A couple weeks back, I was in the Pacific Northwest, and I must've prowled every guitar store in search of something to take home. Just as I was running to pack up my hotel and go home, I passed a musical gear pawn shop in Capitol Hill, Seattle. I almost didn't go in. But I did and I found this on the racks.
I thought about taking it there and then and finding some way to fit it in my suitcase. Pressed for time and not really wanting to leave half my clothes in Seattle, I exchanged details with the gentleman in store - just in case - and put it tenderly back on the rack.
Then I arrived home and couldn't stop thinking about it.
I contacted the store; I posted here; I made the deal. They were great - they really went out of their way to get it to me. It arrived yesterday, roughly 36 hours after leaving Seattle. I was so excited that there are no photos of the box.
Of course I've had it apart. Tone pot dates to November '65.
No idea on the volume. Non-original. Seems a bit low at 250K?
Assuming the capacitor on the tone pot is a replacement. The SD mini-bucker is obviously not original - I think it's a Lil '59. Everything else in the body could be original to my uninitiated eyes, but I’ll be damned if they can read much of what's on the roller pots - and there's a suspicious bit of tubing there.
It has brass shielding plates in the cavaties. Wiring appears original, albeit with a re-solder or a new bit dropped in here and there. I don't care - I didn't fall in love with it because it was untouched but because it had been touched and touched a lot. And because the neck felt like home. And because it felt light for a Jag. And because I like my frets low and the frets had just been given the very last crown they'll ever be capable of receiving (at which point I'll get stupidly low steel frets put in). And because I put a humbucker of sorts in the bridge position in every guitar I get, which has kept me away from many vintage Fenders. I never wanted to be that person. Ah... With this guitar, I don't need to be.
At the moment, I'm assuming the body is late '65/early '66 unless anyone can tell me otherwise.
The pickguard has been cut, possibly to allow it to be taken off without touching the bridge, which rocks but is also somehow rock solid in. I certainly can't get it off. Looks like a Mustang bridge to me but no idea on the year. Despite the bridge rocking, the trem has been blocked. Another mod I do, so just as well as there's no trem arm to get lost in my drawer full of them.
One disappointment was no initials on the back of the pickguard. I don't even know if that's original either, but as it's of that chunk I've seen on vintage Fenders, I'll assume so for the time being. Doesn't really matter to me, but if it is, then a pawprint on the back would've been a lovely, sentimental touch. A shame about that.
Grounding lug in the trem route.
It has a non-original neck plate. No idea if it was grabbed off a random other guitar or if it has been stamped to match the original neck plate. I think it would be a '65 serial if it had an L prefix before it? It may be visible in this pic.
The neck dates to July '67. Daphne blue Musicmaster/Duo-Sonic II/Mustang going by the stamp.
Assuming there wasn’t any difference between the headstocks of those in '67 (or between them and Jags as it’s a bang-on match to my other Jags' headstocks). My partner wants it to be a Mustang neck so she can call it Frankenstang, which is admittedly a cooler, if less accurate, name. The neck has been on another non-original body - or someone has tried to put it on another body and likely messed up, going by the second set of screw-holes, two of them visible from the back with the neck bolted on. The neck pocket has matching paint, so I'm assuming it has been in there a long time. And also probably bad news for those who use matching paint patterns as proof that a neck is original to a body (sorry!)
The body has probably had a refin at some point. Maybe a deep purple, but I'm going assume it was done to match the headstock and parts of the black have simply faded. At least I assume it's had a refin. There's some red here and there in the cavaties. Maybe a gold undercoat?
The fretboard is lovely. I treated and oiled it before putting strings on, and it does feel very, very nice. But maybe I prefer the fretboards on my Japanese Fenders
It weighs 3.45KG (7.72lbs) and is way lighter than my modern Jags, except maybe the 60th anniversary one (which I've never weighed). Must be those extra set of screw holes in the neck and all that incredibly heavy paint that has worn and flaked away. Am I right in thinking that 7.7lbs is an insane weight for a Jag? I'm sure some Mustangs almost weight that. I was so aware of the weight of it when I picked it up that I asked the gentleman in the shop if he had scales (he didn't). That and I was jotting up how many clothes I'd need to throw away. I was working on the assumption that it had been given a swimming pool route - that's how light it felt.
I assume the neck pickup is original, but couldn't get any info from it as I didn't want to prise the claw off. I'm a bridge pickup person who is slowly beginning to appreciate neck pickups. Honestly, for 20 years I don't think I ever went there because I started on Strats and I hate Strat neck pickups. When I moved onto Jags - "The rhythm switch puts just the neck pickup on? Nah, not interested. What button down here switches the neck off on the other circuit?". Anyway, the neck pickup is so very sweet. It sounds gorgeous - warm, sonorous and complex. I don't think I've had a neck pickup this nice before, although admittedly I wouldn't know even if I had (had had?)
And yeah, down below the whole guitar is dirty AF. It's actually really very clean - they did a good job looking after it at the shop. But there are decades and decades of stuff if you dig underneath everything. Tone mojo, I think it's called. And isn't that like most people - scented on the surface and a hot mess underneath? At least the ones I've chopped up have been like that.
I gave it enough of a clean as I could underneath without being too aggressive. Here it is just before I put some strings on.
Now it looks like it sounds - filthy shimmery.
I had a good chat with the owner of the store too. He says he's had the guitar put aside for 20 or 30 years and reckons it came through Mike Lull's workshop. I had no idea who Mike Lull was, but if he really did do jobs on the guitars of those that the internet claims, super cool. The store owner has a few guitars that he may be bringing to market soon and I've had a sneak peak. Rickenbackers, Gretchs, Gibsons and Fenders; 60 and 70's mainly and some newer ones. Decent amount of basses too. Some Banjos. Quite a few acoustics - I think I dated one to the 40's from the picture, but it was late and I can't remember what it was (I focused in on the left-handed 70's Mustang in sunburst and my mind didn't retain much beyond that). Might put a thread up in the For Sale section if he'll let me share the pics, although there's nothing yet actually for sale. I got the impression that stuff he put aside probably has a story attached.
