on the bridge arriving (I want to do any drilling before it's painted) and me buying the paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 While the tru-oil on the neck is drying, I've been working on the pickups. Here's an assembled pickup, ready for winding. The flatwork is 3mm Tufnol, the magnets are Alnico V rods from Cermag in the UK and the eyelets are from a dolls house supplier on eBay. The flatwork is about 0.6mm thicker than standard, but as long as the coil dimensions are right it shouldn't make much difference. Next I have to figure out winding... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Interesting...this should be a corker when it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 4, 2013 Author Share Posted August 4, 2013 Having havered over whether or not to try spraying a solid colour, I decided to give the woodstain a try after all. If nothing else, it saves me from filling my kitchen with lacquer fumes, as I live in the city centre and have no outside space. I've used a spirit based stain in Forest Green from Rothko and Frost. I prepared the body by dampening it to raise the grain, then sanding to 600 grit after it dried to remove the fluffy bits, as I'd read that this helps the stain to absorb more evenly. I wiped on two coats of stain, allowed these to dry then wiped on a couple of coats of Tru-oil. I'm going to keep adding more coats of tru-oil until I can buff it to a satin sheen, but here it is at the moment. I may still re-do it if I don't like it when I'm done, but I'm quite liking the stain at the moment. With any luck, it'll come out looking a little like the finish on the Thurston Moore sig model... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 That's really nice How long does it take to put a coat on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 4, 2013 Author Share Posted August 4, 2013 [quote name='Myke' timestamp='1375626653' post='2163566'] That's really nice How long does it take to put a coat on? [/quote] The Tru-oil just wipes on, and is re-coatable in a couple of hours in this warm weather. I like to leave it overnight before sanding or buffing though. Despite the name, it's not really an oil finish, it's more of a polymerised oil based varnish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 [quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1375627410' post='2163584'] The Tru-oil just wipes on, and is re-coatable in a couple of hours in this warm weather. I like to leave it overnight before sanding or buffing though. Despite the name, it's not really an oil finish, it's more of a polymerised oil based varnish. [/quote] Oh, thank you I haven't ever used it before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 (edited) Woohoo, I have my first pickup! My slightly ridiculous winder is a cheap Dremel copy stuck down to a bit of wood, with a PWM circuit to cut the speed down to a couple of hundred RPM and a dowel with slices of cork on it to limit the wire travel. The spool sits on the floor with the wire whipping off the top and I'm tensioning it using a scrap of leather held between my fingers. The motor has very little torque at this speed, which is nice, as if I tension the wire too much it slows down rather than snapping it. I have no counter, but then neither did Fender back in the day, apparently. This one measures 7k DC resistance, though I was aiming for around 8K. Looking around the net, Lindy Fralin uses a 7k neck pickup in some of his sets so I'm going to keep it as it is and use it for the neck. I'll try and wind the other bobbin a little fuller for the bridge. There's a couple of mm on either side of the coil, so I'm sure I can squeeze on a little extra. Here's my shonky winder, shown here with no tension on the wire, because I've just finished winding. Next up will be winding the bridge pickup, attaching leads and waxing them. This pickup winding lark is quite fun - I may have to have a go at some bass pickups some time... Edited August 15, 2013 by Beer of the Bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruiner Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Looking really nice so far. Always been a big fan of the Thurston Moore signature Jazzmaster which has a simliar finish. Seriously thinking of stripping my spare sunburst VM Jazzmaster and attempting a refin myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 (edited) I've skipped a few steps on this build diary, but here's the very nearly finished guitar: [url="http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w453/MJBeer/jmfinished010_zps761ec933.jpg"][/url] I still want to level and dress the frets, as it turns out I have a couple of high ones, but otherwise it's come out well. I've wired it with a single volume control and a five way switch going 1: Bridge, 2: both pickups series out of phase, 3: both pickups parallel, 4: Neck with treble roll-off (fixed tone control), 5: Neck. If anyone is curious, there's a slightly more complete build diary on the offset guitars forum; [url="http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=72108"]http://www.offsetgui...php?f=8&t=72108[/url] Edited August 28, 2013 by Beer of the Bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Lovely mate! That's awesome. Very brave colours but it looks really tasteful to me. Glad you went for an oil/stain finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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