1962 Fender Jaguar One Owner But Possible Refin?

[arkirk]

Hi all,

I recently bought this jaguar off the son of the original owner. He bought it brand-new in 1962/3 and had it imported into the country by a shop in Mansfield, UK. I'm not sure what the process is but I believe Selmer did some refinishing on them when they came in? I originally thought it was an original fiesta red finish, with a custom ordered pickguard, but have been led to believe it was original sunburst and was refinished when came into the country. It comes with the original Selmer crocodile case, and the case candy. Does this back this theory up? Or is there any possibility at all that it is original?

I believe it is otherwise completely original. And, if it is a Selmer refinish, what is the normal for 'originality'? Is it classed as original, as that is how he bought it, or is it classed as a full refinish?

Would anyone be able to help?

thanks so much!

P.S. excuse the hairy legs! haha

[Paul-T]

I only know about this in relation to Strats (and Precision basses); I've seen a few 'Selmer refinishes' over the years. There are different stories as to who did it, one is supposed to be a Dick Adams in London, who'd spray nitro over sunburst. Others are apparently polyester.

I have always, always been suspicious of guitars with this finish, but there seems little doubt that some of them are original, ie refinished by the dealer. It's impossible to say how they affect the value, but ifthey have good provenance, like yours seems to have, that has to help. With the Strats, they'd often end up valued at around a sunburst price, but not a Custom Colour price.

[bterry]

check nail holes and solder joints - are the joints original or re-soldered?

Also, not definitive, but they usually wrote the color on the tags as well...

[Paul-T]

check nail holes and solder joints - are the joints original or re-soldered?

Also, not definitive, but they usually wrote the color on the tags as well...

I think the OP knows it is a refin; the question is whether it was an "official" (by Selmer or perhaps Jennings, the earlier importer) refin, There are a good number of salmon pink and similar that have been described as such for several decades now and they often seem to have the Selmer mock-croc cases. A lot seem to be red over sunburst.

My guess is they are acknowledged as such, I think Tony Bacon might know more. The likely existence of a similar Jag is a big deal I think. Thanks OP!

[N0_Camping4U]

Just throwing this out there, currently on the 'non-offset' forum, a similar topic exists.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=109238


Looks like the neck pocket IS similar...

[zip73]

Looks like refin over sunburst as evidenced by the neck pocket and neck plate. Checking looks just like various original 60’s custom colors I’ve owned. Were these shipped overseas without factory cases?

[windmill]

Just like to thank you for posting all of these pictures.

It looks good regardless.

[andrewaward]

Does it say on any of the hang tags "Fiesta Red", or even just Red?

The finish on it doesn't look like Fenders work

[cmd2kx]

This guitar is beautiful!. Does it sound as nice as it looks??

[surfin_bird]

I know that in Holland the same thing happened, I may recall that it had to do something with nitro sunburst models (at least jazzmasters) looking "too damaged" after their shipment, which I think was the reason Fender switched over to poly in the first place. So they were all spraypainted Fiesta Red or something similar. That's why 50% of the time I see vintage jazzmaster being sold in Fiesta Red over here.

[Maulden7]

Were these shipped overseas without factory cases?

Yes ... quite a lot of Fenders were shipped to the UK in the early 60's without the Fender case, & the case shown in the pic is a correct UK manufactured Selmer labelled "croc skin" case. At that time anything imported carried a large additional tax burden (this was simply to deter imports) & the Fender cases at the time then cost as much as a small house here!

These Selmer cases were produced in at least three sizes (I have three but there might have been more)

Hank Marvin (The Shadows) played a Fiesta Red Strat & this colour was in great demand, but short in supply, & Jennings / Selmer refinished a number of Sunburst Strats in Fiesta Red to try & meet customer demand.

Not seen a Jag from this process before, but there is no reason why it should not have happened.

[mgeek]

These Selmer cases were produced in at least three sizes (I have three but there might have been more)

I can think of five I think-

1/ the tiny ones used on Futurama II's
2/ bigger but just too short for a strat- the ones used for Burns Vibra Artistes and the Resonet/Grazioso Futuramas
3/ Strat sized, also used for Burns Split Sonic etc
4/ Jazzmaster and short scale basses, some Hofners for example
5/ Full scale bass

[eggwheat]

I'd say that qualifies as a Selmer refinish..all the evidence says it is. I had one the same...except it was fiesta over olympic white. Unfortunately there are a lot of fake Strats passed off as Selmer refins which has muddied the waters around all of them.

Case wise you see the same in Australia..an original vintage Oz import Fender would have come in a locally made 'Stamford' case instead of a Fender case.

[Marc]

My guess is it probably a Selmer refinish. My reasoning behind it is that back in the day the decals were very hard to source and those that were repros tended to be inaccurate and some pretty hopeless. If Fender were aware of Selmer doing refinishing they would have set them up with a pile of spare decals to do them properly.

[PJazzmaster]

it's a very very good and accurate paint job, even if it's a refin (but if so, I'd also say that it must be a Selmer). It's especially easy to spot a (bad) refin on matching headstocks: the concave curve of the slabboard rosewood fingerboard, where it meets the headstock paint, great! As it should be on an early '62 !
They usually never get this detail right and accurate, they even fuck it up on laminated boards (easier to refin on the headstock due to the straight line rather than a curve)!!