Jaguar project...How should I go about doing this?

Estring

Well, I'm looking to make my own Jaguar from parts. I've got a few questions first. Here they are:

1. Is it possible to fit a MIM or MIA strat neck on a Jaguar body?

2. Is it worthwhile to buy a genuine Fender Jaguar body like a RI or should I buy an aftermarket replica body? What do I need to consider?

3. Ideally I would like to have it set up as SH but is there any way to have it be SSH? Has anyone seen this before on a Jag?

I would really appreciate any advice you guys could throw my way as well.

nirvana23freak

so basically you want a strat in a jag body? i would suggest doing a jazzmaster so then you can use a strat neck on the body and you will have more space to pit the hss configuration. If you want genuine fender one youll have to go to ebay, but there are a lot of places that make accurate jazzy bodys such as allparts and usacg.

Estring

Well I guess my Jag project just turned into a Jazzy project lol. Does anyone know a good seller on Ebay to get a Jazzy body from? I know reliablefender has them but their bin stuff is expensive! I want to try and keep the body under $180 or even less if possible.

Hey, I really appreciate the help guys 😀

nirvana23freak

do you need the body to be painted? or can you paint?

tragictravisty

go to usacustomguitars.com theyll make you a custom jag or jazzy body in any pickup configuration, youd havve to ask about the scale if you went jaguar... but i think that a strat neck from warmoth will fit a jag body... youd have to email them too

Estring

tragictravisty said: go to usacustomguitars.com theyll make you a custom jag or jazzy body in any pickup configuration, youd havve to ask about the scale if you went jaguar... but i think that a strat neck from warmoth will fit a jag body... youd have to email them too

I can actually paint pretty well but I'm not exactly sure if painting would be the most cost effective solution. Like I said, under $180 for the body is what I'm shooting for.

Yea it seems as though their prices are $230+ for UNPAINTED bodies. Simply a bit too much over budget for me. I will e-mail them though to see what they can do.

Aug

1. yes. it is possible to fit a MIM or MIA strat neck onto a Jaguar body, but you'll want to move the bridge back, so you'll need to get one made for 25.5" scale or one that doesn't have the pre-drilled 3/8" x 1" bridge post holes.

2. It would be worthwhile for you to purchase a Jaguar body that has been built specifically for a 25.5" scale. Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels.

3. I haven't seen any SSH Jaguars, but I've seen SSS. Adding a humbucker in the bridge couldn't be too difficult, as the cavity/pup measurements should be nearly identical to a SSH Strat.

tragictravisty

i thought it was like 180 for a top routed alder jag body? anyway, tell me if you find a different place, im thinking about a jag project too.

Estring

tragictravisty said: i thought it was like 180 for a top routed alder jag body? anyway, tell me if you find a different place, im thinking about a jag project too.

Neither have I, that's why I think it's worth doing. I think that there are basically two options for me at this point: 1. Buy a replica from usaguitars or warmoth and have it routed for SSH at 25.5" scale or 2. FInd a good RI painted Jag or Jazzy body for my price range on ebay.

It pisses me off that it's moderately easy to find a good strat body on ebay for around $170=180 shipped while its slim pickings for a painted jag body to fall under that price range.

Absolutely, I'll keep you posted. Work has delayed my research today. I'm sure I'll find someplace to make this happen for the money.

Aug

you should talk to those noho guitars guys. when it comes to custom bodies and whatnot, they are the bee's knees!

myspace.com/nohoguitars

Estring

Aug said: you should talk to those noho guitars guys. when it comes to custom bodies and whatnot, they are the bee's knees!
myspace.com/nohoguitars

It seems that they don't actually have a real business website. Their myspace page is pretty limited. Any chance you have a url to their actual storefront or something?

UPDATE: So I've decided to go with a JM body instead. I recently played a jag at a local music shop and I'm just not digging the short scale as much. I think that with the full scale of the JM, it will give me alot more flexibility with the pickup configuration and not look as clustered as a Jag would with a SSH config. So far, after some research, Guitar Mill and Warmoth are my top choices for JM bodies. I'm planning on finding a nice MIM or MIA strat neck off of ebay. ReRanch's products will be used for finishing and I'll have to look into making my own pickguard. Pickups aren't completely decided yet but I'm thinking SD JB or SD Pearly Gates Plus for the bridge. Thanks for all the help so far guys!

I've got another question too, will having a "swimming pool" route on a guitar affect the tone much, if at all?

Aug

strat necks and jazzy necks are not the same, despite both being 25.5" Be forewarned.

Estring

Aug said: strat necks and jazzy necks are not the same, despite both being 25.5" Be forewarned.

How so?

Aug

the nut and fret placements aren't the same, and intonation could be a problem. I wish I could go into more detail, but I only recently discovered this while comparing a jazzy neck to a strat neck, having noticed something amiss.

tragictravisty

with warmoth you can also get different routing options on jazzmaster bodies - like 5-way switch in place of the rythim circuit, of in the lead circuit, etc.

Estring

tragictravisty said: with warmoth you can also get different routing options on jazzmaster bodies - like 5-way switch in place of the rythim circuit, of in the lead circuit, etc.

Hmmm... I read somewhere about a guy successfully putting a squier strat neck onto a warmoth jazzy body. I wish I had a Jazzy already so I could compare to my strat neck, which I absolutely love. It's basically a "fat" strat neck so the frets are a bit oversized and its maple w/ rosewood fingerboard. It's so fast and comfortable for me, I have yet to find another neck as nice. As for the intonation, I doubt it would be so major as to be beyond adjustment. Thanks for the heads up, I gotta get out to GC or Sam Ash to compare soon.

True but I like that aspect of the jazzmaster. Warmoth sounds like one of the best options so far but have you heard anything about GuitarMill?

tragictravisty

nah, i first heard of them from you

Cyeos

Hello guys,

I was actually planning something along these lines myself. I wanted to run this by someone who's seen a lot of Jaguars/Jazzmasters and might offer input.

Bloody love Jaguars but the scale feels strange and I want something different.

Built three strat partscasters so far, with progressivley more fabrication and customization so now I'm planning on making a (probably warmoth parts) custom Jaguar, ice blue metallic with neck binding and matching headstock *drool*, but I want to use a strat-style 25.5" neck and also want SSH with two Jaguar pickups and a SD JB in the bridge. Would make what's normally the tone switch control the bridge pickup and move the tone to a separate switch paired with a momentary killswitch I put in all of my guitars. Might even route a side jack so I can have three knobs like a strat on the face plate.

Anyway this essentially has led me to actually use a Jazzmaster body, to get the scale and increased room for pickups. However, one problem comes in where I want to have the Jaguar's chrome switch plates which I love! I know I will probably have to cut my own plastic pickguard from a blank, but I don't want to do the project at all if I can't get the switch plates on there.

Now, assuming I can get the body routed for Jaguar electronics and SSH, would the Jaguar's chrome plate pieces fit/look right over a Jazzy body?