It's Here! '58 Jazzmaster... YAY!

[fullerplast]

Thinking out loud:

I was just looking at Jim Shine's Jazzmaster page and VGI's "Inside a '58 Jazzmaster" article.  I noticed the guitar string from the cup is cut short like mine was. Then I realized why, the metal guard! Since the guard touches the cup (and short string) AND the pots... the circuit is grounded. So that was my bad. Still, though... the previous owner's mistake was even worse than mine. He had the short '58 style string... but a plastic guard. I suppose it would ground at the shield though, maybe that was the idea. That leaves me solely as the bonehead.

Live and learn. It's like me to look at the pics AFTER I do the work. At least my circuit will have the piss grounded out of it!

Most of the Jazzmasters I have owned were '62 and up, and have the cloth wire running through a hole from the control cavity and the tail. Now I'm wondering if there was a difference between the ground circuit from the '58 - '59 metal guards and the '59 - '61 plastic guard models. The latter does not have the wire to the tailpiece either, yet a plastic guard and aluminum shield.

I need to research this '58-style further...

[Vinkie]

Hi Fullerplast,

Thanks for showing us your progress with the '58! I wouldn't beat myself too much over the earthing issue as it will probably not make any discernable difference in playing feel and tone and you're the only one who will know what's going on under the plate. You can always rectify it if it still bothers you or do it if you decide to refinish.

Interesting thoughts about different solutions for the earth connections for the metal guard 58/59's. My thought is that one example to compare with might not tell the whole story. I wouldn't be surprised if in these early Fender years different earthing method were used at the same time, mayby by different workers. It could be interesting to try and find more examples.

[lalalandstudios]

Thinking out loud:

I was just looking at Jim Shine's Jazzmaster page and VGI's "Inside a '58 Jazzmaster" article.  I noticed the guitar string from the cup is cut short like mine was. Then I realized why, the metal guard! Since the guard touches the cup (and short string) AND the pots... the circuit is grounded. So that was my bad. Still, though... the previous owner's mistake was even worse than mine. He had the short '58 style string... but a plastic guard. I suppose it would ground at the shield though, maybe that was the idea. That leaves me solely as the bonehead.

Live and learn. It's like me to look at the pics AFTER I do the work. At least my circuit will have the piss grounded out of it!

Most of the Jazzmasters I have owned were '62 and up, and have the cloth wire running through a hole from the control cavity and the tail. Now I'm wondering if there was a difference between the ground circuit from the '58 - '59 metal guards and the '59 - '61 plastic guard models. The latter does not have the wire to the tailpiece either, yet a plastic guard and aluminum shield.

I need to research this '58-style further...

All the 59 to 62ish JMs I've seen have the short string (one or often two) style, with the idea that the ground goes to the aluminum sheild, until they changed to the wire heading to the tailpeice design. Here's a picture of an original OLY 61JM grounding with 2 wires, tort guard with aluminum sheild

[lalalandstudios]

Here's a 59-60 sunburst with the tort guard/aluminum sheild and two string grounds also, I've never seen any other scheme until 62-63 when the ground wire moved to the tailpeice

[fullerplast]

Thanks Frank!

I guess I just fabricated the idea that the wires go all the way to the lower shield. Nice to know it was the same until '62, regardless of pickguard.

I wouldn't beat myself too much over the earthing issue as it will probably not make any discernable difference

I agree, no need to be down about it. Is there's any difference, I would think it would be better.

Thanks Vinkie   :)

[dinosaur]

Greats pics and great reports.  You know your pics reminded me that I totally forgot that ground wire on my yellow 59.  As soon as I got it I noticed that neither thimble had a piece of string, but I totally forgot to put them in and haven't had the guard off since.  I haven't noticed any issues.  Thanks for the nice guide on how to do it.

And forgetting them in the first place is way worse than what you did. 

[glimmertwin]

Oh so YOU won that auction...funny - I saw that and thought of how cool it would look with a gold guard.  I would have bid on it if I had the money...instead my 61 is on"the bay" now   

....I might take that tort guard off your hands.  I'll PM you later. 

Congrats on the score - that's a beautiful guitar - truly outstanding!  You'll have to record some clips soon - all these clips of reissue pickups and no vintage pickup clips - we need to change that...

[mezcalhead]

Beauty of a guitar, Doug. I wouldn't sweat the minor imperfections.

Good idea, glimmertwin .. it would be nice to get together some clips of vintage pups, maybe comparing different eras.

[fullerplast]

Man am I tired, my back is killing me, and I stink. I've been at it non-stop all day. I'm almost finished, the wax is setting up and all I have left is a final buff. Here's what I've been doing since the last post:

I filed the guard until it fit, and it needed quite a bit trimmed away. Doing it by hand was effective and accurate, but tedious. I gave into temptation and got out the dremel. Of course, it wasn't long before it got away from me and I bumped the anodizing in a small spot under the lead pickup. I put the dremel away and continued on by hand. Once I finally go it to fit, I took it outside, flipped it over, and sprayed the sides of the pickup cutouts with gold lacquer, to hide the shiny silver aluminum left by the filing. After it dried, I cleaned off the excess paint with acetone.  Next I removed the anodizing from the jack area and where the guard would contact the ground strings from the cups.

I brought the guard inside and assembled the elctronics onto it. I tried my best to duplicate Gloria's masking tape, but her tape was much thinner and had that coarse squiggly zig-zag on the ends. I used the cutoff thingy from a roll of masking tape, and at least tried to make it look similar. Previously, the wiring was not secure to the guard and was flapping all over in there, I hate that.

I noticed the wires on the toggle were loose, so I removed them, trimmed them back a little, and reconnected them. The installed the guard. I got most of the screws in, the majority of the 13 holes are in the same location as the 9 holer. It left a few extra holes under the guard, and two holes in the guard with no screw because the holes are over the route, which is different on these early ones.

Then I went back outside with my stash of parts and spent a long time building a bridge. I used the original '58 plate, that greatly benifited from a thorough cleaning. I mixed and matched vintage saddles, screws, and springs until I came up with the best combo. I ended up with the correct 3 thread sizes on the saddles, and correct screw and spring lengths. It turned out really good!

After that I cleaned the tail and waxed it... and the area between the tail and pickguard in anticipation of stringing it up. Before I strung, though, I cleaned the board, oiled it, and polished and waxed the headstock. Then I strung it up.

Once strung, I flipped it over on some soft towels and decided to sand out the chips in the back of the neck. There were several in the oversprayed coat of clear, and it was pretty rough. I sanded them with 220, 320, 600, 800, 1500, and then 0000 steel wool... and then waxed it. It feels like glass. Then I buffed the body and back of the headstock, and applied a nice coat of wax.

That brings us up to the present:























Final pics will be coming soon, if the sun stays out for awhile.

[Soiouz]

Thanks for keeping us up to date like that!! What a fantastic guitar!!! 

[fullerplast]

I didn't go to work today so I could get some things done around the house. Now I'm worn out and haven't touched anything except this guitar! 

I forgot about the trem arm until the last two pics...   

[zhivago]

I'm so glad  I haven't been online for a while...it was great logging in and seeing all the pics of the progress...the geetar looks SWEET!!!!!

looking forward to the obligatory poolside pics.... 

[zhivago]

we posted at the same time!

FANTASTIC pics!

I'll go faint now....


!!!!

[zhivago]

this is one of the best Jazzmaster pictures I've ever seen!!!! 

[StevenO]

Ah, I've been wanting a guitar that looks exactly like that for a long time now.

Reminds me of this one:


Edit: I just noticed that the owner of the guitar I posted above, is a member here.