what did I get myself into....

Geeto67

Ok, so on a whim I bought that original jag-stang bare body that was for sale on ebay last week. Why? well a couple of reasons....primarily I wanted to build my own guitar from nothing but parts (I would say scratch but I am not going to chop down any trees or shape any timber - more like a ground up assembly). I have always been a jag stang fan since the first issue of the guitar but have never really had the money to pull the trigger until lately. I am hoping this will be a fun exercise and not the hellish nightmare that people are warning me it is going to be but you roll the dice and takes your chances.

So I guess for my first round of newbie annoying kick-me-in-the-ass hard questions are....

1) how would you go about stripping the fiesta red finish off the body? I imagine it is some sort or poly, am I in for a healthy round of sanding or are there chemical alternatives? I plan on refinishing in nitro so I imagine I want to get her all the way down to the grain.

2) while we are on the subject...Any color suggestions? I am really not a fan of fiesta red, and I already own too many blue guitars (and sonic blue is not my favorite fender blue anyway). I am leaning toward something in the gold family. Currently the copper tone reranch sells is kinda where I am heading, but I am also open to a lime gold (like dick dale's strat but with more green and less flake). My brother's lake placid blue strat is really pretty but my yamaha pacifica is finished in almost the same color and one is enough. I was also thinking about various rootbeer browns and dark burgundy candies...maybe even army green or olive drab, so you can see I am all over the map and open to anything at this point.

3) Where can I get a Fender neck? I have seen warmoth's setup and I like their neck but I wanted to see if there was a somewhere I could get a licensed fender jag stang neck (saves me the trouble of doing the graphics on the headstock). Also are there any neck upgrades? anything you would prefer?

4) ok, every newbie has a shoot the moon kinda question and I guess this is mine. If money were no object - how would you setup your jag stang. Forget string through bodies and bigsby or floyd rose trems (can you tell I have been lurking here) I'm talking electrics and hardware. Pickups? Trucks? bridge?

anyway, so I guess this is my introduction post as well so thanks in advance for the welcome.

Loco

Suggest you look out for a neck from the same source you got the body, otherwise Warmoth is probably your only option? Nitromoors should hopefully get through most of the polyurethane. Good Luck (reckon you're going to need it)!

Welcome to the Forum too, probably the only one where the vast majority sign up just to rubbish the Jag-Stang guitar!?

nirvana23freak

Loco said: Suggest you look out for a neck from the same source you got the body, otherwise Warmoth is probably your only option? Nitromoors should hopefully get through most of the polyurethane. Good Luck (reckon you're going to need it)!
Welcome to the Forum too, probably the only one where the vast majority sign up just to rubbish the Jag-Stang guitar!?

any fender 24" neck will work. keep a look out on ebay.

Geeto67

I saw before someone on here recommended a CBS era mustang neck. Sounds good to me but why? What is so special about those necks vs others.

AnotherTool

I recommended the CBS mustang neck from warmoth for a jag-stang, because that's what it basically is. The jagstang neck was modelled on Cobain's favourite mustang neck, and it has the CBS big headstock, unlike most strats that have the smaller one.

Geeto67

so its more of a looks thing than a playability thing.....

personally I don't really care what Kurt whould have preferred or what not, I am really looking for a really good playing narrow shortscale neck.

If you had to upgrade the jagstang neck, what would be a proper upgrade?

Fran

I think the neck is one of the Jag-stangs strongest points, so i'd do what the others say and try to get one as close as.

I stripped an old Tokai Flying V with nitromorse, but you still have a fair bit of sanding to do afterwards.

The electronics are definitely the area to improve a JS. What kind of sounds are you after?

A good allround humbucker like the Seymour Duncan JB is always a good choice and to get the most out of the neck pup something like a DiMarzio YJM is a great neck pickup.

Make sure the 'whole system' works well so consider pot values and shielding etc.

Colours is a tough one. I liked a sherwood green one i once saw and my Jag is oxford green (very similar), burgundy mist with a gold anodized pickguard would look different...

Loco

Colours? Olympic White or Shell Pink with torty scratchplate. 😎

Geeto67

Check on the neck - CBS mustang w/ large headstock.

Sound, well that is a...well....um...lately I have been playing with a lot of surf, garage, and so-cal punk sounds. The guitar I play the most is my Yamaha strat knock-off with a "matched" duncan single coil and humbucker (whatever that means, the previous owner told me he had the single coil specifically matched to the JB in the bridge position I have never had the thing apart to check what he meant). I guess I am looking for a really bright tone out of the single coil and was considering a Duncan Jaguar pickup in the neck slot and a JB in the bridge position. I know how each p/u sounds by themselves, no idea how they will sound together. I am however open to suggestions about pickups. At the risk of sounding like a Nirvana poser, what is the deal with the fender texas specials? I know that is what the prototypes had, how does it sound? I imagine it is more of a rock sound which is ok by me, if it has some twang to it that might work with some of the Social D stuff I like to play.

Olympic white with a tortoise shell plate is a nice combo....still thinking....

phaeton

well, for necks, theres a good few 24"ers on ebay at any one time but good condition ones tend to be pretty expensive.

allparts do licenced fender necks although i bought one from them, it was the only 24 they had and it had no finish and unfiled frets.

don't mix us and jap bodies and necks [metric and imperial measuments don't match] but it can be done.

Geeto67

I am assuming that since warmoth makes a jagstang body and the jagstang is a japan only guitar that they have a neck with metric measurements. at least that is what I hope....

nirvana23freak

there jagstang necks will work no problem. dnot worry about it.

ThreeStringGuitar

Seafoam green with a tort guard, or olympic white with a mint green guard.

As far as pickups I personally say lipstick's are the way to go. Good jangle and you can get quite a bit of bite, and you can get twang out of them with the right eq'ing. Two Jaguar pups though would be pretty killer too.

Fran

Again.. the stock single coil is good on the JS, so a Texas Special would be fine.

From the stuff you said your gonna play that and a JB should work great for you.

Geeto67

Hey Fran,

you jaguar - is that one of the 1993-94 MIJ RI models? There is a sherwood green one for sale on ebay here in the states and it is the only other one I have seen aside from yours.

nirvana23freak

his is a vintage body that has been refinished.

Geeto67

so I am a little pissed. There is a seller on ebay asking $319 for a jagstang neck. I think that is way high. A warmoth neck doesn't cost that much. I e-mailed him and he dropped his price to $299 but I still think that is high.

Am I crazy or is he?

nirvana23freak

i wouldnt pay that much. i dont wanna ever pay over 200 bucks for a neck, unless it was a dot/bound 65 jag neck. but even then i wouldnt go over like 350

robertoriginal

i didn't read much of this thread but anywho.

painting wise, i have had pretty good luck paintigng nitro over poly, just scuff it a bit, and start spraying.

as for the neck query.

i guess your absolute cheapest solution would be to buy a jagmaster neck and put a decal on it, but you said you wanted to stray from that so.....

you are stuck with a custom luthier,warmoth, and ebay,

all of which will be 200.00 at the very least.

unless you get a builder to get a jagmaster neck and apply a decal for you.

nirvana23freak

i got a bronco neck for 160 plus 30 for shipping(from canada). If your happy with any fender shortscale you can get deals