Japanese Gold: 90s Shoreline Jaguar, upgrades in progress.

[JSett]

I sold the '67 red Jag tonight, to a wonderful Venezuelan gentleman who immediately fell it love with it. I don't feel bad about it, I knew the red was too much of a sticking point for me, no matter how wonderfully aged it was. Oh well.

To soften the blow I spent the modest profits (while saving the rest for future gear purchases) on this little 1994 Shoreline MIJ



Should be here Monday. I didn't pay the Reverb price either... the classic technique of calling the seller directly netted a substantial discount.

I Have some AV65 pickups that can go in it and I'll probably strip, replace pots, rewire and shield it properly as soon as it arrives.

[graceless]

Now that's a good looking guitar.

[Surfysonic]

Congrats! I love Shoreline Gold - I have a Shoreline Gold AV '65 Strat with a matching headstock. It's interesting that the MIJ Shoreline Gold looks similar to Aztec Gold, which is also a cool color. I regret not getting the AV '65 JM Aztec Gold JM.

[JSett]

Congrats! I love Shoreline Gold - I have a Shoreline Gold AV '65 Strat with a matching headstock. It's interesting that the MIJ Shoreline Gold looks similar to Aztec Gold, which is also a cool color. I regret not getting the AV '65 JM Aztec Gold JM.

Yeah, in the pictures it looks very similar in shade to my old AV65 Aztec Gold JM. It might just be the lighting they've used as it looks a little more like Shoreline in this one shot...



My old AV...



Still a little too 'saturated' for shoreline though IMHO but it has that subtle greenish hue to it

[JamesSGBrown]

I've bought several things from Guitarzilla this year- great guys!

[JSett]

I've bought several things from Guitarzilla this year- great guys!

Yeah, I dealt with a guy called George who was super helpful and really friendly. Took the time to calliper the neck for me too so I knew it wouldn't be crazy skinny. Will definitely use again (providing the delivery etc goes according to plan)

[adamrobertt]

Gorgeous

[tequila_in_teacups]

That looks fantastic. I’d love to find one like that.

[bubba899]

Yeah that's a proper stunner! Congrats!

[JSett]

It came early. Seems as expected out of the box. It's got skinny strings and the switches etc feel a bit junky. Still, I'll get all that sorted next week and get it up to spec.

They'd photographed it very carefully to hide a lot of the finish blemishes and faded parts from stickers. Im not going to fuss over that though as most all my guitars are pretty beat.



You can see the original pre-faded colour here...




Definitely more like Shoreline underneath the yellowed clearcoat

[JSett]

Started the strip-down this morning because, well, Sunday. I was surprised to see actual brass shielding plates in all the cavities...



They're not particularly well-fitting so I'll put tape in as well. I just need to wait for a couple of bits to come in the mail and I can get to the wiring. Still need to source a USA vibrato unit.

[supersonicjazzmaster]

Good decision I guess.

It looks similar to my white 1984 Jaguar MIJ.
Do you have neck, neck pocket pics?
My MIJ also has got the brass shieldings inside! (maybe those with the brass inside are the best japanese Jags?)

I have to say that the original PU´s on my MIJ Jaguar are extremely good!
Maybe check them first if they fit with your sound imagination?

Is this gold original? It seems.

Here you can see, hear my 1984 Jaguar live.
Played through Showman Amp (of course) and Fender Reverb (of course):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UwykH7jSuU

...I play this Jag with 12-52 chromes.

have fun with your golden beauty!!

[JSett]

Good decision I guess.

It looks similar to my white 1984 Jaguar MIJ.
Do you have neck, neck pocket pics?
My MIJ also has got the brass shieldings inside! (maybe those with the brass inside are the best japanese Jags?)

I have to say that the original PU´s on my MIJ Jaguar are extremely good!
Maybe check them first if they fit with your sound imagination?

Is this gold original? It seems.

Here you can see, hear my 1984 Jaguar live.
Played through Showman Amp (of course) and Fender Reverb (of course):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UwykH7jSuU

...I play this Jag with 12-52 chromes.

have fun with your golden beauty!!

I haven't pulled the neck off yet, that'll be done next week when I put it all together again to set it up. Definitely the original paint.

I tested it first, obviously, and the pickups are exactly as I expected... Average sounding and extremely microphonic. As soon as you step on any gain or boost into overdrive it screams constantly, even at low volumes. Every MIJ Jaguar I've had before had been the same, and I always change the pickups.

[fuzzking]

ahh it's a same about mid-90s japanese ones... I don't know all the details of the transitionary area (pre-/post lawsuit area), but it seems like US headquarters forbid Japanese headquarters to make anything of decent quality somewhere around late 80s. but anyway, actual brass shielding! and I'm confident that with a little effort it can be a real nice guitar.

about 'seller's pics': once bought a shell pink jm only to find out it was all my fault. blurry pics, early 2000s. no mention of paint brush hair in the finish, and such and such. learned my lesson.

how's the neck feeling? frets can always be replaced, but how's the neck feeling? does it resonate with the body?

[JSett]

Ergh, just had an extremely frustrating hour trying to fault-find after wiring this up. Neck pickup worked perfectly but the bridge would only pass grounding noise. Tested all wiring (multiple times) and all continuity points with meter. After lots of of elimination tests I decided to just literally wire the pickup direct to jack.

Totally borked put the meter across the pickup and reads a dead short. Reflow solder. Still dead. Ffs.

A little pissed as they were brand new so shouldn't really be getting issues like this, but I guess it can happen. Now I gotta go through all the bullshit of returning them and waiting for a replacement. I'm also annoyed I didn't just test the pickup with the meter at the first sign of trouble - but I didn't even consider a brand new one to be shorted I guess.