I had a Jazzmaster style body already routed, a pickguard loaded and ready, and screws that would not sit right. The problem turned out to be depth. Jazzmaster pickups do not mount the way humbuckers do, and I had routed the cavity like they did.

Why a Jazzmaster route is different

A humbucker usually hangs off a ring or the pickguard, so the cavity only has to clear the bottom of the pickup. A Jazzmaster style pickup sits down in the cavity and the mounting screws go into the wood. It is a shallower, flatter pickup and it wants a different pocket. Mine was routed to humbucker logic, so the screws were too long for the space they had.

Nothing was ruined. It just needed to go deeper, which meant going back in with a router after the body was already shielded and mostly finished. Which is its own kind of fun.

The fix

I used a CMT pattern bit with the bearing riding the shoulders that were already cut. That gives you a reference off the existing cavity so you are only taking depth, not moving the walls. Set the depth stop carefully. You do not want to go all the way to the bottom and blow through.

Two things worth knowing about that bit. It cuts beautifully. It also grabs. If you come around into end grain it will buck on you, hard. Go slow through those corners.

The other casualty is the copper shielding tape. Re-routing tears some of it up. Keep extra on hand and plan to redo a patch, it is not a big deal but it is annoying if you did not expect it.

About routing templates

The template I used is a plastic plate I bought on Etsy and then cut on the laser at work. Etsy templates are a mixed bag. You do not always know what you are getting, and you find out after you have already committed a body to it. You can pull a lot of these dimensions off drawings from places like Electric Herald instead.

The real answer is to model it yourself. That is a big part of why I am doing my own CAD now, with help from Martin Harmer at Guitar Assembly. When you draw it, you know exactly what you are getting and which parts go with which pocket. That is the whole problem I just described, solved upstream.

What is going in it

CTS pots, a Pure Tone jack, and a push-pull so I can coil split. A Fender humbucker I found at a thrift store and a Musiclily neck pickup, because I only had the one. Not the most expensive build in the world. It is for me.

Splatter paint, take two

The other half of the day was the Zora body. It is painted to match a big purple splatter painting that hangs in my house, the one my daughter is named after. I ran out of blue mid-project earlier in the week, partly because my grandsons and I had a paint day and they had strong opinions about how much paint a canvas needs.

The method is simple. Mix a little paint with a little water in a plastic cup until the consistency throws the way you want. Test on cardboard first, every time, because the mix changes how it lands.

The brushes are the cheap ones from Harbor Freight. Their real name is acid brushes. If you go looking for glue brushes you will not find them, so search acid brushes.

For clear I am using regular Rustoleum satin. I had trouble with fancier stuff on the other body, so I went back to what works. And I 3D printed some standoffs to rest the body on so flipping it to do the other side does not leave dents in the wet finish.

Homemade, not handmade, and that is fine

Matt Flaherty from Texas Toast Guitars told me there is a difference between handmade guitars and homemade guitars. I am in the homemade camp right now. I know that. I am not giving up.

Paul Richards said something that stuck with me too. Everybody knows comparison is the thief of joy. He added that comparison is also fuel for the fire, and I think that is the more useful half. Seeing something better than what you can do is how I got into woodworking in the first place. I wanted something I could not afford, so I figured I would make it. Do that a few hundred more times and it stops being a project and becomes a problem, and then a hobby, and then apparently a YouTube channel.

Tools from this session

Links below are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which costs you nothing extra and helps keep the shop running.

• CMT pattern router bit
• Copper shielding tape
• CTS pots
• Pure Tone jack
• Push-pull pot for coil splitting
• Musiclily pickups
• Acid brushes, the splatter brushes
• Rustoleum satin clear
• Hearing protection, wear it, your watch will tell on you

Follow along

One guy in a small shop on his father-in-law’s property in Lindsborg, Kansas. IT Director by day, maker by obsession. Equal parts problem solver, craftsman, and curious human. If you’re the kind of person who takes things apart to see how they work, or watches people who do, you’re in the right place.

Uncut shop sessions go up on YouTube and I stream on Twitch. Everything is @carverwoodworking. There is merch in the shop if you want to help keep the tools coming, or you can buy me a coffee.