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Final Chapter - Part 5: “Production Model: the shape-shifter”
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….So, what do you do when the scene you’ve been presented doesn’t look right?
The answer is:
You stop. Take a deep breath, walk a few steps back, try to take a new look with fresh eyes and see what you get.
Timeline-wise, we are now at a point where Larry Brooks is nowhere to be found as he’s, by all accounts: dead.
This means we’ve got to find another way to get the answer(s) we’re looking for.
"What do we know for sure? What do we have that we know is bulletproof and not requiring further investigation?"
We need to go back to the origin: The Blue prototype with its geometry and development.
The JAG-STANG is just -
structurally-wise- a re-shaped Mustang;
Factor which implies that things like
scale length & bridge placements are ruled by Math and
are not questionable;
We also knew that Fender Custom Shop wasn’t equipped to produce the hardware and that Fender Japan sent two Mustang kits for the JAG-STANGs.
It’s also important to remind we had a letter by Scott Zimmerman stating he built the necks for the two prototypes alongside the 10 Custom Mustangs he was building for Kurt.
Therefore, instead of a Kurt’s USA-spec’d Competition Mustang neck, the prototypes would have been equipped with what essentially is a Japanese spec’d MG69 RI.
A bit of a contradiction in there but
“No big deal” you might say, right?;
Sure, how much would this be mudding the waters in the end?
I had no idea.
WE had no idea.
Cut to the chase, there are plenty of unique features I could mention and dive into but the bullet points out of Blue’s reconstruction I want you to get the focus on are:
- A lower horn shape that differs from Mustang’s;
- Contact points between pickguard and metal plates that are gapless;
- Unique quirk of the Prototype: it has ONLY 3 screws -instead of 5- in the upper side of the pickguard.
Once again, I’ve stopped… took a deep breath & looked again at the two prototypes only to submit to this very striking thought:
“how in the Hell is possible that Red is less refined than Blue even though is supposed to be the finalised version? The craftsmanship looks awful!”;
“Is this really Custom Shop Master Built level??!”
What I’m seeing on Red is:
- The pickguard is crudely cut and mounted at an angle with screws forced into position;
- The lower horn and the pickguard are not mating each other;
- Contact points between pickguard and metal plates have CROOKED gaps;
- The neck is mounted well south of the central line, so much so that the high e-string is dangerously close to the edge of the fretboard;
- 5 screws instead of 3 at the top of the pickguard.
Now, look at this picture below and pay attention:
There’s indication to a detail I haven’t put among the bullet points.
Take a closer & deeper look. Spotted?
Do you remember I mentioned my constant feeling of something being off?
A memorable quote comes to mind:
“just because you’re paranoid, don’t mean they’re not after you” (Nirvana – “Territorial Pissings”)
Well, if you spotted it, congratulations, you’ve got the detective eye.
For those who didn't, the answer is:
the mismatching angle of the pickups.
It was again after me;
I saw that angle somewhere else before.
I don’t have the slightest doubt that at this point you are 100% sure I’m totally crazy and, I confess you:
I can’t blame you.
I thought that myself in the first place.
All those countless hours on CAD dealing with the shape of Blue must have cause some short in my fuses.
Anyway, before giving up to the auto-diagnosis and get myself proper treatment, I wanted to descend deeper into the madness, it was too much fun to give up.
So, dear people… you are kind of warned about where the ship is now steering.
Do you?
‘Cause I certainly don’t. (yet.)
My wheels were spinning and plenty of discussion went on behind the scenes with my fellow AcrylicSuperman.
Nothing conclusive though, only suppositions on our parts and the feeling that in fact things
“weren’t right” for several increasing reasons.
As in any respectable thriller:
there’s a plot twist. Another of those aforementioned
Fortuities.
Larry is not dead; he’s actually alive & kicking.
AcrylicSuperman has gotten in contact with him and interviewed him.
We were astonished to learn that:
- Larry built both necks along with the two JS bodies (keep in mind Scott Zimmerman’s letter in which he states he built the necks);
- Larry never knew about the cardboard cut-outs until he asked him about;
- Templates of the Jaguar and Mustang weren’t available at Fender at that time, so Larry had to use the available template of a Jazzmaster and the template he made off his own Mustang.
(Even to this day, if you order a Custom Shop Mustang, it’s gonna be made after that very same template.)
- Kurt favourite neck was confirmed to be his Mustang’s. It was eventually Larry’s own Mustang’s neck the one that has been used to create the JAG-STANG’s as it was close enough;
- We’ve got confirmation that the actual colours were “Daphne Blue” and “Dakota Red”;
- Blue prototype’s pickguard was a custom design based on his USA Mustang;
- The longer lower horn was Kurt’s specific request. (so we’ve got explanation for the geometry I was getting during the reconstruction and confirmation of being a correct calculation);
- AcrylicSuperman reported he shown Larry one of the renders and asked him to go over it thoroughly as proof that we are doing what we claim to be doing. Larry got back to him and gave him his stamp of approval on it, saying that it looks right. (Hence: we were on the right tracks. Nothing short of PURE JOY for me getting the seal of approval from the Master himself. Thanks OCD for been useful for once).
There’s of course more to come as
that was only our new starting point.
Yes, plenty of our questions had finally found concrete answers, but a bag of new ones was coming to the surface as something still didn’t look right to me.
And it wasn’t just Red’s mismatching pickup angle.
More crossing evidence and other intersecting anomalies were putting Red and Production Model on the same path. Actually, right on a rail-crossing to be precise.
Familiar mismatching angles, production model changing in shape… Where do we go now?
Head or Tail?
Fine:
It’s full Production Model time.
It doesn’t match Red but
what is all that amount of anomalies?
Alright, fair enough, it was a comparison made against a 2nd gen MIJ 1996
(the later shape) and at that time we didn’t know its shape was a revision.
Visually speaking , the main differences with the earlier 1st gen of MIG 1995 are in the horns down inwards to the neck pocket.
Implies a less sturdy neck pocket in the 1st gen, which it could explain the shape modification to get “bigger walls” around the neck pocket. An overall structural improvement, if you will.
Still, it was never reported, we want to know what’s the deal with it.
Again, I wanted Math to speak its voice.
We learned the hard way how much pictures can be deceiving and I wanted to triple-check the data before making any bold statement.
This of course required to find a Production Model JAG-STANG of each generation to be digitally traced and furtherly analysed.
Whereas our very own
Patrick Cross kindly came to the rescue and pencil-traced the template he made off his 2nd gen MIJ 1996,
founding the owner of a 1st gen of MIJ 1995 was actually a rather difficult task.
It took me almost 4 months of research, but the OSG community has proven to be great & very friendly as I have in fact ended up having not 1 but 2 owners willing to trace their guitar and taking the measurements I needed to translate them into vectors I could study.
The incoming analysis is therefore based on these actual JAG-STANGS:
MIJ U020117 (1995) Fiesta Red – courtesy of
Patrick Cross
MIJ U027757 (1995) Sonic Blue (vectorised) – courtesy of
Michael aka
“jagstang”
MIJ U028202 (1995) Sonic Blue (vectorised) – courtesy of
Paul aka
“Acidhouse”
MIJ V024145 (1996) Fiesta Red (vectorised) – courtesy of
Patrick Cross
I promise you, these gentlemen have been nothing short of awesome and very helpful.
THANK YOU ALL, GUYS.