My favorite uncle died two years ago, and this evening I had the sad pleasure of going through his parts stash. One of the things I got was this jazzmaster body. I had originally expected Squier, based on a neck he had lying around, but I think it might actually be vintage.
Having a hard time posting direct links to photos, but they’re all here (hopefully this link works):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/n5iFgLya9cYzURYb9
It has obviously been stripped and heavily sanded. No obvious neck dates or anything, and my real life experience with vintage parts is pretty much zero. But it looks like old sunburst in the cavities, and has a few traits that seem to match other things I’ve seen online:
- Circular filed area in bottom of trem cavity
- Two small filled dowels(?) on back side
- Two Glazier points left in rhythm circuit cavity
- Strip of tape still in tact across the neck pickup cavity. I picked at it lightly and it didn’t budge.
- Neck pocket is mostly stripped, but does have traces of black paint with a handwritten 3 (maybe original, maybe not)
- I also found a vintage tort pickguard (unfortunately probably too warped and shrunken to use) and shielding plate, and a pretty rusty looking pickup without lead wires.
I’m not in a financial position to take on a major project right now, but this potentially just got a lot more serious than I expected. I would at least like to get it useable as soon as possible, and upgrade slowly as time goes by. I will probably cave and order some Curtis Novak pickups for it tonight…
Any input appreciated. Thanks, Uncle Pete!
Gary