Restoration of a '69/'70 jazzmaster (updated April 15th, 2008: new guard!).

[Orang Goreng]

Thanks! The sound is pretty close to that of my '64 (the '62 pickups may have something to do with that), although recently I have been playing it with the tone knob on 2 (normally 8 on my '64), to make it more mid-rangey and to compensate for the horrible bright Peavey amps in the commercial rehearsal space we use. The battery hole is still there, yeah.

[burker]

This is one of my favorite guitars I have seen on this forum, it has real personality.

really to bad you dont have any real "before" pics...  its a really impressive transformation.

[Orang Goreng]

it has real personality.

Now if only its owner grew one 

really to bad you dont have any real "before" pics...  its a really impressive transformation.

Well, the dressing room mockup comes pretty close. I never got to take any pictures of the real thing because when I got it from the guy, he had already taken the guts out for me so I never had it in my home in the "before" state. And all this took place like 15 years ago, so I didn't have one of those convenient digital cams yet.

[Orang Goreng]

OK, time for an update. Over the past few months, I'd accumulated some more parts, and yesterday and today I installed them.

First there was this (quite some time ago already)...a set of original late '60s F-tubers from Dain (thanks!). A mild clean-up of the headstock with some warm water, and there we have it....

Before:



After:




Then there's this nice late 60s bridge base I got from Doug (thanks!), to replace the Allparts/Fender Japan bridge I had on there. I just transplanted the saddles from the old bridge:



Cool. New bridge mounted. Then there's the horrible Japanese tailpiece that keeps rubbing my B-string. Jay found a nice vintage trem he passed on to me (thanks!). I was planning to put it on my new parts jag, but the worn down '65 trem I currently have on the white jag will go better with the control plates I have for it. So here it comes...

Japanese tailpiece:



Tailpiece off. Nice routes, eh . You got to enjoy the hole in the back....



New trem on. But I also want to improve the shielding, so off with the pickguard. This guitar would not have been out of place in the "post the most beat to shit JM you can find" thread. Detail...see how the faded red is still present under the pickguard?




Shield plates! Bit of solder, and they're all connected.



PG shield:



OK, mount PG back on and we're back in business. Of course, it would be nice to finish off with a pic of the end product, but since most of these improvements are details, please refer to the other pics of this guitar. I'll let the new strings stretch overnight, and tomorrow I'll do a set-up. Maybe some pics then.


Final pic...my friend the oversized neck pocket. Bad eh? This is why I tend to rant about the quality of CBS Fenders...my JB and musicmaster also have this, though perhaps not as bad.

[mezcalhead]

I like this guitar .. it's taken such a beating in its time and lived to tell the tale. Nice work.

[the older brother]

Me too love battered guitars - that one is very nice!!

[Stratelejazzuar]

that beast is awesome 

[Jazzprod]

This guitar is so cool!!!!! 

[Orang Goreng]

Well...an unexpected turn of events! Say goodbye to the mint guard!

A while ago I mentioned something about '69 guards in another thread, which prompted Michael ( Fuzz_King) to point me towards a an older (ca. '62) tort guard he wasn't using. It arrived yesterday (after a shipping nightmare of biblical proportions...whatever you do, avoid DHL and Selektvracht), and fit without me having to file anything. I really liked the old look, but at heart I'm fairly traditional when it comes to guitar looks...a sunburst JM looks better with a good tort guard. So. Looksie!

 

The dark '62 guard goes much better with the '69-type sunburst (all 69s I've seen have this very thin black outer band and faded red...) than a mid-60s reddish one would have:

[the older brother]

Awesome doc!

[StevenO]

Oh wow those are beauties!

[i love sharin foo]

Awesome doc!

+1!!

She's come a long way!

I think the tortoise guard really finished it off perfectly.

Justin

[Soiouz]

BEAUTIFUL!!!! As much as I liked the old look, now it's simply perfect!   

[OffYourFace]

Great work Z.!  It's perfect, a vintage JM that you don't need to be too precious about 

[RumorsOFsurF]

A guitar I've always adored....Now even better! 

Good job, Doc.