JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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politicalEconomist
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JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Mon May 20, 2019 12:38 pm

I am a longtime reader of the forums, but this is my first post.

I am about to start two projects using the JMJM as the platform and I would love to hear any advice, suggestions and/or warnings people might have.

I love the JMJM I have, I love the neck, I love the body shape, I love the placement of the trem. But, I would also like to have more sonic variation at my disposal. So I plan on acquiring two used JMJM's and modifying them. Here is my current plan, but I would love to hear other people thoughts if any of this sounds off:

- One will be converted to a 3 single coil with a 5-way switch for a JMJM-Strat hybrid.
- The other will be some form of a JMJM-Tele probably with a HB in one of the positions and a traditional tele pickup in the other position. A 3 way switch for that one.

The 3-single coil will come first, and I will probably have most of the work done by someone more competent than myself.

Any thoughts, tips, tricks or "there be the dragons" I should think through before I begin the process?

[BTW: Thanks for everyones contributions to this forum. It was here that I discovered the JMJM several years ago. I started playing in the early 90's and took a long break from about 2006-2016 so my opinion of Squire was pretty bad. I would never have taken a chance on the JMJ without all the positive talk here.}

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by MC3 » Mon May 20, 2019 1:58 pm

As far as the Tele build one, Curtis Novak makes a telecaster bridge pickup that fits in a jazzmaster cover, and also a PAF and Fender Wide Range that fit in jazzmaster covers. Basically you could get a Keith Richard's style tele setup or Telecaster custom set up by only dropping some new pickups (and maybe a change of pots)

Tele pickup
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-t/

Humbuckers
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-paf/
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-wr/

Good luck with build(s)!

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Tue May 21, 2019 8:32 am

MC3 wrote:
Mon May 20, 2019 1:58 pm
As far as the Tele build one, Curtis Novak makes a telecaster bridge pickup that fits in a jazzmaster cover, and also a PAF and Fender Wide Range that fit in jazzmaster covers. Basically you could get a Keith Richard's style tele setup or Telecaster custom set up by only dropping some new pickups (and maybe a change of pots)

Tele pickup
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-t/

Humbuckers
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-paf/
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-wr/

Good luck with build(s)!
Wow. Those look like perfect options for the JMJM-Tele project. Thanks for the links!

I know the Strat mod will be much more involved. I wish there was someone that made a prewired Jazz pick guard with 3 single coils. I realize it won't be a drop in replacement because of the routing in the cavity, but it would go a long way toward making things simpler (and cheaper) for me.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Tue May 28, 2019 5:28 pm

I just learned that the Squier Deluxe Jazzmaster is the same guitar as the Mascis Squire, but can be had for a good bit less on the used market. I think I will make at least one of the projects using that as a platform.

I am trying to decide if using the Masics or Deluxe as the platform for the 3 single coil makes since, or if I should just get a custom made Warmoth body and stick a Mascis neck on it. Not sure what the difference would be cost-wise. Hmmmmm

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by alexpigment » Wed May 29, 2019 2:55 pm

politicalEconomist wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 5:28 pm
I just learned that the Squier Deluxe Jazzmaster is the same guitar as the Mascis Squire, but can be had for a good bit less on the used market. I think I will make at least one of the projects using that as a platform.

I am trying to decide if using the Masics or Deluxe as the platform for the 3 single coil makes since, or if I should just get a custom made Warmoth body and stick a Mascis neck on it. Not sure what the difference would be cost-wise. Hmmmmm
I think it depends on whether you want the tremolo in the vintage position or the 'updated' position. I prefer the latter personally. Last I checked, they don't offer this option via Warmoth (at least on the site) and a painted/finished body will end up costing you almost the price of a Deluxe/Mascis. So yeah, if you like olympic white or candy apple red bodies, the Squier makes the most sense to me.

One other plus - to me at least - is that the Squier Deluxes are all rosewood. They discontinued them when they had to switch the Chinese Squiers to Indian Laurel.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Wed May 29, 2019 7:06 pm

alexpigment wrote:
Wed May 29, 2019 2:55 pm
politicalEconomist wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 5:28 pm
I just learned that the Squier Deluxe Jazzmaster is the same guitar as the Mascis Squire, but can be had for a good bit less on the used market. I think I will make at least one of the projects using that as a platform.

I am trying to decide if using the Masics or Deluxe as the platform for the 3 single coil makes since, or if I should just get a custom made Warmoth body and stick a Mascis neck on it. Not sure what the difference would be cost-wise. Hmmmmm
I think it depends on whether you want the tremolo in the vintage position or the 'updated' position. I prefer the latter personally. Last I checked, they don't offer this option via Warmoth (at least on the site) and a painted/finished body will end up costing you almost the price of a Deluxe/Mascis. So yeah, if you like olympic white or candy apple red bodies, the Squier makes the most sense to me.

One other plus - to me at least - is that the Squier Deluxes are all rosewood. They discontinued them when they had to switch the Chinese Squiers to Indian Laurel.
Ah thats a good point. I definitely prefer the `updated' position of the Squire JMJM and the Deluxe. So Warmoth is probably straight out then, thats too bad.

The issues that made me consider it (before thinking about the Trem location) were (1) Routing for SSS would already be done (2) I could order the Jazzmaster SSS pick guard with the body and (3) I could get a different color than the JMJM White and the Deluxe Red. Giving me 3 different color guitars. But there are probably other ways to address these issues:

(1) I'd imagine the routing won't be too much of an issue in terms of cost.
(2) I am not sure where you can order an SSS Jazzmaster pickguard that will fit the Mascis/Deluxe? The Warmth site says that their custom guards will only fit on their Jazzmaster bodies.

(3) As for the color, I am thinking that maybe I should look for a body from one of the other JMs that use the modern tremolo positioning. Is there a thread somewhere here on the site that details the term location of all the current and recent models. For example, this Special Ed FSR Blacktop appears to use the modern placement but I am not 100% sure:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Special ... 3695870211?

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:50 pm

Where to get custom pick guards?

Ok so I acquired a SJMJM from my local Guitar Center for $300 and I am ready to start my builds.

Where can I have a pick guard made for the JMJM that has the pickup placement for a 3 single coil with 5-way strat setup or a 2 single coil with 3-way tele set up?

Thanks.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by Steadyriot. » Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:11 pm

You can get a custom pickguard at WD Music.

Guitarfetish sells them too; but I can't guarantee they fit on the JMJM. The site doesn't say on what guitar they are based.

The JMJM uses an AVRI sized pickguard (aside from the bridge holes)
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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:09 am

Steadyriot. wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:11 pm
You can get a custom pickguard at WD Music.

Guitarfetish sells them too; but I can't guarantee they fit on the JMJM. The site doesn't say on what guitar they are based.

The JMJM uses an AVRI sized pickguard (aside from the bridge holes)
Thanks for the links.

WD looks like a good lead.

I am fairly certain that I have read reports on this forum that the GuitarFetish guards do not fit, but maybe someone else can chime in who has 1st hand experience.

On a related note:
I wish there was a master thread or wiki that lists all the parts that are "no-modification" parts for the SJMJM (and for other models for that matter). There is so much rich information about mods and build scattered across this site but no one place you can look that organizes all of it. Maybe I should start a thread that updates the first post with a list of all known parts that easily fit? Hmmmm.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by 601210 » Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:30 pm

politicalEconomist wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:09 am
I am fairly certain that I have read reports on this forum that the GuitarFetish guards do not fit, but maybe someone else can chime in who has 1st hand experience.
They don't. They're for their own line of offset guitars, which are shaped a bit different.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by Rgand » Sat Jun 15, 2019 8:07 am

These are going to be good builds to follow. I look forward to photos as things move forward.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by jvin248 » Sat Jun 15, 2019 9:56 am

.

A couple of options you may want to investigate as you create your builds:

-Use a swimming pool route and then you can put any set of pickups anywhere in there, just need a custom pickguard.
-Make a modular pickguard where the upper and lower horns are separate like a Jaguar and then you only need to make smaller pickguards just for the pickups. If you make this pickguard rectangular you can probably cut them yourself from blanks anytime you get the urge to swap pickup options.

-Tele style use a 4-way switch and you can have a humbucker tone available. My auto-mod on Teles.
-Strat style use an Armstrong Blender mod, requires either an additional 'tone' pot (easy on a Strat) or a stacked concentric ring tone pot (easiest for your mod). This blends between SSS and HSH -- sometimes I like a little bit of series or a little more single coil bite. Stock Strat 6kohm pickups in series give a hot 12kohm humbucker. My auto-mod on Strats.

-Modified option that I'm planning on building sometime:
Strat neck pickup
Jaguar middle pickup, but located near the bridge pickup not in the center.
Telecaster bridge pickup
5-way switch
Armstrong Blender

.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:03 am

jvin248 wrote:
Sat Jun 15, 2019 9:56 am
.

A couple of options you may want to investigate as you create your builds:

-Use a swimming pool route and then you can put any set of pickups anywhere in there, just need a custom pickguard.
-Make a modular pickguard where the upper and lower horns are separate like a Jaguar and then you only need to make smaller pickguards just for the pickups. If you make this pickguard rectangular you can probably cut them yourself from blanks anytime you get the urge to swap pickup options.

-Tele style use a 4-way switch and you can have a humbucker tone available. My auto-mod on Teles.
-Strat style use an Armstrong Blender mod, requires either an additional 'tone' pot (easy on a Strat) or a stacked concentric ring tone pot (easiest for your mod). This blends between SSS and HSH -- sometimes I like a little bit of series or a little more single coil bite. Stock Strat 6kohm pickups in series give a hot 12kohm humbucker. My auto-mod on Strats.

-Modified option that I'm planning on building sometime:
Strat neck pickup
Jaguar middle pickup, but located near the bridge pickup not in the center.
Telecaster bridge pickup
5-way switch
Armstrong Blender

.
These are all great suggestions. I had not even though about the 4 way on the Tele, but that seems like a great idea. I will have to look more into the Armstrong Blender to see if it fits what I want, but it sounds pretty cool.

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by MC3 » Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:36 am

For the Tele style JMJM, you could kind of go for a faux Thinline tele control layout, as it might be considerably less routing to do. It might also look pretty good on a JM body imo

Image

That, combined with the JM-T and JM-WR pickups, would make a fairly headache-free (and cool) build

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Re: JMJM-Strat and JMJM-Tele project

Post by politicalEconomist » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:42 pm

MC3 wrote:
Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:36 am
For the Tele style JMJM, you could kind of go for a faux Thinline tele control layout, as it might be considerably less routing to do. It might also look pretty good on a JM body imo

Image

That, combined with the JM-T and JM-WR pickups, would make a fairly headache-free (and cool) build
I am open to anything right now as the first build will be the Stratomaster, then the Telemaster and lastly the Jazz Paul :)

Another question that I have been pondering is whether to make the Telemaster have the floating Term or a hardtail. I doubt I will be ambitious enough to try the full Tele Bridge approach, but I can find good potions with both hardtails and trems as my basic platform. The Jazz Paul will be a hardtail and the Stratomaster will have the Trem. Just not sure what to do for the Tele version.

Hmmmm.

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