62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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Embenny
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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by Embenny » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:35 am

Do whatever you want to the body, it's already stripped so you can do whatever you like.

Refinishing a stock headstock is a shame, IMHO. That's a one-way street to non-original-land. Hit in resale value, reduction in how original the instrument is. But that's my feeling. It's your property. If you want to set it ablaze in an attempt to recreate Jimi's Monterey performance, nobody here can stop you. Plenty of custom-colour jags were produced that didn't have matching headstocks, especially in '62, so it's not even an unrealistic scenario. It's just a case of fixin' what ain't broke.
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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by mcatano » Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:47 pm

I think this a lot of these responses are assuming that the neck and headstock are somehow still original? I mean, yeah, if the headstock still has the original decal on it you'd want to leave it be, but I can't really imagine you'd be asking the question in the first place unless the headstock had already been stripped and refinished. Assuming that's the case, do whatever the heck you want.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by Squirrel » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:13 pm

Refinish the body for sure but leave the headstock. As has already been pointed out, a lot of '60s custom colour Jags didn't have matching headstocks, especially black ones, and repro decals always look a bit sketchy.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by blackbox » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:38 pm

I haven't been able to find a single example of an original black finish pre-CBS Jaguar without a matching black headstock.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by mgeek » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:59 pm

blackbox wrote:
PorkyPrimeCut wrote:You'd be mad to paint the headstock black (or matching whatever colour you choose).
Because of the reduction in resale value? Or is there a more compelling moral reason?

Both.

Matching headstocks are 'meh' to me, fine if you like them I guess, but nowhere near as cool as 'original'.

When the neck is bolted on, no one is gonna know it's a '62, and fewer people still are gonna know/care that '62s all came with matching headstocks. If it still bothers you, flip the original finish neck and get a stripped one.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by Squirrel » Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:59 pm

blackbox wrote:I haven't been able to find a single example of an original black finish pre-CBS Jaguar without a matching black headstock.
Sorry my bad, I was thinking of something else. :fp:

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by Despot » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:59 pm

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:I'd personally leave the neck alone, if the headstock has always been plain. One day you may depend on resale value.
As for the body, go for it. If it's already been refinned there's no reason not to do it in the colour you've always wanted.

EDIT - Agreed with Oly White, if it was my choice.
I concur - if the headstock/decal are original don't mess with them - leave it plain.

I have a L series Jaguar (currently off for a refret) that has a body only refinish. The refinish has tonnes of mojo, but it bugs me because every time I play the guitar I end up hoovering up flakes of paint afterwards ... the finish is constantly flaking off. My plan for it is to make it a vintage Marrguar (i.e. refinish in Oly white and keep the mint guard that's on it - replace the vintage selector plate with a blade selector and wire it to have the series setting ... that way I can always restore the vintage selector plate if I want down the line).

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Thu Apr 13, 2017 12:14 am

Would a custom colour '62 Jaguar have a mint pickguard?

Sorry for the corksniffery! ;D
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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by FrankRay » Thu Apr 13, 2017 12:48 am

except oly white and blonde, yes. Apparently some red and gold jags went out with tort guards, but it's hard to say after 50 years which are original or not. I've seen one or two that look kosher, though.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by thenewromance » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:51 am

How about refinishing the body in a "transparent" way, i.e. natural/oil? I think that's what I would do. Leave the original sunburst in the places where it's still visible, and leave the neck and headstockmas they are.

To me, it's not only about resale value, but also about preserving somewhat historic things :)

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by kracdown » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:12 pm

I'm pretty sure (most) custom color guitars in '62 didn't have matching headstocks...

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by blackbox » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:33 pm

kracdown wrote:I'm pretty sure (most) custom color guitars in '62 didn't have matching headstocks...
I know you know your shit, but when I was doing research I actually read the opposite; i.e. that basically all 62' Fender custom color Jaguars had matching headstocks. Apparently they cranked out a bunch of custom color jaguars with matching headstocks to show off their color line with their new "top of the line" model.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by beauzooka » Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:50 pm

My '64 Jag was a stripped sunburst. It's out getting charcoal frosted now. Headstock too.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by sikoniko » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:01 pm

http://oldfret.com/

matching headstock all the way.

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Re: 62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

Post by 017493816 » Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:14 pm

Not matching, go black, but if you end up matching I say LPB :-*

I tend to determine whether I plan on ever selling on with situations like this. 9/10 times it's just gear to me and preserving the original value comes in handy at some point.

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