'62 restoration gradually continues

[mezcalhead]

I don't think I needed to trim any shielding - it seems to have contracted quite a bit around the pickup holes though. The only damage to the guard was the screwhole between the pickups, there was some warping in the guard partly due to the pup covers not fitting right and they "solved" that problem by driving a screw through it to hold it down.

The Gibson pups were both neck pups (I have no idea why) which is why the bridge pup is upside down.

[rickenmetal]

kind of sucks you have that gap near the rhythm circuit though, I guess the pickguard shrunk.

[mezcalhead]

True .. you see that quite a lot though. It stands out a bit more on the white finish I guess.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Was the Jazzmaster decal straight on 62's then?

I'm not nitpicking, just thought they were all curved.

Looking good.

[mezcalhead]

Got a little more done over the last few days .. gradually the pickguard has been filed so that it fits comfortably (I love the menthol kind of smell they give off) and I've given it a quick polish after that with Meguiar's no. 2.

I also reinforced the grounding by putting a couple of strips of copper tape from the brass tubs up over the lip of the cavities onto the face of the guitar to make contact with the pickguard shield when it's on (there was an occasional hum which went away when you pressed on the pickguard, and that has cured it).

The next thing to do is sort out the screw holes - quite a few of the holes for the pickguard screws are stripped. It turns out that I have a couple of small bits of alder which were chiselled out of the body when the humbuckers were installed to make room for them, and then glued in place as little pillars to support the humbuckers - I broke them off before it went for refinishing and just happened to keep them. So it seems like a good idea to use them to plug up the stripped screwholes. What I'm thinking is that I should aim to only half fill the hole to avoid any splitting, and I'm also wondering if I should use superglue or whether the pressure in the screws will be enough. Any comments? Oh, and there are a couple of stripped screwholes for the tuners - I guess alder will be OK to plug holes in maple?

[rickenmetal]

If you don't mind filling screw holes then you could move the pickguard so it sits flush with the neck, but it might be too much of a pain with the bridge. I guess you could get those thimbles which don't stick out, but I'm not sure it will be perfect, the bridge holes in the pickguard might be weird.

[i love sharin foo]

kind of sucks you have that gap near the rhythm circuit though, I guess the pickguard shrunk.

I like seeing the cavity from the shrunken guards. It reminds you that these are what they are.. 40 year old guitars.

justin

[mezcalhead]

you could move the pickguard so it sits flush with the neck

I could, but I'd have to file the bridge post holes as you say .. I'd also have to file the pickup holes and then I'd be left with gaps at the neck side of the pickups.

Basically once these guards have started shrinking they're never perfect again and eventually over many years they become unuseable, but I like the tort enough that I think it's worth trying to make it work for as long as possible. And as ilsf said, the little imperfections are cool sometimes.

[rickenmetal]

Yeah, not worth it, it would devalue the pickguard too. Why/how did it start shrinking? It looked fine (not shrunk) when the HBs were on.

[Down Underground]

those old nitro guards are alive...once you remove them from the guitar they start to shrink...that's why it's a good practice to tack them to the wall or something when they're not attached to the guitar...

[mezcalhead]

Yeah, they have a steady chemical reaction of some kind and gradually shrink. It actually happens all the time but the guards tend to retain their shape while they're screwed to the guitar and just develop some tension, which relaxes and shrinks more once they're off. It's unavoidable, this guard has been screwed to the guitar or a piece of board ever since I've had it and it has still shrunk. There was already a gap at the neck pocket, it didn't show up so much because the wood under it was darker and there's a shadow in that photo.

Given enough time, a nitro guard will eventually dissolve to nothing, or so I'm told. It's a slow process though, I would say that this guard has contracted about 4 - 5mm in the last 46 years. I don't know what influences the rate of the reaction .. I would suspect that heat speeds it up so I guess they may last longer in a colder climate.

[Orang Goreng]

I don't know what influences the rate of the reaction .. I would suspect that heat speeds it up so I guess they may last longer in a colder climate.

Store the guitar in the fridge!   From wiki:

It was discovered decades later that nitrocellulose gradually decomposes, releasing nitric acid which further catalyzes the decomposition (usually into a still-flammable powder or goo). Low temperatures can delay these reactions indefinitely. It is estimated that the great majority of films produced during the early twentieth century were lost forever either through this accelerating, self-catalyzed disintegration or studio warehouse fires. Salvaging old films is a major problem for film archivists (see film preservation).

[Jay]

If the screw holes aren't torn through to the edge of the body cavities, I usually fill them with a few splinters I cut from a toothpick and ordinary hi-strength wood glue.  I've never had that fail me.

[jetset]

Nice guitar.  When I did my refin oly white JM, I filled the screw holes nearest the tips (by the jack and the tip of the rhythm circuit) and re-drilled them to match he slightly shrunk tort guard.  Just used toothpicks and wood glue.
-J

[InfiniteVines]

Kudos. I think I saw that one on ebay two and a half years ago.