Jazzmaster harness and finish

[dannyyoung23]

Hi guys,

I have just started my first guitar project with an unfinshed Jazzmaster rosewood body and vintage 62' pickups which I bought from ebay.
Since I'm new at installing pickups I spent a little cash and got a complete harness that is ready to be soldered to the 62' pickups.

Checking for online info I got a little confused by the wiring diagram that is shown on fender's official site and couldn't understand how to do the grounding which is missing on my unfinished body.
What do I have to connect or solder in order to make it a proper working harness?

the rosewood body:
http://oi67.tinypic.com/2r4od39.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the rosewood body finish,what kind of lacquer would you recommend for a satin natural look?


Any help would be much appreciated!

[mcjt]

did you get this body from the brazilian reseller on eBay?
you're not on the right website to ask for this type of finishing. rw is very oily and is hard to bond lacquer to it.
you should try the Reranch Guitar website.
i have a Harrison style Tele, and i used Teak N Tung oil (to darken and protect), and Formsby's "tung oil finish" (to put a hard finish on top)





raw rosewood:



Tung n teak:

[mcjt]

p.s. ever see a RW jag or jm?

[brucer]

First, that's an incredible looking RW Jag! Good advice on the finishing and where to go for finishing help/advice too.

Re: wiring, I find the Rothstein Guitars diagram easier to follow than others: http://www.guitar-mod.com/wiring/jazzma ... ock725.jpg. The ground wire (triangle symbol) on the rhythm circuit is soldered to the rhythm bracket (scratch the bracket with a screwdriver first to help the solder take). The ground wire (triangle symbol) on the pickup selector can go to the back of the volume or tone pot. There should also be a small hole drilled from your lower bridge thimble hole into the control cavity where you can run a wire: stripped end in bridge thimble hole and other end soldered to the back of the volume or tone pot. If there's also a hole from your vibrato rout to the control cavity, then you can pinch a wire under the vibrato plate and run it through that hole and solder it once again to the back of the volume or tone pot. Otherwise, it'll be grounded through the strings and bridge. I think that covers it, but maybe someone else can jump in if I've missed something?

If you're considering shielding your guitar (not everyone does, but I find JMs pick up more electrical noise than other guitars), then I'd also suggest that you get one of Rothstein's copper shields for your pickguard (http://www.guitar-mod.com/mm5/merchant. ... e=J_SHIELD) or shield yours with conductive tape (http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_Elec" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... _Tape.html). The copper tape is also good cavity shielding (e.g. http://www.alphabetcityblog.com/2013/01 ... -2013.html).

Good luck and enjoy!

[PixMix]

That's a gorgeous body! Just oil, as mentioned above, Tung Oil, Danish Oil, our Boiled Linseed oil is what you need. Apply by rubbing small amounts of it it on the wood with a piece of lint-free cloth. How much does the body weigh?

[mcjt]

Also, do you want to have a flat surface, or do you want to feel the grain?
If you want a sleek, flat surface, you'll have to fill the grain.
I got a cool water based filler called aqua bond or something like that. It worked well with the rosewood.

[dannyyoung23]

This is a Brazilian rosewood,they sell some beautiful bodies(also strats and teles) that you may want to check on ebay.
the weight is similar to the indian rw,I'll let you know the exact body weight when i'll get the delivery which should come by this week.

mcjt- Your tele looks just great!, my aim would be to make it similar to yours,I like it natural, not too much dark and glossy.
I'll try to find the right oil mix that will protect and last long on the rw.

brucer - How would you connect the wiring to the bridge? Is it necessary to ground both the bridge and the tremolo?

I couldn't ask for a better help,Thank you all!
Hopefully I'll be able to update when it's all good and done.

[sunburster]

p.s. ever see a RW jag or jm?

Here's an all rosewood CS JM.



You can buy it here for $9400. It weighs 4.5kg.

[dannyyoung23]

The body just arrived and weighs around 7.5lbs which means it's not going to be a super lite guitar with the hardware and the neck,Personally and physically I'm not worried about my beck.

[dannyyoung23]

It's been a long time and I finally got my hands with pure tung oil and formbys low tung,
I started with the beck(3 coats of pure and 4 coats of formbys so far)
there is a pic: http://oi63.tinypic.com/ilgjg4.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did i put too many coats on it to your eyes?
How do i make it look smooth and get rid of all the dust and bubbles? Do you think a 0000 steel wool will do the job with no scratches?

Thank you!

[Bothand Nether]

Rosewood guitars are so very sexy, gratz!

I would gets some really good micro-mesh sandpaper from stu-mac & a very flat sanding block for the flat parts, I use a small piece of marble.
I wouldn't recommend a sander or any machine, and also let that stuff dry patiently

I try to sand slowly & carefully, paying more attention to the individual pass & not furiously mauling through the finish.
I usually fail miserably, fwiw.

I have never really used too much steel wool as the dust bothers me,
(if you are super-anal, most steel wool has oil & chemicals that should be rinsed out in solvent of some kind to degrease it)

Cleaning the paper frequently for the win, also.
I use an old piece of memory foam for that, when I'm not wetsanding.

I also purchased a body & neck from that same buyer, it's some beautiful wood for sure.
Just fyi, it's dalbergia spruciana, aka amazon rosewood, not Brazilian rosewood.

He pulls it from stumps & such, so it's nicely seasoned as well.

I got a neck that was dark like Your body but needed a serious refret and fretboard sanding.
(was a milling mark and some fret saw cuts & shipping damage),
So he sent me a replacement neck that was lighter in color and closer to body color.

I will polish the wood until it's like glass & then finger rub in tru-oil.

Some old-timers mix 1/3 Varnish, Tung oil, & solvent as well,
adjusting the mixture to match the climate.

More pix please!

[Embenny]

p.s. ever see a RW jag or jm?

Here's an all rosewood CS JM.



You can buy it here for $9400. It weighs 4.5kg.

God, those are gorgeous. But as soon as someone said "Rosewood Jag" all I could think is "dear lord, how much is that going to weigh?"

4.5kg is actually significantly lower than I was expecting, given what the one RW tele I've played weighed (over 10 lbs and with a lot less wood than a JM or Jag!)

[dannyyoung23]

It's all finally done(with pure tung oil and fromby's low tung), a little more glossy and darker than what I aimed for but I still like the results,
the contrast between the maple neck and the body makes it a bit odd.

For the electronics, the 65' vintage sounds great and with the copper fills has less background noise than my factory strat.
the last problem was the action that was too high, I had to shim the neck pocket once to make it playable.
I'll consider a mustang bridge to be able to adjust it lower.

Thank you All!

[mcjt]

Very impressive! The contrast is a little stark between the rw and the maple but that's cool.
I would consider a rw neck though

[ryverb]

Very nicely done, what neck is this? Looks really nice, congrats.