The Jack
One pickup. Two knobs. Nothing on the top that does not have to be there.
Two Jacks, one name.
The Jack is named for both Jacks: Preston's grandfather, Jack Wimberly, who worked his whole career at Hughes Tool in Houston, and Preston's son, Jack.
Built by Preston and Jim Wimberly, The Jack carries the feel of a family shop. The control cavity is rear-routed and covered with a hand-dyed amber leather oval that matches the upper-bout pickguard. Walnut everywhere else, leather only where a cover is needed. There is no pickup selector, no control plate, no jackplate on the face. The signal path is as direct as the silhouette.
The body is solid walnut, hand-rubbed in Tru-Oil. The neck is vintage-style maple with a rosewood fretboard. The bridge is a Gotoh In-Tune steel plate, fire-colored in the shop, with raw brass compensated saddles. The pickup is a Seymour Duncan Antiquity Telecaster bridge single coil, hidden under a blackened nickel ashtray bridge cover. The two top-mounted knobs are standard Telecaster-style domes in an antique bronze finish. The wiring harness is a Gunstreet 50s hand-soldered harness, volume and tone, no shortcuts.
Nothing extra. Nothing missing.
Leather where a cover is needed. Darkened metal where the hand lands.
How it is built.
- Configuration
- Single bridge pickup. No neck pickup. No selector switch. Rear-routed control cavity. Side-mounted output jack. No control plate and no jackplate on the face. Only the leather where it belongs.
- Body
- Solid walnut. Hand-rubbed Tru-Oil finish. No poly, no varnish, no spray.
- Neck
- Vintage-style maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Maple headstock face, Tru-Oil finished.
- Pickup
- Seymour Duncan Antiquity Telecaster bridge, single coil. Concealed under blackened nickel ashtray bridge cover, oil- or wax-sealed.
- Bridge
- Gotoh In-Tune (TB-5130-001). Steel plate fire-colored in the shop. Raw brass compensated saddles left to patina honestly.
- Controls
- Two top-mounted knobs, volume and tone. Standard Telecaster-style dome knobs in an antique bronze finish. No selector switch.
- Wiring
- Gunstreet 50s harness. Hand-soldered. Traditional 50s wiring topology.
- Hardware finish
- Bridge plate, neck plate, ferrules, and jack cup are blued or fire-colored steel depending on the part, then sealed with oil or wax and wiped almost dry. The two dome knobs are antique bronze. The ashtray bridge cover is blackened nickel. Saddles are raw brass.
- Tuners
- Vintage oval Gotoh-style machines, JAX-blackened, lightly carded after the blackener sets, and sealed with a thin oil or wax wipe. Gunmetal functional screws.
- Pickguard
- 8 oz veg-tanned leather. Cut, burnished, and dyed by hand. Engraved with the Wimberly pattern. Sunburst standard. Natural and engraved-only available on request.
- Control cavity cover
- Hand-dyed amber leather oval, sunburst-finished to match the upper-bout pickguard. Fastened with darkened steel screws. Sits flush in a routed recess on the back. Walnut everywhere else, leather only where a cover is needed.
- Headstock
- Maple, Tru-Oil finished. One small burned W on the face, branded into the wood, not a decal, not an inlay, not surrounded by ornament. The W stands alone.
The whole story, without a paragraph of copy.
Each guitar gets at least two frames, front and back, on the same bench, in the same light, with the same tools that built it. The back shows the rear-routed cavity with its hand-dyed leather cover, the neck plate, and the walnut grain.
Nothing was added for the camera. Nothing should ever be added for the camera.
Commission a Jack.
Built by Preston and Jim Wimberly in a father-and-son shop. New builds are currently waitlisted; once a slot opens, build time is 12–16 weeks.
Notes from the bench.
The shop sends a build journal now and then. Wood, leather, steel, and what comes off the bench. No noise.