Yet Another Jem Build

[shikamaru]

Hello !

So, as I stated in my introduction post, I’m building myself a guitar inspired by the JEM. I’ve always been fascinated by this particular guitar, as well as the Les Paul Axcess that Alex Lifeson is using (because a LP with a FR is not so common).

(long post coming)

Introduction
So, since I won’t be able to buy the real thing before several years at least, I decided to build myself one. This doesn’t mean it will be cheaper than say, a JEM 555, but it will streamline the price of its components over the span of several months. But the main reason I’m doing this is because I feel the need to do something with my own hands. As much as I love coding, the result is not really concrete. Since there are also some things I want to do that are not there in a standard jem, it will also give me freedom to do what I want

Concept
The general design of this guitar will be that of a JEM of course, but with notable differences. The main thing being the addition of a piezo. I will go with a graphtech lb63, since it seems to be the only option to get a floyd rose with piezo pickups in it. (well, I could also get only the saddles, but these alone are already fairly expensive, let alone a schaller lockmeister on top of that + machining its base plate). I’ve been fascinated by the system implemented in both the Les Paul Axcess and the EBMM JPX 6 but I prefer the shape of a JEM The neck will be an AANJ neck, and the body will have a rear cavity. The reason for this is because I want to be able to access the control cavity without having to remove either the floyd or the strings. It will have two jack outputs, one for the mags, one for the piezo. It will not have a bunch of switches and pots, only a volume/tone for the mags, volume for the piezo, A 3-way switch for the mags/mix/piezo and a 5-way switch for switching between the magnetic pickups. No middle pickup, no midi hexpander.

Material
Since I wasn’t sure I could do it, or if I would enjoy the whole process I did not bother getting expensive wood, though I would have loved having a nice quilted maple on top. You don’t get a Porsche after getting your driving license right ? The whole thing will first be a prototype. I will then move on to better material and redo the body, neck etc… So, I took some alder planks and assembled them as a base for my body. I then took some ash and some more alder for the neck. The whole thing cost me around 60 euros, which is not bad compared to the price of an alder blank on rockinger. I will put schaller tuners and a graphtech LB63 on it, and the pickups will be DiMarzios, but not the evos which IMHO are too scooped in the middle range, I’d go with a crunch lab or dropsonic in the bridge and a liquifire in the neck, but for this prototype I’ll probably go with guitarheads hexbuckers. Hardware will be chrome, the body will be black with a mirror pickguard. I’ll let my wife paint whatever she likes on the top There will also be a pearloid binding. The inlays will be disappearing pyramids because I don’t feel comfortable enough to do a tree of life inlay. They will be made of white mother of pearl and abalone.

That pretty much sums it up, next posts will be less talk more pics

[shikamaru]

headstock in progress:

Headstock shaping in progress by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

that neck is a 5 piece ash/alder neck, that ash is incredibly hard, I expect hard times when shaping the back of it, and hard times when finishing it as well (because like mahogany, it has open pores

here is a view of the whole neck

Neck progress by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

[shikamaru]

and this is the back of my body:

AANJ neck profile in progress by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

I had no router bit with a ball bearing on top of it, so couldn’t use templates, I will definitely need some for the real one, because doing cavities without makes it really hard to follow a clean line

[shikamaru]

just thought I could share a nice cheap tip for sanding rounded sections of the headstock.

Take your bottleneck, put masking tape around it, then double sided tape and sand paper, there you go
It made things so easy I wonder why I didn’t think about it earlier

second tip for doing long straight lines*: up till now I checked that with a level and used my sanding block to correct things where they weren’t straight. I just put some sand paper directly on the level with double sided tape and it makes the whole thing so much easier

[RyansJem]

Cant believe this thread has no people interested in it, i love any guitar build so, im gonna keep a watch, keep us updated (or me)!

[maqify]

It's above my paygrade to build guitars at the moment...but i sure like threads like this,and once one wants to star build a guitar, threads like this is a great information source. Keep up the good work.

[JupiterJill]

I like the stripe effect on the neck. What sort of inlay are you thinking of using?

[shikamaru]

well, I was thinking of doing disappearing pyramids with white mother of pearl and abalone, much like those on the UV777PBK, it will be much easier than doing a tree of life I think.

aside from that, I*got my hands on some nice piece of rosewood, so I’ll soon start doing the fretboard.
I’m a bit afraid of doing the fret slots, that step is rather critical, so I’ll probably recheck and recheck a lot of times before actually doing something. I’m making a radius block out of old furniture pieces.

Also got a truss rod, tuners and frets, so I just miss inlays and I can finish my neck

[shikamaru]

truss rod is in place, I had to enlarge the channel by a bit less than 2 mm, now there isn’t much alder left in the middle
Tuner holes in progress, my lack of tools proved to make things harder :s

Truss rod channel done, tuner holes in progress by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

First, it was not easy to clamp the neck at a perpendicular angle for the headstock due to the angled headstock. 2nd, hand drilling was no easy task due to the woods having different densities. The 3rd hole was not properly aligned due to this. 3rd, a small chunk of wood was ripped off at the 5th tuner hole. Hopefully my headstock is not yet thicknessed, so I can sand it off on both sides and it will disappear. I also need to enlarge the holes on the back of the headstock, because at the moment they are the size of the bushings.

All in all I’m quite happy with the result

[schmitzel88]

Love the look of that headstock!

[shikamaru]

phew now on to the fret slotting !

Fret slotting in progress by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

9 frets to go, but it’s very tedious to do with no table saw, I feel like I should have taken a slotted fretboard. Depth is not there yet, I just wanted to mark the fretboard now because it’s easier now than when it will be radiused.

[shikamaru]

long time no see… Winter kind of prevented me to go on with my build. Jeez winter was so long it was really hard for me to just have to wait for nice weather and decent temperatures…

But I resumed my work about 2 weeks ago

I roughly shaped the neck, though I still to make a bit thinner. Still, this being a prototype made of cheap wood I’m not so sure I should make it too thin.

Seeing that I’m still a lot motivated, I must admit I’m eager to start building the real deal with good luthery wood.

Less talk more pics

here the fretboard glued to the neck and planned flush to the neck

Fretboard glued and planned flush by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

and here is a rough shaping of the neck:

Rough shaping of the neck by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

I just love the look of that neck I don’t think I have seen a neck like this, the real one will probably be made of maple and wenge if I can find some, but I admit I’m a bit clueless about where to find this type of exotic wood here in Europe :s

[Bryancap77]

Looking good so far man

[linuxpenguin]

Enjoy that neck combo. Never seen alder used in a neck, not sure why haha. Definitely looks cool though.

When you fret, you will need to epoxy the frets in due to you using a hacksaw (I know, I've used one before haha). Make sure you get GOOD epoxy, not cheap 3$ crap from the hardware store.

[GUITARMAGEDDON]

Originally Posted by shikamaru

and this is the back of my body:

AANJ neck profile in progress by _shikamaru_, on Flickr

I had no router bit with a ball bearing on top of it, so couldn’t use templates, I will definitely need some for the real one, because doing cavities without makes it really hard to follow a clean line

a good tip if you don't have a bearing bit is to clamp a few boards to the body and have the router follow the board to get a straight line. build looks good!