27" Baritone JZA-1

[kuanjb]

Finish wise I'm pretty sure I'm going to try out shou sugi ban. I don't really have any other kits lined up which I could do that finish on so looks like this is the one. I've already bought a butane torch / burner.

Now the remaining questions are whether to do just a natural colour or stain; whether to finish with gloss or satin; and whether to also burn the neck.

At the moment I'm thinking probably natural but I do like the look of the red stain with the black. Guess I could do a burst with the red. I'm also leaning towards a satin finish. Will depend on how it looks when I burn it. I like darker necks so might burn that too.

Then I'll top it off with a black pickguard.

https://cdn.instructables.com/FHJ/CZ...PO80.LARGE.jpg

[Dedman]

that does look mighty good, I guess it will depend on how much timber is showing around the pick guard as to whether it would suit.

[kuanjb]

that does look mighty good, I guess it will depend on how much timber is showing around the pick guard as to whether it would suit.

Yeah. There'll be more than a normal JM since I'm looking at a shape similar to the Ventures JM pickguard. The grain is quite different so won't look the same obviously. I think I might do some mock ups on the computer.

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[kuanjb]

Fiddled around on the computer just to see if I could get an idea what sort of finish I might be able to achieve with the grain in the guitar. I like the red.
Of course I have no idea how it will turn out until I do it. The pickguard that came with the kit is also cut a bit smaller than normal Jazzmasters. It doesn't go under the bridge. Could do the same to show off more of the wood.

[kuanjb]

So an interesting thing I found while playing around on the computer is that the kit's body is significantly shorter than a real Fender JM. About 3cm shorter and the route for the tremolo unit then 2cm further forward.

Considering the weight of the body it's probably not a bad thing but it will affect where the tremolo arm sits and perhaps the angle of the strings over the bridge. I'll need to route out the tremolo cavity a bit more to accommodate the Fender tremolo unit I have too which will bring it a bit further back and closer to the edge.

With the shorter body I can see why the stock pickguard doesn't go around the bridge as it would bring the pickguard quite close to the tremolo.

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[kuanjb]

I printed out various Fender pickguard templates and using them as the basis mocked up a custom pickguard. Want the three control knobs plus plug down the bottom and more of the top wood showing. It's not quite right yet but I think looks pretty good for a start.

While doing this I also found that the swimming pool pickup route isn't wide enough for the Jazzmaster pickups. So I'll need to route out the top edge slightly. I'll also route out semi-circles at the front and back to accommodate the mounting / screw tabs on the JM pickup covers. The alternative would be to move the pickups closer together but I'd rather the larger tonal variation.

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[Dedman]

yup the Bass6 body was more like a P bass size . I'd be tempted to leave a bit more material on the extension that holds your switches and jack, you don't want an accidental yanking on the cable busting the guard.

Bass6 and Jazzmaster

Bass 6 and P bass

[kuanjb]

yup the Bass6 body was more like a P bass size . I'd be tempted to leave a bit more material on the extension that holds your switches and jack, you don't want an accidental yanking on the cable busting the guard.

Bass6 and Jazzmaster

Bass 6 and P bass

Yeah the body definately is a bit more Bass VI shaped. I used templates for P Bass, J Bass, Strat, JM and the supplied pickguard to get the various parts.

I tried to get a bit more room on the extension but I also have to deal with the existing control routing in the body. Extending it changed the curves and either made it look really long and thin or if I went wider then the controls looked odd as they wouldn't be in the middle. So this design is basically doing a sort of 'S' shape for the controls following the shape of the guitar and using the existing control locations with a single extension route for the plug.

There is a bit more room where I can go a bit closer to the edge of the guitar to keep it more consistent with the rest of the lower edge though so might be able to lengthen and thicken it a bit without to much extra routing. I might even be able to do a Jazz Bass style metal control plate which is a bit thinker and sturdier and would separate the controls from the rest of the guard but to do that I think I'd need a lot more routing to move the controls. Might not cover the existing holes though or might leave nowhere to do the screws.

Anyway, I think I'm going to have to do some work on the computer and have a play around rather than doing it all by hand with pencil and paper. Easier to add the pickups etc too to get a better sense of what it'll all look like.

I'll post some more designs as I finish them.

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[kuanjb]

Parts from Guitar Fetish arrived today. JM90 vintage wound pickups, staggered locking tuners and vintage style control knobs. I ordered when they had their 20% off moving sale which was pretty good timing.

[Andy40]

Did you have to wait long? I saw some people had difficulty getting their parts