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yeah! that was me! i just went looking for the old PM's but they are long gone.

fuzzking and i are in touch. we'll see. hopefully it's not shrunken too much - i don't think i want to re-drill holes. i don't think i mind the patch work. perhaps it will work out for both of us.

my 13-hole tort is in real nice shape. good and flat, holes line up well. i'm hesitant to give it up, but they are much more easily found than any 11-holers!

celebrate the 11-holers! yours and mine maybe the closest siblings i know of. Nels and i have the closest serial numbers i've encountered, the guitars feel quite similar, but his is 13-hole. i really wonder what the exact time period these were made, and how many. mine was refinished in the 60's (also black!) then back to sunburst (not sure when) so i don't see the body date either. thankfully my wiring and pickguard shield are intact, and there are some interesting markings in there from the factory that i need to document regarding the transition guards.

I'm basing my "1959 body" on what the guy who sold it to me said.

I guess it stands to reason that a body with hardware all dated from '59/'60 is likely to be from the same period. Whenever it got a guard change someone had to drill a couple of new holes (for the 13 holer) but the guy who refinned it discovered unused holes under the paintwork he stripped, pretty much proving it had an 11 or 9 hole guard on it at some point. If I remember correctly they didn't just add 2 new holes to the design, they actually shifted at least one of them across a little at the bottom area, under the bridge pickup (I think).

PorkyPrimeCut wrote: (...) If I remember correctly they didn't just add 2 new holes to the design, they actually shifted at least one of them across a little at the bottom area, under the bridge pickup (I think).

Yup, there's some holes that don't align - I think somewhere below the bridge and between rhythm circuit and bridge... but I have a memory like a house fly. I once traced out the differences between the three versions in CAD, but of course I lost the files.

well if it has the original style control rout, that would prove it as a '59 for sure. they changed the route to have some wood for the two added holes to keep the guard flatter.

an 11-holer should have the straight, non-wavy shape to the rout - see Jim Shine's Jazzmaster pages for his illustration.

if somehow you actually have the curved wavy rout, i demand that you trade guards with me, so we will both be restored correctly!!

Mine has the curvy route but everything else has date codes for '59, as far as I can remember.

I'm not sure if 11-holers did always have the straight route. I think that mainly applied to 9-holers.

I guess there were several gradual changes during the transitional years.

Awesome story! My '60 also has the serial number stamped at the bottom of the plate.

So enjoying digging up these old Jazzmaster restores.

I’m familiar with Denmark Street, used to state in those windows too. However the mark up on guitars seemed crazy so never brought anything!

Thats awesome

Loved reading through the history of how this jazzy came together. Honestly, you had me hooked at "My 59' Jazzmaster". So many of these things have probably gone to the heap based on player tastes at the time and folks DIY'ing these cool old instruments. Seeing yours come back to it's former glory was a treat.