Mustang Project - From Parts to Player?

[erikzen]

I picked up this collection of Mustang parts that was assembled into a guitar and I'd like to turn it into something a bit more elegant. Given what I've found with this guitar I can't be sure of any of the parts. I might need help identifying some of them. Here she is!

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Basically what we have here is a 1976 neck on a MDF body. The bridge appears to be an early version as it says "Patent Pending". Pickups appear to be from 1966 from the date but I don't know how accurate that is. Tuners are actually decent Schaller tuners used on the Tele Deluxe in the 70s. Not sure about the rest of the electrical wiring. Pickups look to have been rewired.







Vintage neckplate but not a vintage body




Mystery material



Bridge pick up appear to be dated 8-9-66 4 What does the 4 mean?


Neck pick up dated 8-5-66 SC What does SC stand for?


Switches are black. Switch color is dependent on body color I think. Blue and red came with black switches and white came with white switches. Pick up covers should match the switches. Some wiring looks like original cloth. There's an obvious "repair" as noted by the electrical tape. There is some newer wire as well.

My first instinct with this guitar is seek out a new body, but what year should I look for? Should I match the 1976 neck or the 1966 bridge and pickups? Should I try to sell the tuners or just use them on this guitar? They're probably better quality than the correct tuners.

What would you do?

[Dinosauria]

Why do you think it's an MDF body? It's an early bridge too. Maybe it's just a 66 with a later replacement neck?

[MrFingers]

Could be a mahogany body. Mustangs from '65-'66 sometimes had a body made from that wood: http://fendermustangstory.com/gphotos/mahomust.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[erikzen]

Why do you think it's an MDF body? It's an early bridge too. Maybe it's just a 66 with a later replacement neck?

That's what I originally thought but look at the body cavity in the first pick up photo. You can't see much but that doesn't look like solid wood to me. I will be verifying when I get some time to work or on it, but I'm pretty sure it's not solid wood. They call it a service man's special. Sold to soldiers overseas.

[Jazztastic]

Why do you think it's an MDF body? It's an early bridge too. Maybe it's just a 66 with a later replacement neck?

That's what I originally thought but look at the body cavity in the first pick up photo. You can't see much but that doesn't look like solid wood to me. I will be verifying when I get some time to work or on it, but I'm pretty sure it's not solid wood. They call it a service man's special. Sold to soldiers overseas.

I had no idea they made serviceman Mustangs. But yeah it does look very MDF, so there's a good chance it is.

[erikzen]

Why do you think it's an MDF body? It's an early bridge too. Maybe it's just a 66 with a later replacement neck?

That's what I originally thought but look at the body cavity in the first pick up photo. You can't see much but that doesn't look like solid wood to me. I will be verifying when I get some time to work or on it, but I'm pretty sure it's not solid wood. They call it a service man's special. Sold to soldiers overseas.

I had no idea they made serviceman Mustangs. But yeah it does look very MDF, so there's a good chance it is.

Well, I don't know that they actually did but that's what it looks like.

[erikzen]

I'm not sure what I've got here.

The neck looks legit



This is kind of interesting. There is a white adhesive label on the back of the neck.



When I removed the label I found this small hole underneath.


But here's the interesting bit. This is the area I thought was MDF.


But now I just think it's wood that's broken off roughly from some very crude routing work in the cavity. This all looks like wood to me.

[erikzen]

As I dig deeper into this project I have a few questions:

1. Where can I source the proper saddle screw springs? I bought a replacement set of screws and springs from Allparts. However, the springs don't have nearly as much coil as the originals. It gives the bridge much less ability to adjust. Is there an exact replacement part from Fender? The other alternative is to keep searching for vintage parts. In that case it may be easier to find a bridge with the screws and springs in place. Where do people source parts from, besides eBay?

2. Any way to tell when the red tortoise pickguard was made? I'm thinking of replacing the pickguard, depending on what color I decide to go with on the body. The original pickguard was probably white for this body, judging by the black switches, pickup covers and traces of blue paint in the body cavity. Would be nice if I could sell the red one to fund a vintage white one.

3. Further to point 2, considering the original body color was probably blue, but is white now. Assuming I stay with the current finish, what do you think of a vintage white pick guard. I believe that would be period and model correct.

4. Finish/refinish - Although I see some blue in the body cavity, is there any way to tell if this was actually refinished or not? If it was refinished it appears to be a pretty good job, but also done long ago. I am considering refinishing again in what I think was the original blue. However, I more strongly lean toward leaving it as is. I might want to somehow sand the lower body so that it doesn't looked like it was filled with Bondo. If I keep it white, what do you think of the white pearloid pickguard on a white body? Not necessarily the correct color scheme but it may be the correct pickguard for the guitar. Any chance the original blue faded to white? White seems to fade to yellow so why not?!

5. Tuners - The 1976 neck came with 1970s Fender Telecaster Deluxe tuners. Thinking I'll replace with period correct Mustang tuners. Any advantage to keeping the Tele Deluxe tuners? Maybe they're better quality but I think I would prefer the correct ones. Again, if the existing tuners are worth anything, then they could fund the replacement/correct tuners.

[murraymc62]

Welcome to vintage mustang restoration/modification and ownership, I am sure you will have fun. When I did my first one, the more I got into it, the more I got the 'authentic' bug. So my comments reflect my preference for that, but of course it is your guitar, so it is totally your choice. Here is my 2 cents worth anyway.

If the original color was blue, then it would be the same as Daphne blue (or so the experts say). An excellent choice of color for a vintage mustang (but I am biased because I used it on mine). I like your theory about blue fading to white, but sorry to say, very much doubt it. With the clear coat finish turning yellow over time, the blue can go to more of a green looking color though. If you want to go 'original' 1960s, then your choices are:
Daphne blue with white pearloid pickguard and black pickup covers and switches;
Dakota red with white pearloid pickguard and black pickup covers and switches;
Olympic white with the red tort pickguard with white covers and switches.

The pickups and trem/bridge look authentic and correct for a '66 (notwithstanding having some additional new wiring). The neck plate number is also correct for that period. There are reproduction trem units made with the same markings, but one difference is that the repro units have two spring locating ridges (on the underside of unit) to allow for tension adjustment of the springs while the originals only have one. I can't read the codes on the bottom of the pots, but it is worth checking those to see if they are also from 1966. Chances are, at some time the guitar had humbucker/s fitted (hence extra routing and wiring) and of course a color change. When older pick-ups were put back in (maybe both original, maybe only one, maybe neither) they used the original switches and covers (which would have been black if the original color was blue) but changed to a red tort guard to match the white color (and because the original one had been cut up to fit different pickups?).

In summary, looks like you have quite a few bits from a '66 Mustang. If it was mine, I would go with an original color. Olympic white would be good with the red guard (if the guard is an original 60s one, sorry can't help you there), and this combo is more rare than the others, so I would go with that. Replacing the switches and covers for white ones will probably be cheaper than a vintage white guard in reasonable condition. I wouldn't do a white vintage guard on white paint. The vintage guards also change color with age (white, cream, even yellowish) and will be hard to match to another white and so it might look a bit odd. But that is just my preference.

And yes, I would change back to original F tuners if you plan to keep the neck you have (but again, that is my 'original' bias coming through).

The most important thing of course, is to simply enjoy it whatever you decide to do.

[erikzen]

Welcome to vintage mustang restoration/modification and ownership, I am sure you will have fun. When I did my first one, the more I got into it, the more I got the 'authentic' bug. So my comments reflect my preference for that, but of course it is your guitar, so it is totally your choice. Here is my 2 cents worth anyway.

Thanks for your input. I'm very much in agreement that I want to make the guitar as authentic as possible. I just got vintage springs to replace the missing ones for the intonation screws. I paid $12 but that also included 6 saddles.

I am going to go on the assumption that the original color was blue and that the black pickup covers and switches are original to the body. I have no idea of this is true. This is clearly two different guitars put together, so all bets are off. That said, the plan right now is to change out the pick guard to an original white one, and eventually I'll have the guitar refinished in blue. I thought about the white on white color scheme and I'm prepared to live with that for a while. I don't have the skills to refinish the guitar myself, so I'll have to save up for that. I may attempt to start stripping the original finish on my own. Any caveats there? Any chance there may be an original finish underneath that could be salvaged? As for the tuners, I'm already searching out the correct 1970s F tuners. I definitely plan to change them out. Thoughts on a decent price for a set of 6?

Eventually, maybe I'll seek out a 70s body and a 60s neck and make two "authentic" guitars. But changing the pick guard, tuners, and finish is enough of a project for now.

[murraymc62]

Ignore what I said about the trem spring groves in my post above, I was going off a hazy memory that I think I got wrong. Others may be able to correct for me.

[Canoles56@ Gmail.com]

This was bought in 1966 by me so this is all original. I f Ed up and painted it eight in the 80’s. So IAM taking it back to original daphne blue.

[Canoles56@ Gmail.com]

I am guessing my pics didn’t show. Lol. I’ll try again

[Canoles56@ Gmail.com]

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0j532ODWs4UOmR