Jazzmaster Project Cost Cutting

olafgarten · January 2016

Hi, I am planning to build a Jazzmaster but wanted to see if I could get anything cheaper. I will be using a custom Thinline body from GSPBasses and so that cannot be changed.

The current price list looks something like this:

Body	GSPBasses Body	160
Neck	Mighty Mite Stratocaster Neck	89.75
Finish	Wudtone Colourless	17.99
Bridge	Wilkinson Roller Bridge	24.5
Tremolo	Jazzmaster Trem	89.99
Pickups	Mojo 58-61 Set	80
Wiring Harness	Mojo Wiring Harness	80
Pickguard	Allparts Tort	22.4
Tuning Machines	Wilkinson EZ Lok	34.99
		599.62

The biggest saving I can see are the trem, and the wiring harness but I don't have a soldering iron so would have to factor that in if I buy the harness from somewhere else.

Thanks for any help.

JXG · January 2016

The tuners are 23 quid from northwest guitars. Allparts used to do an unbranded jm style term that was about half the price of the fender one. There's a few things you haven't got on there mind - strap buttons and screws, neck plate and screws, string retainers and screws, scratch plate screws, but. You'll need a soldering iron for the bridge earth anyway too. I'd try and get all the hardware from one place in one order to save postage

WezV · January 2016

You could save money on the finish. Not a comment against wudtone but oil and wax will be a cheaper way of getting a natural finish. Just depends what you are after.

Of course you could go the other way and send it out for paint. That will make wudtone look cheap

JXG · January 2016

Actually just looked on axesrus - they do a jm style trem for 25 quid, the tuners are 23 quid there too, and they do roller bridges for about 25. You'll need knobs too...

earwighoney · January 2016

A soldering iron can be bought for about £10.

Der Jung tuners are pretty cheap and not too bad, made in the same factory as Grovers I think.

WezV · January 2016

earwighoney;954403" said:
A soldering iron can be bought for about £10.

Der Jung tuners are pretty cheap and not too bad, made in the same factory as Grovers I think.

They will get you buy and work fine, although the quality step up with grovers is quite noticeable... Just because they are made in the same factory does not mean they are made to the same price point.

meltedbuzzbox · January 2016

you can buy an used mim or mij for less and put some mojos in it.

Is that not an option?

Moss · January 2016

I've got a feeling @JookyJr found a good cheap neck from China on fleabay

JXG · January 2016

meltedbuzzbox;954428" said:
you can buy an used mim or mij for less and put some mojos in it.

Is that not an option?

^ this. Get the new body from GSP and Mojo pickups, swap all the bits onto the new body, sell the old body and pickups

olafgarten · January 2016

JXG;954434" said:
[quote="meltedbuzzbox;954428"]you can buy an used mim or mij for less and put some mojos in it.

Is that not an option?

^ this. Get the new body from GSP and Mojo pickups, swap all the bits onto the new body, sell the old body and pickups

[/quote]

That is a good idea. Is there anything I should look out for in particular?

olafgarten · January 2016

meltedbuzzbox;954428" said:
you can buy an used mim or mij for less and put some mojos in it.

Is that not an option?

The main thing for me is the body, I am planning a top bound thinline with a walnut top and swamp ash back.

gavin_axecaster · January 2016

I have Wilkinson EZLoks for £17.50.
Get them when you order the neck.
:-bd

Andyjr1515 · January 2016

It sort of depends what you are trying to achieve. For £94, you could get one of these kits to get a number of the parts off: http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Seattle-Jazz-Electric-Guitar-DIY-Kit/PZU A number of us used this as our base for the 2014 challenge. I am still using mine as my main gigging guitar. The neck was fine, I found the trem OK, used like jazz master trems should be (i.e. in moderation) but I did upgrade a number of items, including the tuners and bridge and ended up with a great guitar...costing about £450! But, with finishing materials and everything else from the kit, that could have been £110 for a perfectly reasonably playing guitar.

Sporky · January 2016

I'd suggest not trying to save too much; you don't want to spoil the experience by compromising too far.

Andyjr1515 · January 2016

Sporky said:

I'd suggest not trying to save too much; you don't want to spoil the experience by compromising too far.

^^^^ wise words, these ^^^^

olafgarten · January 2016

I'll take a look at where I can save money without too much compromise. The next step is convincing my parents to let me spend the money. For some strange reason they think that 2 guitars is one too many!

andypwudtone · February 2016

WezV said:

You could save money on the finish. Not a comment against wudtone but oil and wax will be a cheaper way of getting a natural finish. Just depends what you are after.

Of course you could go the other way and send it out for paint. That will make wudtone look cheap

exactly what products, re oil and wax, are you referring too to do base coats, and top coat, and satin or x gloss etc comparable to Wudtone. How much do you think can be saved @WezV?

GavRichList · February 2016

your price on the Vibrato is waaaaay over. Import a US AVRI trem unit for about half that. Go on Reverb.com, make an offer on any number of the gazillion for sale. You'll be able to get a brand spanking new one to your door for sub fifty quid.

meltedbuzzbox · February 2016

andypwudtone said:

WezV said:

You could save money on the finish. Not a comment against wudtone but oil and wax will be a cheaper way of getting a natural finish. Just depends what you are after.

Of course you could go the other way and send it out for paint. That will make wudtone look cheap

exactly what products, re oil and wax, are you referring too to do base coats, and top coat, and satin or x gloss etc comparable to Wudtone. How much do you think can be saved @WezV?

http://cdn.meme.am/instances/250x250/58345161.jpg

olafgarten · February 2016

andypwudtone;957188" said:
WezV said:

You could save money on the finish. Not a comment against wudtone but oil and wax will be a cheaper way of getting a natural finish. Just depends what you are after.

Of course you could go the other way and send it out for paint. That will make wudtone look cheap

exactly what products, re oil and wax, are you referring too to do base coats, and top coat, and satin or x gloss etc comparable to Wudtone. How much do you think can be saved @WezV?

While WezV is a great guitar builder I agree with Andy that you can't get a complete finish for much less than £18 and it's not worth the extra hassle.

WezV · February 2016

I thought we were simply talking about cost? Hopefully we all accept that cost cutting risks a reduction in quality and we don't need to debate that too much

So a natural finish can be had with Wudtone for £18 which will give you enough to do one guitar. I have used the Wudtone natural finishes and quite like the feel and ease of application of the finish - but the question here is whether a natural finish can be achieved cheaper, or at least I thought that was what was expected by the OP???

Well a bottle of Danish oil from Wilko's costs under £4 for enough to do 3 or 4 complete guitars (or enougth to do one guitar 3 or 4 times). Thats the simplest natural finish I can think of. Its one I know people have done in the past and been happy with, although it is quite a raw feeling finish so not suitable for all. If @olafgarten was happy with a simple oil finish he can still have a natural Jazzmaster for £4 of finishing costs.

I said Oil & wax,not just oil, because thats the finish I prefer. Its going to add to the cost but can still be done for £10-15 worth of finishing materials

Now for a really good high quality oil and wax finish I recommend Briwax and Rustins Danish oil (or tru-oil), but it also needs a few other materials to get it really nice. Its as much about the process as the materials you use. So the price for one guitar will be comparable with the wudtone cost, but you are left with enough to do multiple guitars, or the same guitar multiple times. I mention this because its not uncommon for DIY builders to need a couple of attempts to get it right. Oil and wax is pretty foolproof in that regard.

I have to make these decision myself sometimes. I have recently lacquered my LP build myself because I needed it done cheap. I spent £50 on paint rather than £200+ on posting it to a sprayer and having it done really well. The money all went on hardware and pickups instead. I had to accept I did not have the budget for that so the finish I would be able to achieve would not be as high quality as a pro-spray job.

You either have to decide what quality you want, or what quality you can afford that you will happily live with after - I thought that what this thread was about?

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Jazzmaster Project Cost Cutting

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