1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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bencrit
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by bencrit » Wed May 09, 2018 5:09 pm

OK, here we go. After another botched attempt at pictures I’ll try to get it right.

First, here is the progress we made yesterday:

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I’m only going to do a shot of these two areas, because they are the worst. ash grain can be long and deep on the front and back of a guitar. That’s where the brush comes in very handy. The small bristles get into those cavities and help jar the paint loose.

The sides are a whole other matter. Basically you have small pinholes along the edges where the grain is “exiting” the body. Think of it as a long pipe. If you cut it in half the long way, you have a very long, round strip to deal with. Cut it in half the “short way” and you have something much smaller, and in the case of wood grain, more difficult to deal with.

I tried the brush technique on the ends with minimal success. It turns out I had to get some heavier grit sandpaper and just get to work on it. I used different grits in different places, alternating between 100, 120 and 150. You have to be extremely careful because you don’t want to oversand or significantly alter the contours or the rounded edges of the guitar. At the same time, you do have to get down to the bottom of the grain or the red paint is going to stay there and eventually bleed through the blonde paint. Then we just have to start over and do the whole thing over again, and that’s not something I look forward to :wacko:

So here is the progress I made this afternoon sitting out in the extremely rare Pacific Northwest sunshine on my deck:

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As you can see, I’ve made some progress but haven’t quite finished. The biggest problem areas for sanding are at the sharper curves right around the neck pocket area along the edges. You just can’t get a flat or even rounded sander in there very easily. You basically have to go very slowly with one direction, swiping down over and over and over again. Very tedious but necessary.

special care has to be taken so as to not oversand. So far I think I’m succeeding. I really get impatient with these projects and want to start spraying paint as soon as possible. But the few times I have done this have taught me that 90% of a good paint job is done in the prep work. So I am going to persevere.

By the way, heres a shot of the view looking north from my deck. It’s a little cloudy but you get the idea of the mountains I can see.

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Permit me to express my personal belief here, but I find it much nicer to see the Lord’s handiwork when tediously sanding than stare at the bland concrete in my garage. I certainly wish I had divine power to make this sanding job go faster…

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gishuk
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by gishuk » Thu May 10, 2018 4:45 am

If youre going to have to do tedious sanding then thats not a bad view to look at while doing it!

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StevenO
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by StevenO » Thu May 10, 2018 5:07 am

Great project. I have no doubt you will do it justice once all is said and done. :)

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bencrit
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by bencrit » Thu May 10, 2018 10:17 am

gishuk wrote:
Thu May 10, 2018 4:45 am
If youre going to have to do tedious sanding then thats not a bad view to look at while doing it!
Most definitely! My wife is not as big a fan of guitar projects as I am, especially when they take up the garage and house space.

So the deck is a nice compromise. ;D
Last edited by bencrit on Thu May 10, 2018 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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bencrit
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by bencrit » Thu May 10, 2018 10:17 am

StevenO wrote:
Thu May 10, 2018 5:07 am
Great project. I have no doubt you will do it justice once all is said and done. :)
Thanks for the kind comment. I sure hope so, as I want this gold hardware to have a worthy host!

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Enzo
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by Enzo » Fri May 11, 2018 7:08 am

Man, your restorations are just awesome, and I love that you’re bringing old pieces of music history back to life/glory. Just my two cents, but I was thinking this body might just look awesome in translucent sea foam green or blue. Ohio Valley Nitro makes a translucent dark blue that would look killer imo, especially with a tort or mint guard

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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by bencrit » Fri May 11, 2018 11:49 am

Enzo wrote:
Fri May 11, 2018 7:08 am
Man, your restorations are just awesome, and I love that you’re bringing old pieces of music history back to life/glory. Just my two cents, but I was thinking this body might just look awesome in translucent sea foam green or blue. Ohio Valley Nitro makes a translucent dark blue that would look killer imo, especially with a tort or mint guard
You are right, it’d probably look pretty cool in those colors. But my goal with these is just to try to restore them to something vintage correct, and with Ash bodies it was almost always blonde or white blonde. Plus, the gold hardware I am planning to put To use with this looks best with a white or blonde finish, in my opinion.

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antisymmetric
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by antisymmetric » Fri May 11, 2018 1:32 pm

8) Nice work! Re the end grain issues, I seem to remember reading that the blonde finishes (including Mary Kaye finish I guess) were more opaque around the body edges and obscured the end grain (a kind of "whiteburst", if you will) so if that's correct, it may take care of any red remaining in those difficult areas. Should look very cool when it's done!

Side note- Pacific NW pics always remind me of here in NZ... :-*
Watching the corners turn corners

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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by bencrit » Sat May 12, 2018 10:14 pm

antisymmetric wrote:
Fri May 11, 2018 1:32 pm
8) Nice work! Re the end grain issues, I seem to remember reading that the blonde finishes (including Mary Kaye finish I guess) were more opaque around the body edges and obscured the end grain (a kind of "whiteburst", if you will) so if that's correct, it may take care of any red remaining in those difficult areas. Should look very cool when it's done!

Side note- Pacific NW pics always remind me of here in NZ... :-*

That’s helpful to note regarding the opaque edges. My main concern with red, however, is how it tends to bleed through everything...but hopefully attacking it a bit more will help as will applying the proper amount of paint.

Yes, pics of NZ always remind me of the Pacific Northwest as well! ...really need to go there sometime...

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rexter
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by rexter » Sat May 26, 2018 11:56 pm

Red is such a massive pain to remove! Great dedication to getting it done right. Loved your Fiesta resto and yep... very eager to see this one in blonde!

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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by wademp » Sun Jun 24, 2018 9:33 am

I really can’t wait to see this one finished!

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Enzo
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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by Enzo » Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:30 pm

I am excited and curious to see how much the grain will show through the new finish once it has cured.

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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by Velouria » Mon Jul 30, 2018 2:35 pm

Wow! That is looking rather nice... Good job getting that red out :D

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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by 86runner » Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:15 pm

Any progress on this one? Good on ya for getting all that red out. That's no easy task! Worn Mary Kaye with that old crusty gold hardware will be killer!

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Re: 1961 Jazzmaster W/ Ash Body - Pictures

Post by antisymmetric » Thu Aug 30, 2018 9:28 pm

bencrit wrote:
Sat May 12, 2018 10:14 pm
My main concern with red, however, is how it tends to bleed through everything...but hopefully attacking it a bit more will help as will applying the proper amount of paint.
Some shellac could be worth trying- I use dewaxed shellac often as a sealer, it's very good. Vinyl primers are also meant to be good, although I've yet to try them.
Watching the corners turn corners

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