P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

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gilla409
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P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by gilla409 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 7:17 pm

Well, after quite a bit of struggling with wiring, it's finally finished!

Started it's life as a Northwest Guitars UK finished body (MIJ) that I routed to fit P90s, and plugged/drilled for the Wilkinson locking roller bridge. Trem is Fender AVRI with AmPro arm/collet, all the other hardware is standard Fender. P90 pickguard w/o rhythm section from Amazon, and is quite nice... had to trim the neck pocket area and enlarge the bridge bushing holes, but everything else lined up great. Pickups are Wolfetone Meanest 90 in the bridge, SD Vintage 90 in the neck. Neck is an Allparts JM, NOS satin nitro finish by Aurora Custom Shop, which I installed metal threaded inserts in, with Gotoh vintage style nickel tuners.

All in all, I'm VERY happy with how it's turned out. There's some blemishes here and there, but being my first build, I'm not mad about em. Sounds and plays KILLER!

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by OV7 » Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:31 am

That looks great. How did you go about plugging and finding the correct place to drill the new holes for the bridge?

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by thenewromance » Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:23 am

But... but... "Jazzmaster pickups are not P90s!" ;D

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by OV7 » Wed Feb 05, 2020 11:44 am

thenewromance wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:23 am
But... but... "Jazzmaster pickups are not P90s!" ;D
“Jazzmasters with P90s mean you hate Jazzmasters”~some guy on the internet😂

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by Embenny » Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:20 pm

That's a fine-lookin' JM, but my eye was drawn to the Mr. Poopybutthole in the last photo.
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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by Wil_66 » Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:45 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:20 pm
That's a fine-lookin' JM, but my eye was drawn to the Mr. Poopybutthole in the last photo.
Thread has been hi-jacked by Rick and Morty.... Very nice looking Jazzmaster!

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by gilla409 » Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:37 pm

OV7 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:31 am
That looks great. How did you go about plugging and finding the correct place to drill the new holes for the bridge?
The body came drilled for JM thimbles, so I used dowels to plug the holes, marked the center of the dowels, then drilled into the dowels with the appropriate size bit for the roller bridge bushings. It's not dead nuts perfect, but it's close enough that the bridge fits onto the posts (albeit a little snugly.)

It was worth the trouble to use this bridge. The trem is buttery smooth and stays in tune very well. Also, matched the fretboard radius on the bridge by using aluminum shims beneath the 4 innermost saddles. I tried it without, and the 9.5" to 14" difference was too much for me.

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by OV7 » Wed Feb 05, 2020 9:10 pm

gilla409 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:37 pm
OV7 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:31 am
That looks great. How did you go about plugging and finding the correct place to drill the new holes for the bridge?
The body came drilled for JM thimbles, so I used dowels to plug the holes, marked the center of the dowels, then drilled into the dowels with the appropriate size bit for the roller bridge bushings. It's not dead nuts perfect, but it's close enough that the bridge fits onto the posts (albeit a little snugly.)

It was worth the trouble to use this bridge. The trem is buttery smooth and stays in tune very well. Also, matched the fretboard radius on the bridge by using aluminum shims beneath the 4 innermost saddles. I tried it without, and the 9.5" to 14" difference was too much for me.

Thanks for that info. I am thinking about replacing my Mastery with a roller bridge on one of my Jazzmasters. I have this same bridge on a Nash JM63 and really like it.

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by Maggieo » Thu Feb 06, 2020 9:27 am

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by Georg Figél » Sat Feb 08, 2020 12:50 pm

looks fantastic
OV7 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 9:10 pm
gilla409 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:37 pm
OV7 wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:31 am
That looks great. How did you go about plugging and finding the correct place to drill the new holes for the bridge?
The body came drilled for JM thimbles, so I used dowels to plug the holes, marked the center of the dowels, then drilled into the dowels with the appropriate size bit for the roller bridge bushings. It's not dead nuts perfect, but it's close enough that the bridge fits onto the posts (albeit a little snugly.)

It was worth the trouble to use this bridge. The trem is buttery smooth and stays in tune very well. Also, matched the fretboard radius on the bridge by using aluminum shims beneath the 4 innermost saddles. I tried it without, and the 9.5" to 14" difference was too much for me.

Thanks for that info. I am thinking about replacing my Mastery with a roller bridge on one of my Jazzmasters. I have this same bridge on a Nash JM63 and really like it.
Aren't the roller bridge bushings bigger than the JM thimbles? If so, then you could just drill the holes slightly bigger. Or would anyone advise against that? thank you (because I'lll need to do just that soon)
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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by ChrisDesign » Sat Feb 08, 2020 1:23 pm

Nice! If fender can make a JM with Humbuckers (player, standard, blacktop, etc) then p90’s are totally fine! This looks nice!
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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by Horsefeather » Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:04 am

It's good to see someone use that bridge on a Jazzmaster! I've advocated for it before on here. I'm curious--how awkward is the intonation process?

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Re: P90 Jazzmaster build finally complete!

Post by greens » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:16 pm

Beautiful, I love how much different the color appears depending on the light.

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