My Jazzmaster Project.

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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Nox_Vagari
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My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:09 am

Hi,

This is my thread documenting the various modifications and whatever else I decided to do with my Jazzmaster over time.

I bought this guitar a few weeks ago (as mentioned in my into post). It's a 2017 MIJ Fender Jazzmaster 60's.

Here are two terrible pictures of the guitar without any mods or anything done to it:
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So the first thing I wanted to do to the guitar was swap out the pickups for something more inline with the original Jazzmaster pickups. Because I had read about MIJ Jazzmaster pickups not being very true to the original design.

After a bit of searching I decided to go for the Curtis Novak JM-V, JM-FAT combo:
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Curtis on the left, original on the right:
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I also got black pickup covers from Curtis at the same time. Here is the guitar back together:
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I'm really pleased with the pickups, the guitar sounds just how I wanted it to.

Okay, guess that's it for now. More to come!

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Nox_Vagari
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:28 am

Oops..

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andy
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by andy » Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:17 pm

Nox_Vagari wrote:
Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:28 am
Oops..
Hahaha Oh boy. Where’s this going?
Send me western swing vids

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Nox_Vagari
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:56 pm

andy wrote:
Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:17 pm

Hahaha Oh boy. Where’s this going?
Down a long slippery path to bankruptcy and alcoholism... That's where.

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Nox_Vagari
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Fri Jan 04, 2019 9:18 pm

It's not easy removing a poly finish. But after some work here is where I'm at.

Still needs more sanding but at least most of the paint and sealer is gone.

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cjs
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by cjs » Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:10 am

Nox_Vagari wrote:
Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:56 pm
andy wrote:
Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:17 pm

Hahaha Oh boy. Where’s this going?
Down a long slippery path to bankruptcy and alcoholism... That's where.


haha! ok how'd you get that poly finish off so quick?

you must tell.

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:52 pm

cjs wrote:
Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:10 am

haha! ok how'd you get that poly finish off so quick?

you must tell.
Alrighty then. So I used a paint scraper and a heat gun for the body. Just keep the heat gun on the area directly in front of the scraper. It peels off right down to the wood.

For the neck I avoided the heat gun as much as possible because I didn't want to unglue to fretboard or warp the neck. I just used a craft knife with a thick blade and basically scrapped off all the paint. Still not easy but much quicker than sanding for half your life.

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by cjs » Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:39 pm

Nox_Vagari wrote:
Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:52 pm
cjs wrote:
Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:10 am

haha! ok how'd you get that poly finish off so quick?

you must tell.
Alrighty then. So I used a paint scraper and a heat gun for the body. Just keep the heat gun on the area directly in front of the scraper. It peels off right down to the wood.

For the neck I avoided the heat gun as much as possible because I didn't want to unglue to fretboard or warp the neck. I just used a craft knife with a thick blade and basically scrapped off all the paint. Still not easy but much quicker than sanding for half your life.
awesome.

super clean work. looks so much cleaner than other photos of the same process. great job.

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:49 am

So I can't really work on the guitar during weekdays so progress is slow. But today I got to work on it a bit more.

I finished removing the sealer/primer(?) and sanding the body. I went up to 320 grit:
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After this I felt like starting the spray work, here is my state of the art setup:
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Okay! So what type of finish? And what colour?

The reason I'm refinishing the guitar in the first place is because I wanted to nitro lacquer finish. I'd like the finish to age over time.
As for the colour... Well I thought about Sonic Blue, but I don't know, in the end I actually started to like the black finish more than at first. I also have some ideas for the overall look.

So I'm obviously crazy but I've decided to refinish a black guitar black!

Here's the lacquer I'm using. It's Nitro Cellulose lacquer by a company called PPG.
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First very light coat:
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Sanded the first coat to get rid of the raised grain:
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Second coat:
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Well that's all I was able to do before it got too dark.

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:57 pm

A little more progress.

Here is the third coat after being sanded smooth. Still pretty light coats, as you can see a bit of sand through on the bottom edge:
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Here it is after the 4th coat of colour, getting pretty smooth now (apart from orange peal). Oh and I decided to do a matching headstock:
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Next weekend I should be able to get to the clear coat for the body.

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by wproffitt » Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:38 am

Wow! As someone who digs into projects that may seem pointless to others, I can fully appreciate refinishing a black guitar in black just because it’s the right black. ;D I’m impressed with the quality of your work. What is your day job?

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TeenageShutdown!
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by TeenageShutdown! » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:33 am

So many cosmetic possibilities at this point!

IMO the guitar would look killer with block inlays. If you’re interested, the Jockomo block inlay stickers are of good quality. I have them of a couple guitars & they have held up great. They’re reasonably priced too.

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by TeenageShutdown! » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:43 am

Some food for thought. Although, locating a proper yellow gold pickguard is not so easy.
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Nox_Vagari
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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:39 pm

wproffitt wrote:
Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:38 am
Wow! As someone who digs into projects that may seem pointless to others, I can fully appreciate refinishing a black guitar in black just because it’s the right black. ;D I’m impressed with the quality of your work. What is your day job?
Thanks for the kind words! I'm by no means an expert or anything even close to that. I just have access to a back yard, and a spray gun... and I'm crazy enough to not worry about ruining a brand new guitars finish.

As for my day job... I fix things ; )

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Re: My Jazzmaster Project.

Post by Nox_Vagari » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:44 pm

TeenageShutdown! wrote:
Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:43 am
Some food for thought. Although, locating a proper yellow gold pickguard is not so easy.
Image
Oh, I see how you guys operate around here. "Food for thought", really means tempting me away from my money! hah.
Kidding aside, nice guitar! And yes the gold guard is a consideration, but will wait and see how the refinishing goes first.

As for the block inlays I think they could look great too. But at the same time I kinda like the dots also. No decision yet. But again, thanks for the suggestions!

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