1966 Jazzmaster Restoration

[maximee]

Hey all, just a quick little sign of life. I wasn't eaten by sharks, the project is still happening, all is well.
Many thanks for your attention, all your comments are much appreciated

Thing is, the real world & life with a young kid plus the current COVID thing (and a gazillion other cool projects) have my attention, so there hasn't been much progress. The other week I was able to work on the electronics, and I did some pretty wild MacGyver style DIY pickup winding - you'll love it when you'll get to see it. I will share some more cool progress soon, but give me time - I'm on it.

Until then, I hope all of you are well in these weird times. Peace

[Norrin Radd]

Cool project! I’m glad you checked on so I can follow this restoration. Nice job especially on those pickup covers. The hours of sanding...

[Nord]

Curious to hear if there are any updates coming soon!

[maximee]

Still super busy, but it's on the list. The weather is getting better, so I'm getting ready to spray some lacquer soon. It will be happening!

[Nord]

Awesome, thanks for the update!

[ejendres]

Amazing work man. Can't wait to see it finished.

For the pickguard if the screws are enough to hold it together I would just leave it unglued.

[maximee]

Hey all, I finally found some time to share some progress. Thanks for sticking around!

I've been entangled in other cool projects, namely a few very cool Höfner restorations. I also snagged a pretty beat up collection of parts that once resembled a 1960 Supro Dual Tone that will be featured when I do the spray painting. While I was working on the Höfners I had to come up with a solution to the ever-broken Höfner pickups. Meet my super trashy pickup winder! I winged it with whatever parts I had around. Wouldn't use that rig commercially, but it works.



This also had me realizing that I never actually checked if the 1966 JM pickups actually worked.


Of course, they didn't. Neck and bridge both measured open circuit and on one I could already see the wire unwinding. Not good.




On the block:


To my amazement I was able to restore both pickups by only removing about 20-30 turns on the windings where I found the break in the coil. This is super cool, because that leaves me with original pickups with virtually unchanged tone, 30 windings on a few thousand can't be heard. They measure around 7.4k which is good.



For years I've had a broken 1964 Jaguar pickup that I was reluctant to have rewound. Usually it's either a normal rewind with new wire or a super expensive restoration. Since I was having so much luck and now also gathered some experience I had a go at the Jag pickup, too. Here, you can see the break in the wire and some nasty green oxide.


No bueno:


Aaaaand....tadaa!




All in all, saving three vintage pickups in one afternoon, I considered that a happy day.
Next up: spraying some nitro!

[smjenkins]

Awesome update and awesome progress! So cool to see you save three golden era pickups.

[Nord]

Impressive pickup saves! Love the ingenuity, that winder is a winner!

[greens]

Great work!

Not to derail the thread, but I was wondering - had the break been many windings in, is it possible to rejoin the wire somehow (solder or something) and reuse it?

[maximee]

Not to derail the thread, but I was wondering - had the break been many windings in, is it possible to rejoin the wire somehow (solder or something) and reuse it?

While it is possible to carefully solder the wire together the problem is that you’d have to insulate the wiring again so it doesn’t short out to adjacent windings. I’ve done that when I rewound the Höfner pickup, but it wasn’t fun. That wire is much thinner than Fender wire and breaks easily. All in all, there’s nothing magic about old wire. In your case I’d rather rewind the pickup.

The thing with saving an original wind is that you have the pickup in its original state. When you cut off a damaged coil you don’t know the number of windings and resistance or winding pattern. When you rewind it to some guesstimate spec the pickup will sound different.
Worse? Better? Who knows. But this here is more about preservation and keeping it original. That’s why I did what I did. And because I love tinkering. Plus: it was the cheapest, too. Can’t beat that!

[greens]

Ah, i didn't realize the wires were insulated, thanks. (I have no broken pickup, just curious)

[HNB]

That is really cool that you were able to repair those. Mad skills there.

[maximee]

Ok, next things next. This is what's on today's menu: the JM along with a 1959/60 Supro Dual Tone and a vintage style Strat neck that I picked up along the way. I plan on doing the Supro and Strat neck first in order to fail better on the JM.


Taping off the cavities and what's left of the original sunburst + ES stamp.


Super-longscale conversion necks(TM) in place:


Decided to leave as much of the heel only very lightly sanded, because you could still see the original stamps and markings, didn't want to risk losing any of the original factory traces. The slightly tinted lacquer should in theory blend nicely.


After spraying the primer:


JM fully primed and ready for some Inca Silver action


First coat of Arctic White on the Supro and first mishap:

Looks like the primer doesn't react well to the wood filler I used. After drying I wetsanded these fish eyes with 600 grit and luckily all has been fine for subsequent coats. I'm happy none of this is happening on the JM.

First coat of silver. I'm liking where this is going!


After 4-5 coats of paint:


Here are the necks after about five coats, I really like the tint and it perfectly matches the old lacquer on the heel.
Also, I didn't sand the original yellowed lacquer over the binding - I love how nitro seamlessly melts into existing finish after around 60 years.


The finish came out pretty smooth and I hope I'll have no trouble sanding it back to a nice shiny finish when it's fully cured.


Today, I'll finish with some more color coats on the bodies. If the weather allows it I'll be done with the clear coating in about 2-3 days and then it's at least 4 weeks drying time.

That's plenty of time to do the refret and also fiddle with some cool new neck resetting technique for my Höfner Verithin (featuring electricy and DIY heater elements ).

I'll keep you posted!

[HNB]

Lovely!!