62 Jaguar refinish - moral quandries

[Ursa Minor]

My initial reaction is paint the headstock only if it's already been stripped and refin'd. Leave the original decal finish on that headstock. Black with natural headstock will look just as badass if not more. I'm 50/50 on the aspects of matching.

If we're talking resale, then yes, you'll absolutely harm the value by killing an original decal unless it's been totally trashed. By trashed I mean virtually all but flaked off or oversprayed heavily etc.

You could go the route of sourcing a stripped Mustang, Musicmaster, or Duo Sonic neck and paint that headstock black, but why? A '62 Jag neck is about as good as they get ime.

[kracdown]

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.

Very early '62s didn't have them. They switched early in the year, though. When I was doing a refin on my '62 Jazzmaster I opted for body only to preserve the headstock (also black, it looked amazing).

[FrankRay]

We're confusing jazzmasters with jaguars here. Jim shine has a photo of a pre production January jag without matching headstock, but as soon as they mass produced in march, they all had matching headstocks, with the possible exception of white. It was a deliberate selling point. Jazzmasters took a bit of time to catch up.

[blackbox]

Here are some pics, btw:

[FrankRay]

I'm going to agree with the consensus on this one; I'd paint it white. It's very pretty as it is, though.
Nice find!

[blackbox]

Thanks, man. Yeah, as paint strips go, this one was nicely handled.

[rumfoord]

Oh, that's VERY pretty.


Please stop reading here to avoid unhelpful and off topic opinions
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I'd put on a mint guard, and keep both the body and headstock natural.

[blackbox]

Oh, that's VERY pretty.


Please stop reading here to avoid unhelpful and off topic opinions
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I'd put on a mint guard, and keep both the body and headstock natural.

That would look great, but I'm just not into natural finishes. I want it to look vintage correct.

[amv]

I'm gonna go against the grain and say you should ONLY paint the headstock.

[PJazzmaster]

really nice. I'd vote for a refin in a custom colour. Doesn't need to be a period correct colour.
I'd leave the headstock original...
but it's your guitar and your decision...

[marqueemoon]

Looks good. I'd leave it as-is and move on to another project.

[FrankRay]

It would be nice to refinish it as one of the wide-striped early sunbursts like this one (Gav Haus' one)

or my old one

if you can find someone capable of getting it right. 62-3 sunbursts are the bees knees as far as I'm concerned.

[blackbox]

Danocaster is the only person I would let touch this one on a sunburst finish, but it's a lot of work to have him do it.

[blackbox]

I'm going to do black without a matching headstock. I can't bring myself to destroy an original logo put on in the Fender plant.

[cestlamort]

Good call to leave the headstock as-is.