Wanted: Blueprints for Jazzmaster

[willcall]

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Originally Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:16 am

Hi all, I can feel that I am coming down with the woodworking bug and feel a great disire to try my hand at making my own electric guitar.

I would love to make a high quality Jazzmaster (eventually) and am wanting to get the blueprints for one. I'm a lefty so I'll have to reverse all the drawings which is no big deal.

I aim to practice on the cheapest wood I can find just to see how it all comes together before attempting a second body with some quality pieces.

Can anyone help me out with the plans?

CHeers, Will

[Nick]

I made a lefty jaguar for a customer some years ago (which uses the same body shape but different switch configs), similar to this:

jaguar-japan.jpg (78.03 KiB) Viewed 8946 times

. This was in the days of 286 computers and the internet was available only to the rich and famous with shitloads of cash!
All I did at the time (and all I could do because resources weren't available) was to get a direct "face on" picture (like the one above!) of one and by knowing the scale length of these guitars, measured the scale length on the picture, this then became my scaling ratio for all the measurements I took off it.
I do have a hardboard template that I made for it incase I thought I'd ever make another, which has not only the outline but the pickup placement, bridge and switch positions marked on it but as I'm in NZ it's abit awkward. If you really get stuck I could make a copy and post it to you.
The other problem I found was being a lefty, alot of the chrome plates (including the bridge) that were available were for right handers! Fortunately being an engineer I made new lefthanders out of brass and got them chromed locally. With so many internet resources and outlets now selling stuff, left handed plates and gear is probably commonly available now. The Jaguar has the three slide selector switches where the toggle switch is on the Jazzmasters, so that is about the only difference. Got some pictures of it somewhere, I'll try and dig them out and post them here.

[jeffhigh]

Go to the MIMF Library
http://www.mimf.com/library/catalog_plans.htm#templates
and look under the templates section
you will find a Jazmaster body template there

[willcall]

Cheers guys,
The front on photo idea had also crossed my mind. I figured I would be able to scale every thing of that to make a template.

I'll have a look at that link. Sounds like it may have what I need.

Yeah, Ebay has made sourcing lefty stuff easier but still not a piece of cake.

Cheers again.

Will

[Lillian]

Is there a real difference between a left and right hand plan set, other than them being mirror images?

If there isn't, why not just get the plan set you want and use a light table to draw your left-handed version?

[willcall]

Lillian wrote:
Is there a real difference between a left and right hand plan set, other than them being mirror images?

If there isn't, why not just get the plan set you want and use a light table to draw your left-handed version?


There is no difference. I was just after any plans as I haven't been able to find any so far. I have now printed out the plans off the above mentioned site and will convert them to metric and left hand.

Will

[Lillian]

I'm sorry Will. I read you post as you were looking specifically for a left-handed plan set.

http://guitarplansunlimited.com/jazzmaster.htm
The plans do not contain the wiring diagram, but he gives a link on the plans page.

[seeaxe]

Hello Will, good to have a few more lefties on teh forum, if we get enough we could get our own page!

But seriously, I have found the pdfs of the plans on the net and then set the plan printer to mirror image. Alternatively, if you are making templates from the plans for routing, you can just turn them upsdie down.

I like Teles and it really upsets me that I cannot get left handed gold plate bridges - At present my lefty tele has a right hand bridge so the pick up is the wrong way round - not a huge sonic difference but irksome none the less.

I would generally agree that the appraoch of using the cheap wood first is a good idea for the electrics, (plywood bodies work) as so much of the cost in the hardware which you can switch to the super body when you have finished the practice version. Plus if you make a bolt on neck, you can change it later.

One thing I have found useful though is to build them both at once, so that when you stuff something up on the practice version, you dont have to remember too far back when doing the real thing.

One day, the lefties will take over and it will be hard to find right hand, gold plated tele bridges.

Good luck with your build.

Richard

[willcall]

Lillian wrote:
I'm sorry Will. I read you post as you were looking specifically for a left-handed plan set.

http://guitarplansunlimited.com/jazzmaster.htm
The plans do not contain the wiring diagram, but he gives a link on the plans page.


No need to be sorry.

As for wiring, I'm not too worried as I wouldn't be making an exact copy of a Jazzmaster. I just really like the shape. I'm thinking Kinman p90's or Kinman Tele's for the pups. with a 24 3/4 scale.

Cheers, for the link.

[willcall]

Cheers for the tips.
I found some body sized pieces of LVL on a building site today. They are around 50mm thick, 290mm wide and 1000mm long so they sould do the job.

Have you thought about having a LH Tele bridge guilded?

Cheers, Will



seeaxe wrote:
Hello Will, good to have a few more lefties on teh forum, if we get enough we could get our own page!

But seriously, I have found the pdfs of the plans on the net and then set the plan printer to mirror image. Alternatively, if you are making templates from the plans for routing, you can just turn them upsdie down.

I like Teles and it really upsets me that I cannot get left handed gold plate bridges - At present my lefty tele has a right hand bridge so the pick up is the wrong way round - not a huge sonic difference but irksome none the less.

I would generally agree that the appraoch of using the cheap wood first is a good idea for the electrics, (plywood bodies work) as so much of the cost in the hardware which you can switch to the super body when you have finished the practice version. Plus if you make a bolt on neck, you can change it later.

One thing I have found useful though is to build them both at once, so that when you stuff something up on the practice version, you dont have to remember too far back when doing the real thing.

One day, the lefties will take over and it will be hard to find right hand, gold plated tele bridges.

Good luck with your build.

Richard

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