Custom Cobain Inspired Jazzmaster

badmotorfinger

HNB said:
It is a guy named Paul Rhoney. He makes guitar building templates and does custom metal plates. They are around $45-$50 each. They are very nice. I had one and didn't think I was going to use it and sold it. Now I have to wait for this batch to finish. Here is a pic of the one I had. If you like I can send his email to you as a message.

DSC00612 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

would he make me lefty plates for my Jag?

HNB

badmotorfinger said:
would he make me lefty plates for my Jag?

I don't see why not. His email is on his contact page of his website. 😀

http://paulrhoney.com/contact/

HNB

Neck is paid for and ordered. Not sure how long they will take. Got this neck.

Can't wait to see it. It is coming with a bone nut, tuners and string tree installed, and mounting holes drilled.

badmotorfinger

HNB said:
Neck is paid for and ordered. Not sure how long they will take. Got this neck.

Can't wait to see it. It is coming with a bone nut, tuners and string tree installed, and mounting holes drilled.

where did you score a neck with a white binding? want one so badly for me lefty Jag... but no one has them. You're guitar is looking real cool though.

HNB

badmotorfinger said:
where did you score a neck with a white binding? want one so badly for me lefty Jag... but no one has them. You're guitar is looking real cool though.

This is a strat neck. MJT is finishing it for me to use on my Jazzmaster, but it is an Allparts neck. You might try them or try Warmoth for a white bound Jaguar neck. 😀

badmotorfinger

HNB said:
This is a strat neck. MJT is finishing it for me to use on my Jazzmaster, but it is an Allparts neck. You might try them or try Warmoth for a white bound Jaguar neck. 😀

thanks dude! where did yo get the fender logo/decal for this? is there someone who does those?

HNB

Sent you a link. 😀

HNB

So there has been a lot of progress. Here goes.

The neck came. I am pleased with how it looks. Here are pictures of it laying on it's body.

DSC03122 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03123 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03124 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03125 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03126 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB

So Paul Rhoney's custom plates came. (And there was much joy.) Here are some progress pictures.

I cut some wood to mostly fill the cavity. (I needed wood to screw the Jaguar plate to.

DSC03130 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03131 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

I marked the holes for where the screws and such are so I could trim it to the right size.

DSC03132 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Trimmed. (The toggle has room now. )

DSC03133 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03134 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB

Next I cut my wires to go through the block. (Neck pickup wire, bridge pickup wire, toggle ground, and toggle output along with the neck humbucker going south towards where the pots will be.) I put tape on each with a lable so after I solder the toggle I will be able to remember what wire is connected to what part of the toggle.

DSC03152 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Soldered the toggle.

DSC03154 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03156 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Things kind of in place with all my wires coming out where the pots and jack will be.

DSC03157 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Parts kind of in place to give a sort of look at the finished product soon to come.

DSC03138 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB

Got screws and went to work installing them. (I drill pressed the pilot holes at work.)

DSC03159 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03160 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Got to work on the headstock d3c4l. It is a combination of three or four waterslides I had laying around. Of course it isn't the same as Kurt's funky Jaguar one, but I think it is a fun tribute. I was able to work in the Floating trem part, the offset part, and spaced Jazzmaster pretty far from the Fender part to give it a similar vibe, but still state that this is a Jazzmaster. (Headstock is strat shape FYI.)

DSC03164 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03163 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Then I went to work filing the binding for the nut to fit. Once I get a neck plate, I should be able to install the nut. Pots could arrive tomorrow if I am lucky so I could finish up the wiring work.

DSC03166 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

The tinting on the back of the neck is very nice. It is lighter on the back like I asked for and it feathers to darker tint at the heal and headstock.

DSC03168 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03169 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03170 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB

Yesterday the new knobs and the neck plate arrived.

DSC03182 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Exciting, but the pots would have been more useful. Fortunately those are set to arrive today according to USPS.

HNB

Got the electronics wired up.

DSC03183 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03185 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03187 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Then I put the neck on, put a small amount of wood glue in the pocket for the nut, put the nut in, and put strings on to help make sure the nut was in place.

DSC03192 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03194 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03196 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03199 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC03200 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

HNB

Once the string tree arrives, I can get that installed. Then it is intonate and ready to play.

johnnykazz

HNB said:
Once the string tree arrives, I can get that installed. Then it is intonate and ready to play.

Wow man, that is really impressive. I can only imagine how much more unique and special that guitar feels than the Kurt Sig Series Jag.

HNB

johnnykazz4l said:
Wow man, that is really impressive. I can only imagine how much more unique and special that guitar feels than the Kurt Sig Series Jag.

In all honesty I didn't likely save any money building it myself. It probably cost a bit more than the Fender one, but it is full scale and that feels like a better fit for me. I also had fun just seeing if I could do it. Could I take Jaguar parts and get them to fit ok on a Jazzmaster? Yeah. 😀 It worked out well with the blacktop because I just left off the parts Kurt didn't ever seem to use. No rollers, but the plate is there. No bass cut switch. Just simple toggle, two volumes, and one tone. The Blacktop tremolo movement would have also probably been fine with Kurt because it works really well with TOM's. (Like on the CP Jaguars and Jazzmasters.) No trem lock, but I never really saw any videos with him using a tremolo so basically the tremolo was just used as a stop tail.

In the end, putting something together myself was a lot of fun. Given that making one of these full scale couldn't be done any other way than making it custom (at least the guard and plates) I am pretty psyched on how it turned out. 😀