The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

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JVG
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The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by JVG » Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:40 pm

Warning: lefty content.

Here’s a guitar that i first put together about 6 or 7 years ago. It’s first incarnation consisted of a custom-spec Musikraft neck and Cobain body.

At this time it became known as Sunny, as in ‘Sunburst’. Yeah, not a very imaginative name, i know - some of my guitars have better names, while others have no name at all.

Initially i kept the Cobain control plates, but swapped out the pickups for some humbucker sized pickups which a P90-ish vibe to them. This looked pretty cool, but wasn’t providing sounds that excited me.

It’s next phase involved putting in some SD Firebird pickups, swapping the lower control plate for a more traditional setup, and putting in a ‘strangle switch’. Now it sounded much better, but still wasn’t quite where i wanted it to be.

Since i have another (bastardised) Cobain jag, i decided that i needed a new colour on the body. Actually like sunburst a lot, but didn’t need 2 sunburst jags. After toying with the idea of getting the body refinished, I eventually decided to get a new one. Sound Guitar Works did the honours, and although production was a bit slow (albeit not quite Tone Bomb slow), the end result was very nice. And they didn’t charge extra for the lefty, so big props for that.

Everything got paused during the height of the pandemic, but eventually i found a local guy to give it some nitro. It was intended to be Lake Placid, but came out with a bit of a greyish hue, almost like Pelham Blue. In any case, I really like the colour, so no complaints there.

I love how it looks now. And i think it sounds better with the new body. I might be experiencing a bias because i love the look so much, but regardless of the reason, i’m really enjoying playing it these days.

I totally re-wired it for the latest incarnation. The lower control plate is fairly standard, but up top i have a toggle for pickup selection and slide switch which will at some point probably be a series-parallel switch, but is currently just along for the ride. The two switches on the small plate are for different tone caps.

Other details: bridge is a Staytrem, guard is by our own Mr Cross, plates are by (also our own) Herad, and it’s currently strung up with flatwound 10-13-17-26w-35w-45w.

Here are some pics showing the evolution:

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sal paradise
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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by sal paradise » Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:47 pm

That’s really cool. Love the colour.
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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by Embenny » Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:06 pm

That's awesome. I love firebirds in Jaguars, they sound amazing and totally fit the chromed out aesthetic.
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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by bodhi » Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:34 am

That's a really nice color :) What are the pieces of tape for, to stop behind the bridge ringing?
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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by F15hface » Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:30 am

That headstock decal was really messing with me, guitar looks awesome though. I’m interested in putting FB pickups in my squier so good to see how cool it would look.

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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:19 am

That's amazing!!! I love it :w00t:
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Amon 7.L
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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by Amon 7.L » Sat Feb 04, 2023 8:06 am

Every incarnation was a looker, I love the last two in particular as they have very opposite characters, the actual Sunny-burst is the beast whilst Sunny-blue is the charmer. :?

Great job, fellow lefty!

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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by Chippertheripper » Sat Feb 04, 2023 8:27 am

That’s rad.

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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by JVG » Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:05 pm

sal paradise wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:47 pm
That’s really cool. Love the colour.
Cheers Sal. I love it too! I actually like it more than the LPB that it was intended to be.
Embenny wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:06 pm
That's awesome. I love firebirds in Jaguars, they sound amazing and totally fit the chromed out aesthetic.
Thanks Embenny - i realise i’m preaching to the converted here, but Firebird pickups are brilliant. I’ve got the same Seymour Duncan Antiquities in a Tele also, and they sound equally great there. Plus they look beautiful.
bodhi wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:34 am
That's a really nice color :) What are the pieces of tape for, to stop behind the bridge ringing?
Haha, yeah you got it in one. I know lots of people like the sound of stuff going on behind the bridge, but i’m not one of them. These little bits of tape dampen them slightly, not completely, but enough so that i don’t hear those little squeals.
F15hface wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:30 am
That headstock decal was really messing with me, guitar looks awesome though. I’m interested in putting FB pickups in my squier so good to see how cool it would look.
The mirrored decal fucks with a lot of people. I have put them on a few guitars - it makes the headstock look complete, but at the same time it’s a bit of a ‘fuck you’ to Fender for not looking after lefties.
Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:19 am
That's amazing!!! I love it :w00t:

Cheers Shadow - i knew you’d be into it :)
Amon 7.L wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 8:06 am
Every incarnation was a looker, I love the last two in particular as they have very opposite characters, the actual Sunny-burst is the beast whilst Sunny-blue is the charmer. :?
Great job, fellow lefty!
Great point - i hadn’t thought of it quite like that! Sunny was a tough looking cat, perhaps a street brawler, but the current look is more refined. I wish i had made some sound recordings with the old body for comparisons sake. I swear it sounds better now, which is entirely possible considering it’s a completely different piece of wood in the body, but i know i might also be influenced by the fact i love looking at it much more in its current for.
Chippertheripper wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 8:27 am
That’s rad.
Cheers Chipper 🙂

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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by Thom_bjork » Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:29 pm

Dang. That's dope. The firebird pickups work perfectly with the control plates. They're great pickups anyway, so it's a nice bonus that it looks so good.

That decal though, it's hilarious. I totally get it. My buddy is a lefty and the trouble he has with instrument/part availability is insane. I sent him a picture of that decal. Might have to steal that idea haha.

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Re: The evolution of “Sunny” the Jaguar

Post by Paul_Valentine » Sun Feb 05, 2023 10:00 am

Thanks for sharing the story. It is great to know I'm not alone who have struggles as lefty with lest say special taste in guitars :) I have kind of similar story with my parts Jag.
My offsets are Parts lefty Jaguar, Super Sonic and DIY Mandocello

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