Blacktop Jazzmaster Jr. Project

[gcorona]

Just adding a quick update:
I made a pickguard!
Still have to smooth out the edges and drill out the holes.
It was easy to cut. Soldering iron cuts through vinyl like butter.

oooh that label being off-centre would trouble me.

extending the theme tho, you could use the pickup arm of a record player as your tremolo arm.
& then you could wire it up & use it for some scratching. hiphopblacktop!

Yeah, I thought about cutting a three-piece pickguard like on a jaguar, so that I can center the label. I'll try that later.
That is a great idea of a record player arm for the trem, but I'm keeping this build simple, so no tremolo.

[gcorona]

I tried to design a different pickguard. Not sure if I like it yet. Luckily, I have a large stack of LP's to work with .
Sorry in advance to Lynyrd Skynyrd fans for the butchering of this LP.

[TeenageShutdown!]

Skynyrd albums are also great for melting into record bowls...

[vale]

I tried to design a different pickguard. Not sure if I like it yet. Luckily, I have a large stack of LP's to work with .
Sorry in advance to Lynyrd Skynyrd fans for the butchering of this LP.

maybe try one where you start with a 7" single & work out by adding on, as well as the 12" version you have done where you are cutting away. but looks like fun.
but hell, what else is there to do on a long bank holiday weekend other than destroy culture? have to do it.

[gcorona]

Ha! In my defense, all these LP's are completely unplayable. I'm re-purposing them.

[vale]

're-purposing' like brick re-purposes a window.

but on the subject of re-purposing random shit to serve in a guitar context, i had the most genius idea last night of re-purposing toilet seat hinges to make some kind of a vintage old-school bigsby style trem or at least a cool stop tailpiece.

obvs it sounds mental as an idea (that's generally what i do, have mental ideas). but then when you look at the pic with that thought in your mind & it seems kinda glaringly possible.

[gcorona]

Finishing up my guitar this summer.
I didn't like how the stain turned out so I sanded the front and left it natural. I'm happy with the results. After a few coats of sealer, I wet sanded the top until it got a nice satin finish.
The neck was added without issue. Currently working on punching holes on the pickguard for all the electronics. More pics to come soon.

[gcorona]

All done! More or less...
I sanded down the vinyl and sprayed it with "hammered" black paint. I was hoping to get a look of rot iron.
Cutting and drilling a pickguard is challenging the first time around, but now I have a template to trace from.
I raised the bridge and tuned the guitar. The humbucker is working perfectly. The piezo pickups, not so much.
I hot glued a pair of piezo buzzers to the pickguard, under the cavity where the single coil should be. They are very sensitive to the touch of the pickguard, but they don't respond to the strings. I'm going to relocate them under the bridge and try again.


There is still some fine tuning to be done. I'm getting buzz. If I touch the metal jack, the buzzing goes away.
I have not grounded anything, so I'll have to work on that next.



I'm starting to wonder if the tone and volume knobs are too big. I have a smaller set but they are not as nice.



I'll post some pics of the piezos when I start relocating them.
Now I have to work on the matching amp

[Pepe Silvia]

Very cool. I've considered doing a similar built in the past, this is giving me the bug again

[Zork]

a) The knobs are perfect. b) Try locating the piezos in the neck pocket. c) the 2 part pickguard looks vety nice. d) Congrats on that awesome build!

[Rgand]

Those knobs are perfect. I used them on mine, too. I did, however put a small one on the volume pot 'cause I kept hitting it and used the larger ones on my other two pots (3 total pots).