67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
- MattK
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67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
(apologies to Spinal Tap in the title)
So I picked up Sleepkid's Mory Jazzmaster find - when he got it it had a thick white refinish and a Fresher neck with broken trussrod.
After some stripping adventures and misadventures, and switching the neck for a very nice Tokai neck with a perplexing Jaguar letraset on it, it came to me in this state:
and after some diligent razor scraping I've got most of the original sunburst visible:
Problem is, there are gouges into the original burst, the back is a train wreck, and the wood itself is quite ugly under the burst.
I can imagine the chorus of "that looks amazing, don't touch a thing" but it photographs better than the reality, which is like smeared paint stripper residue, sander marks and scraper gouges. The burst itself looks like a cheap Chinese Strat knockoff, colour wise, and the pickguard is brown, which looks all kinds of wrong as a combination. So it's clear I will need to refinish it, which I plan to do by surface filling on the original finish (leaving it there) and giving it a coat of primer. Originally I had thought yeah, white, like it had been, and that's not a bad choice. But Sleepkid and I were talking it over and he suggested gold, which is a very fine idea I think.
Just to finish, a couple of shots of the incredible pickguard, originally made by a soapdish company apparently, and which can only be described as "mocha sparkle swirl". I reckon an aged gold would set this off nicely, in fact the yellow paint in the pickup cavity gives an idea of the possibility. I've been leaning toward a gold guitar in the last few years and I think this is the one!
So I picked up Sleepkid's Mory Jazzmaster find - when he got it it had a thick white refinish and a Fresher neck with broken trussrod.
After some stripping adventures and misadventures, and switching the neck for a very nice Tokai neck with a perplexing Jaguar letraset on it, it came to me in this state:
and after some diligent razor scraping I've got most of the original sunburst visible:
Problem is, there are gouges into the original burst, the back is a train wreck, and the wood itself is quite ugly under the burst.
I can imagine the chorus of "that looks amazing, don't touch a thing" but it photographs better than the reality, which is like smeared paint stripper residue, sander marks and scraper gouges. The burst itself looks like a cheap Chinese Strat knockoff, colour wise, and the pickguard is brown, which looks all kinds of wrong as a combination. So it's clear I will need to refinish it, which I plan to do by surface filling on the original finish (leaving it there) and giving it a coat of primer. Originally I had thought yeah, white, like it had been, and that's not a bad choice. But Sleepkid and I were talking it over and he suggested gold, which is a very fine idea I think.
Just to finish, a couple of shots of the incredible pickguard, originally made by a soapdish company apparently, and which can only be described as "mocha sparkle swirl". I reckon an aged gold would set this off nicely, in fact the yellow paint in the pickup cavity gives an idea of the possibility. I've been leaning toward a gold guitar in the last few years and I think this is the one!
- mgeek
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
It's your guitar, so it doesn't really matter what I think, but that just needs finishing off. If you wetsanded it with like, 1500 and buffed it out, it'd look a lot more appealing than it currently does.MatthewK wrote: I can imagine the chorus of "that looks amazing, don't touch a thing" but it photographs better than the reality, which is like smeared paint stripper residue, sander marks and scraper gouges.
Cool project anyway! I really fancy one of these
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Nope, it's paint stripper wear not playwear - not part of the instrument's history, just chemical damage. I've done surface filler on it and it's getting a primer coat this weekend. Believe me, I am not someone who would get rid of a salvageable original finish, and if you saw it in person you would probably agree it's not worth saving.
- mgeek
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Yup, I read and can see that - it'd still look better buffed outMatthewK wrote:Nope, it's paint stripper wear not playwear - not part of the instrument's history, just chemical damage.
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
For once, a warm day and still air. What the heck, let's paint in the garden!
A few dings to fill and a few spits from the can, but I warmed it up first and it sprayed quite nicely.
A few dings to fill and a few spits from the can, but I warmed it up first and it sprayed quite nicely.
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
So last weekend I thought, let's give that a quick wet-sand to make it nice and flat. Naphtha should do the trick, evaporates nicely. BIG MISTAKE. Rustoleum spray paints use xylene as a solvent, and xylene is a component of ... naphtha. So it came off in a sticky mess. Had to respray the primer. So not until this weekend did I get to try out the next stage, GOLD.
Hard to capture this but it's gone on evenly with the exception of one slight "sag", and my test earlier in the day shows that it dries to a nice even tone. More Shoreline than Firemist, but it should darken slightly when I add a clearcoat. My intention is not to sand or polish until I have some nice thick layers of clear.
The test piece sat very nicely with the pickguard so I hope it will all be worth it!
Hard to capture this but it's gone on evenly with the exception of one slight "sag", and my test earlier in the day shows that it dries to a nice even tone. More Shoreline than Firemist, but it should darken slightly when I add a clearcoat. My intention is not to sand or polish until I have some nice thick layers of clear.
The test piece sat very nicely with the pickguard so I hope it will all be worth it!
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Yes I definitely think we are getting somewhere:
- Pacafeliz
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
yes....
yes.
c'mon man, don't be cruel!!!
yes.
c'mon man, don't be cruel!!!
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Not being a tease, I want another gold coat and some clear before I put it together! Biting my nails here too.
This is the only other one I took before leaving it to dry properly:
This is the only other one I took before leaving it to dry properly:
- sleepkid
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
If I had thought of painting it gold before I sent it to him, he would have never gotten his hands on it. I was thinking a dark metallic forest green or some sort of variation on Lake Placid Blue - but gold is going to take this guitar to the next level.MatthewK wrote:Not being a tease, I want another gold coat and some clear before I put it together! Biting my nails here too.
Also, just an FYI - the guitar was a failed sunburst at the factory - Mory guitars usually have a much deeper sunburst, usually with a fair amount of red in them. So it was re-shot red at the factory. Then later someone shot it yellow. Then after that someone painted it white. Lots and lots of paint.
The pickguards really are absolutely mind blowing - but they are somewhat busy when put on a sunburst finish. They're difficult to photograph in a way that actually conveys how deeply layered they are. For example, in the pictures Matthew has taken above, it looks like a layer of dust on the pickguard, but it's actually a layer of very fine glitter that's in the upper most layer of celluloid. When held at certain angles you can actually see the various densities of celluloid swirling in a kind of 3-D depth (it's a very thick layer - maybe 2mm?) There are some more pictures of this and information about these guitars in general on my website.
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
It's true, there is one more pic from today, but I swear that's all. Sleepkid has modestly failed to mention that the gold was his idea - hoping I don't screw it up!
- antisymmetric
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Indeed! Nicely done.MatthewK wrote:Yes I definitely think we are getting somewhere:
Watching the corners turn corners
- joeld
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
I absolutely love this. The gold and the brown pearly pickguard is such a nice combo!
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Decided against a clear coat after a few tests - added nothing to the finish but increased the chance of spits, dust etc. So I decided to pull the trigger and put it together! Wiring was a head-scratcher until I realised the lead-circuit output goes through a parallel resistor-capacitor, which I presume just takes the edge off the treble. Broke a stupid string putting it back together and I don't have a fresh set, sigh. But oh my, it's nice. Even with 5 strings these are big punchy pickups.
Gloomy phone camera pics, sorry.
Now ... matching headstock? What would Moridaira do? What would OSG do?
Gloomy phone camera pics, sorry.
Now ... matching headstock? What would Moridaira do? What would OSG do?
- MattK
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Re: 67 Mory Jazz Odyssey
Well after the storm of responses, what could I do but a matching headstock? A little more paint, some laser decal paper, picture research and a few sessions in Illustrator later ...
and we're done. Sounds amazing, looks amazing, 50 years old (except for the neck!), a true gem from the Moridaira factory.
and we're done. Sounds amazing, looks amazing, 50 years old (except for the neck!), a true gem from the Moridaira factory.