1965-66 Jazzmaster OW - advice needed!

[alvinstraight]

Looking at taking a christmas splurge and acquiring this OW JM locally. Said to be all original. What do you experts say based on these photos (I know the pot codes are hard to see)? Does it check out? How much of a premium would you say is normal for a decent condition OW compared to a normal sunburst from the same year?

[zip73]

Looks like a winner Alvin. I had an all orig OW ‘66 (13 FEB 66 B) that looked exactly like the one you’re considering. Mine had very low and wide fret wire like a fretless wonder. The LOLA in the neck pocket is interesting. How much more than sunburst? More.

[JSett]

How much of a premium would you say is normal for a decent condition OW compared to a normal sunburst from the same year?

Going by current market selling trends you'd likely be looking at around 30-40%+

I've seen 65-ish JMs sell for around £6k for sunburst and £8-9k for OLY recently.

[alvinstraight]

Thx for weighing in! I'm finding it such a difficult decision to make. Currently have a really nice AO original JM that plays and sounds like all I would ever need. Yet, I also find it much harder to bond with new(ish) instruments, they are just a bit boring and sterile. And even though it is a ridiculous thing to say about a 6000-7000gbp guitar (that is the ballpark figure I'm looking at), it feels like a) not a terrible deal given current prices, and b) sort of the last opportunity to get in on a fairly clean vintage JM.

Then I also found a nice 1964 Guild Starfire IV that is even less then what I would get for the AO JM. What would you OSGs rather have? An AO JM and fairly nice vintage Guild Starfire, or an all original 1966 JM?

[Unicorn Warrior]

JM all the way man. Vintage instruments are up. This will probably be your last chance as you said. You may have another opportunity for a starfire. Might even sell the AO to fund it?

[FrankRay]

That is seriously lovely. If you can, do, I'd say.

[alvinstraight]

JM all the way man. Vintage instruments are up. This will probably be your last chance as you said. You may have another opportunity for a starfire. Might even sell the AO to fund it?

Ended up trying to go for both vintage options…

AO is now gone. As is most of my eurorack synth that was sitting in a drawer anyway. This is paid for and will be picked up in the new year. Will go and check out the vintage jazzmaster in a couple of days.

[Unicorn Warrior]

JM all the way man. Vintage instruments are up. This will probably be your last chance as you said. You may have another opportunity for a starfire. Might even sell the AO to fund it?

Ended up trying to go for both vintage options…

AO is now gone. As is most of my eurorack synth that was sitting in a drawer anyway. This is paid for and will be picked up in the new year. Will go and check out the vintage jazzmaster in a couple of days.

I do not think you will regret that decision

[firmdragon]

As someone with both a vintage jazzmaster and starfire, I'll was going to say get them both!

[alvinstraight]

As someone with both a vintage jazzmaster and starfire, I'll was going to say get them both!

Good combo?

[alvinstraight]

Seller generously let me borrow the guitar for a few days so I could check it out properly.





First impressions: good weight, neck different profile than the ‘65 jag that I’ve had, plays pretty alright, have the same fretless wonder-thing going on that was mentioned above. Good acoustic resonance with a low end thump. Guitar definitely has that overall vintage-thing that I just didn’t get from the brand new AO JM I just sold.

Unfortunately, it seems that back of the neck has had some kind of overspray, as the finish even over worn parts of the neck are glossy. How bad/discount worthy is that in the world of what appears to be a more or less all original Jazzmaster?

Also, the trem has this rattle- and noise-thing going on. How fixable are old trems in terms of functionality/lack of smoothness?

At this point, I remain a little bit uncertain as to whether this is worth the (for me) massive pile of cash that I would have to give up to own it.

[JSett]

There's a couple of things I'd consider if it was my money. Firstly, is it definitely overspray or just someone polishing the neck regularly for smoothness? Regardless of that does it have that 'silky smooth/effortless' feel of a broken-in neck?

The vibrato is likely just something needing tightening up inside. They're not complex bits of kit with few parts - and are notoriously solid - so any issues are likely to be a quick and simple fix.

If it's the right money already then the potential overspray might be a moot point. If they want 7k for it then I'd be inclined to say something along the lines of "I was going to offer 6.5k but the neck has been oversprayed so I reckon 6k would be fair"

To me, as a player, if the neck has that delicious vintage feeling, regardless of the chance of overspray and if it was already at what I'd consider a good price then I wouldn't let it distract me from buying and enjoying it. A neck overspray isn't a big issue as long as it feels good...to me anyway.

[alvinstraight]

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it. I’m still not sure about the neck. It definitely feels worn in a good way, yet different from a another vintage Fender from the same era that I used to have. Maybe this one just hasn’t been played quite as much (yet).

As an instrument, after a few days of hanging out with it, the guitar feels pretty amazing. Definitely something special. So now, it is just a matter of not getting too badly burnt by the vintage market, as pricing seems to be really all over the place for similar JMs. Some quick research tells me late 65s-early 66s with similar appointments have sold for between £6000 and £11000 (most of these have had slightly or significantly nicer condition finishes). The highest price was for one sold just a few weeks ago from a German dealer.

Weight is 3.59kg or about 7.9lbs, which I think is pretty light for a JM?

Some more daylight photos. The three layers of yellowed overcoat, white paint and grayish undercoat as seen on a couple of the photos is what is to be normally expected for this era?

If I have time, I’ll open it it up later today and take some more photos as the last step before making a decision.

Exciting and a bit nerve-racking this whole experience!

[MattK]

Should it have different patent / design numbers on the decal?

Stunning piece overall!

[alvinstraight]

Should it have different patent / design numbers on the decal?!

Good catch! I don’t know. Spent some time now looking at decals from this era, and haven’t found a single one that looks like this one. Most have a last number that starts with “DES”




Edit: looking at an OSG-thread on headstock decals, I found this old resource that suggests that late ‘65-early ‘66 was a bit unpredictable when it comes to decals. Maybe it has just been cut off, and it’s missing the bottom part.

Compare with this from another decal-thread here




https://web.archive.org/web/20130327023 ... jazzma.htm