D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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will
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D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by will » Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:08 pm

Earlier this year, a post popped up about an almost-complete Jaguar that appeared on Craigslist. The poster was very generous and picked up the guitar and sent it my way to take on the project (thanks!)


It was pretty much complete and hadn't been modified, other than the awful cherry finish on the body and neck. Here's some before pictures:

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Luckily, the wiring was almost all there, except for some missing/damaged slide switches:

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Wonder of wonders - the original tuners were still there!

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Once it arrived, I disassembled it to assess the damage and learned that it was once Olympic White:

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Man, I hate it when folks hack through the binding to install a new nut

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The other side of the binding was damaged too, and there was a nick that went almost all the way through the binding. I patched the nicked maple and cleaned up the groove for the binding. The binding was in pretty bad shape overall - it had shrunken quite a bit, so I needed to figure out a way to fill in the gap to either side of the binding.

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I used a good-ol #11 x-Acto to scrape the junk out of the gap to either side of the binding. I wanted to clean the 1970's stain off of the binding so that it wouldn't show once the gap was filled in.

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...so I heard that binding could be repaired with a putty made out of binding of the same color, cut into little shavings and then melted with a solvent. I used Plastruct Plastic Weld, and it melted the binding pretty well. The solvent evaporated pretty quickly, so I'd need to add a drop or two during the process to keep the putty spreadable. The old binding was much less reactive to the glue, so I really needed to work the putty into the old binding to get it to stick. ...here it is before sanding:

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Nothing like using a sanding block to show what happens when someone hasn't used a sanding block in the past:

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...getting closer:

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It is always interesting to see what flaws led to a body being set aside for a custom color. In this case, there was a small knot on the face of the guitar, a weird filled-in knot on the side, and sone weird banded figuring on the back:

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Kinda like flamed maple, except just one big flame:

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...and some white primer (I masked off the Olympic White in the routs):

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I decided to go with something close to Charcoal Frost Metallic - I think it looks pretty well with the non-mint 60's white pickguards.

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allllmost there:

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I tried a few times to get the decal to work well. The dark color really made it show if the decal wasn't sticking down completely! Decal Set helped quite well, though the Decal Sol kinda melted the decal too much.

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Here it is all finished - I'm happy with how it turned out - though I don't think I'll ever get a mirror-smooth finish if I'm painting on a windy roof! I wired it up with series/parallel switching to use some weird-colored switchcrafts that I had laying around for a while. I used a new white Fender pickguard, but a light mist of tinted lacquer helped it look less out-of-place.

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Gavanti
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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by Gavanti » Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:19 pm

Looks amazing. Well done!

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by BoringPostcards » Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:24 pm

I love it! Can't go wrong with CFM!
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Sun Jul 16, 2017 10:31 pm

Yep. Great job!

Neat work with the binding and, as much of a purist as I am, those coloured switches are a really nice touch. Kind of a subtle nod to Teisco.

I'm so glad you didn't opt for a tort guard too. That white one looks perfect!
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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by Pacafeliz » Mon Jul 17, 2017 3:27 am

Good Lord i love it!!!
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by PJazzmaster » Mon Jul 17, 2017 3:52 am

WOW !!! :o

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:39 am

Super cool. 8)

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by sookwinder » Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:28 am

I have a soft spot for mid 60s D&B Jaguars and that is a great resurrection.
Well done Sir !
relaxing alternative to doing actual work ...

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RIORIO
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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by RIORIO » Mon Jul 17, 2017 8:47 am

So perfect.

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by N0_Camping4U » Mon Jul 17, 2017 12:35 pm

Dude! You killed it!! Give us some outdoor light hitting it shots! I freakin' love it!
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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by takeittothemall » Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:04 pm

What a before/after!
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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by beauzooka » Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:33 pm

Excellent work - The multicolored switches are genius!
I have a '65 cfm refin with no binding. Twinsies! :freako:

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by Ursa Minor » Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:25 pm

:-* :-* :-*
The artist formerly known as kosmonautmayhem.

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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by Steadyriot. » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:49 am

That's pretty much my dream guitar right there..!
Great work on giving this Jag a second life.

Didn't you have to do any wetsanding on the finish or did you skip the process in the post?
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will
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Re: D+B Jaguar restoration project!

Post by will » Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:19 am

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:Yep. Great job!

Neat work with the binding and, as much of a purist as I am, those coloured switches are a really nice touch. Kind of a subtle nod to Teisco.

I'm so glad you didn't opt for a tort guard too. That white one looks perfect!

Thanks - I've been a Teisco fan for a loooong time - my first offset was a flea market monkeygrip Teisco. I figured that the colored switches would help me tell which are pickup switches and which is the phase switch.

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