Last year Norms had the 1958 prototype Jazzy for sale that we all covet and so I put two and two together: I needed to make an army/avocado green '58 style Jazzy for myself.
I've owned some great vintage Jazzmasters, most notable a great Olympic White '60 and a Lake Placid Blue '64/'65, but eventually sold them all off as the necks were always far too slim for me.
Aside from the colour spec, the main thing I wanted for this guitar was a FAT neck. Why aren't there more fat neck 'masters? Seriously.
I'd been putting off the project for several months, but eventually one night started ordering parts...
Here's what the Green Bastard boasts:
-flyweight (3lbs 1oz) swamp ash body from Guitar Mill finished locally by Alastair Miller (killer builder)
-fat U profile 9.5" radius Musikraft neck (.90" @ 1st, .99" @ 12th) finished in a semi-satin/semi-gloss vintage tint with vintage style Gotoh tuners (no extra drilling)
-Mastery bridge and tremolo (what a huge improvement)
-Pickup Wizard plain enamel formvar vintage style pickups (sound just like the best of my vintage ones)
-Rothstein copper shield + '58 wiring harness
-ToneGuard black anodized aluminum pickguard (super gorgeous in person)
-miscellaneous mixed brands for the rest (knobs, screws, neck plate, etc.)
I'm a super impatient guy so waiting for all the parts to arrive and for the paint to dry was a great agony. It was only made worse by the fact that I'd been without a Jazzy for so long and couldn't wait to get one back in my hands.
Well, it all came to a glorious end yesterday afternoon when I picked up the freshly assembled and setup Green Bastard from Alastair Millers shop (he did the assembly).
THIS THING IS INCREDIBLE, IT'S ALL I'VE EVER WANTED IN A JAZZMASTER!
The sound in the bridge and neck position is identical to that of the '64/'65 I had and the middle is just like I remember my '60 in that position; angelic.
The neck is divine and endlessly more comfortable for me to play than the toothpick 7.25" vintage necks. I couldn't be happier with how the neck turned out- I could even do with a fatter no taper one.
The mastery is fantastic and even after just a few hours logged on it I've noticed I can really dig in without any concern. The tremolo feels fantastic- I love how light and floaty it is; perfect for adding a slight shimmer/warble.
Wow, all in all I seriously couldn't be happier with how this turned out if I tried. I'd had a boutique guitar custom made for me last year, but was ultimately quite let down with it so was a bit apprehensive of going the parts/custom route again. Boy am I glad I did it though as it fits me perfectly.
I am already planning a couple other guitars that I want to start ASAP- another JM and a Tele.
I can objectively state that I'm happier with this guitar than I've been with any vintage or boutique purchase over the past few years. I've dropped some serious coin on several golden era Fender and Gibson guitars, but always sold them off quick as I never could get along with any of them at the end of the day and wasn't going to hang onto something just because it'd earn me praise among tan pant wearing 50-somethings who feel the need to fervently protect their investment in vintage. Vintage and boutique is not universally great- my experience has been the opposite.
Ladies and gents, without further ado, I present you the GREEN BASTARD:
