Building the uber-J. Part Seven.

A few touches before the plunge.

This is taking longer than I initially anticipated. Considering the five weeks I had given myself when I started this project I am off the mark by just four months. Blame it on work, forcing me to leave the country already twice from the beginning of the year... blame it on this weather, too good to pass a weekend or two by the seaside...blame it on the financial crisis, making us believe that there are more important things to do than building the uber-J. Bollocks.

Anyway, here's where we are now. I have roughly shaped the neck, glued the fingerboard and finally reshaped that hideously bulky heel.

For now I have shaped it slightly more slanted on the lower part, to add extra space for the left hand - I'm really becoming obsessed with this. You'll see from the close-up picture that is still needs some fine sanding. yeah...it never ends....

The three holes are in fact only marking the position of the knobs. Eventually that area will be routed for the rear mounted electronics.

At this stage you can see the truss rod slot, the fingerboard and, more to the point, the binding.
Eventually, I settled on Maple....on a Rock Maple neck...on a Birdseye maple FB....Yeah, it's nearly invisible if you're not the one holding the bass, I know....

But I like its understated nature. It's yet another tribute to the mid '70s Fender Jazz. Only, this one is Maple, not plastic. It ain't a uber-J for nothing

I am shaping the headstock in line with the body style, shaving enough veneer for the maple to show. I will probably work on those curves a bit more than that. But you get the idea.

I have, as you might notice, blended the design of the J's headstock with that of another masterpiece and personal favorite - the Music man Stingray.

I have long admired Leo Fender's ability to stay true to the basics of the original J headstock design - as much as he legally could anyway - while making it more compact and pleasingly balanced with the body.

When I'm done with mine the two designs should be fairly obvious.

I am planning to make a cover for the truss rod slot. I'm still working on it. Any ideas?

The second picture shows what's going to happen to the back of the headstock. I will shape the profile again to match the rounded, soft lines of the front and body.

I regret I didn't take a picture of the neck. How could I forget?? Anyway, it's still a long way to go. It will be a thin, rather flat neck.
In this picture you should be able to see that the neck scarf is more akin to that of a tilt back headstock and more pronounced. I find that very comfortable to 'feel' when I'm getting to the first fret without having to look at the neck.

I have also lowered that point a bit compared to the usual position so as the thumb will feel it when the first finger is near the fret....does that make sense?

Two more weeks away and I'll be back to finish this. From now on I'll get to the very heart of the project, where the biggest departure from the original FJ takes place. It will also be, I believe, the most controversial one. Stay tuned.

Building the uber-J. Part Two.

Making the body.

Traditionally a Fender Jazz comes with a Swamp Ash or Alder body. My personal taste leans towards the sound of woods like Mahogany. Now, I live in South East Asia and for this bass I wanted to use Asian timber.

Woods around here a different from those in North and South America though. A little research was necessary to find a balance between the Mahogany sound and the traditional J sound in an Asian package.

There is a wood here referred to as Asian Mahogany. This wood sounds quite close to Brazilian Mahogany, the main difference being his sounding less dark than Mahogany.
Which could make it a good choice. Among other things this wood is often used to build average to good quality guitars. However a A grade piece of this wood sports quite remarkable sonic qualities and its very beautiful to look at.















In this picture you can see two beautiful Flamed boards book-matched and cut in J shape. The Flames are very pronounced even at a raw stage. I am leaving a little more wood allowance where at the heal as I am planning to shape it for a heal-less effect.















The picture above shows the body after being reduced in thickness. You can see the arched top and bottom profile. The arch is more pronounced at the lower half the body, less so at the wings to avoid cracks in the top facing.





























This is what it looks like after sending it both sides. Now it feels very smooth, like velvet. Or is it me hallucinating after sanding for longer than I like to remember?

As you can see it's an arch top, as opposed to the flat J body. Usually the area of a flat body that goes under the right arm is scooped out to make it more comfortable to hold. It's a good solution and aesthetically pleasing with a contrasting top and a veneer.
But I want to address the comfort issue with the arch top instead. This way the top will remain intact and the shape of the J will be preserved.



















Now I'm ready to glue the top. I struggled quite a bit to choose the wood. I am going to build another bass after this and I wanted the color code of the two basses to be very different. I almost got myself a beautiful Zericote, but someone else was faster.

I always liked Macassar Ebony. It's a great looking wood and it makes fantastic fingerboards. But for a body top I felt the stripes were too straight and regular for my liking. Until I saw this one. I just loved it :)















So there you go. Can you see the body under all those clamps? ;))

Thanks for reading.

>=)O

Building the uber-J. Part One.

OK, what I'm going to do is to put an end to my whining over what is good and what is not so good about the Fender Jazz and build one I hopefully have nothing to whine about. I am well aware of the iconic status this instrument has achieved and I'm taking this task with the utmost respect - plus a healthy dose of rebel spirit. Bear with me and see where this takes us.

BTW, to spice things up I have given myself a deadline: 15th of February...ops

Part One: Why.









First off, here is the hero in the woods and metal - an American Delux Fender Jazz straight from the Fender website. Ain't that a beauty?

These are the good things for me.

- The body shape is a great classic.
- The P-U positions are genius.
- One think this bass gets really right is having only 22 frets. I don't need more - unless I'm playing fret-less - and if I did I would switch to a six strings. It's a matter of personal preference, but to me this bass is a groove machine. You don't need 24 frets to groove. M Miller doesn't. Pastorius could make less then 24 frets fingerboards sing. When I slap the 24th fret gets in the way and I dislike the harmonics produced. So, long live J's 22 frets!

These are points that I'll try to address. They are very personal, nevertheless they are:

- The body has little contouring and I find it a bit uncomfortable.
- Access to the 22nd fret is not very comfortable especially on the E string.
- It is still a bit on the heavy side.
- The neck joint feels week and the heel looks chunky.
- The neck is too thick.
- The string spacing is too wide at the bridge and too narrow at the nut.
- I am not keen on the fingerboard radius.
- The distinctive headstock always strikes me as slightly too large.

There. I said it.

>=)O