Vintage parts Mustang - need some restoration suggestions

[James]

I  bought a parts Mustang from ebay and now I've had it a month or so to get used to it, I've decide to restore it to be somewhat vintage correct. I'm not bothered about things like the correct colour wires or anything that isn't visable when the guitar is assembled, but I would like to change the tuners for better ones (if not the ones that would have originally been on the neck).

This is what I know about the parts...

Dec '63 22.5" Musicmaster neck
64/65/66 Body
64/64 Pickguard and switches
70s Fender pickups (I have some numbers for these, I need to look into what they actually mean to get accurate dates)
'73 Comp Stang Bridge cover
'67 or early Pat Pending bridge
RI Kluson Deluxe tuners (most likely going)
New CTS pots (tone is a TBX) and non Fender knobs

Here are the original ebay pictures and the condition I got it in. Notice the strings don't go inside the Klusons, or wrap around the tailpiece of the bridge (that and a light string guage caused the problem with the trem arm you can see in the one pic).











At the moment i'm consider getting some US style knobs (with the rounded points) and using some alpha pots (not a big fan of the CTS), replacing the tuners and possibly a refin.

Anyway, before I get too into potential mods, here are some more detailed pics. When I got it I took it to bits, cleaned everything and put on some strat covers until I got some robroes for it. I took the switches apart and cleaned them (filthy contacts and they barely worked as they were supposed to) so in terms of general maintenance it's a smal truss rod adjustment away from a great setup.

On to the pics.... (pasting this bit from a shortscale post so the text might not be completely relevant)





3/4 is the model number, so they had a generic number for musicmasters and duos. Dec 63 the date and A the width (1 1/2")


I love this Fender logo.


It has the litle wood dowel from some tooling process or something


Headstock again with strings


The wood grain is awesome. You can just feel it if you feel the fretboard directly (rather than press the string into it) and it looks great up close. Check out the mojo clay dots.


Close up of the pickguard showing how soft and old it looks. It's covered in small scratches like you can see there.


The whole pickguard. It looks quite similar to what I remember hurb/stewart's duo looking like. I'll check a pic later to compare. Not the best picture but it looks good on the guitar, you can see it better in the last couple of pics.


Bridge up close. Check the Pat. Pend. which means it's 67 or earlier. The bridge saddles look so clean because I polished them a little and then put the 'unused' side face up.


Springs on the back of the trem plate.


Shielding plate in the control cavity.


Shielding plate in the pickup cavities. Notice the black foam that goes underneath the switches.


Bridge back on.


Front body shot. I should have probably taken some with the bridge cover off. Check the pickguard shrinkage.


A final body shot.

And then a quick couple after I switched to robroe covers




It looks fairly similar, less of the light patches and more of the dark but the actual red colour is pretty close.



The inside of the bridge cover is pitted quite badly, one side of the top has some slight pitting but overall the metal hardware is in great condition.




I tried to capture some of the finish imperfections. On a white body it's hard to photograph but easy to see. I might refinish it at some point. I'll almost definitely be keeping the tort pickguard, so daphne blue is the obvious choice.

Apologies for the epic picture post so far, but I want to lay all my cards on the table as to what I have to work with here.

These ae things I'm considering trying to do...
Age the pickup covers and switch tip (not sure if the trem arm is vintage or RI)
Age and slightly relic the finish or just refin
Replace Tuners
Change pots and knobs (not going vintage style on this, just functional, I'l go for the rounded knobs though)

I know you guys love the restoration projects so I'm sure there are a few ideas kicking through your heads as you read this that I haven't even considered, and I'd be more than happy to hear them.

[Paolo_ray]

Was this the one going on the uk ebay?  I nearly put a bid on this but ditched out at the last minute.  I was gutted when I saw it went  for about £190 ...

[James]

Aye, that's the one. I got the robroe covers for free so I've spent about £210 (including the train ticket to go and get it) on it so far. I imagine the neck is worth most of, if not all of that.

[theworkoffire]

What an absolute steal! I love it. Will you try to swap the neck for a 24"?

[James]

I considered it but the current neck is comfy and it doesn't feel cramped to play. Maybe one day I will, perhaps if the offer falls in front of me and I can try the other neck out first I'll do it soon. At the moment I don't see a reason to as I like how it plays.

[luau]

I'd swap that neck for a 24" B width Mustang neck with proper tuners, refin in Oly, and done.

If the leads are original on those pups, I think they are both for the neck position. Not that it matters much, but the bridge would have blue and yellow leads. I think that continued for the life of the Mustangs but I'm not 100%. The 5 and 6 digit pickup stamps have the 2nd to last 2 digits as the week and the last 2 digits as the year. Looks like 24th week of '79 for the one I can see. Code breakdown.

Cool guitar in any event. These are one of the few models that I actually like in white.

[James]

If I switched the neck for a 24" i'd only consider an A width. I've played quite a few mid 60s 24 necks and I like A width better. In fact the width of the nut is the one question I asked the seller before buying it.

[luau]

Sounds like you're happy with the neck. More power to ya.

[James]

Cheers for the link, here are the pics that show the codes

Bridge
16 24 79


Neck
xx 15 73 (possibly 78)


So they're both neck pickups? They both sound good but the neck pickup sounds better than the bridge. I like the dynamics and general response of both, but the bridge could use more bass. I wouldn't be against selling one or both of these and buying different ones. I'd certainly stick with vintage style single coils and might get a 60s mustang set at some point.

[luau]

Sure thing. That page is heaven.

So they're both neck pickups? They both sound good but the neck pickup sounds better than the bridge. I like the dynamics and general response of both, but the bridge could use more bass. I wouldn't be against selling one or both of these and buying different ones. I'd certainly stick with vintage style single coils and might get a 60s mustang set at some point.

Yep. 24th week of '79 and 15th week of '73. Those first two batch code digits are sort of useless.

I'm confident that the 2nd one is a '73. If the leads are original, and they look to be, it's a neck pickup. I'm less familiar with the later 'stangs so I'm not 100% sure that the black/white = neck, blue/yellow = bridge rule applies in 1979. It may, I just don't know it for a fact. Anyone have a gut shot of a later one in original condition?

I'm not aware of any difference between neck/bridge pickups other than the leads and the bridge generally being a bit hotter. If I were going to replace those, I'd look into some Novaks or similar. The original pickups are interesting and fun, but I'd bet Mr. Novak could whip up something that would absolutely kill the originals from any era. I've got a couple with stock pups and I love them, so I'm not hating. They're a tad under-powered though, by design.

[crazypaws]

fix the tremolo unit!!!

[James]

Stringing it up properly and using 13s have solved the trem problems, it works fine now.

[rickenmetal]

I am pretty sure the early Mustangs had a different headstock, like this:


http://www.jag-stang.com/MrMaxima/

[James]

I'm assuming that sort of white button Kluson would be the 'correct' type of tuner?

I'm fine with having a Musicmaster decal and a pre-Mustang neck

[jop]

That's some fine looking tort.