It's Here! -- Incoming New Guitar Day (68 Jazzmaster)

[Jonesie]

This is a great candidate for an AV II neck

Now there's an idea. That would look so right on this guitar.

Come on guys! We have to shame him into getting it to original condition again.

I demand you spend the next 6 months scouring reverb and ebay for a 68 neck, and when it finally pops up, You’re gonna have to shell out twice what the guitar will ever be worth. Make it so, or feel the shame!

My wife DOES love it when I spend a buttload of money on things I don't make money on...

[Jonesie]

It arrived! Still no idea what the neck is. No markings whatsoever. The nut is cut horribly, I'm bringing it to my tech as soon as I can.

The main pickup switch seems to be kicked, it only works on the bridge and middle positions, neck is dead, however the neck pickup works on the rhythm circuit, so that's good at least. Looks like the pots were replaced with 250k pots. I'm really not sure what these pickups are though. They're black bobbin, which isn't right for '68, I don't know if this is just a mish-mash of parts from different years and the neck plate was just earlier?

The pickguard is REAL shrunken. I was able to get it back on there but it was real tight.

I dunno, help me out OSG Sleuths.

[Pacafeliz]

[Jonesie]

Well, in good news, the switch started working. Guess it was just a bit dirty. The nut is entirely fucked though, I have a Mastery coming anyways, so I'll get that sorted out when I have the Mastery installed / get the guitar setup. I already shimmed the neck and tightened the truss rod a smidge just to get it playable while I'm waiting for the setup.

The guitar sounds fucking incredible. Probably definitely the honeymoon stage, but this is likely the best sounding guitar that I own. Even the bridge pickup sounds good, and I usually hate JM bridge pickups.

Anyways, here are the glamour shots.

[OffYourFace]

Cool. Congrats! The pickups look old but we'd need to see the color of coil. They could be old Duncans.
Re: the neck, it could be Japanese. It's not often you see a veneer neck and an Allen key truss rod nut together outside of MIJ stuff. I think Musikraft does this but there would be a logo.

[BoringPostcards]

Sweet score Jonesie! It looks really gnarly in a good way.

[RBJM]

I dig it!

[Jonesie]

Does anyone think this could possibly be an older body with a different neck plate? Seeing as the neck was replaced, I was thinking it could be a possibility, especially with the black bobbin pickups that are in there. I did some research and it looks like Duncan always used Black and Yellow cloth wiring on their pickups, and these are white and black, which leads me to think original Fender. The only things that kinda push against this being earlier are the shielding being flat vs. being a tub like the 58 - 63(?)

The bridge seems to be a 1965 or later, seeing as it doesn't have the rounded tops on the height adjustment holes.

The guy who owned this before me hadn't played this guitar in at least 20 years. The only modern feature on it was Schaller strap locks (which I've since replaced with traditional strap buttons.

Just with the way the body is aged, along with the feel of the finish itself, it doesn't feel like a heavier / thicker CBS era finish, but I don't really have any experience either way.

[Jonesie]

and I just heard back from my tech, and he's in the same boat as me, not knowing what the hell this neck is. Hex truss rod adjustment at the heel, and it's apparently 7.25" Radius? Vintage correct 12th fret dot spacing too. Anyone have any guesses? There are no markings on it at all.

[OffYourFace]

I'm think the neck is an older WD model. Show us a close up of the dots and side dots. From what I can see from your pics the top dots, it looks Japanese to me. There were however a few smaller companies who made necks in the mid to late 80s and early 90s. But that fact that it has a thicker veneer board like the MIJ neck in front of me and hex nut truss rod nut, my money is on it being Japanese. But not Fender or Allparts.

You could be lucky with the pickups but we'd need to see a pic of the coils. Are they copper or maroon?

[Jonesie]

I'm think the neck is an older WD model. Show us a close up of the dots and side dots. From what I can see from your pics the top dots, it looks Japanese to me. There were however a few smaller companies who made necks in the mid to late 80s and early 90s. But that fact that it has a thicker veneer board like the MIJ neck in front of me and hex nut truss rod nut, my money is on it being Japanese. But not Fender or Allparts.

You could be lucky with the pickups but we'd need to see a pic of the coils. Are they copper or maroon?

I was doing some more neck research and came to the same WD conclusion. I have a really nice WD neck on my Tele, so I'm not against it being a WD neck. They make good stuff.

The guitar's with my tech right now and I asked for pictures of the coils, I'm waiting for those. I'm RELATIVELY sure I remember them being maroon when I took a quick look when I took everything apart.

I was doing a bit more research on the pickups too, and I saw that on the older black bobbin pickups the magnets tended to protrude a bit further past the bottom of the pickup, and that's definitely the case with these. I'm not sure if any of the aftermarket brands of the 80s/early 90s went into that kind of detail.

[OffYourFace]

Maroon would be great, most likely vintage then.

[blacktiger]

Wouldn’t a ‘68 have a meatball guard?

[Jonesie]

It's here! Again!

Just got it back from my tech, and my god, this thing is incredible. Got a new nut, fret leveling, new tuners, installed a mastery, moved the bridge pickup up a bit, and then a setup.

Here's some not great pictures, and then pictures of the pickups, which, based on the color of the wiring, are likely early 60s. Whatever they are, they sound INSANELY good.

[OffYourFace]

excellent! congrats