Sonics first build JMA-1: ShoeGazer MK1

[Sonic Mountain]

Christmas came early today with the arrival of my first Pit Bull kit- JMA-1



Yay!

You’ve probably seen me lurking around the forums posting concept art and cars and otherwise being a nuisance…

Short intro history: I’m a graphic designer, who originally went to art school and then did a mechanics apprenticeship after growing up restoring euro cars with my dad.

I’m not especially musical and the only reason I can play at all is sheer bloody mindedness. Guitar has always been a no pressure, no expectations hobby for me. I do it cause its fun and that’s all. I’ve played in a bunch of bands, often relegated to bass, playing indie rock, punk/hardcore and swampy blues/stoner stuff mostly.

I have messed around with a lot of different guitars over the years, mostly re-wiring and minor restorations and repairs. I have always wanted to build one and as you may have seen in some other threads, I’m not short on ideas.

I actually recently lashed out on a new guitar and had a mate who builds acoustics come around and play it - after which he went straight to PBG and ordered a kit-that-shall-not be named. When I saw the prices of some of them I thought - why not? and ordered the JMA-1 as I’ve always liked the Fender offsets and it seems like as good a place as any to start.

The plan at this stage is to follow the recipe - Although I’ve already upgraded the tuners and I will definitely be ordering a graphite nut for it.. so we will see how I go resisting the urge to modify.

This is the look I’m going for using a colour from a Fiat 500. Its actually slightly metallic, but fairly subtle. Paplopeppers post with the black SG almost made me change to black, but I have two other black guitars already so I’m resisting the urge.





I’ve noticed there is a bit of a resistance to posting any brand name graphics here? Does that extend to sneakers? I’ve left it off the mock up here but there will be some graphics relating to a popular shoe brand I’ve worn my most of my life added as well.

I’m not a massive fan of the 5 way switch and where it is and after seeing Nitroburner1000’s JM-1 I’m tempted to do something similar - but I think to be sensible (hah) I’ll leave it as is, nothing stopping me modding it at a later date.

First look over the kit and I’m pretty happy with it. Was pleasantly surprised to see 90% of the wiring done already.

The Bad: one of the height adjustment screw receivers in the hum bucker is flogged out so there is nothing for the thread to grip to (you can see it sitting funny in the photo). I’m hoping a bit of a crimp with some pliers will sort that out - other wise I can probably braze a small nut to it, to give it a better thread.

The input jack was squashed in transit - I think it’ll bend back into shape ok.

There are a number of small dings in the body, which would bother me if I was going for a natural finish - but as I’m painting it's not be an issue.

Needs a bit of general tidying up, radius’s on the pick guard are a bit rough and also at the PU end of the fret board.

What are peoples thoughts on the colour variation on the fret board? It feels OK and I’m guessing it’ll even out a bit with oiling - just so long as I’m not inviting dead spots or anything….

The neck fit is quite loose in the pocket, so I guess I’ll need to be careful getting the alignment correct before I bolt it on permanently.

Anyway, I’ll let it settle for a few days after transport and then get onto a dummy build and check over with the straight edge etc.

[wokkaboy]

kit looks good Sonic and your plans. I doubt shoe brand graphics will be an issue, its mainly the big guitar brands that are a problem.
Look forward to seeing the build come together.

[FrankenWashie]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with owning many black guitars.

[Sonic Mountain]

kit looks good Sonic and your plans. I doubt shoe brand graphics will be an issue, its mainly the big guitar brands that are a problem.
Look forward to seeing the build come together.

Cheers, Yeah I figured, just thought I'd err on the side of caution.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with owning many black guitars.

This is correct.....

[Sonic Mountain]

Things that make you go...hmmmmmm

Annoyingly I'm a bit time poor today so getting alone time with the kit is hard.

Good news - fixed the pickup retaining screw on the hum bucker.

But as I was doing so noticed this....



Which is a little concerning. I don't suppose it will affect how it works and it is hidden under the pick guard. Might be a good excuse to upgrade it once the build is done.

Still in two minds about the fret board. If the consensus is that it won't affect playability in any way I'll stick with it... opinions welcome.



I realise the kits come from China, and this one was very cheap, so I did expect a few manufacturing blemishes. If I went to cashies or even to band land or somewhere and plonked down $200 I wouldn't exactly get a Strat for my money so I'm not hugely bothered and most of what I've found so far will be sorted in finishing.

[wokkaboy]

good work on fixing the small issues Sonic. I like the fingerboard with a mix of dark and light rosewood. I think it will grow on you. Should go well with your Fiat colour. Pity you will be hiding the nice ash grain with solid paint

[pablopepper]

You don't like the two tone fretboard? I think it looks great. It won't affect playability at all.

Pickup is a bit of a concern though. If whatever gouged it has gone into the windings there's a good chance it will be dead.

[Sonic Mountain]

good work on fixing the small issues Sonic. I like the fingerboard with a mix of dark and light rosewood. I think it will grow on you. Should go well with your Fiat colour. Pity you will be hiding the nice ash grain with solid paint

I knew I'd cop flack for the solid finish - I just never been into natural finish guitars, but I see they have quite the following here. I have a flame maple Hagstrom which more than satisfies any need for a wood finish guitar

You don't like the two tone fretboard? I think it looks great. It won't affect playability at all.

Pickup is a bit of a concern though. If whatever gouged it has gone into the windings there's a good chance it will be dead.

Aesthetically the fret board is not a problem at all. My concern was more if it would cause any problems (dead spots, or tonal differences), but seems like the answer to that is "no", so all good. It does have a slight back bow, checking with the straight edge, but I'll wait a few days for it to acclimatise before I mess around with the truss rod.

I shone a pen light into the pick up and there is no evidence of any internal damage - actually no marks at all which makes me think it probably happened to the outer case before the pickup was assembled. I guess I'll find out for sure when I complete the wiring. Worse case scenario I have a spare hum bucker here that I know works, and it fits, so I can swap that in if I get desperate.

Thanks for the responses guys, can't wait to dig in and actually make a proper start on it.

[Simon Barden]

I've seen a picture on here of a similar pickup casing hole. Probably the casing was stamped out from a flawed piece of metal and the factory QA didn't pick it up. I'm sure Adam changed it as it's certainly not what it should be. You always have the option of taking the casing off (it should be held on by some solder either side of the baseplate) and having an uncovered pickup. But I'd be more prone to replacing the pickups anyway.

You could try staining the fretboard if the two-tone wood is putting you off. Manufacturers do it a lot on cheaper guitars as they often use non-consistent colour boards and then stain them dark to avoid wastage.

[Sonic Mountain]

Cheers, Simon. Visually it looks fine to so apart from lemon oiling it I'll just leave it. It just stood out as soon as I opened the box and I wasn't sure if it was going to be some kind of problem.

I'll see if the pickup works, its not worth it to me to send it back. If its no good I'll just upgrade it, which I would probably do eventually anyway.