/295 - A Good Project Day

The jazzmaster template is scaled correctly, which means the annodized aluminum panel I have is big enough to cut the guard from!

Ash’s marketplace skills paid off big time with this lot of 60 rolls of expired Kodak Max 400 — all for $10!. It’s not the most special film, but it should keep us set for snapshots for a very very long time.

I tried to desolder the oleds but they just wouldn’t budge and I didn’t want to destroy them. Decided it was easier to just cut a new board on the cnc and it turned out very nice. It’s really hard when the pitch is this small (for example, look how spacious that through-hole destined board is) but this works. I really need to work out a better process to get from layout (via DIYLC) to a file the machine can cut. Then I need to work out a better process for leveling and engraving. Always more to learn.

/293 - Well Enough Alone

I have been playing this Jazzmaster SO MUCH and am into everything about it: the way it plays and the way it sounds. The only thing I can’t shake is all the extra controls that I don’t use — for example, I modded my Jag to have a single volume and a pickup selector switch. I am looking to do the same thing here, except retain the separate rhythm and lead circuits. This would leave a single volume, channel selector switch, and pickup selector switch. Still need to figure out how to wire it and if I’ll need unused pots, etc under the pickguard to get the same tone out of it.

As for the pickguard — I think I am going to leave the stock plate and electronics as is and just make a new one with pots, jacks, etc. Then I just have to detach the pickups from the stock guard and solder them to the new. I just so happened to have some metal panel samples I got from work that I think will just fit the guard, but I need to print it out to make sure everything is scaled correctly. Slap it on the cnc and that’s that, right?

/285 - Jazzmaster

I didn’t wake up this morning intending to get a new guitar. Well, I was sort of hoping because I saw this pop up on Craigslist right before I went to bed last night. It was up for a good price w/ case and close to home so I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it. I’ve heard so much great talk about these (J Mascis signature) over the years and it’s all true. It plays so nice and it sounds SO GOOD. I usually play thinner short scale necks, but so far it’s felt really comfortable. I sat here and played around all night, and even played along to some old favorite songs. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do that since my other guitars are tuned way down. Might just leave this one in standard for awhile…