I wanted to share my project and get some advice as I have almost finished it.
At New Years, I was given a 1971 Fender Mustang once owned by my deceased brother-in-law. From what I was able to find out about it, it was abused prior to his ownership. Since he was a craftsman and a loved to play around with some of his other instruments, I imagine this one was on a back burner for a redo.
He passed 10 years ago and it was left for quite awhile in uncontrolled climate areas before my sister gave it proper shelter. Years after her rescuing it, she passed it on to me. That being said, there was some mild surface corrosion on metal parts such as the tuner housings, screw heads and pitting on chrome plates. My plan was to dismantle, clean and refinish the body with a color similar to the original. After the tear down, this is what I found.
1971 Fender Competition Mustang (Looked like the original color found in the neck pocket was Burgundy Blue)
Stamped names in the neck pocked are I. Chambers and Garcia.
Date stamp on base of neck is 16 SEP 71 B
The neck was in good shape and straight as an arrow. No warping. Will need a fret job down the road. (I've cleaned and oiled the fret board)
The tuners look to be original Kluson Deluxe and there was no indication under them that they had ever been changed. (Now cleaned and lubed)
The body was a mess. It had been stripped of the original finish with what looks like 100 grit sandpaper, by hand, leaving low spots. An additional cavity was drilled and chiseled out between the to original pickup cavities to accommodate a Gibson mini humbucker. A toggle switch cavity was also carved in the side of the switch cavity between the factory switches and wired in for the humbucker. The switch was broken.
The pick guard may have been original but was destroyed with "potato chipping", shrinkage and the cutout for the humbucker and switch. (Pick guard now replaced)
The pickups had been replaced with single-coil DiMarzio SDS 1's. (Both test out at 9.4 ohms)
The two SWITCHCRAFT pickup switches might be original. (Both function)
Control pots are 250K and look to have been replaced as the housings are stamped with a date code for 1977 & 78.
Jack output is SWITCHCRAFT and might be original.
Bridge plate assembly and saddles appear original. (I cleaned and flipped the saddles for shiny side up.)
The cigar and neck plate are interesting. The neck plate, according to my research, is from a 1957 Stratocaster with a dash and five digit number.
The cigar has a trem bar straight head set screw with the internal "machined in" sliding wedge that tightens against the arm. I've been told it is also from the 50's era. Unfortunately I sent the cigar off for re-chroming before I had that information. It was in very bad shape on the entire top side. Since I'm not concerned with loss of value on this abused guitar, I'm not crying about it. The neck plate will remain untouched and has been reinstalled after a light waxing to shine it up.
Question: From looking and searching the web for weeks I have tried to find the proper grounding for the control pots and bridge plate and saddles. And if the ground should be grounded to the cavity's shielding. Nothing was grounded to the original shielding plate under the pots. All original brass or copper shield plates are daisy chained together. Nothing was grounded to any of the shield plates. The ground for the bridge plate was a small 1 inch wire between control plate and bridge plate. I'm changing that because I don't want to pinch that wire down at the closest contact point and indent the finish. Instead, I drilled a 3/16th inch hole between the bridge pickup cavity and the bridge plate spring cavity closest to the controls. Then ran a 24 AWG wire into the control cavity from the bridge spring cavity. My plan is to pinch the end of the ground wire under the small shoulder of the saddle thimble and under the bridge plate at the same point. Then make sure the wire will not interfere with the spring and solder the other end to the control cavity shielding plate. Also solder the volume pot to the shielding plate at the same point.
The ground of the output jack has never been soldered since it mounts to a metal plate with the volume and tone pots. Should I also ground the output jack to the same shielding point?
Sorry for the long description but I'm having fun getting this guitar back in better shape. Looking forward to trying my hand at the setup and testing. I can't figure out how to insert images.
Thanks for the read and any advice or criticism. I will gladly take it.
