I made a few posts in the What's Your Latest Gear Acquisition thread to hint at this. I've had it in my head to do a Warmoth Jazzmaster build pretty much ever since I put together my orange strat a couple years ago, so this has been a long time coming. The lead time on a painted Warmoth body is 8-10 weeks, not factoring potential covid delays. I got lucky - shipped right around 8 weeks.
I can't say enough good things about Warmoth. I had ordered one of their roasted maple necks before, so i knew what to expect there. I hadn't ordered a body from them. All I can say is WOW. Just beautiful. The color in the pic is not an accurate portrayal of the color (the finished pics are). Silky smooth satin finish.
I jumped right into the build. The first step was the scariest - and what i expected to give me the most trouble. Installing the bridge thimbles. Thanks to youtube - it ended up not being too bad at all. I laid some folded hand towels on top of the guitar to protect it, then slowly and steadily tapped in the thimbles with a hammer wrapped in another folded cloth. It took a little persistence and drive them flush. But in they went!
I needed to take a breather after that, so I tackled some low hanging fruit next. Installing the hipshot tuners. extremely quick and painless thanks to their universal mounting plate - no screws!
Next, the Well-Hung Pro-Pins of course!
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:21 am
by zisme
Next, I applied shielding paint to the body cavities
Then it was time to install the loaded Stonewall Fat Jazzmaster pickguard. Here's where I hit the major hiccup of the build. I underestimated the procedure of wood mounting the pickups. I think i drilled my pilot holes to shallow, and i ended up stripping several of the height adjustment screws. Shame on me, but I learned my lesson. I have replacements screws on the way to clean that mess up, but I did get the guard installed and the pickups in position. So the guitar is playable
Then it was just a matter of bolting on the neck and stringing her up. Piece of cake. Setup and intonation were pretty simple. The Mastery bridge is very nice and easy to adjust.
And here we are!
Special thanks to Scott with Stonewall pickups. He was very communicative through Reverb, and gave very clear and helpful install instructions. The loaded guard was very nicely wired (see Acquisitions post). And the pickups sound great! Classic Jazzmaster tones with just a drop of extra jet fuel.
And very special thanks to our own [mention]TVvoodoo[/mention] for the spectacular Stingray strap, which I think compliments this guitar deliciously
I'm stoked! It came out pretty much exactly as I had envisioned it. The screw thing is annoying, but I'll get it fixed. Looking forward to getting this thing in the jam room with the band.
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:25 am
by zisme
here's a rather raw youtube clip demonstrating the guitars tones through my roland jc-120 and a rat pedal
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 3:04 pm
by TVvoodoo
Lots of tones there!
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:01 pm
by Tiga
Wow great looking build. Interesting how the color of the guitar changes in each picture. I've been looking at Warmoth necks for another project - just curious what profile did you get and how do you like it?
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:09 pm
by golem
I absolutely love this! Mastery was definitely the way to go. I'm also a huge fan of Mastery Bridges and Vibrators. It looks like you went with both.
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 10:10 pm
by zisme
Tiga wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 7:01 pm
Wow great looking build. Interesting how the color of the guitar changes in each picture. I've been looking at Warmoth necks for another project - just curious what profile did you get and how do you like it?
yeah the light over my dining room table makes it look really green. it's more of an aqua/teal. warmoth's version of seafoam
Standard thin profile. 10-16" compound radius. medium jumbo stainless steel frets and graph tech tusq nut. no finish.
fairly similar to a fender modern c i think
this is THE neck for me. the roasted maple feels fantastic, especially over time as it soaks up the oils from your hands. i have the same neck on my warmoth-ish strat
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 10:12 pm
by zisme
golem wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:09 pm
I absolutely love this! Mastery was definitely the way to go. I'm also a huge fan of Mastery Bridges and Vibrators. It looks like you went with both.
yep! omv kit (bridge and trem). really nice hardware. the bridge is especially stellar
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 11:31 pm
by slowhand84
zisme wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:04 am
The long wait finally ended yesterday.
I made a few posts in the What's Your Latest Gear Acquisition thread to hint at this. I've had it in my head to do a Warmoth Jazzmaster build pretty much ever since I put together my orange strat a couple years ago, so this has been a long time coming. The lead time on a painted Warmoth body is 8-10 weeks, not factoring potential covid delays. I got lucky - shipped right around 8 weeks.
20200813_111152.jpg
I can't say enough good things about Warmoth. I had ordered one of their roasted maple necks before, so i knew what to expect there. I hadn't ordered a body from them. All I can say is WOW. Just beautiful. The color in the pic is not an accurate portrayal of the color (the finished pics are). Silky smooth satin finish.
I jumped right into the build. The first step was the scariest - and what i expected to give me the most trouble. Installing the bridge thimbles. Thanks to youtube - it ended up not being too bad at all. I laid some folded hand towels on top of the guitar to protect it, then slowly and steadily tapped in the thimbles with a hammer wrapped in another folded cloth. It took a little persistence and drive them flush. But in they went!
20200813_113337.jpg
I needed to take a breather after that, so I tackled some low hanging fruit next. Installing the hipshot tuners. extremely quick and painless thanks to their universal mounting plate - no screws!
20200813_114559.jpg
20200813_114604.jpg
Next, the Well-Hung Pro-Pins of course!
20200813_115156.jpg
Nice! Looks like a killer JM build. I agree with you on Warmoth, absolutely top notch stuff. I have some very high end guitars (Suhr, etc) and the trio of Warmoth custom strats I got used from GC all compare quite nicely alongside them. They're terrific to deal with as a company and really make some great parts that can be turned into one hell of a guitar if you know what you're doing. Enjoy it!!
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 1:58 am
by dearlpitts
That's really cool. So how much dies it cost to make a guitar like that?
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 12:17 pm
by zisme
dearlpitts wrote: ↑Sun Aug 16, 2020 1:58 am
That's really cool. So how much dies it cost to make a guitar like that?
Thanks!
~$1500 total
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 2:58 pm
by fullonshred
Love it. The color is so good. I am glad the green isn't the actual color. I like the more blue-ish color much better. Congrats on what is sure to be a long-term keeper.
Re: New Warmoth Jazzmaster
Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:12 pm
by zisme
the new pickup adjustment screws arrived early, so i got them squared away *whew*
