As per Billfromoregon’s request, here are some photos of my 1965 Fender Jaguar I recently refinished. It used to be 3-color sunburst, but I refinished it in Olympic White. I had foolishly routed some of the body so I had to fill it in a few places. It’s not the first time I ever modified a guitar. I also customized my 1962 Gibson SG Junior, and my 1980 Fender Stratocaster.

I refinished the Jag as close to “vintage-correct” as I possibly could. I used nitrocellulose lacquer and I searched for the sand and sealer, “Fullerplast” that Fender used during that era. I found it at one place, and as far as I know that is the only place it is available anywhere. Even though I knew it would be covered, I started out with a yellow, aniline dye. I did this because from the early-to-mid sixties Fender dipped most of their guitar bodies in this dye, no matter what color ended up on top.

By the way, I decided to leave off the clear nitro. No doubt I could have probably gotten a shinier finish with the clear. However, I thought it looked good enough, and I liked the color and did not want it to fade and yellow. The 1980 Strat that I mentioned above was brilliant white when I bought it, and it is now banana-pudding yellow. I really didn’t want the Jag to fade since I have a yellow guitar already! Leo Fender did not clear coat some of the white guitars back then. No one is certain why he chose to do some and not others, but it is assumed he wanted some to remain white. Nitrocellulose will fade, and it happens pretty quickly.

Anyway, on another post, Bill asked to see some pictures of my guitar, so I hope it is ok to put them here in the Workshop Forum. In a way, they are related to magic, because I can use a lot of what I learned from refinishing guitars on my magic props. I may have never had the courage to attempt my recent Butterfly Box magic project had I not gained experience from refinishing guitars. Oh, and this guitar does play and sound pretty magical. So, since I consider this a magic guitar, I guess in a way it does pertain to magic!

So, here are some pics. It was difficult to get decent shots indoors with my camera. They lighting and angles really made a huge difference. Getting the shine to show without bad reflections was hard to do. I took a few that turned out fairly well, and I hope you all enjoy them!

Regan

Pic #1:
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff127......erfr.jpg

Pic #2: (Close up body shot)
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff127......3676.jpg

Pic #3: (Close up body shot with bridge cover installed)
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff127......3690.jpg

Nice job! I think it came out great.

I also think the Strat that has faded to a yellow tint probably looks just as good too. It adds to the age of the guitar and gives it a more classic look. Too many people feel a need to make everything look brand new. I actually prefer them to age (in tone as well as visually) as they would naturally.

Mark.

Thanks Mark. I agree with you. I wouldn't change my Strat for nothing. It is full of battle scars andf it has lots of mojo! I love old, vintage guitars!

I wanted my Jag to be vintage-correct and I was all set to clear coat it. Then, through my research I found out about Fender leaving the clear off some of their guitars, especially the Olympic White ones. I was told by some that I may not be able to get it glossy enough without the clear nitro, but I decided to try it anyway. I figured I could do the final wetsanding/polishing and add the clear later on if it didn't suit me. I was satisfied with the shine, and I really liked the color. The Olympic White has a nice blue-like hue to it, and I did not want to lose that.

Had I not had the vintage Strat I might have still used clear on the Jag. But since Leo left some of them "uncleared", I figured I would leave it as is.

Regan

Sweet! Thanks for posting that. Makes me miss some of my old guitars I had stolen years ago. Have fun with it, I am sure it is an awesome sounding guitar. Thanks again -

Bill

Thank you Bill, and you are most welcome! Sorry to hear you had guitars stolen. Man, that would make me sick. My heart sinks just thinking about it.

Regan

I had a Jag in the late 70's it was all natural wood color with the turtle shell pick guard... I really loved it. I traded it in on a Les Paul KM model only 500 made beautiful Sunburst with double humbucker pickups. I still have my Fender Telecaster one of the good american made ones.. WOW seems like only yesterday I was into music.

Great looking Jag. That is one of the few Fenders I like, being a Gibson fan.
Very nice job. How does it sound?

Shomemagic, it's never too late to get back into the music!

Mark.

Thanks guys.

Mike, I love those old tort gaurds. They look so much better than the newer ones do. I agree with Mark about getting back into music. You still got a Tele, so what's stopping ya'? (Sounds like you should of kept that Les Paul)

nucinud, I am a Fender guy, so I am biased I guess, but I think it sounds really good. I used to not like it, but that was when I was playing metal. That's why it ended up being routed. I really sounds good though. It has a really sweet tone, which is very unique. Jaguars have a sound all their own to me. They can be twangy and thin or jazzy and bassy. It has a very wide tonal range which makes it a pretty versatile guitar. And although I prefer Fenders, I own an old '62 Gibson SG Junior (heavily modified), and I love Les Pauls. In fact, someday I'd like to own a Cherry Sunburst Les Paul Standard.

Regan

Regan,
it looks like you did a professional job on the guitar. Having said that - why did you do that? Was the three tone finish an aftermarket job, and you were correcting it to original?

I hope you didn't take an original factory sunburst and repaint it. If you did remove the factory finish, please lie and tell me otherwise......I love older Fenders. I recognize you did your homework on the materials and attention to detail, but I just like the rare birds to be left alone

I am the proud owner of a '71 Les Paul Cherry Sunburst Custom. It was worked on by John Lennon's Guitar Tech. The same guy who took John's LP Special and added a Charlie Christian P/U. Gibson did a limited run of this model recently and gave credit to Ron DeMarino. He also restored John's Rickenbacker, etc. I did not know at the time who he was. I just thought he was a regular guitar tech. Lucky me. The guitar smokes. I almost sold it, Ron talked me into having him set it up with jumbo frets and some slight adjustments.

Wow, that sounds like a good 'un! I'm glad you didn't sell it. I like Les Paul Customs too, but Standards are my favs. I used to gig with one so I guess I have some fond memories and a soft spot for them. It was Heritage Cherry Sunburst, and I fell in love with the color. I like the Cherry Sunburst Pauls far and away better than any other color.


Tedski,

I think I briefly explained in one of my posts above that my Jag guitar had been routed, so a refin was in order. The 3 color sunburst that I stripped was the original finish. Man, I loved it, and hated to strip it off. Believe me, I am sick over it now. I would give an awful lot to have that guitar back the way it was.

I played in a metal band, and I foolishly modified the Jag a long time ago. I stripped the body and it lay in pieces for years. I got into guitar refinishing so I finally redid it myself. I love the old, 3-color Fender 'bursts, and I would have redone it like that if I could have. Some of the routing was at the middle, yellow dye area, so filler would have shown through the translucent color. I even went so far as to try and match the alder wood grain with graining pens and everything, but in the end I had to use an opaque paint.

I chose the Olympic White because I wanted to keep it vintage-correct. In 1965 Olympic White was one of Fender's standard colors for Jags that came with or without a matching-color headstock. I wanted to leave the neck, headstock, and the headstock decals original. Plus, the tort guard looks better with the white than the other color choices I had. I couldn't have it back the way it was originally, but I wanted to make it like a Jaguar that could have come right out of the Fender factory back in 1965.

I sure wish I could go back and undo what I did to my poor Jag. I guess I could say that about a lot of things in my life. I am thankful that I finally have it back together though. I did the mods over 20 years ago, and the guitar had been lying in pieces since the late 80s. At least I still have it, and it is finally back together again.

Regan

I understand - there are no do overs!!! Hey, at least you kept the axe ....and I must say it does look pretty darn good (just stay away from my strat, LOL)

No do-overs.....but wouldn't it be nice if there were?

What kind of Strat do you have? I have a 1980....and yes it has some mods too.

Regan,

You have answered all the questions I had, so all I can say is; AWESOME JOB!!!!
:heavymetal:

Tom

Thanks Tom!

That little dude in your post above looks like he's playing a B.C. Rich Warlock. I have one of those too. It is a 1984, one-of-a-kind Custom Shop model. The serial number is very low, like u0023 I believe. I don't know how many guitars came out of the B.C.Rich Custom Shop back then, but not very many. That guitar is the only electric guitar I ever bought that I never modified in any way. It came right out of the box sounding and playing just like I wanted it too. Of course, it is a rocker, and not very versatile, but it is an awesome guitar.

Rock on little dude with the red guitar!

Regan