Jaguar '64 restoration project
- jagjaguar
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Jaguar '64 restoration project
Hi all,
This is my first post here at OSG. I thought I should show the transformation of my Jaguar and a bit of the story around it.
I bought this Jaguar in the mid 90's in Stockholm, Sweden. I had just sold my Gibson LP Studio and managed to get hold of a vintage Jaguar for what must a been just around the same amount, 1100 dollars or so. I remember being rather happy getting it so cheap. Most vintage 60's jags where $2000 and over even in the 90s here.
The catch? The guy at the guitar store said that the neck was from a '64 jag and the body from a '66. It had some ugly Shallers tuners on, “witch hat”-knobs and a horrible refin done in the 70s.
I didn't care about the colour then and the guitar sounded smashing. A great player indeed.
Here is an old (blurry) picture of the tuners before I started to change anything a couple of years ago.
Here is a later one with a set of reliced no name-tuners on instead.
But ever since I bought it I’ve been curious about the history of this particular guitar. What was the original colour and was it really a 64/66 combo? During the years I’ve been thinking more and more about doing something about the colour. The stained purple tone has gone from something I could live with to something I need to change. And when even my wife said that it was ugly I finally had to do something about it.
So I decided to take it to a place called Ad Lib Guitars for a refinish and bit of a makeover.
The to do list:
1. Try to find some history about original colour/age etc.
2. Change the tuners
3. Change the volyme/tone-knobs
4. Get it a proper custom colour; Coral with a matching headstock (yeah yeah, I know about the Coral/shell pink story…). I like the colour though. It was that or a Surf green. Hard choice to do.
I asked them to have a look if they could find out some history about the guitar. I couple of days later I got great news. They had found out that the body most definitely is a ’64:
- Pots are from mars ’64.
- Pickups dated ‘64
- They managed scraping of some old white “paint” in the tremolo cavity and found the date stamp showing april 21 ’64 beneath it.
Odd enough, the “only” thing that pointed towards a ’66 body is the serial nr on the neck plate. Someone must have switched it or traded it for some reason.
So, I’m rather happy about that the Jag most certainly should be a ’64 and probably (you never know) have the same neck as when built. The neck date is Mars ’64.
As you may have noticed there’s a Mastery Bridge that I had installed this summer. Tried .011 strings at the same time which was great.
Here are some pics from the guy at Ad Lib from during the process. The first ones show a bit of the history and the date stamps.
It has been around 12 weeks since they got it and yesterday they told me that the painting was all done and it should dry until next week and then get some “ageing”.
I have spent some of the time at eBay buying some original parts from 1964 jags; Kluson Deluxe double line tuners, knobs, a (new) decal and a reliced minty pickguard. Hope to get back here with the final result in a couple of weeks or so. Take care.
This is my first post here at OSG. I thought I should show the transformation of my Jaguar and a bit of the story around it.
I bought this Jaguar in the mid 90's in Stockholm, Sweden. I had just sold my Gibson LP Studio and managed to get hold of a vintage Jaguar for what must a been just around the same amount, 1100 dollars or so. I remember being rather happy getting it so cheap. Most vintage 60's jags where $2000 and over even in the 90s here.
The catch? The guy at the guitar store said that the neck was from a '64 jag and the body from a '66. It had some ugly Shallers tuners on, “witch hat”-knobs and a horrible refin done in the 70s.
I didn't care about the colour then and the guitar sounded smashing. A great player indeed.
Here is an old (blurry) picture of the tuners before I started to change anything a couple of years ago.
Here is a later one with a set of reliced no name-tuners on instead.
But ever since I bought it I’ve been curious about the history of this particular guitar. What was the original colour and was it really a 64/66 combo? During the years I’ve been thinking more and more about doing something about the colour. The stained purple tone has gone from something I could live with to something I need to change. And when even my wife said that it was ugly I finally had to do something about it.
So I decided to take it to a place called Ad Lib Guitars for a refinish and bit of a makeover.
The to do list:
1. Try to find some history about original colour/age etc.
2. Change the tuners
3. Change the volyme/tone-knobs
4. Get it a proper custom colour; Coral with a matching headstock (yeah yeah, I know about the Coral/shell pink story…). I like the colour though. It was that or a Surf green. Hard choice to do.
I asked them to have a look if they could find out some history about the guitar. I couple of days later I got great news. They had found out that the body most definitely is a ’64:
- Pots are from mars ’64.
- Pickups dated ‘64
- They managed scraping of some old white “paint” in the tremolo cavity and found the date stamp showing april 21 ’64 beneath it.
Odd enough, the “only” thing that pointed towards a ’66 body is the serial nr on the neck plate. Someone must have switched it or traded it for some reason.
So, I’m rather happy about that the Jag most certainly should be a ’64 and probably (you never know) have the same neck as when built. The neck date is Mars ’64.
As you may have noticed there’s a Mastery Bridge that I had installed this summer. Tried .011 strings at the same time which was great.
Here are some pics from the guy at Ad Lib from during the process. The first ones show a bit of the history and the date stamps.
It has been around 12 weeks since they got it and yesterday they told me that the painting was all done and it should dry until next week and then get some “ageing”.
I have spent some of the time at eBay buying some original parts from 1964 jags; Kluson Deluxe double line tuners, knobs, a (new) decal and a reliced minty pickguard. Hope to get back here with the final result in a couple of weeks or so. Take care.
- mcjt
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- Location: Côte-St-Luc QC
Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
was that the original decal on the headstock???
- jagjaguar
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
On the first picture yes, most probably. Three years ago I sent it for a refretting and the guy in the store totally sabotaged the whole decal during the job. I was more than upset. I read about someone here on the forum with a similar disaster and felt almost as angry then.
That guy tried to glue it together from hundreds of pieces...
He then had to take it all off and put a new decal on. That is what you see on the rest of the pictures. You can see how it looks brighter and weird beneath it if you look closely. That's why I'm going for a matching headstock...
That guy tried to glue it together from hundreds of pieces...
He then had to take it all off and put a new decal on. That is what you see on the rest of the pictures. You can see how it looks brighter and weird beneath it if you look closely. That's why I'm going for a matching headstock...
- sikoniko
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
sweet! awesome to learn a little more about the guitar and clean it up. wiring in a jaguar is a pain...jagjaguar wrote:On the first picture yes, most probably. Three years ago I sent it for a refretting and the guy in the store totally sabotaged the whole decal during the job. I was more than upset. I read about someone here on the forum with a similar disaster and felt almost as angry then.
That guy tried to glue it together from hundreds of pieces...
He then had to take it all off and put a new decal on. That is what you see on the rest of the pictures. You can see how it looks brighter and weird beneath it if you look closely. That's why I'm going for a matching headstock...
- sam
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
I'm excited to see how this turns out, I for one am a big fan of jags, coral pink AND matching headstocks.
- antisymmetric
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
Nice project, looking forward to seeing the end result.
Watching the corners turn corners
- jagjaguar
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
At last it's back home. Haven't seen it since late August or so. It was a bit of a surprise when I saw the result for the first time. The colour wasn't what I had expected. A bit more of the pink instead of sun drenched old fiesta red style. More shell pink than Coral. I guess miscommunication is the answer to that. Anyway, I got a bit sad at first but after a couple of days I realised that it's perfect as it is.
They've done a hell of a fine job on the finish and relicing. Looks and feels fantastic! The sustain feels even better now than before as well.
Silkscreen logo and vintage Kluson deluxe double line tuners ('64):
The minty pickguard and vintage knobs ('64):
They've done a hell of a fine job on the finish and relicing. Looks and feels fantastic! The sustain feels even better now than before as well.
Silkscreen logo and vintage Kluson deluxe double line tuners ('64):
The minty pickguard and vintage knobs ('64):
Last edited by jagjaguar on Tue Dec 13, 2016 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Ursa Minor
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
WOW! That color is pure class. Very unique! And that mint guard is a prefect complement to set things off.
Cool to hear it's sounding better too! 63-64 are my favourite Jags. Would love to have a custom color refin myself someday.
Cool to hear it's sounding better too! 63-64 are my favourite Jags. Would love to have a custom color refin myself someday.
The artist formerly known as kosmonautmayhem.
- holty
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
Great finish, well done, nice project
- mcjt
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
that is nothing short of PERFECTION.
VERY, VERY awesome.
Enjoy.
VERY, VERY awesome.
Enjoy.
- otis
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
That Color is perfect! Better than actual fietsta, if you ask me...
- Zork
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
Hell yeah!
- jazzmasterlane
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
Looks great! Who makes the pickguard?
- jagjaguar
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
Someone here on the forum wrote about great reliced pickguards from some guy on eBay called "Fenderparts". Great stuff!jazzmasterlane wrote:Looks great! Who makes the pickguard?
And thanks for all your kind words about my Jag. :-)
- tonehungry
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Re: Jaguar '64 restoration project
love that colour on a jag!