Then I made a trade with Matt22 that would give him my '63 Fender Showman for a couple of his guitars that I intended to sell off. It was a win/win deal as Matt appreciates vintage Fender amps as much as I do and I wouldn't have to try to ship off this beast (the head alone is heavy and big) and the cab is huuge.
So what did Matt trade me for the Showman? Keeping in mind Showman's don't go for a huge amount these days due to their size and power for most venues and the added convenience for me not to have to ship out the head and cab, Matt traded me a Buddy Holly homage Strat partsbuild with quality components - a US '57 Fender Strat neck, a Custom Shop Designed MIM Strat body, and Custom Shop '69 Strat pickups. The other guitar is a Fender Vintera '60s Jaguar in sunburst with Fender Pure VIntage '65 pickups (I think they're great pickups), and Pau Ferro fretboard.
I knew I'd be selling off the Strat as I have 3 excellent Strats already. I figured the Vintera '60s Jag was as good as gone since I'm not a big fan of Pau Ferro fretboards and I wanted to stick having just the one Jag I already have. In the past, I didn't care for the Pau Ferro fretboard in my now long-gone Vintera '60s Jazzmaster. It was too red.
However, over time, I've become more accepting of Pau Ferro - my recent used Fender Player Plus HSS Strat acquisition has a Pau Ferro fretboard that looks perfectly fine - I took off the stock loaded pickguard and put on one with Kinman Perfect Vintage SSS pickups.
The Vintera '60s Jaguar's Pau Ferro fretboard works really well with the sunburst finish.
Then there was the Vintera '60s Jag neck. Oh...My...Gawd...Son...of...a..Biznitch... it's a perfect neck shape for me. Better than the Marrguar's neck. Maybe even slightly better than my old '63 Jag's neck.
So I plugged the VIntera '60s Jag into an amp. Absolutely glorious tones. I've been on an obsessive mission to swap out most of my guitar's pickups for noiseless pickups (Kinnman, Fralin, Novak, and Brandonwound). I won't be doing that to this as the PV '65 pickups are that good. I've got these huge power strips (Furman PST-8 8 Outlet Power Station) in the home office that effectively quiets 60 Cycle Hum to a very low audible level.
So I thought I'd be selling off the Vintera '60s Jag, too. For now, I'll enjoy it for a while or maybe longer. I swapped out the stock bridge for a Mustang bridge and the stock tort pickguard for a parchment-ish pickguard.
Both of my Jags have 7.25" radius necks and it's got me considering the idea of having a 3rd Jag with 9.5" radius neck. Clearly, I'm bonkers.
I'll try to hold firm for now.
A couple of days ago, I took the partsbuild Strat I got from Matt, my Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb, my Fender Blues Junior IV FSR Limited Edition "Western" (15-Watt 1x12" Eminence Cannabis Rex, Western Tolex), my Harmony Jupiter, and my Fender Player Plus Nashville Tele off to Atomic Music for a big sell off. They had some really nice gear ('69 Comp Mustang with matching headstock, '69 b&b Jag, and a blonde '63 Bandmaster head & cab set but I had to resist the temptations. Instead, they cut me a check. The money needs to go for a worthy cause.
Our 7-year old Redbone Coonhound, Hamish, was recently diagnosed with kidney disease. One of his kidneys is the size of a cat's kidney. The other, normal-sized one has a cyst on it. The funds I received from this sell-off are going to his ongoing treatment to try to slow the progression of the disease as long as we can.
