Central Ohio native now in Fort Mill, SC

New to the board? Start a post to tell us about yourself and/or learn more about our other members.
Post Reply
User avatar
-=Todd Fox=-
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:20 am

Central Ohio native now in Fort Mill, SC

Post by -=Todd Fox=- » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:56 am

I figured I'd stop luring in the shadows and make a proper introduction (though certainly not as good as the hot sauce guy).
I'm a recent transplant to the greater Charlotte, NC area for work reasons, originally from central Ohio and lived there in Columbus for many years.
Was a bit of a metal head before I became a Cure fan in high school in the 90's. (I've gotten over the shame a long time ago.) I'm an art school drop out and do databases and reporting to pay the bills.

I do not consider myself a "serious musician" and playing is more like therapy for me.
Although sometimes it might be the illness.
The lines get blurred. :-)

I own a Squire Bass VI and some inexpensive but very playable strat clones. I've got a soft spot for old dirty Peavey amps and video game music. I'm into Surf rock, shoegaze or whatever is fun to play.
I'm currently in the process of building my first Jazzmaster and dusting off my old woodshop skills. I figured this forum would be an invaluable resource with the combined experience base of the members. Since I'm the sole support for myself, my wife and two kids and "technically" don't need more guitars, it will be done mostly with incremental purchases, hand tools and as much DIY as I can manage. I know I'm swan diving down the rabbit hole here, but I figure, why fight it.

Anyways, thanks for welcoming me to your support group. The first step is admitting you have a problem.
A product of a late 70's homesteading experiment.
You can't spell avarice without AVRI.

User avatar
derekstudt
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:08 am

Re: Central Ohio native now in Fort Mill, SC

Post by derekstudt » Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:53 am

Welcome! I'm a fellow Ohio native (Cleveland are) who has moved to Brevard, NC (South of Asheville) in the last 6 months.

Best of luck on the build. I'm in the early stages of my first build as well. What type of Jazzmaster do you plan to build?

User avatar
-=Todd Fox=-
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:20 am

Re: Central Ohio native now in Fort Mill, SC

Post by -=Todd Fox=- » Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:08 am

Since it's the first build I've done in 20+ years and I don't have access to wood shop I had in high school, I'm starting out simple.

Got one of those $35 Kmise necks from Amazon to focus on the body build, and to practice my fretwork on. The wood of the neck is nice, but the dot inlays are off center, and literally every single fret had a good 1/16" razor sharp tang on both sides. Just holding it caused a few cuts. I've filed those down and learned a few "what not to do's" and was glad I didn't start with a nice neck.

I'm going to follow a pattern for a '62 that I have, but I'm using hand tools only. Asking for it I know, but the Paul Sellers sharpening method really made me appreciate what hand tools and wood chisels are capable of. Plus a nice router = $$$ that my wife would tell me should be spent on any number of other things. She'd be right.

I'm going to use cedar 2x4's for the body. Partly because I love working cedar, but again, I'm trying to see just how cheaply I can make this build. I don't go in for the whole one-piece body thing as being anything more than a luxury. Planing and gluing stock is part of the process. I'm not a tonewood snob, not for electrics, but even if I was, cedar is still a good candidate. Yeah, it'll be heavy I'm sure.

Plan is a clear sealer and leave the wood exposed, knots and all. Pearloid pickguard, and probably start with cheap P-90's under a JM cover. Haven't figured out what I plan to do with the circuit, but I do love me some switches. Traditional style vib/trem system, but I don't care if they're cheap imports. In fact if anyone has some cheap import JM trems that they want to sell, I've got some experiments that I was wanting to do. :-)

Seeing as how it's bound to be a bit of a dog, I'm thinking of naming it the "Jazzmastiff"

Side note, why do so few schools have shop class any more? It was the one place where I actually learned any usable real life skills in high school. Everything else was boring and tedious. Art and Shop class taught me more than all the others combined.
A product of a late 70's homesteading experiment.
You can't spell avarice without AVRI.

User avatar
derekstudt
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:08 am

Re: Central Ohio native now in Fort Mill, SC

Post by derekstudt » Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:08 pm

Wow...hand tools. You're more daring than me! I bought an unfinished body that I'll be sanding/prepping for paint. I don't trust myself doing any "real" work on the neck yet, so I got a decent one that will need a little bit of fret work but is otherwise ready to go.

Cedar 2x4s should turn out pretty cool! I'm with you on tone wood being a farce. If Fender can make a great sounding strat out of corrugated cardboard, I'd say that proves it's more about the pickups when it comes to anything other than the players hands being the biggest influence on the sound of a guitar.

I'm with you 100% on art and shop classes being needed in school. My son, who is in 8th grade this year, is actually in shop class this year. I was really pleasantly surprised that the school offered it.

Be sure to post a thread of your build to document the process. I'd love to follow along.

Post Reply