Mapping vintage Fender sunbursts on Jazzmasters and Jaguars

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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takeittothemall
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Mapping vintage Fender sunbursts on Jazzmasters and Jaguars

Post by takeittothemall » Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:44 pm

Warning: This post illustrates some serious guitar-based neurosis

I recently decided that sunburst is my favorite finish for a vintage Jazzmasters and Jaguars. The reason is that a sunburst guitar, with its different colors and proportions thereof, provides so much more to obsess over. And as a hobbyist who can't justify more than one or two moderately priced vintage guitars at a time, more detail to dissect only adds to the fun of seeking a guitar with my personal idea of the just-right look (of course along with great sound and feel).

That said, I've noticed that various years have different style bursts:

58-59: Smooth 2.5-tone burst
60-61: Quasi 2-tone burst, often with a very thick black band
62-64: the most normalized 3-tone bursts
65-66: plenty of 3-tone target bursts, plenty of yellow dominant bursts, some smooth 3-tone bursts.

I have no doubt that there are many exceptions to the above. Anyone else been paying attention to the general pattern of bursts in the various years? Notice the same patterns? Different?

Thanks.
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FrankRay
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Re: Mapping vintage Fender sunbursts on Jazzmasters and Jagu

Post by FrankRay » Thu Jul 06, 2017 10:53 pm

A lot of late 62s have a very wide black edge, whereas a lot of 65s have a very narrow black edge, to the point it doesn't quite reach the rhythm circuit control plate. I've seen a few 62s where the black takes up about half the area.

I'm guessing the people using the airbrush had signature styles?

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nucleardonut
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Re: Mapping vintage Fender sunbursts on Jazzmasters and Jagu

Post by nucleardonut » Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:57 pm

The thing I notice is how the earlier sunbursts you could see woodgrain in the yellow portion, but by the mid-60s it was much plainer. I think they were painting them different by then, putting an opaque white (or sealer?) over the wood first, then painting the yellow, e.g.:
Image

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windmill
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Re: Mapping vintage Fender sunbursts on Jazzmasters and Jagu

Post by windmill » Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:01 am

This where Photobucket's mucking up of Zhivago's Vintage Hotties thread is so annoying.

Good topic,surprised it hasn't been done before

look forward to following this.

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Re: Mapping vintage Fender sunbursts on Jazzmasters and Jagu

Post by eggwheat » Fri Jul 07, 2017 4:57 am

nucleardonut wrote:The thing I notice is how the earlier sunbursts you could see woodgrain in the yellow portion, but by the mid-60s it was much plainer. I think they were painting them different by then, putting an opaque white (or sealer?) over the wood first, then painting the yellow, e.g.:
Image
Yes it's known as a 'faux burst', late 60's CBS began using up ugly or smaller pieces of wood that would have previously been rejected for bodies..so they painted the bodies with a solid coloured sealer to cover it up and then put the burst over that.

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