Double-ish Mustang Project(s) - Conclusion?

[Danley]

Am in a Mustang mindset; I once had a love-hate relationship but really gelling nowadays with my Daphne blue bundle of mostly '66 parts ('66 body, neck and vibrato, vintage bridge, new pickups/wiring.) So with this new familiarity I was semi bothered by cracks developing in the back of the (fifteen year old refin) body:





It's my thread, so it can be story time: An alleged 'friend' (in retrospect - a drunk semi-charlatan preying upon young boys) refinished this body for me, and told me he spread/syringed these cracks (sorry for the innuendo.) Obviously the warrantee on that work is now void (got that impression when he cheated me out of a different guitar and screwed over a different one of my projects.) I wouldn't be nearly so bitter now fifteen years later, if it hadn't become evident he had no clue how to handle the above cracks, that started about ten years ago. At least the rest of the guitar looks/sounds pretty awesome; his other original refin errors/sand-throughs now just seem like 'relicing.'



I'm one nitro refinish in (my G&L,) so obviously newly equipped to judge. Figure I'm up for making an attempt at least at refinishing the back of this one - but I wanted a spare body to use in the meantime - Like a Squier, or a butchered MIJ, or...



Con Tiki's refinished '66 body, respray over original Dakota paint. Debating if I should just wet-sand the refin (needed,) or try to sand down to the factory finish.

Anyway at about this point I realized I had a shoebox full of 99% of what I'd need to make a new Mustang: '64 vibrato, MIJ bridge, Duncan pickups, vintage pick guard...

Wound up low-balling/getting this:



So to be continued - I'll have two Mustangs: A 'best' and a 'the rest.' Really just need tuners, switches, and a switch plate to make it happen. Also curious how feasible those cracks on my daphne body are to repair, or at least ensure they won't spread.

[Danley]

All needed parts ordered. To add a bit of interest, here are some things to argue about:

Pickup Choices

-Duncan Jaguar Hot set
-Duncan Jaguar Vintage set
-Rose Mariposas (mid & bridge - vintage singles)
-Rose Buff Beauties (installed at present - hotter singles)





Pickguard Choice

-Cheap MIC 'aged' pearl (on guitar above)
-Parchment with rough-edges/handmade by drunken ex-friend
-Vintage '70s pickguard pulled off a guitar that was passed around at a prison for about thirty years (I am seriously leery about touching this pickguard and a corner is understandably missing - the pearloid all but eliminated. And yet, it is intriguing to think this thing is still covered in the grease and dirt of rough men who may have almost been as disgusting as me. The rest of the guitar was Comp. Orange with the stripe - and looked fabulous.)





So I'm thinking:

Red Mustang - 'The Good One'
-'66 Dakota body - just buffed first, we'll see about sanding down to the original finish later
-'66 Mustang Neck
-Vintage prison pickguard - MAYBE, if I can stand the thought of touching it on a regular basis
-Rose Buff Beauties (hot singles)
-'64 Vibrato (better chrome - but I don't know if it will stay in tune as well as my '66 , so we'll see)
-Vintage Bridge

Blue Mus-Co - 'The Other One'
-'66 Daphne body with cracks - after some attempt at repair
-Bronco neck
-Chinese pickguard
-Duncan Jaguar Hots (I seem to prefer higher output in Mustangs so...)
-'66 Vibrato (worse chrome)
-MIJ Bridge (after stiffening the intonation screws)

[Danley]

So updates (and a set-back!) Got a bunch of boxes today, but waiting on the body (tomorrow ~ETA.) Got sweaty over a soldering iron in my work room with no AC; or maybe the sweat was just from me watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch in the background. Either way I told my wife I was 'working.'

I put on my hazmat suit before I worked on this, figuring at least part of the DNA sludge on this is technically 'evidence.' In an apparent show of kin-ship with me, the spirits of guitar-slinging, chain-gang murderers who died listening to Kurt Cobain allowed me to insert my pickups in their pickguard; plastic still on the covers for max. irony:



In either case it has a face; actually, the home-made mint parchment pickguard from 2006 is now shrunk too much to use, and yet the miraculous prison guard is fine. In all honesty, I may still wind up filing the slots on the parchment down and using it ultimately.



Look at the world's cheapest cap while it screams: "IGNORE ME!!!" I mentioned in another thread, the best sort of wiring is 'temporary' wiring; on a test run this all works, happily. Also, to whoever buys my Jaguar pickups twenty years from now and realizes they still have all the leads - you are welcome. But for now, you can see I truly made this of leftovers, that I plan on replacing little by little.



So the rosewood is beautiful and chocolatey; I know people are supposed to have thought Fender Japan beat these necks, but side-by-side with my MIJ Jaguar neck (which is an apt comparo given same side-dots, finish comp., veneer board, construction, scale etc.) Fullerton nailed it. Smoother rosewood, better side-dot installation; the only real 'negative' is a sharper area with less gradual transition on the heel.

Shape-wise, this is basically a soft-V which is sort of disappointing; I really like the flat-ish, thin shape of my '66 neck. The nice thing is (a lot like my VM Jazz bass) the shape does get flatter (a small bit) as you go up the neck. This suits my playing a bit better, where I'm more likely to thumb-over the low frets, and keep my thumb more toward the middle of the neck on the high frets.



The big disappointment (my fault, I skimped on the research) is the replacement F-tuners I bought won't fit; too wide, and I don't want to bastardize this neck even if it isn't the holy grail. Will have to keep an eye out for a vintage set, and get rid of these.

Anyone know if these are a retrofit to vintage?
http://www.kluson.com/revolution.html

Also: might need to work on that D nut slot w/ superglue...

[solfege]

Went through this with F-tuners. I ended up buying vintage ones, but word is (and I'll have to go look for the thread on this) that it is possible to buy collarless reissues. But it's not easy.

ETA: I think the answer is to get the Kluson Revolution No-Collar, but I think to actually get the ones with no collars at all, you need to buy through WD music and probably talk to someone there to ensure you're getting what you need. All my attempts to buy something that would work via Reverb, etc., were abject failures, but people said somewhere on a previous thread I can't find that they were able to get WD to sell them what they needed for a vintage fender neck without opening up the pegholes.

[Danley]

Went through this with F-tuners. I ended up buying vintage ones, but word is (and I'll have to go look for the thread on this) that it is possible to buy collarless reissues. But it's not easy.

ETA: I think the answer is to get the Kluson Revolution No-Collar, but I think to actually get the ones with no collars at all, you need to buy through WD music and probably talk to someone there to ensure you're getting what you need. All my attempts to buy something that would work via Reverb, etc., were abject failures, but people said somewhere on a previous thread I can't find that they were able to get WD to sell them what they needed for a vintage fender neck without opening up the pegholes.

Thanks! 'No-Collar' sounds promising. Right not in total honesty I may be impatient enough to take these tuners to the grinder till they fit The collar wouldn't need to be eliminated, just shaved (would still need to deal with ferrules.) Unless someone is able to talk me out of it...

[marqueemoon]

prison guard

Came here to say this, but I see you've already covered it.

[Con-Tiki!]

i went through tons of research on the klusons, and never found the same info twice.
I chickened out and bought vintage. Make sure to get a set that includes the bushings. Both the inside and outside diameter are different on the originals vs. the reissues.

all the vintage guards I've tried are like that.
but, if you pick up a set of original covers, they should drop in. The modern repros must be slightly thicker.
I had always assumed the old guards had shrunk.

yay mustangs!
i have two, couldn't help it.

[solfege]

Went through this with F-tuners. I ended up buying vintage ones, but word is (and I'll have to go look for the thread on this) that it is possible to buy collarless reissues. But it's not easy.

ETA: I think the answer is to get the Kluson Revolution No-Collar, but I think to actually get the ones with no collars at all, you need to buy through WD music and probably talk to someone there to ensure you're getting what you need. All my attempts to buy something that would work via Reverb, etc., were abject failures, but people said somewhere on a previous thread I can't find that they were able to get WD to sell them what they needed for a vintage fender neck without opening up the pegholes.

Thanks! 'No-Collar' sounds promising. Right not in total honesty I may be impatient enough to take these tuners to the grinder till they fit The collar wouldn't need to be eliminated, just shaved (would still need to deal with ferrules.) Unless someone is able to talk me out of it...

That might be your only option. Seems as if the Klusons are only available in gold from anywhere that I can find.

[El Reclusa]

Pretty sure I got collarless nickel ones from WD last year when I built my Jag with a Musicmaster neck. They were a little pricey considering what the collared ones cost but they worked.

The bushings for the face if the headstock are slightly too big for vintage holes though, so if you have the originals keep them. I ended up buying some that were slightly too small OD from Stew Mac and put a little bit of gaffer's tape on them to fit. Not super elegant but it works and I didn't alter a vintage neck...

[Danley]

Thanks for the advice; and thanks Con Tiki for including an Allparts pickguard as a bonus As I'd already wired the old one up I figured I'd use it first - may switch though. The body actually wet-sanded out really well - but I prob. won't try to grind down to the original finish any time soon.

Only crappy pics, till I'm 'final' on it, but update:

-Am at present filing the F-tuners down to fit the neck; it's a chore, but not impossible. ~30 min each, using a file and loop of tape lined with sandpaper to finish them off
-Need to get neck screws that fit (these are too long/will be through the fretboard)
-Everything else is done. I'm just going to use the Bronco neck on this one though, and not mess with the Daphne; so no 'double-project' post consideration

OR I could swap the neck/screws from the other Mustang and fucking finish it:

[Danley]

Non-pic update; for those of you waiting with bated breath for pics, they will be posted once two conditions are met: 1 - It is not nighttime and 2 -Daphne one gets finished Red one 100% complete, with the '66 neck; Bronco neck on the blue now, as it is a better color match (Daphne one has a lighter guard and the whitish poly neck goes better with the light blue,) but mostly because the Bronco neck had a gap when fit to the red- but not when mounted to the blue (could have re-drilled but figured better to have the nicer neck on the nicer body anyway.)

I (re-)made the decision to pile the best stuff all on the Dakota - thus it got the vintage bridge and some other little bits. The '66 neck for some reason sits lower in the neck pocket than it did on the Daphne body, so needed a shim which I never needed before (On that note - since the MIJ bridge I'm using on the Daphne one now likes a bit more string angle thanks to difference in post-height; the 'taller' Bronco neck will help facilitate that which justifies my switch once again.)

I don't consider myself a magician with Mustang vibratos - I just never give up on them I counted on needing to remove and tweak it, but it wasn't the worse one I've used straight-off; it put the low E out of tune abt. 15 cents. I googled my own setup guide from this forum, disassembled the vibrato and found the need to sharpen only one pivot with fine grit; I ran the point of my triangle file barely through each post, polished, added a bit of lithium grease, adjusted it to float for more up-bend - it now stays in tune within the range of the pedal and headstock tuner I had on-hand, which is pretty much good enough for me.

So after the shim and vibrato adjustment, it works/plays great (except the arm adjustment screw is frozen, so the arm falls out - grr. PB Blaster is in effect, will try again tomorrow.) Can't say I have a good idea of how the Jaguar pickups sound in it, just happy they work; need to turn them up when I get the chance. Back to the Daphne - I have three tuners on it, and one ferrule. I've engineered a bit of 'dumb' into the project, by not wanting to drill for the reproduction tuners on the Bronco neck; the is doable, but tedious, as filing the tuners/ferrules is a chore.

[Danley]

Fuck it, whatever; here are some pics.

Still have a couple ferrules to go on Daphne before I can string it up.

[valley_parade]

Idk about you but I love it with that trashed pickguard.

[Rgand]

That came out looking mighty fine. Nice job, there.

[Steadyriot.]

Awesome! I love these kind of projects!