Deluxemaster

Electrosocket jack output route is optional on all models, and is our only side-mount jack option for good reason.

Other jack plates either sit with the rim proud of the body (leaving a gappy lip in the curved perimeter); or else must be tenuously held in place at a certain depth within a clearance hole. This requires that you mark and drill a hole at a 45° angle, which we find is practically impossible to achieve without the plate ending up wonky.

We have invested our time in developing a CNC toolpath which precisely cuts a stepped hole for the Electrosocket jack. It takes the guesswork out of mounting your jack plate, for perfect and repeatable results every time.

Alternatively, any knob hole can be used to top-mount a standard jack. We always recommend using large washers wherever top-mount jacks are mounted directly to a rear-routed guitar.

Contrary to popular belief, Electrosockets are compatible with angled jack plugs, and these work great to tidy the cable away over your strap button.

Our comfort contours are generally a little deeper in the arm and a little shallower in the belly than most vintage contours (though size, shape and depth of vintage contours varies widely in different years of manufacture and even from instrument to instrument in the same year of manufacture).

We have worked hard to achieve organic, melty contours that don’t exhibit a prominent edge / line where they meet the flat surface of the body – and we pay as much attention to how they combine and sculpt the edge of the body as we do to the graphic they impart on the faces.

Whilst their smoothness makes them more subtle in appearance than some contours, we really bring out their beauty by maximising the surface area – which is to say that their presence is physically larger on the face and back of the guitar. In many cases, our contours measure more than twice the area of our competitors’!

The result is a coherent form and character which perfectly complements the curves of the model silhouette – a smooth, sculptural quality that you can enjoy in unparalleled playing comfort.

An angled neck pocket allows for the use of bridges that sit naturally higher off the surface of the body. We cut ours at an angle of 1.1° to the horizontal, as we find this raises the strings enough to bring it within a comfortable range of adjustment in almost all cases, though in some exceptional circumstances minor adjustment might still be required. We recommend you opt for an angled neck pocket if your body features one of the following bridge routing options:

* Offset Thimbles (AVRI)
* ABR-1
* TOM (Modern 11.5mm Diameter)
* Wraparound (11.5mm Diameter)

For Offset-style bridges, paired to a behind-the-bridge vibrato (especially with a view to being used alongside modern string gauges), we consider the angled neck pocket to be a necessity.

Insufficient break angle is the main culprit for buzzing and string skipping issues on offset guitars – even the much maligned Vintage-style bridges can function quite happily with the correct angle and slightly heavier strings. Moreover, it is beneficial to increase the break angle at the neck-end before the tail-end; the reason being that if all the angle is behind the bridge, due to the way it ‘floats’, this will force the bridge forward and might cause problems returning to pitch.

It is also the case that there are more hazards to the string behind the bridge than in front – for instance, the chance of the string fouling against the back edge of the bridge plate, against intonation adjustment screw heads, or against the mounting screws on the plate. To a large extent, this is why common “solutions” to the break angle problem like retainer bars, or moving the vibrato unit closer to the bridge, can cause more problems than they solve. As such, it is preferable to introduce as much angle as possible at the neck-end before worrying about what’s going on behind.

Our inclusion of the Angled Neck Pocket as a no-cost option for all models is a means by which we can help to address the *cause* of potential issues at a fundamental level and nip them in the bud, instead of leaving you to try and fix symptoms on the hoof as and when they might arise.

Our Customaster and Deluxemaster models started as a brief based around the standard JM body shape – but as the design progressed, it became clear that the edge radius was not suited, the hardtail leaves acres of negative space behind the bridge, and the control routing would need to be completely reworked in order to support the iconic 4-knob layout that is a staple feature of the ’70s originals.

Here is the result – a body that is a little more compact (more than an inch shorter at the butt-end, yet 3/8″ longer in the bass horn), but which retains all the characteristic comfort and elegance of the offset stable.