Opinions on this combination please!

[thesjkexperience]

It is still in the wet sanding phase and the neck I originally had for this body might make it "neck dive" so I was messing around and this neck fits well. I just wish Musikraft had a faster turnaround time!

[Joeleo]

I don't mind it. I'm usually not the biggest fan of strat headstocks on tele bodies, but the exception is when one or both of the pickups are humbuckers. Maybe that's weird, but that's just me. Point is, I dig it. I also like how the aging on the maple goes with the red body finish.

[thesjkexperience]

Thanks for the input! I actually have that neck on a daphne blue Strat with Mare formvar 50s and a Callaham trem/screws/arm/block. I am just cutting the nut now (my first in about 30 years) but it should be done by tomorrow night! No pics yet. I have a cheap Warmoth neck which is 1 3/4" w and 1" medium-soft V all the way up.

The orange body will look like this (except much more clear )

Nothing is actually together it is just to see if anything really clashes. I realized too late I need some type of random orbit buffer to really do the paint correctly, but what you see is some polish, an old t-shirt and lots of elbow grease! I have a moto pickguard and a Novak humbucker sized WRHB in the neck and a Zexcoil in the bridge. I have no idea if they will play nice or not. THe neck is 1/4 sawn, roasted and massively flamed 1 11/16" w and 1" U all the way up! I got it last June and it is the first neck I have ever had that didn't get fret sprout it's first winter. The neck may over power the body as it is just over 3 pounds.

I am wet sanding a black pine Tele that will have a maple neck and Klein Epic Broadcaster pickups. I am glad I bought all these pieces over the course of last year as money has been so tight, but the Wife landed a 3 month contract with a company she hopes to become permanent with. They have good health care which should help The Bear as well as my breathing.

[Eskimo_Joe]

I like the tele neck better. I think a tele neck looks cool on a strat but not a strat neck on a tele body.

[thesjkexperience]

Thanks for the feedback! The Tele neck is really beautiful, but a bit heavy due to the 2 way truss rod. I hope to have it assembled tonight.

I finished this a few days ago and it is amazing how much it has changed in a week! It is starting to get used to being a guitar and sustains much better. I do need to get a set of non-staggered pickups in it as the Warmoth radius 10 - 16" fretboard leaves you with around 18" at the saddles! I still prefer 7.25" radius or 9.5", but I get a real deal on the Warmoth necks I bought. It is a 1" thick boatneck and is 1.75" at the nut. I find my single note runs are really different from how I play regular Fender type necks. All the necks I have bought are 1.75" at the nut, except the two that will be on the Orange and the Black Teles that are almost ready, that I wonder if it will be too hard to play the 2 Fenders and LsL I have currently? I do finally feel I have a neck that is more proportional to my hands and as long as I am building them it shouldn't matter.

[Joeleo]

That's a gorgeous strat. I love Daphne on a strat. In fact, I built it's (almost) twin!

[thesjkexperience]

HA! I love it! The strange thing is I had planned to use the one piece 1/4 sawn neck on this body, but for some reason I grabbed the rosewood when it was time to finish the nut. It is a full Callaham trem and the saddles are made of a really hard material compared to Fender saddles. I also have the harder gold EVO frets so I might have subconsciously grabbed rosewood thinking the maple (also has EVO frets) might end up being too bright?

I got this body cheap because it was a bit heavy. I routed out the area from just above the control cavity (I left a wall between the two areas) and up to the lower horn as well as from the pickup cavities to just before the pickguard ends. It might have been a pound of wood! I didn't have a scale until after it was put together so I do not know how much I took out. It is almost like a semi hollow!

The only trouble is these pickups have a modern stagger and even that is too much for the Warmoth 10" - 16" and about 18" at the saddles. I have some non-staggered Texas Magic pickups coming from Kerry at Onamac Windery. From a marketing point of view I do not think that is a good name as both the phrase Onamac is used all over the place and every search tool wants to change Windery to Winery. THe guy has such a following now I do not understand why he doesn't do his own website and avoid the ebay tax.

I ran into a slight snag with the orange Tele. The neck pocket is off just a hair (literally) and it took me a while to get the neck drilled. I now need to sand off some of the pickguard above the control plate area for a good fit, wire it up (I'm using a 3 way to start as I do not know how these pickups will work together)(and I am trying a JackPot designed by Ned Steinberger so when you roll the volume up to 10 the pickup is straight wired to the output jack!) and finally cut the nut.

It is amazing how much the guitars change the first week of being a guitar! I am also finding I play quite differently with the wider neck and I am much cleaner at the first position where my fingers could not hit just one string because they are so big.

[Joeleo]

That's cool man, so many details that go into guitar building. One little tweak here or there and the playability and/or tone end up so different.

i don't think i ever posted my jazzblaster once it was finished. i think it turned out great, though i haven't fully bonded with it yet.

And here's one that i am slowly building for a friend. He insisted on my signature on the headstock. it still kind of makes me wince when i look at it, but i love the way the guitar is looking overall and think it will turn out great.

And finally, this is my favorite guitar i've built. it's been my #1 ever since i finished it over 3 years ago.

[thesjkexperience]

What pickups are in the jazz blaster?

I need to finish grain filling my JM project. I got the back and sides done on Monday and it still sits. I just can't seem to work fast enough to feel like I am getting somewhere!

[Joeleo]

They are Novak JM-WR's.

What kind of wood is your jm body? i think you've told me before but i can't recall. Must be ash of some kind?