OffsetGuitars.com

Hi all-

I just picked up this guitar yesterday and posted about it here: http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 1&t=105287

Much of the remainder of what I have to do it making the guitar into the instrument I want it to be, so I thought a post here would be more appropriate.

In the past I had a 65 JM and I feel like a mistake I made was being a little too precious about not improving playability in order to maintain it's perfect vintage-ness. My goal here is to not do anything that can't be reversed, but to make sure this guitar is first and foremost an instrument I love to pick up and play.

Here's the list I've got so far for things to address:

* Remedy back bent neck
--> I've asked my regular tech if he'd be willing to try some clamping to perhaps persuade the neck to go back into a straight position. After that gets fixed, I'll have the neck refretted with minimal planing, if at all possible.

* Remove and repair cracked pick-guard
--> Currently the guard shrunken up around the tall bridge thimbles, making it impossible to get it off the guitar.
--> There are 2 cracks in the guitar. I'll need to see if it's possible to "heal" the cracks or not.

* Replace foam under pickups
--> I'll need to see how things go with the pickguard
--> Is there a go-to material for this application? I imagine you want to use something that can avoid breaking down and becoming mush like the old stuff did. I'm all ears.

* Potential neck and body refinish:
--> The body's color is slightly growing on me (it's maybe a Dakota or Fiesta red, I can't quite tell).
--> I think I'll definitely have the neck refin'd once I work out the back bending issue. The feel of a great, worn neck is one of the best reasons for having an old guitar, IMHO. I'm thinking I'd use MJT so that it's done by someone who's both reputable and ultimately adds value to the instrument.
--> Does anyone know if MJT can apply a decal to a genuine Fender neck?

* Replace tuners with drop-in replacements
--> I'm open to the idea of trying to salvage these, but they're super sticky and I damn near killed my hand last night throwing a set of 12's on it. My 65 JM had tuners that were painful to use and, in retrospect, it always bugged me.
--> I'm certain there's a great set of modern tuners out there that will look the part and be a perfect drop-in replacement. The originals will live in the case. Any suggestions on a specific tuner that'll work? Gotoh? RS? TonePros?

* Upgrade collet/arm/bridge with Staytrem
--> I ordered these parts last night and they're on the way. After experiencing a Staytrem collet and bar, I'll never go back to the slop I used to experience on my old JM. I've also been very happy with the Staytrem bridge, so the original will live in the case. The original bridge on here rattles quite badly, so no love lost.

* Improve large neck pocket for tighter fit
--> Right now there's a significant gap on both sides of the neck pocket. I'm unsure what the least invasive way of improving this might be. Glue in wood shims which would necessitate a refin at some point?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!

Lee

I envy you for this amazing project!!!

One thing that can help with bridge rattle: stiffer intonation springs (in case you want to give it a try on the old bridge.)

Least of your concerns, but still

Excited to see how this turns out. MJT will indeed put a decal on a legit Fender neck.

I was reading through some older threads and saw mention of Danocaster doing a refin for someone else with a 1962 JM project, so I reached out and he's still down to do it, so if I get the body refinished, I'll be sending it on to him.

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Update!

I'd called a few folks in Portland that I know to ask about approaches to the neck repair. One of the folks I contacted was Saul Koll. I've been a customer of Saul's for about a decade and, over the years, we've become friends. I asked him if he had anyone he'd recommend to do the work and, to my great surprise, he said to bring it by and he'd try to do the heat treatment himself! Mind you, Saul *does not* do repairs anymore, so I was shocked, but also incredibly excited because if it was possible to fix this neck, Saul can do it.

I dropped it off today and he explained the procedure and also showed me his circa 1960's heating jig that he held onto from his repair days. He was very encouraged that the neck is a slab board, which he felt increased the likelihood of success. The clay dots are also a positive because they shouldn't react to the heat unlike a celluloid. In addition to the heat treatment he's also going to do the refret, assuming things work out with the heat, and get it setup. There will still be more work to do after this, but I'd be working on a fully functional guitar that needs details sorted out as opposed to a potential dead-necked guitar, which to me is huge.

Saul is getting right to work on it, but asked for 2 weeks or so to do the repair and refret. I assured him I'm in no great rush and that I was over-the-moon grateful.

I'll post some pics below of the jig Saul will be using. He's got one of the original clamps that has the leather pad that cradles the rear of the neck. For the other end he just used a standard C clamp that locks at the end of the neck. A heating element runs through the center of the metal rectangle and gradually heats up the neck. Saul checks the rear of the neck periodically to see if the heat has penetrated to the back, at which points he turns off the heat and lets it cool for a number of hours. It sounds like the process is likely to get repeated a few times until the goal is reached. He'll also slowly shim the middle of the neck beneath the heat to overcompensate and try and achieve the correct amount of relief he wants. He'll then use the fret job to get things back to perfect with as little loss of fretboard material as possible. Fingers are crossed like a pretzel.

Onward!

I live in portland also, where is this shop!???
Also i love this project, i think refinishing in dakota red with a matching headstock with a gold 62 decal would look awesome

Are you going to post pictures of the insides? that's one of my favorite parts to see

I'm working on a squier jag and turning it into a 62. So far its the surfgreen and i installed a mute. i have brass shielding ready, but damn... Was not prepared for the wiring on it haha So i'm gonna wait to get a vintage correct wiring set with either the 62 jag pickups or 65. Or maybe i'll get a warmoth binding neck to make it a 65

Either way, the original neck has flamed maple that looks beautiful!

I'll have to post a project post of it. how do you upload pictures?

How is the pick guard stuck btw? like it's so tight it's literally impossible to screw off?
Maybe heating it would help to remove it?

Good luck!

Loving this project. Can't wait until the next update.

Just got an update from Saul. He pulled the jog off several days ago after several rounds of heating/cooling. He let it sit for a few days to see if it moved. His report: "It's held its shape without any noticeable backbow. I think I can safely fret it now. I should be on it early this week."

Score! Another JM is coming back into action.

I'll update again once the refret is wrapped up. Then it's time to somehow get the guard off and check out the world beneath. The color's been growing on me, so I'm not at all sure I'm going to refin the body at this point.

If you are going to refret the guitar anyway, why not use that as an opportunity to correct the neck bow? It sounds like you need the opposite of a compression refret. Enlarge the fret slot width a bit, or use new frets with smaller tang that will not resist string pull as much as what you have now.

zepset wrote:If you are going to refret the guitar anyway, why not use that as an opportunity to correct the neck bow? It sounds like you need the opposite of a compression refret. Enlarge the fret slot width a bit, or use new frets with smaller tang that will not resist string pull as much as what you have now.

It's been completely corrected by Saul using the heat treatment. He says it's fine now.

Thanks!

As far as your neck pocket goes, I recently re-did a 68 P Bass neck pocket that had been slightly over-sized by an irresponsible previous owner. Using your strings as a straight edge reference, set the neck as straight as you can in the pocket with the top and bottom E strings evenly spaced from their respective fretboard edge. Tighten it down. If you havent already removed the pickguard, do that so you can clearly get a visual of the gaps in the neck pocket. Then it's simply a matter of gluing in some 0.6mm strips of alder or maple where they need to go - and what helps with the gluing in process is making up a dummy neck-heel block to facilitate this. Make it out of something easy to sand/shape up like MDF. Make sure when you glue the strips in with TItebond that you wrap your dummy neck heel in grease-proof paper so it doesn't end up getting glued in by any excess glue that oozes!. Once the glue has dried, carefully shape the strips them to blend in with the rest of the body - that's if you're not planning on re-painting it. If you are, do all the above described work after youve stripped the red off of it and before you begin with sealer coats.

boss302bass wrote:As far as your neck pocket goes, I recently re-did a 68 P Bass neck pocket that had been slightly over-sized by an irresponsible previous owner. Using your strings as a straight edge reference, set the neck as straight as you can in the pocket with the top and bottom E strings evenly spaced from their respective fretboard edge. Tighten it down. If you havent already removed the pickguard, do that so you can clearly get a visual of the gaps in the neck pocket. Then it's simply a matter of gluing in some 0.6mm strips of alder or maple where they need to go - and what helps with the gluing in process is making up a dummy neck-heel block to facilitate this. Make it out of something easy to sand/shape up like MDF. Make sure when you glue the strips in with TItebond that you wrap your dummy neck heel in grease-proof paper so it doesn't end up getting glued in by any excess glue that oozes!. Once the glue has dried, carefully shape the strips them to blend in with the rest of the body - that's if you're not planning on re-painting it. If you are, do all the above described work after youve stripped the red off of it and before you begin with sealer coats.

Thank you so much for explaining all of that process. That's really helpful.

I also just remembered I need to get a set of drop-in, replica tuners ordered.

What a great story! And it looks like it's going to have the happy ending it deserves. I believe if it hadn't been for you, this JM might have very easily fallen to pieces and never be whole again.

I actually like the finish, very shiny and lively - is it poly?