Post by solderburn on Nov 21, 2021 15:53:58 GMT -5
Last year I put this guitar together for myself and have been really enjoying it, it's my favorite. Mostly stock except for a few details.
Needless to say this was inspired by one of Dave Wronski's many sparkle Jaguars, but there're a lot of differences here since I wasn't trying to copy his, just inspired by.
It took me about a year to finish since I was in no rush. I wanted to keep the components high quality so almost all of the pieces are made in the USA. The only parts not of USA origin are the bridge + vibrato arm (UK), and the Kluson 18:1 ratio staggered tuners (Korea).
This guitar is a mixture of vintage specs and custom mods. Things that make this guitar different from a stock Fender Jaguar are the Emerson pots, partially recessed Switchcraft switches, staggered tuners, Staytrem bridge and arm, custom paint job, treble bleed circuit, and series/parallel mod. Guitarmill made the body with a 2 degree angle cut into the neck pocket. Things that are straight-up Fender are the Jaguar '65 pure vintage pick-ups, '65 reissue neck with 7.25" radius, binding and vintage spec. frets, AVRI tailpiece, mute, Fender USA control plates, knobs, neck plate, brass shielding plates, and strap buttons. Even the felt washers are made in the USA.
About the assembly... There was a fair amount of extra routing to make the pick-up selector cavity big enough, and the tailpiece rout also needed more wood taken out. The rhythm circuit panel need some extra space too. Bridge thimble holes needed to be widened, and the neck pocket needed typical sanding for a perfectly snug fit. All the screw holes for the pickguard, control panels, strap buttons, and tailpiece had to be marked and drilled. I went into a nervous sweat anytime i had to remove any wood or make any holes even though I've done this before, it was always on a cheap guitar. Working on this one with an expensive custom paint job made it stressful for me since I'm not into "relicing". I also had to drill the tuner holes in the headstock to be a few millimeters deeper so the Kluson bushings sat all the way down on the headstock.
Fresh out of the box, it still smelled strongly of nitrocellulose, which was fine with me.
It was like Christmas every time a new part arrived.
Wiring under way...
Vibrato pivot point before re-shaping and smoothing.
Pivot point done, very smooth and rounded.
Neck and tuners on, it's really starting to feel like a real guitar now.
It's hard to see in pics, but i asked Guitarmill to put extra holoflake into the mix, in person this thing looks like it has Christmas lights all over it.
Pee wee approves, although he was jealous of the time i was putting in. He occasionally had to sink his claws into my leg to bring me back to reality.
It was quiet difficult to get a pickguard that fit to my liking due to the Guitarmill body being an exact copy of a 1964 Fender Jaguar, and it seems the lower wing has changed slightly over the years. I ended up making a tracing a sending to a pickguard maker to get a better fit.
Here's the final result with the custom made guard, and a little filing of the guard and the lower control plate. I'm happy at this point.
Needless to say this was inspired by one of Dave Wronski's many sparkle Jaguars, but there're a lot of differences here since I wasn't trying to copy his, just inspired by.
It took me about a year to finish since I was in no rush. I wanted to keep the components high quality so almost all of the pieces are made in the USA. The only parts not of USA origin are the bridge + vibrato arm (UK), and the Kluson 18:1 ratio staggered tuners (Korea).
This guitar is a mixture of vintage specs and custom mods. Things that make this guitar different from a stock Fender Jaguar are the Emerson pots, partially recessed Switchcraft switches, staggered tuners, Staytrem bridge and arm, custom paint job, treble bleed circuit, and series/parallel mod. Guitarmill made the body with a 2 degree angle cut into the neck pocket. Things that are straight-up Fender are the Jaguar '65 pure vintage pick-ups, '65 reissue neck with 7.25" radius, binding and vintage spec. frets, AVRI tailpiece, mute, Fender USA control plates, knobs, neck plate, brass shielding plates, and strap buttons. Even the felt washers are made in the USA.
About the assembly... There was a fair amount of extra routing to make the pick-up selector cavity big enough, and the tailpiece rout also needed more wood taken out. The rhythm circuit panel need some extra space too. Bridge thimble holes needed to be widened, and the neck pocket needed typical sanding for a perfectly snug fit. All the screw holes for the pickguard, control panels, strap buttons, and tailpiece had to be marked and drilled. I went into a nervous sweat anytime i had to remove any wood or make any holes even though I've done this before, it was always on a cheap guitar. Working on this one with an expensive custom paint job made it stressful for me since I'm not into "relicing". I also had to drill the tuner holes in the headstock to be a few millimeters deeper so the Kluson bushings sat all the way down on the headstock.
Fresh out of the box, it still smelled strongly of nitrocellulose, which was fine with me.
It was like Christmas every time a new part arrived.
Wiring under way...
Vibrato pivot point before re-shaping and smoothing.
Pivot point done, very smooth and rounded.
Neck and tuners on, it's really starting to feel like a real guitar now.
It's hard to see in pics, but i asked Guitarmill to put extra holoflake into the mix, in person this thing looks like it has Christmas lights all over it.
Pee wee approves, although he was jealous of the time i was putting in. He occasionally had to sink his claws into my leg to bring me back to reality.
It was quiet difficult to get a pickguard that fit to my liking due to the Guitarmill body being an exact copy of a 1964 Fender Jaguar, and it seems the lower wing has changed slightly over the years. I ended up making a tracing a sending to a pickguard maker to get a better fit.
Here's the final result with the custom made guard, and a little filing of the guard and the lower control plate. I'm happy at this point.
(Long timers here will recall The Real Boss™, a picture of him was my avatar. Your puddy tat looks a lot like him.)
