What's wrong with this pre-CBS JM? Need advice

[so1up]

I am considering buying this vintage jazzmaster and all I have are some photos.
The owner said that it is all original and it looks possible to me, but I'm wondering why it has that color (maybe smoke/nicotine exposure?).
Do you think that a luthier/tech could do some magic and restore it to the original color if it's not a refin?

About the serial, I don't have a photo yet but I was told it is "L51***" so it should be around '64 (am I right?).

What about the price? we haven't talked about that yet but what is, in your opinion, a reasonable price for this guitar?

JM

[BoringPostcards]

Definitely looks to be severely nicotine stained. It probably stinks too.
Personally, I would keep shopping. No easy task to clean up a guitar that’s lived in smoke for a generation.

[N0_Camping4U]

Am I the only one who thinks it looks cool as hell? As long as it didn’t stink or leave a stain on my arm… I’d rock the hell out of it. Especially if the price was right.

[gishuk]

I can smell that from here

[marqueemoon]

From here it looks correct for the time period. It should have a veneer fretboard.

I’d be worried about messing up the finish trying to clean it, but hopefully someone here with experience will chime in on that.

[Unicorn Warrior]

I love it.

But it’s probably got lung cancer.

[Pacafeliz]

oooh gosh that's NICE

[DeathJag]

It looks like it's been through actual Hell, and it looks cool as hell. The smell would cancel any relationship I'd ever have with it though.

[so1up]

Am I the only one who thinks it looks cool as hell? As long as it didn’t stink or leave a stain on my arm… I’d rock the hell out of it. Especially if the price was right.

What is a right price for a guitar in that condition?

[Embenny]

It looks like it's been through actual Hell, and it looks cool as hell. The smell would cancel any relationship I'd ever have with it though.

Yep. Literally impossible to get that kind of smell out of the guitar. I'd feel nauseated any time I played it. The one rule I've learned to live by with used guitars is to never buy anything from a smoker. Just not worth going through all that again.

Unless OP is a chainsmoker, in which case they're probably nose-blind to it and could play it with impunity.

[JSett]

It's value is dependent on if you're buying it as a player or as an investment

[so1up]

It's value is dependent on if you're buying it as a player or as an investment

I have always wanted a vintage JM so I'm buying it as a player but of course I'm also considering the possibility to sell it one day and make some profit out of it.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

That's what you call Tobacco Sunburst alright.

[Marc]

I had a CAR 65 Jag that had a kind of Matt ‘gunk’ over the finish - I tried removing it in a small test area but found the top coat came off with it. I think the nitro and gunk had become one… so my advice would be very careful about removing it if you get it. Looks cool and I’d say if it doesn’t stink leave it.

[jvin248]

I have always wanted a vintage JM so I'm buying it as a player but of course I'm also considering the possibility to sell it one day and make some profit out of it.

-Patina is the valuable part of old guitars -- it reveals their authentic age. You go and clean all that gunk off and you clean off all the 'investment' grade value along with it.

-Ahhh, good old investment greed, it will get you every time. Guitars are terrible investments. Unless you or a prior owner get famous, the guitar will only keep up with inflation like antique furniture. "Yeah, but..." Then you get to pay capital gains taxes on the inflation increase (if you are 'flipping' such guitars regularly). We are currently at 'peak guitar' so you'll spend big now and watch the value fall for a decade. You'll worry about damage so you'll take out insurance on it and essentially re-purchase your own guitar over time. You'll feel like you should take it out to play yet you can't enjoy that dive bar because someone might steal your investment guitar. You'll end up in a cave mumbling 'my precious! where is my precious? did I drop my precious, fall out of my pocketses it did? Oh where is my precious?'.

-Spend your time shopping for a top-end guitar tech who works on vintage guitars all the time. That's the secret to these old vintage guitars 'that play so well', if they survived it was because as they got more valuable their owners took them to better guitar techs who made them play even better than they left the factory. Take that guitar tech a modern (used) MIM JM, with upgrades you want, to do their magic on it -- they will make it custom shop playable. Then put your investment money in a medium that actually works as a reliable investment.

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