JR-1M - warts and all

As part of the forum special deal Adam wanted a 'warts and all' report on this kit, with particular reference to the neck pocket and fit etc. So, to appease the Great Leader here's the warts 'n all build diary - with too much detail and too many pictures. I'm going to try to make this a really quick build, so it may involve products that will drive DB to drin… err never mind.

It's a mahogany body/neck double cut JR with a wraparound bridge, set neck, and a very thin tongue on the neck pocket. The shape of the pocket means that you'll want a good fit around the base of the neck heel so it can carry most of the load rather than overloading the thin tongue.

Taking it out of the box I was surprised how light the body felt, and the neck even more so. I put them on the scales… but the body wasn't as light as I thought, it just felt that way. The neck however was really light, the lightest one I've encountered so far.

Body: 1514g
Neck: 499g

That neck weight is straight out of the box with an unshaped headstock and no sanding. Comparing that to some other 'G' types that have had their headstocks cut along with some sanding, it's still incredibly light.

LP-1SS neck: 568g (mahogany)
SG-1F neck: 724g (maple)

Initial pics straight out of the box:
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Cont...

The body has a few 'features' that I could have done without, seems like it's taken a couple of wacks, stabbings and slices, some of which have been filled others not. Most look fine and I expect will either clean up or steam out pretty easily.

Attachment 2762

There are, however, some cracking issues that will need a little more attention. The most obvious one has been noticed at the factory and they've done the usual fill/glue/both/mystery 'it's fixed' which typically just makes things more difficult. It also has a small stab wound beside it for good measure.

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The crack seems to reappear on the inside edge of the pup rout and then creep towards the treble post hole.

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Possibly unrelated, but they've also used the glue-o-matic 3000 to fill a tear-out/chunk on the edge of the treble post hole.

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Cont...

For me, the more worrying cracks are inside the pup rout, but I think they'll be ok. At the moment I'm planning on supergluing them or, if necessary, glue in some dowel pegs just in case.

Rear of the pup rout, looking toward the bridge:

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Front of the pup rout, looking toward the neck:

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Just for good measure there's another minor crack on the butt edge of the body on the curve towards the output jack.

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Cont...

The headstock looks ok, but the truss rod access is slightly offset towards the treble side. The rod is still accessible and the truss rod cover will hide it, so no biggy.

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Fretboard dots are a touch rough with tear-outs on almost half of them, but I'll probably replace them… maybe, depending on finish.

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The headstock transition is quite thin and the neck has the factory's signature lip of rosewood under the nut.

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The headstock transition is actually slightly thinner than the LP-1SS. Here they are side by side, LP-1SS on the bottom, JR-1M on top, although it's less noticeable in the image than in person.

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As the neck pocket tongue is so thin the neck angle is actually on the neck heel, and the angle is there… although it has some slight doming which I'll need to take care of to get the neck angle correct and ensure a good bond when I glue it in. Here it is (top) compared to the LP-1SS (bottom) and you can see the angle on the heel and the bit of doming in the middle.

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Cont...

As the neck pocket fit, break angle and action are the main points of interest I decided to do a test fit to get an idea of the action straight out of the box with no mods, sanding, neck tweaks etc. to see just where we stand. The neck has a slight touch of back bow, as expected without string tension, the nut is a touch too high and there's the slight doming issue on the base of the neck heel… so it wasn't going to be perfect.

My test fit tubing and washers allows me to have the bridge sit in place with minimal movement (at its lowest setting), without having to install/extract the post bushes (the washers account for the lip on the bushes).

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I set the bridge intonation screws at around halfway (guess), clamped the neck in place and ran fishing line as e-strings.

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I took some measurements and the scale length was pretty close:

Nut -> 12th fret: 313.5mm
12th fret -> e saddle: 314mm
12th fret -> E saddle: 318mm

A few tweaks on the intonation and/or saddle screws would have it perfect, so intonation looks like it won't be a problem.

The action is slightly high, as I expected, but it won't take much to deal with the issues listed above to get it where it needs to be. Ideally, it should just about be kissing that last fret. If needed, you could even recess the post holes for the lip on the bridge post bushes to gain another 1-1.5mm.

Action at nut:

Attachment 2778

Action at last fret:

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One thing to note with the stock bridge is there is a little bit of vertical play between the bridge hooks and the top and bottom lugs of the bridge posts. This means that when the strings are wrapped around the bridge it may pitch forward a fraction, which will raise the action slightly. Locking studs could fix this, however…

I was going to also do a test with some locking studs, but it turns out the hooks on the stock bridge are a little narrower than usual measuring only 7.5-7.65mm instead of 8mm. This meant my locking studs wouldn't even fit in the bridge slots so I couldn't test them. I've got an aluminium Pigtail bridge tucked away for another project so I may end up trying/using that instead, not sure yet.

Cont...

The neck fit in the pocket is pretty good, although the angle means there's a bit of a gap at the top of the pocket. Options would be to slightly angle the butt of the neck heel so it sits flush against the pocket (but this would mess with intonation), or maybe glue a small angled shim at the top of the pocket (or on the neck heel itself). Need to tweak the neck angle first before deciding if it's necessary.

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And, the expected slight gap from the doming on the base of the neck heel:

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Cont...

Side to side in the pocket the fit is reasonable, but could be fractionally tighter.

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I guess that's it for the initial report, good enough Adam? Aside from the cracks in the body I'm actually pretty happy with the kit and can't wait to get into it (hopefully tomorrow). I've got some electronic tweaks planned and a few other ideas I want to throw at it, so I'm looking forward to it. Updates in a few days, hopefully.

And, no Wokks, I'm not telling you what colour yet ;)

hey Weirdy, you always do this post a mega build diary, I'll have a read later today. I really love the detail you go into.
What you're not revealing the colour yet, must be a custom Dingotone colour ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

What you're not revealing the colour yet, must be a custom Dingotone colour ?

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More likely from the green shed because he said it would drive DB to drin..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dave.king1

More likely from the green shed because he said it would drive DB to drin..

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haha maybe you are correct DK ! But I think Weirdy wouldn't lower himself to a stain/paint from big the green shed !

No sheds involved nor special DB concoctions, although some of the products may be on the naughty list... I just knew Wokka would ask about colours and wanted to mess with him.

Truth is, I have some colours in mind but I'm not sure if they'll work on the mahogany, plus I need to see how that crack/repair looks when sanded back before committing to a particular colour/finish.

fair enough Weirdy, we can wait to see what colour this will be. Mahogany being a darker timber always makes the stain look a bit darker than it does on say basswood

Hey Wierdy,

take a close look around the edge of the deck. one of my supposedly mahogany LP Juniors was laminated.
When I was sanding it the glue line popped out to say Hi.

Cheers Kellza

Thanks PK, no sign of a veneer as far as I can tell, just 'hog start to finish.

Speaking of swine, I dug out the aluminium Pigtail bridge I've been saving and… wow, what a difference. A fraction of the weight, way lower, and lots of adjustment.

Stock bridge: 117g, max height 18mm
Pigtail bridge: 44g, max height 13mm

In reality, the height difference is greater still as the Pigtail has stepped hooks to account for the post lugs whereas the stock bridge doesn't.

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I decided to try the Pigtail just like the stock bridge, with no adjustments to the neck, break angle etc, so that I could compare the action between the two bridges. I also switched to the locking studs.

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Here's the resulting change in action at the last fret, stock bridge top and Pigtail bottom. Big difference:

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It's actually slightly too low, but only just, and the saddles aren't even notched yet. But, I'll need to straighten the neck and flatten the neck heel before deciding if I need to tweak the angle.

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Scale length would put the saddles around mid-travel without needing to touch the post intonation screws. Those screws have less travel than the stock bridge, but the saddles have a lot more adjustment.

I wasn't going to use the Pigtail on this build, but now I don't think I can resist. There's nothing wrong with the stock bridge and it would only take a few tweaks to get the action right, but the aluminium bridge is much more in line with what I'm aiming for.

Attachment 2805

Interesting to see this one play out...

Very comprehensive Weirdy, I was expecting nothing less. Thanks mate, appreciated.