70s Natural Ash Style Jag Project (Done!)

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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solfege
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70s Natural Ash Style Jag Project (Done!)

Post by solfege » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:08 am

So I'd planned on doing a first build from mostly scratch project the (somewhat) cheap and (mostly) easy way and picking up a cheap VM Squier neck with all the hardware attached and mating it to a Rosser body that I've got on order. This mostly because I feel more confident about the soldering and wiring parts of things than the woodworking parts, but I figured I could sand, grain fill, and tru oil a body (don't really have the capacity to do spray finishes or the money to outsource it).

Welp, the super-cheap but basically virgin VM Squier neck with all the fixins' I ordered on Reverb turns out to have already been sold to someone else (via Reverb, a month or so ago, but somehow the listing remained). So now I have a body coming, but no neck. Yay! In the mean time, I'd been thinking that while I was probably going to like the profile of the VM Squier neck (which I *think* should be like the ones on my early 90s MIJ JM and my Squier Cyclone), the finish (light colored poly) and the radius (9.5) and frets (medium-jumbo) were going to be only ok but not great. If we're really talking the Jag of my dreams, it's that neck profile but a 7.25" radius, Rosewood fingerboard with 'vintage' (i.e., little) frets and a darker finish. Of course, it turns out that buying such a thing, while possible, ain't nearly as cheap as the $100 Squier neck.

It seems like I'm left with the following options, and I would love people's thoughts on what to do here.

1. Buy an Allparts Jag neck (unfinished), which should have the little frets (they say vintage) and definitely has the right fingerboard and the right radius ($190) + nut ($5, but I need to install it), + tuners ($35-50, but I need to install them, including drilling the holes in the back of the headstock for them), and tru-oil it along with the body. Assuming all goes well, this gets me more or less exactly what I want for about $230 (+ shipping and tru-oil).

2. Buy an unfinished 9.5" Warmouth neck with everything installed ($187) + tuners (35) and tru-oil it. This gets me everything but 7.25" radius for $222 (+shipping and tru-oil).

3. Buy a Squier VM Rosewood neck from Stratosphere ($130) + tuners (c. $35). This gets me back to what I'd originally planned on for $165 (+ shipping), but has all the drawbacks listed above.

4. Buy a Fender 60s lacquer neck with tuners but a Pau Ferro fingerboard from Stratosphere ($330 + shipping) and keep it fucking simple. This has everything I want except Rosewood, and it's more expensive than all other options.

So here's why (beyond the money stuff) I can't decide among these.

1. What do people think of these Allparts necks? Are they good enough that I can glue in a nut, finish it with tru-oil, and be happy? Also, how hard is getting the tuning machines on there myself?

2. Is the Rosewood vs. Pau Ferro tonal difference enough to be worth worrying about? Remember this is going to be an ash bodied guitar with a light finish.

3. Is spending all this extra money on something that would be easy to replace / upgrade later if I really wanted to a good idea?

Any and all thougths on this are welcome, especially from folks with experience of some of the factors.
Last edited by solfege on Sat Oct 13, 2018 7:55 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by Singlebladepickup » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:16 am

Allparts, since it's got everything you want. It's probably nicer than the squier, especially since you're putting tru oil on it.

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raphaël
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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by raphaël » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:24 am

Or just buy a vintage Fender neck?
You would have everything you want and you won't loose any money if you want to sale it. With every boutique and custom stuffs you'll loose money.

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solfege
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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:26 am

raphaël wrote:
Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:24 am
Or just buy a vintage Fender neck?
You would have everything you want and you won't loose any money if you want to sale it. With every boutique and custom stuffs you'll loose money.
I thought about that, but I think at that point I'm into levels of cash-outlay that are close to what I was envisioning for the whole project just for the neck.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by oid » Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:35 pm

solfege wrote:
Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:08 am
2. Is the Rosewood vs. Pau Ferro tonal difference enough to be worth worrying about? Remember this is going to be an ash bodied guitar with a light finish.
I will take any and all bets that you or anyone can not consistently identify Rosewood vs Pau Ferro fingerboards from the sound alone in finished instruments of the same model. The most important qualities in a fingerboard are fret holding and wear resistance, stiffness and stability are nice as well but stiffness in a fingerboard accomplishes little in a neck with a truss rod and stability is implied by fret holding, both are fine choices for fingerboards. I would pick Pau Ferro simply because it can save you from future headaches due to CITES and like many, I am allergic to rosewood which makes fret work/fingerboard work somewhat of a headache, but that is not much of an issue for folks who pay to have such work done.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:54 pm

oid wrote:
Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:35 pm
solfege wrote:
Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:08 am
2. Is the Rosewood vs. Pau Ferro tonal difference enough to be worth worrying about? Remember this is going to be an ash bodied guitar with a light finish.
I will take any and all bets that you or anyone can not consistently identify Rosewood vs Pau Ferro fingerboards from the sound alone in finished instruments of the same model. The most important qualities in a fingerboard are fret holding and wear resistance, stiffness and stability are nice as well but stiffness in a fingerboard accomplishes little in a neck with a truss rod and stability is implied by fret holding, both are fine choices for fingerboards. I would pick Pau Ferro simply because it can save you from future headaches due to CITES and like many, I am allergic to rosewood which makes fret work/fingerboard work somewhat of a headache, but that is not much of an issue for folks who pay to have such work done.
Yeah, my sense is that there's not enough of a difference to matter given everything else that'll be in play. I didn't realize there were allergy issues. Happily I don't think I'm affected. But you're also right re: CITES issues.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by oid » Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:20 pm

solfege wrote:
Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:54 pm
I didn't realize there were allergy issues. Happily I don't think I'm affected.
The allergy is only an issue if you work the wood and create dust. It is one of the more common wood allergies, most just get hay fever symptoms and the like, but some break out in hives anywhere the dust, settles on them.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by my main man » Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:27 pm

Allparts/Warmoth neck with Gotoh vintage tuners will be about the same price as a Squier loaded neck and the quality will be head and shoulders above the VM. My $0.02.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:10 am

Raphäel's solution -- once I understood it (there are more than merely Jag and Mustang 24" scale vintage Fender necks out there, d'oh) -- turns out to be the best.

One very reasonably priced '72 Musicmaster neck incoming. Project back on track.

Thanks everyone for helping me think this through.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Fri Jun 22, 2018 12:55 pm

Reverb Seller: "I'm looking everywhere for this neck and I haven't been able to locate it. I'll keep you posted."

Me, to myself: "Here we go again..."

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:55 am

Image

Something came in the mail today. It'll need the tuner holes widened just a little to get the Schaller reissues I bought in, but it's looking very nice. Now the body's just gotta arrive.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by raphaël » Thu Jun 28, 2018 12:59 pm

Yeah cool!! Super nice!!!

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:36 pm

raphaël wrote:
Thu Jun 28, 2018 12:59 pm
Yeah cool!! Super nice!!!
Man it's been such a saga to get that. I tried to buy another one, but the seller couldn't find it when he went looking for it, so ended up giving me a deal on this (frankly nicer) one. But here it is and I'm stoked. Everything I want and it feels great in my hand. Thanks so much for pushing me in this direction.

Now, anyone got advice on opening up the back side of the pegholes without having to sacrifice those lovely original bushings on the front (which totally work with the Schaller reissues, which alas need 9.5mm in the back, not the 8 or so that's there)? (I know, just reaming them out to 10 and using the new bushings is easiest, but I'd love to avoid this if its practical).

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by Amon 7.L » Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:40 am

solfege wrote:
Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:36 pm
Now, anyone got advice on opening up the back side of the pegholes without having to sacrifice those lovely original bushings on the front (which totally work with the Schaller reissues, which alas need 9.5mm in the back, not the 8 or so that's there)? (I know, just reaming them out to 10 and using the new bushings is easiest, but I'd love to avoid this if its practical).
Testing on a scrap piece first, can you simply try rimming the back of the peg hole halfway thru so that you can both keep the original bushing in place and mate it with the larger pillar at the bottom?

On the resale aspect, being a vintage neck I'd be more prone to keep it all original and use some Kluson's instead of making a permanent mod for the Schaller's.

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Re: New Prospective Jag Project / Neck Options

Post by solfege » Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:15 pm

Amon 7.L wrote:
Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:40 am
solfege wrote:
Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:36 pm
Now, anyone got advice on opening up the back side of the pegholes without having to sacrifice those lovely original bushings on the front (which totally work with the Schaller reissues, which alas need 9.5mm in the back, not the 8 or so that's there)? (I know, just reaming them out to 10 and using the new bushings is easiest, but I'd love to avoid this if its practical).
Testing on a scrap piece first, can you simply try rimming the back of the peg hole halfway thru so that you can both keep the original bushing in place and mate it with the larger pillar at the bottom?

On the resale aspect, being a vintage neck I'd be more prone to keep it all original and use some Kluson's instead of making a permanent mod for the Schaller's.
Are there Kluson's that will fit without new holes? This is the thing I cannot for the life of me figure out: what available, decent tuners can go in this config without drilling or reaming something on the back of the headstock?

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