I've been getting into the Jazzmaster after buying a Squier JM 40th Anniv. which I really like. Always wanted to try my hand at building an electric guitar. Purchased a set of templates, wood and parts. The city where I live has a fully loaded woodshop (machines and hand tools) where you pay a nominal fee & can ask the staff for help or advice. Very cool.

So here we go.

Purchased a piece torrified Paulownia online from Germany. It supposedly sounds somewhere in between Ash and Alder. It's very light: the rough cut body was 1,28 Kg or 2,9 Lbs. Downside: it's very soft. It dents if you look at it funny.

Rough cut with a table saw.

Over to the router table.

Purchased the full set of templates from Guitar and Bass Build (UK). JAZZMASTER GUITAR TEMPLATES The templates for the body are nice. Seems correct. The template for the neck fits into the neck pocket beautifully.

But I cannot recommend it. It's advertised "Full set of 100% accurate 9 mm MDF Templates to build your own Jazzmaster. [...] All templates made in our UK workshop from our accurate drawings from original instruments". However the neck has a Strat sized headstock, not a JM sized headstock. AFAIK JM have always had a bigger headstock. Contacted the seller, he stuck to the story of it being correct. It also seems that the tuner holes are not in the standard Fender position & the pickup routes are undersized (the four semi-circles sticking out of the plastic pickup covers won't fit. The route for the tremolo (pardon - vibrato) is in the right spot and the screw holes are correct... but it's undersized. A Fender AVRI trem won't fit, neither will a Squier trem. We'll see what else pops up.

I used specs from the offset guitars forum to route the body.

these measurements are from a late 60s JM:
Body thickness - 1 5/8" 1.625in × 25.4 = 41.275mm
Thimble hole depth - 1 3/16" 1.1875in × 25.4 = 30.1625mm
Trem cavity - 1 3/8" 1.375in × 25.4 = 34.925mm
Rhythm cavity – 1" 25,4mm
Alt. Rhythm cavity – 1 3/16" 1.1875in × 25.4 = 30.1625mm
Lead cavity - 1 3/8 1.375in × 25.4 = 34.925mm
Pickup cavities – 3/8" 0.375in × 25.4 = 9.525mm
Neck pocket – 9/16" 0.5625in × 25.4 = 14.2875mm
Roundover radius is 7/16" 0.4375in × 25.4 = 11.1125mm

Round-over

Last edited: Jun 29, 2023 02:17:29

Nice work so far! I hope all the rest goes as well. I understand your frustration with the soft body. That's something that annoys me about all the Squier basswood stuff.

Too bad about the inaccuracy of the templates and the lack of integrity of their seller. You can get a PDF file of a bunch of fender headstock shapes online, at aleast. Or I guess you could simply trace the one you already have. The Jazzmaster definitely needs that slightly larger headstock to balance the body, visually.

You are officially my new hero. I have an aversion to woodwork, myself, but I have great respect for the art. Paulownia is an interesting wood. The only non-Mesquite tree I own is a Paulownia, a touch dude that sustains itself in the Sonoran desert of SE Arizona, probably because it’s near my septic tank.

A few years ago, I had to do some serious trimming on that tree and ended up with a pile of Paulownia, which was amazingly light. It’s a great wood, and I like that grain. I’m a transparent finish fan, myself, so I look at every piece of wood as a palette for a light sunburst.

I look forward to following your continued progress.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Last edited: Jul 03, 2023 08:19:00

That looks amazing! Are you going to clear coat it?

Started on the neck. Bought a slab of European maple, torrified and with flame. Used a router table to route a slot for the double action trussrod. Such a change, working with this hard and heavy wood.

I want a JM headstock not a Strat headstock. So I made a template from the neck template that came with the set and stuck a piece of paper on it with the JM outline and tuner positions. Center lines, center lines.

Rough cut:

And after many minutes of carefully routing the neck it fits nicely. After taking this photo I removed spray primer from the neck pocket to make it fit perfectly. Really happy with it.

Tqi wrote:

Torrefied wood is my favourite thing right now.

...So I should build a spark-finished, poplar + maple + laurel Bass VI all torrefied because Squier are never going to. Is that what you're saying?

Well yes. You have no choice but to build exactly that.

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:24:30

I shaped the neck using the drawing lines / facet method. Works great. You can fine tune what you want by changing the lines. I made it asymmetric by moving the centre line up a bit at the 1st fret.

It's a big C (22mm 1st fret to 24mm 12th fret) that ends in a D, by changing the lines on either side at the fist step.

Last edited: Jul 20, 2023 12:24:04

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:24:07

Tqi wrote:

Very nice! I assume you went steel for the frets?

Thanks fellas. No steel frets, I used Jescar nickel silver frets.