Latest Project Build: Jack Butler’s Revenge!

[saarangnarayan]

Behold: Jack Butler’s Revenge! Figured you guys would get a kick out of my third JEM project: it’s the guitar with which Steve Vai can finally beat Ralph Macchio in a re-match.

Jokes apart, this Tele is the ultimate dj0nt machine for me. It’s tuned to Drop C and the bridge is pushed back about 5mm to allow for optimum room for intonation. The Gotoh compensated saddles also help getting the intonation perfect without sacrificing the three-saddle design. Loaded with the Fender Yosemite pickups, this thing twangs and chuggs without a sweat. The body is from Five Alarm Guitars and the neck is from an RG721. The best thing about it though is the 5-way super switch which is wired to have the three traditional sounds of a Tele in positions 1, 3, and 5, but adds a neck+bridge in series in position 4 along with a neck+bridge out of phase in position 2.

 

[saarangnarayan]

Wiring diagram in case anyone’s interested:

 

[PLX]

 

[Los-D]

 

[DrewJD82]

That's absolutely glorious!!!

I checked out their site, saved it for later as I need a new neck for my JEM and their prices are pretty great.

How was the body when it showed up as far as the craftsmanship?

 

[Eagle]

The shape is off on the body. The cutaways are weird looking but I haven’t seen anything like it before.

 

[saarangnarayan]

How was the body when it showed up as far as the craftsmanship?

It was flawless. The only tiny issue was that I had to deepen a slot out in the control cavity to allow for the super switch to fit but that was on me. You can ask Paul to route the cavities to whatever spec you want, tho, so I could have let him know in advance and he would have made the appropriate cuts. Here’s a photo of the body as it arrived in the box. He also cut the pickguard out, btw!

 

[saarangnarayan]

The shape is off on the body. The cutaways are weird looking but I haven’t seen anything like it before.

Trust me it isn’t. It’s just the angles of the photo. I have other RGs and JEMs and this matches up perfectly.

 

[Eagle]

It’s wrong, look at the top horn ; thinner on the real thing and other things too.

 

[TVvoodoo]

It's marvelous and clever.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Ok, I love this.

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

 

[norminal]

Not completely unrelated, but I’ve been gassing for one of these for years:

 

[Eagle]

Not completely unrelated, but I’ve been gassing for one of these for years:

View attachment 35731

Me too but I always assumed it was candy apple red until this came out but I still think it’s more candy apple than flake.