Help with a 1965 Mustang.

[broomhandle]

Hello,

I have a few restoration questions about my 1965 Mustang. I purchased this in 2000. I am the 3rd owner. It really has not had much use. It is all original, case etc. Somebody over the years swapped pots and cap.

Q1.) The original jack has been having a problem for awhile now, It is time to replace. I was thinking while I was there, to redo the wire (the yellow wire is incorrect) not even sure how its getting sound. The output is low. And the pots are small Alphas, maybe 1990's. I was thinking about the Mojo Vintage taper pots. Any luck with those? Also, is this groundwire on the body original?




Q2.) The Pickups. Are these original? And yes, the switchs are a bit corroded. I was thinking of swapping those as well. I clean these almost every string change, they keep corroding.




Q3.) The neck has a crack, I think it is because somebody down the road made a new hole. I do not think the bolt is going in that hole. Any thoughts of a repair? I was thinking a "Super Glue", or Titebond. Thoughts?




Q4.) Over the past 5 years, These cracks in the finish have been appearing. I have no idea why. Any thoughts? Will they continue to crack?



Sorry for all the questions. And I hope the links work for photos. I Don't see any way to post photos? I just want to preserve my 65 for as long as possible. Thanks.

[MattK]

The pickups aren't original - they would have grey bobbins with pencil handwritten dates in 1965.
Superglue is probably the best option for the crack, since Titebond would not penetrate the crack as far. If you want to put a dowel in the extra hole, Titebond II would be good for that.
The jack is probably fine, you can just give it a light cleanup on the contacts with fine sandpaper (roll it into a tube and insert it like a cable plug, then twist it). You may need to bend the jack contacts to make firmer connection, but there's really nothing that can fail.
As for the wiring, it looks like the yellow wire is OK, it is taking the signal from the pickups to the wiper of the tone pot. Depending how much resistance there is on the pot, it will bleed signal to ground through the capacitor, i.e. take away treble. Does the tone control work in reverse (muddy on "10", clear on "1")? If not it's probably wired fine. The jack is wired to the wiper of the volume pot which is fine.
As for the finish cracks ... hard to say but maybe the tailpiece is screwed down too hard. The paint might be oversprayed too ... pictures of the neck pocket, or under the pickguard, would help!

[broomhandle]

OMG. I have owned this guitar for 23 years. I always thought it was originally fiesta red. I see Daph blue under the paint by the neck. (its funny, I originally wanted a daphne blue).



And, I always thought it was the original pickups. Here is under the guard.



And you can see on the back, the plate is a 1972. I thought the cracks were from the bridge too tight as well. I took it to a guitar tech about 6 years ago, for a new bone nut. He put a plastic in and I think tightened it too tight.



I can fix the neck with wood/super glue. (the liquid stiff), and dowel/glue.

I am still blown away I never realized the red is not original. And I always thought it might be a 72 body. But I see daphne blue. And its funny because I have a 75 Musicmaster that was repainted daphne blue over the olympic white...

thank you. Any way to confirm the body is a 65? or no way because of the re-paint... Or the daphne blue? Only in 65 and not 72?

[GreenKnee]

I'm no expert on 'stangs but I believe a '65 body would be slab style i.e no tummy cut and contouring whereas a 70's 'stang would have those

[Gav Haus]

I'm no expert on 'stangs but I believe a '65 body would be slab style i.e no tummy cut and contouring whereas a 70's 'stang would have those

Yep, thats correct

[timtam]

Epoxy would work well for the extra neck hole. Saves doweling (which would be best if you needed to drill a whole new hole).

[MattK]

You might be able to sand the red off super carefully if the blue is still there. But it would be a challenge!

[broomhandle]

I thought about sanding to the blue. I think that seams hard though. A friend of mine has the same issue with a '73 strat that has black over a sunburst.

'72 has a tummy cutaway? This does not.

and does anybody know a vintage mustang slider switch. Is it on-on-on, or on-off-on?

I am still shocked, all this time.. I actually just played it and didn't think about it. I opened it up for a check because the switched we not working.. and lead to this. haha

[OffYourFace]

I believe those pickups are older Seymour Duncan SSL-2 models.

[broomhandle]

I believe those pickups are older Seymour Duncan SSL-2 models.

Cool, what year do you think? I think I have another one of therewith the same marking. Its funny tearing it apart the stuff you find. I also just noticed the bridge was on backwards. I think the previous tech did that. He screwed up this one and my 1980 Fender Lead II, then took off. Hard to find a good tech to trust.

Does anybody know what 3 way switches are used in early mustangs? on/on/on? or on/off/on. I see both types.

[MattK]

AFAIK all "standard" Mustangs should have on-off-on switching - the two "on" positions are opposite phase so you can combine pickups in-phase or out-of-phase. Kind of a weird choice in hindsight.

[broomhandle]

AFAIK all "standard" Mustangs should have on-off-on switching - the two "on" positions are opposite phase so you can combine pickups in-phase or out-of-phase. Kind of a weird choice in hindsight.

Thank you, thought so because middle is off. One last question for you. the neck pocket. There is the neck pocket.. That wood shim is glued. Would it be better to take that off, clean the pocket and use a shim if needed. Could that current shim also be messing with the jacked up 5 hole.

[MattK]

Not that I know so much, but the shim doesn't need to be glued. It wouldn't mess with the screw holes, it's likely that someone put the screw in "off angle" and just decided to go for it. Or maybe the neck was switched from another guitar and the holes were aligned differently.
If the bridge is a good height and the action is good, leave the shim alone. If you want to adjust it you can chip it out and use the end cut off a credit card, they are the perfect width and you can stack them if needed.

[OffYourFace]

I believe those pickups are older Seymour Duncan SSL-2 models.

Cool, what year do you think?

no idea but probably mid to late 80s

[Axolotl]

Cool guitar with lots of history!. To add my 2 cents, I don't think the daphne is original either, as I believe they phased out that color for mustangs around 1969. I don't think i've ever seen an original daphne mustang with contours.