Parts List:
- Fender '86 62 Reissue Jaguar Electric Guitar Neck Japan $167.50
- Reissue Japan Body $202.50
- Fender '62 Reissue Jaguar Guitar Shield Set Japan $30.49
- NEW Fender Chrome Jaguar Guitar Mute Plate & Foam $22.00
- Fender Jaguar Electric Guitar Switch
- Chrome Fender USA JAGUAR Guitar Tremolo & Trem Arm $69.00
- Fender '62 Reissue Jaguar Guitar Control Plate $34.01
- Fender Jaguar Knobs NEW
- Vintage RI Fender Jaguar TUNERS $17.16
- Vintage 66 RI Fender Jaguar Tortoise pickguard $33.75
- 2008 Fender Jaguar Chrome CONTROL PLATE $15.00
- 2 CTS 1 MEG AUDIO SOLID SHAFT POTS $9.38
- SPRAGUE .01mfd ORANGE DROP CAP $1.49
- SWITCHCRAFT USA 1/4 MONO JACK $2.49
- 16 NICKEL TUNER SCREWS 3/8'' $2.99
- (2) GENUINE FENDER VINTAGE STRING GUIDES $6.99
- GENUINE FENDER CHROME JAGUAR BRIDGE COVER $16.79
- (4) CHROME NECK SCREWS $5.38
- (6) CHROME TREMOLO MOUNT SCREWS $1.99
- Fender Kluson Deluxe Chrome Tuners 6 In Line $41.00
- Seymour Duncan Antiquity II's $100.00
- 2 pickup covers $10.00
- 2 pickup claws $10.00
- Bridge (Mustang)
- Bridge cover
- Bone Nut
Needs to be done:
- Prime
- Paint
- Clear
- Polish
- Assembly
I've always wanted a Fender Jaguar guitar because I love the look of them. Classic surf guitar with a offset body mixed with metal control plates. And since I've always wanted one, I figured I would make this a project.
Ultimately I would love to have a sunburst Jaguar, but my skills aren't quite there yet for doing a sunburst and the body is not quite right for a sunburst because I've filled some cracks and dings. I have read that Fender used to do a fake sunburst ( 'Faux burst' ) with all solid colors and I could try to do that but again, I'm not confident enough painting.
So I had decided to paint it Fender Blonde, pretty much the color that came on the body I acquired, But I just did a Mustang Fender Blonde and I want something a little different. So, I think I'll go with Surf Green as my color choice for this Jaguar with a nice brown or red tortoise pickguard. Here's a generated version of what I'd like to achieve.
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The Headstock
I won this crafted in Japan neck off ebay and knew that I didn't want a painted headstock, let alone candy apple red. At least, not for this project.
So I sanded off the face of the headstock.
I sealed the wood with sanding sealer and decided to spray reranch tinted clear. The tinted clear went on very yellow and I didn't really feel like it was what I wanted. I wanted something a shade close to the vintage mustang neck I had. Here are the two side by side for comparison.
Since the reranch tinted clear was too yellow, I decided to sand it back down and try a wood dye.
I ended going with TransTint's Dark Vintage Maple dye because of recommendations from people on the reranch forum. There is different options for applying the stain.
- Water-Based Dye Stain: Mix with tap or distilled water for an economical, non-flammable stain
- Non-Grain Raising Stain: Mix with alcohol for a fast-drying, non-grain raising stain. No waiting or straining is necessary because the dye is pre-dissolved.
I had no idea why this was happening so I asked around on the reranch forum and basically what I was told was that it was the end of the grain and it was picking up more of the dye.
I was told to "whisker the wood" to try to get rid of this. "Whiskering the wood" was described to me as using a wet cloth, just damp, and rubbing it on the wood. The moisture raises the grain and makes it stand up almost like a whisker. Then you block sand the wood. You are supposed to repeat this until the wood no longer whiskers. Well, I sanded it back down and tried the whiskering technique. Wet, Dry, Sand, repeat, 4 times. The wood was completely smooth and so I proceeded to try to dye the wood again. This is the result I got this time.
As you can see, the color is what I wanted but, you can still see the end of the grain that is grabbing more of the stain. Some people suggested I leave it but I couldn't. I wasn't happy with the look and so I sanded it back down again.
This time, I wanted to seal the wood so that grain had no chance of grabbing the stain. I decided to mix the sanding sealer with some of the dye. The dye is very compatible so I wanted to see how it would come out.
Finally, I am pretty happy with the shade and I got it to go on smooth. I didn't get blotches of grain and stain. I'm going to lightly wet sand this smooth now, apply a clear coat over it, and get ready to apply the decal I was able to get from someone on the Reranch forum.
"Clearly" I have issues...
No seriously, I put 2 coats of clear on the headstock and was still able to see the grain coming through a little.
I consulted people on the reranch site and they advised me to spray more clear.
They said I wanted to have 6-9 coats of clear on the headstock. Well I listened...
So, the first issue is, while I was spraying, a bug flew right into the clear. So I used my finger(with gloves on) and wiped the bug off. Well, that left a indent in the clear where my finger wiped across. Now, I wasn't sure what to do. Do I stop and let it all cure and then sand it all level? Again I consulted the reranch forum. Aside from seeing the indent, they now say I have too much clear on the headstock. Great. I thought it was kind of thick myself but I was following their advice since I have never done this before. I asked what to do about the indent and they suggested spraying just in that area to try to fill it in, let it cure for a week and then level sand it all down. So that's what I am gonna do. It's a little frustrating but it's fine, I am learning a lot as go here.
Finally! ready for the decal.
AND....SUCCESS!! Finally. I applied the decal and it looks great. I am going to mist some clear over it next.
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Body
This is a crafted in Japan body that I won off ebay. The color is Fender Blonde and I thought it was what I wanted but, I've changed my mind. There's a lot of cracks in the paint and a ding on the back. Here are some pics.
Stripping
I decided to go with the heat gun method on stripping this body. It seemed to be the stripping tool of choice on the reranch forum because you don't have to use any chemicals. Here are some progress pics.
As you can see, as I heated up the paint it started to darken, giving it a kinda cool look. I continued and started chipping off the paint with a Spackle knife. I did get some wood burns as you can see but I hoped it would come out when it got sanded. Also, in the picture above you can see a crack in the wood which is where there was a crack in the paint.
OK, the body is stripped and sanded. The burns have come out pretty well. Now onto fixing the crack and sand & sealing.
I filled in the crack with super glue and lightly sanded over it to smooth everything . I also filled any gouges I made with the Spackle knife, with wood filler. Here is the body with 4 coats of sand & sealer on it. I block sanded with #220 sand paper and I'm still getting shiny spots. I am going to respray and sand with 320 or 400. Then sand until there's no shiny spots.
Obviously you can still see the shiny spots. I have some more sanding to do.
I wanted to take out the bridge thimbles so I used a soldering iron to heat up the thimble and pulled it out with pliers. Here's some pics.
Now I have to clean up the areas where the thimbles went into the body by getting rid of the paint build up there. Once that's sanded down, I'll put some more sanding sealer on and sand until there are no shiny spots. I feel like I will never be done with the sanding sealer part of this guitar.
