A tale of two Lee Ranaldo jazzmasters

[Wyndeauxbiz]

Six months ago I was playing an MIM Telecaster Deluxe with Lollar Regals and a CIJ jaguar thinline with Mastery and Lollars. I would bring both guitars to gigs and ping back and forth between my favorite pups and my favorite trem. If only there was a way to mash these two guitars into one and could I get that in blue? Last November I discovered the Lee ranaldo Signature Jazzmaster was a thing. I went crazy. I tried to buy one online from a scammer in New Jersey. That never went through and I did get my money back but the things are rare as hen's teeth so I decided to build a Warmoth replica. I started with a chambered Satin body and I added black Mastery Hardware Regals and a single 500k volume pot. The guitar is lightweight. Dark toned. Cool. I was going to be happy for awhile. Then the real deal with an extra tone knob Creamery pups and stock bridge popped up for what Id pay. This has given me a cool chance to a/b a million things and share. Start with bodies. The Warmoth was lighter by about half a pound. The finished guitar was about 6.75 whereas the fender is about 7.2. The transparent satin blue paint by Warmoth is nowhere near as lustrous and elegant as the fender thin transparent blue. Also the black plastic guard is not in a fair fight with black aluminium. Necks. I started with koa and rosewood Warmoth with stainless steel frets. I was not surprised to find this neck too dark sounding. I tried a roasted Maple neck with a Rosewood board on my Telecaster once and those pickups preferred maple. So then I tried the neck off the 72 Deluxe. That was the winner till the fender LR showed up. The same pickups in three guitars this is the only one that sounds snappy and dynamic with rosewood. It sounds better than the Mim but by frets and radius it is a Telecaster deluxe neck. I also got to a/b Regals and 71 classic Creameries. Granted I've been used to this set of pickups but I didn't find much contest. The Creameries produced a lot of 60 cycle hum for a humbucker. Noisy. The bridge pickup had some charm and except for being noisy I may have liked it better than the Regal. The Regal Bridge really benefits from a tone knob down to 8 or so. The creamery Bridge sounds great all the way up. I tried mixing the two I found that together they were not as sweet and human sounding as the Regals together. I switched the tone pot to no load which is the best of both worlds. The neck pickup sounds great direct. I have been using all 500k pots but I've been experimenting with different brands and tapers and whatnot. Now I have a Seymour Duncan evh low-friction volume knob. It's fine. I don't do a lot of swells. Comparing the tremolos I found that the Mastery did not sound as good in the fender. It squeaked a little. when I would bend strings you can hear the string climbing up the saddle. I tried shaving some graphite into it but it didn't help. The Mustang Bridge is quiet and comfortable. Strings do slip off from time to time but it sounds a lot better than the scratchy bends of the Mastery. The Mastery did not sound like this on the Warmoth. I cant imagine what accounts for it. I kept the black Mastery trem which is a great piece of kit. Its weighted better and the bar comes in and out much more happily. Also with the black headstock and black pickguard it looks way cool. I like vintage style tuners fine I won't change them. It came with a really pretty Custom Shop case. Anyway that's my story. This is my first post I'll try to figure out how to add some pictures. Nice to meet you all. I just read the rules. I dont have pics in a public place so youll just have to take my word for now.

[Jan Deal]

Pics or it didn't happen!

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Paragraphs/ line breaks or no-one will read it.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

What the other two wrote. Plus try imgbb.
Also, cool story!
Hello and welcome from a fellow Thinline Jaguar owner!

[countertext]

Paragraphs/ line breaks or no-one will read it.

This.

[SignoftheDragon]

It did say Lee Ranaldo in the header, so I made myself power through, with only a bit of skimming.

Good to have you here, man- can't wait for pics!

[algeriet]

Paragraphs/ line breaks or no-one will read it.

This.

I want to read the story, but alas I can't.

[JVG]

As a public service, here is the story with line breaks and enough punctuation to make it readable.

Six months ago I was playing an MIM Telecaster Deluxe with Lollar Regals, and a CIJ jaguar thinline with Mastery and Lollars. I would bring both guitars to gigs and ping back and forth between my favorite pups and my favorite trem. If only there was a way to mash these two guitars into one, and could I get that in blue?

Last November I discovered the Lee ranaldo Signature Jazzmaster was a thing. I went crazy. I tried to buy one online from a scammer in New Jersey. That never went through, and I did get my money back but the things are rare as hen's teeth so I decided to build a Warmoth replica. I started with a chambered Satin body and I added black Mastery Hardware Regals and a single 500k volume pot. The guitar is lightweight. Dark toned. Cool. I was going to be happy for awhile.

Then the real deal with an extra tone knob, Creamery pups and stock bridge popped up for what Id pay. This has given me a cool chance to a/b a million things and share.

Start with bodies. The Warmoth was lighter by about half a pound. The finished guitar was about 6.75 whereas the fender is about 7.2. The transparent satin blue paint by Warmoth is nowhere near as lustrous and elegant as the fender thin transparent blue. Also the black plastic guard is not in a fair fight with black aluminium.

Necks. I started with koa and rosewood Warmoth with stainless steel frets. I was not surprised to find this neck too dark sounding. I tried a roasted Maple neck with a Rosewood board on my Telecaster once and those pickups preferred maple. So then I tried the neck off the 72 Deluxe. That was the winner till the fender LR showed up. The same pickups in three guitars this is the only one that sounds snappy and dynamic with rosewood. It sounds better than the Mim but by frets and radius it is a Telecaster deluxe neck.

I also got to a/b Regals and 71 classic Creameries. Granted I've been used to this set of pickups, but I didn't find much contest. The Creameries produced a lot of 60 cycle hum for a humbucker. Noisy. The bridge pickup had some charm and except for being noisy I may have liked it better than the Regal. The Regal Bridge really benefits from a tone knob down to 8 or so. The creamery Bridge sounds great all the way up. I tried mixing the two - I found that together they were not as sweet and human sounding as the Regals together.

I switched the tone pot to no load, which is the best of both worlds. The neck pickup sounds great direct. I have been using all 500k pots, but I've been experimenting with different brands and tapers and whatnot. Now I have a Seymour Duncan evh low-friction volume knob. It's fine. I don't do a lot of swells.

Comparing the tremolos I found that the Mastery did not sound as good in the fender. It squeaked a little. when I would bend strings you can hear the string climbing up the saddle. I tried shaving some graphite into it, but it didn't help. The Mustang Bridge is quiet and comfortable. Strings do slip off from time to time but it sounds a lot better than the scratchy bends of the Mastery. The Mastery did not sound like this on the Warmoth. I cant imagine what accounts for it.

I kept the black Mastery trem, which is a great piece of kit. It’s weighted better and the bar comes in and out much more happily.

Also with the black headstock and black pickguard it looks way cool. I like vintage style tuners fine - I won't change them. It came with a really pretty Custom Shop case.

Anyway that's my story. This is my first post. I'll try to figure out how to add some pictures.

Nice to meet you all. I just read the rules. I dont have pics in a public place so youll just have to take my word for now.

[Wyndeauxbiz]

I don't really do social media. I feel pretty stupid. I'm a stay-at-home dad and I talk into my phone to dictate things and it capitalizes words for no damn reason and it doesn't spell damn the way I would with one kid and the Coronavirus he's watching shows on my computer too much of the time. Phone doesn't know where paragraphs go. I'm a songwriter. I've read too much Kerouac. I'm not starting some effing account to put up pictures for the Jazzmaster Literati though. Admins how you kick me off this elitist group please. She's been a well of information and I'm sure he will continue to be but quoting each other's critiques of my writing? F*** yourselves.

[Wyndeauxbiz]

I apologize for the anger and profanity. I don't have the skills or grace for social media. Please do remove me.

[Wyndeauxbiz]

I apologize for the anger and profanity. I don't have the skills or grace for social media. Please do remove me.

[Unicorn Warrior]

I don't really do social media. I feel pretty stupid. I'm a stay-at-home dad and I talk into my phone to dictate things and it capitalizes words for no damn reason and it doesn't spell damn the way I would with one kid and the Coronavirus he's watching shows on my computer too much of the time. Phone doesn't know where paragraphs go. I'm a songwriter. I've read too much Kerouac. I'm not starting some effing account to put up pictures for the Jazzmaster Literati though. Admins how you kick me off this elitist group please. She's been a well of information and I'm sure he will continue to be but quoting each other's critiques of my writing? F*** yourselves.

I wouldn’t get my feathers up. People are just trying to critique your post because they’re interested in what you have to say. They suggested the image site because it’s helpful For people new to forums. Pics or it didn’t happen is a light hearted jab that we would love to see photos. It’s just forum courtesy. You are welcome to post however you please. Can you post without photos? Sure, but it will reduce the amount of engagements with your post. Most people want their posts to be as engaging as possible. Or at least I do. That’s why I assume most people make them.

I know that if I feel a particular thread of mine is hard to follow, I’ll try to rework it. Not everything I write initially makes perfect sense. It’s ok. No one means any Ill will.

[Wyndeauxbiz]

I appreciate your reconciliatory approach. I really don't do social media. I was less concerned about engaging people as I was documenting the process because it was fresh on my mind and I was able to do comparisons of so many quality products. Online social engagement scares the shit out of me. I have poor fight or flight skills. Look a paragraph break.

A month ago I tried to join Reddit. My pedalboard board suitcase has my circuit represented on the outside with brand stickers and Sharpie. It looks cool. On my first post to the pedal board community all the replies were about the rules I was breaking. That it was non topical because it wasn't a photo of actual pedals. That there was something wrong with my comment. I don't know what rule 7 and rule 4 were about. And just like this people reposting each other's three word critiques. I'm not trying to be engaging but I'm sure not trying to annoy people or piss people off who don't have to live with me. Everybody who commented commented on the way the post as a post didn't measure up to being what a post should be. And no one has anything to say about Warmoth or Fender or lollar or Creamery and thats my fault because Im using a damned phone and tyyping with one thumb. No I do feel like an idiot and I would like to find the door.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Your gear is cool. Your insight deserves to be valued. But I wouldn’t give up so easy, dude.

[Embenny]

This isn't reddit. If people make suggestions, they're just that- suggestions. We don't have much in the way of rules beyond basic human decency things like no hate speech, and the "for sale" area has a few extra of its own.

This is a very friendly place as far as the internet goes, most people giving you feedback were just doing so in the hopes of helping you fit in and engage people better in the discussion.