IceratzSurf
Joined: Oct 22, 2022
Posts: 284
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Posted on Jul 27 2023 08:40 PM
The rectangular PU cavities look like they could be for humbuckers but the depth looks very shallow.
The Vintera HH project conversion I did had much deeper cavities which required the additional wood layer built up.
But your cavities are a lot different and don't think you need to do that.
But maybe need to fill the oval holes if you want a wood screw set for PUs.
But I also see an opportunity to plug the oval holes with a thread insert so the PU has a mechanical screw set for height adjustment.
Then use foam blocks to lift pressure upwards of PU like every Jaguar has.
You could epoxy set the inserts.
I visualize a brass insert.
Use JB Weld 2 part epoxy.
Just a thought.
I will be watching your progress on this.
I found an example of the insert idea.
Last edited: Jul 27, 2023 20:47:29
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Jul 27 2023 09:00 PM
IceratzSurf wrote:
The rectangular PU cavities look like they could be for humbuckers but the depth looks very shallow.
The Vintera HH project conversion I did had much deeper cavities which required the additional wood layer built up.
But your cavities are a lot different and don't think you need to do that.
But maybe need to fill the oval holes if you want a wood screw set for PUs.
But I also see an opportunity to plug the oval holes with a thread insert so the PU has a mechanical screw set for height adjustment.
Then use foam blocks to lift pressure upwards of PU like every Jaguar has.
You could epoxy set the inserts.
I visualize a brass insert.
Use JB Weld 2 part epoxy.
Just a thought.
I will be watching your progress on this.
I found an example of the insert idea.
I may well be consulting you, along the way.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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Tqi
Joined: Dec 07, 2014
Posts: 1222
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Posted on Jul 28 2023 02:43 AM
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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:27:23
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Jul 28 2023 07:12 AM
Tqi wrote:
I'm guessing you don't have a handy hackerspace. I have a sneaking suspicion my approach would be a CNC adapter that "restores" the pickup cavities to the standard size. The CV Jaguar has fitted pickup cavities. The Jagmaster has the swimming pool. The swimming pool suuuucks.
My current notion, is to fill the portion of the cavities where the mounting screws are with dowel rod of the proper dimension, and epoxy that in place.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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DeathTide
Joined: Apr 13, 2018
Posts: 1374
New Orleans
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Posted on Jul 28 2023 08:12 AM
That body is awesome! I hate sunbursts but I like the look of that! What is their reason for the deviation in the pickup routes?
— Daniel Deathtide
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Jul 28 2023 08:20 AM
DeathTide wrote:
That body is awesome! I hate sunbursts but I like the look of that! What is their reason for the deviation in the pickup routes?
The darker portions of the burst are a deep red, like the red on a Fender 3 color sunburst. In natural light, it’s striking, to say the least. The body arrived during a storm, and the pictures sort of reflect that, because the sunlight in the room was somewhat limited. Hey, that thing looks good in any weather. 
The routes are just the way they build them. Between that, and the pickguard, I think that they expect people to use Strat pickups. As you are well aware, I have Jaguar pickups, already, so I ordered a Fender pickguard, and I’ll see how well that fits.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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DoTheDevil
Joined: Jul 27, 2023
Posts: 14
Albuquerque
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Posted on Jul 28 2023 04:13 PM
DrippyReverbTremolo wrote:
synchro wrote:
As promised, I’ll keep posting my progress.
Well, it was delivered, right in the middle of a hailstorm. Good thing I don’t believe in omens.
The finish is spectacular.
Next step, is to slightly enlarge the holes for the bridge thimbles, then do the basic setup to determine the correct angle for the neck shim. I’m starting out with 0.5 degrees. Everything has fit, so far. Mounting the neck and the tailpiece took only a few minutes.
Schweet!
This is so beautiful! I'd like to do a warmoth build at some point too!
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Tqi
Joined: Dec 07, 2014
Posts: 1222
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Posted on Jul 29 2023 02:47 AM
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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:27:51
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Jul 29 2023 06:56 AM
Tqi wrote:
DoTheDevil wrote:
This is so beautiful! I'd like to do a warmoth build at some point too!
Me too. Unfortunately their Bass6 is nothing like a Bass VI in either body or head. So I'm either waiting for Squier to finally build mine, or I'd have to buy a current Squier and find people to not only do a metalflake finish in the UK, but also replace the fretboard.
There are definite caveats to be aware of. With the Jaguar, they essentially build it for either humbuckers or Strat pickups. The Bass VI looked like they basically make it into an oversized Offset body with no control plates.
Nothing would change, if I were to do it over again, but there are minor differences between a Warmoth Jaguar and a Fender Jaguar. For anyone contemplating a Warmoth build, be certain to gather all of the facts before breaking out the Visa.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Jul 30 2023 07:03 PM
Confusion, Setbacks, Resolution, Progress
With the weekend, I had some time to advance my Jaguar build. Let me start by saying that I take full responsibility for any confusion that happened. I read what Warmoth had to say, but interpreted it improperly. I should have asked more questions, but all’s well that ends well.
When the body for my Jaguar arrived, last Thursday, I noticed that the pickguard had been routed for Strat pickup mounting. A call to Warmoth filled me in, and they let me know that their take on the Jaguar, in order to serve the variety of user demands, was to use a Strat-style mount for single coils.
No problem, I got an RMA for the pickguard and ordered an OEM Fender guard, instead, complete with honest, by gum, Jaguar pickup routes. That arrived Saturday, and all seemed well, until I tried to fit my vintage control plates, and discovered that the OEM Fender guard and the vintage control plates didn’t particularly care for one another’s company. Good thing I checked.
Let me skip to another area, which is the fact that the pickup routes were actually for humbuckers. In order to mount Jaguar single coils, I would have had to fill in part of the pickup routes in order to have a solid surface for the mounting screws.
Between the mounting plate issues and having to partially fill the pickup routes, I began to see the wisdom of the Strat mount. It turned out pretty well. The footprint of a Jaguar pickup is the same as a Strat pickup, although the Jaguar coils are teller than Strat coils. So I was able to swap Strat covers onto the Jaguar pickups and they mounted easily to the Warmoth pickguard. While I would prefer to have used Jaguar pickup mounting, the Strat mounting is fine by me. One unanswered question is whether the lack of the claws will change the sound. If it turns out that I am not satisfied with clawless pickups, I can modify the pickguard, epoxy some dowel into the humbucker routes, and go back to plan A.
So today, I started my work in earnest. The bridge thimbles were slightly too large to fit in the holes in the body, so I enlarged those holes, starting with the smallest drill bit I had which encountered resistance when I inserted it in the hole and used it to slightly enlarge the hole. I ended up using three adjacent bits from my drill index, before I finally was able to fully insert the bridge thimbles.
This made it much easier to properly position the pickguard, which has holes fitted to fit tightly over the thimbles, so between that and the neck, it’s possible to find the exact position of the pickguard and to drill accurate holes for the mounting screws. I have a selection of small bits which will fit in a pin vise, so I found one that was exactly the size of the mounting holes in the pickguard, so I used that bit to pilot the holes, basically little more than a center-punch. Once I had used that bit to score all of the holes, I removed the pickguard and then drilled the mounting holes using a bit of the proper size.
Once the pickguard was mounted, I used it to position the control plates and used roughly the same technique to center the holes properly. When I mounted the plate for the rhythm circuit, it became apparent that route would have to be enlarged, but thankfully, the pickup switch route and volume & tone control route are of adequate size. I’ll be enlarging those routes soon. Then comes the wiring.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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Tqi
Joined: Dec 07, 2014
Posts: 1222
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Posted on Jul 31 2023 02:59 AM
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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:28:19
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Jul 31 2023 07:10 AM
I’ve used Pickguard Planet for such things, and it’s basically the same deal, you have to send the pickguard to them, and they take it from there. At least for now, I’m going to stick with the Strat-style mounting and see where that leads.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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Joelman
Joined: Sep 07, 2006
Posts: 1490
Redlands, CA
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Posted on Aug 05 2023 06:10 PM
DoTheDevil wrote:
DrippyReverbTremolo wrote:
synchro wrote:
As promised, I’ll keep posting my progress.
Well, it was delivered, right in the middle of a hailstorm. Good thing I don’t believe in omens.
The finish is spectacular.
Next step, is to slightly enlarge the holes for the bridge thimbles, then do the basic setup to determine the correct angle for the neck shim. I’m starting out with 0.5 degrees. Everything has fit, so far. Mounting the neck and the tailpiece took only a few minutes.
Schweet!
This is so beautiful! I'd like to do a warmoth build at some point too!
Yum!
I don’t have a single feeling about Jaguars. But the body color you ordered is very appealing.
it looks like you will be playing it in no time.
Joel
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Aug 06 2023 12:17 AM
Joelman wrote:
Yum!
I don’t have a single feeling about Jaguars. But the body color you ordered is very appealing.
it looks like you will be playing it in no time.
Joel
I’m absolutely smitten with my CV Squier Jaguar. Hopefully this one will turn out as as well, both in terms of sound and playability.
The next step is painting the shielding paint inside the routes.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Aug 27 2023 05:48 PM
Significant Progress
After a week of chasing circuit problems, which turned out to be a bad neck pickup, and a defective rhythm circuit switch, I was able to make significant progress. I did end up increasing the size of four for the rhythm switch control plate, which made life a lot easier. The control cavities on a Jaguar are very small, and an extra bit of room makes it less likely that a wire will be pinched or kinked.
Once the wiring was sorted, the fine began. I mounted the neck, installed the bridge and put the high E string in place. It soon became obvious that the 1/2 degree shim wasn’t sufficient, so I de-tensioned the one string, remove the neck mounting screws, swapped shims, and had it back together in a matter on minutes. With the 1 degree shim, the geometry was just right.
I then finished stringing the guitar, set the bridge height, the truss rod and tensioned the truss rod. This really didn’t take long, and soon I was playing it. For the record, the first song played on this guitar was Miserlou, because the first song was played when I only had one string in place.
There was a sense of satisfaction, playing a guitar that I had assembled myself. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, and I’m glad that I finally did it.
So, how does it sound? I ended up with American Original ‘62 pickups, which are AlNiCo II, and a bit warmer than the AO ‘65s. The neck pickup is mellow and Strat-like, while the bridge is bright, but not to the point of harshness. The strangle switch doesn’t seem to have much effect, and I may try a smaller value cap. The AVRI trem’ is a bit rough. I can easily fix that problem, the next time I restring.
The locking Grover 406 machine heads left a great impression on me. If I ever buy new machine heads, I will buy Grovers. These strike me as being a cut above any other locking machine heads I’ve tried.
There will be more work. I hope to convert back to Jaguar style pickup mounting and there will be a few other tweaks, here and there. The one thing that I find problematic if that the neck pickup seems to be much more powerful than the bridge pickup, even with the bridge pickup as high as possible and the neck pickup as low as I can get it.
But even with these minor issues, it’s a nice playing, good sounding instrument. It plays easily and with just a handful of tweaks, it will be as good as any guitar I’ve ever played.
At some point, when I have time, I will post about lessons learned, just in case anyone else is crazy enough to want to do a Warmoth build.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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Tqi
Joined: Dec 07, 2014
Posts: 1222
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Posted on Aug 27 2023 06:39 PM
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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:45:37
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Aug 27 2023 07:49 PM
Tqi wrote:
synchro wrote:
At some point, when I have time, I will post about lessons learned, just in case anyone else is crazy enough to want to do a Warmoth build.
She looks gorgeous, thanks for sharing your journey.
And yeah, partscasters, crazy... I came across a replacement body for a Squier CVDS on eBay yesterday, and I have a spare neck from an old abandoned project. But I hate the colour (it's the same gold on verdigris as the 40JM!). So then I got tempted to go out and buy a 2 piece poplar block and make my own, and then remembered... I have no need for this. I don't want a Duo-Sonic. I really should flip that neck, all it is is cruel temptation - nowadays there are better options for a 24" neck anyway. Sonic Mustang, for example.
...Anyway, this all led to an hour of hunting the UK classifieds for a junker CVVI again. I think if I found one sub £200 I'd be tempted, but that's unlikely. I don't want block inlays, which means on a CV neck I have to actually replace the fretboard, so I' not paying full bore for a guitar I'm only going to ruin.
I'd just managed to stop thinking about building a partscaster VI and you posted your update. You fiend.
Always glad to serve as an enabler.
I didn’t like block inlays until I got my Squier CV Jaguar, then I developed a taste for them.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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SandBug
Joined: Feb 22, 2016
Posts: 442
California
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Posted on Aug 27 2023 09:40 PM
Congratulations! Jaguars can be a challenge. Well done.
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4446
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Aug 27 2023 10:41 PM
SandBug wrote:
Congratulations! Jaguars can be a challenge. Well done.
Thanks.
Jaguars have roughly twice the circuitry of the standard two pickup guitar. I’ve wired more than a few guitars and built harnesses from scratch, but this one was the toughest. It took two people, a cat and we pushed the boundaries of profanity.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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Tqi
Joined: Dec 07, 2014
Posts: 1222
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Posted on Aug 28 2023 04:56 AM
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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:45:28
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