Jag Jr. with EGC Neck

[scheissami]

So stoked to have finally finished this project and really happy with the result.

This is my second body build, my first was a single piece limba Jazzmaster. 

While buying wood for a home project, I stumbled on a pretty affordable slab of limba that was wide enough for one-piece bodies. I got a big enough piece to make two bodies.

I downloaded a PDF of jazzmaster/jaguar body and printed full-size, then glued to 1/8" hardboard for shaping my templates before transferring to 3/4" MDF. I used the same template for both the 24" and 25.5" guitars, just moved the bridge position slightly. I'm no offset aficionado, so the minuscule differences in body shape weren't worth all of the extra work/time to make duplicate templates. For the pickups, cavity/cover I made my own templates with lots of revisions but they ended up working out reasonably well. 

I don't have a bandsaw so roughed it out with my jigsaw before heading to the router table. I did have a bit of tear out but ended up filling that with black CA glue. 

Took ages to get the neck in (initially quoted 90 days when I placed my order, actually ended up being 10 months before I finally got it), apparently the correct alloy aluminum is hard to get in currently, supply chain, blah blah blah.

It's a 24" solid aluminum neck, SS frets, Hipshot locking machines, Babicz bridge, Bareknuckle Polymath HB with parallel/series on the volume pot and a TBX tone pot (either bass cut, treble cut, or no-load). 

The super helpful tutorial by John Wallace about mounting pickups with threaded inserts is how I discovered this forum, absolutely treasure trove of information for me as I'm a mediocre woodworker at best.

Balance is just a little neck heavy (only noticeable with it my lap, totally fine on my strap). Probably would have balanced better if I hadn't chambered the body but I was worried it would be painfully heavy. The neck itself weighs 1450 grams with the tuners so ~3 pounds. Total weight 4.3 Kg or 9 lbs 6 oz so heavy-ish for me but not unbearable. 

I had never really played an aluminum neck before, I quite like it. Definitely feels different and sounds very different acoustically, though it's not as obvious once gone through pedals/amp, of course. Absolutely glad I chose the brushed finish over polished as it's really frictionless. 

 

[Bizman62]

57 minutes ago, scheissami said:

I'm a mediocre woodworker at best.

Your "mediocre" skills look plenty good enough for building electric guitars! The transition line of forearm bevel is linear and crisp and the bookmatch is perfect.

No wonder if it's neck heavy on the lap but not on the strap. The lower waist is quite far back from the balance point.

[scheissami]

11 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

No wonder if it's neck heavy on the lap but not on the strap. The lower waist is quite far back from the balance point.

Thanks for the kind words!

Yeah, this is pretty offset, though I typically like how these guitars balance (much better than a Les Paul, for example, which I always find wants to slide off my lap). If I were to build it again, I'm not sure what I'd do differently as I wouldn't want the guitar too much heavier. Maybe leaving just a little more wood towards the lower body might help balance it.