Expensive, but: http://spitfiretortoiseshellpickguards.wordpress.com/order/

and...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/64-Fender-Jazzmaster-pickguard-celluloid-Nitrate-Tortoise-Relic-60-61-62-65-/201075791080?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2ed10d14e8

Snufkino wrote:

Just got my Antiquity I pickups in the post today.

From the enclosed leaflet, and the pdf on the SD website it seems like it's a really simple swap too. Just two wires on each pickup to desolder-solder?

Yes, white wire of neck to rythym switch, white of bridge to pickup selector switch. Both black wires to ground. Not a lot of room on the back of the mini pots to solder. Be careful not to overheat the pot.

Wow, that looks almost pink. There are a few different ones here. http://www.ebay.com/bhp/stratocaster-switch-tip

A Mastery and Mastery Vibrato/Vintage Vibrato would be the biggest possible upgrade you could make. Bigger than new wood or a new finish. And I'd place those upgrades over new pickups as well. I can live with subpar pickups, but I need the action to be as I expect, and a Mastery and Vintage Vibrato get me there.

AVRI vibrato is alright, spring isn't stiff enough. That is the only problem with that unit. Great otherwise.

The wood is actually pretty good on the Squiers, some of the necks might not have the greatest frets... that would be the big knock against the neck.

There is no guarantee you'd notice a difference between a poly and a nitro finish. I'm a nitro fan because of how it feels. I will agree that a thin finish is important, but I won't say that a guitar is better because of a nitro vs. poly finish. I do prefer a heavily worn nitro neck, that I will say.

the salesperson said they would be better but wouldn't make that much difference "because of the wood".

That person is a dumbass. Does he think they used balsa wood or a density board?

If so the following questions arise:
What kind of gunk is under the colour finishes on VMs?

Its pretty gross. I've stripped squiers before, but not anything made in the last five years. It is poly, clear poly, and then what I presume to be filler.

Would swapping a body on a Squier VMJM be akin to putting lipstick on a pig?

Yes and no... I feel the wood is good on the VMs. No reason to change it.

Does putting expensive pickups in a Squier VMJM just make it sound like a VMJM with expensive pickups in it, rather than a custom hand finished body with expensive pickups?

It makes it sound like a Jazzmaster, one that is quite usable! A great player is going to sound amazing on a VMJM no matter if it has new pickups. For the rest of us, it will sound more like a Jazzmaster should.

Ultimately, is it worth the effort of stripping the olympic white VMJM and refinishing or better to just sell?

Depends if you need the $275US you'll make from the sale... No point in stripping the finish at all, just upgrading the parts will get you a much better guitar. But it isn't going to get you a custom shop guitar.

I own some really nice guitars, I've upgraded a bunch of guitars, and I've parted together/sourced a lot of guitars. The 'Sound' is never the goal, it is getting something that has great feeling action and that is a solid instrument that is going to be predictable when I play it. Feel is EVERYTHING.

Last edited: Nov 12, 2014 11:40:15

I do not have Squier VM…
But I know that they have this 9,5 neck radius.
And you get the best replacement bridge from staytrem. They have got the fitting radius and best material in bridges. Do not waste your money on a Mastery bridge! (I know, some people like the Mastery. Me not! For my ears it gives a strange own tone into the guitar. And it looks not so good for my tired eyes…)
have fun anyway!

Twang cheers!

Ralf Kilauea

www.kilaueas.de

https://kilaueas.bandcamp.com/album/touch-my-alien

What does this stock bracket look like? Seems like its going to take a little bit of work just to switch out the pickguard.

It's used. Previous owner must have switched the guard at one point. Where's the best place to order/source the pickguards from? Is there a specific one I have to avoid or would the AVRI fitted ones work?

Last edited: Nov 28, 2014 12:39:50

Thanks for the tips SSkater. Is this the bracket that was referred to earlier?

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/images/large/005-4454-000.jpg

Other than the white/white JM, also have my eye set on a sonic blue one. Either way, I'd like to change out for a tortoise pickguard.

Maybe you could post an ad in the "for sale/trade" forum? Quite a few people own VM Jazzmasters, someone might have a tortoiseshell pickguard left over from an upgrade to sell, or might be interested in trading you one for you white pickguard.

Old punks never die... They just become surf rockers.

Mike75 wrote:

Long overdue an update on this. Against all good advice I spent about 3 months with various sanding devices - palm sander, sanding blocks, various grades of sandpaper, dust masks etc to remove the finish. It took hours to remove the olympic white, and then at least two months to remove the poly. For a while I considered just respraying over the poly, or leaving it raw natural poly but it was a bit too butcher's block for me. It was ridiculously thick especially around the upper horn. I used to play it and think, this somehow just isn't right. It just felt plasticky like a child's toy. Olympic white which will never fade is a cruel thing to do to a guitar, but poly that thick is more evil than Zoltar.

I left some poly around the neck pocket as the basswood is so soft that I thought it could get damaged easily. One section on the back is still covered in poly as well.

As an experiment I decided to piece it together before being refinished and the result is......

)

I'm particularly interested in the results of poly free wood, rather than alder v basswood.

If so the following questions arise:
Was there any noticeable improvement?

So how does it sound?
This sounds like sex. I am absolutely astounded as to how this thing sounds. It's like hearing in 3 dimensions for the first time. I am using the stock Duncan Designed pickups and the twelve month old strings that I took off it. It resonates, it has twang, it's chicken-pickeny, it's pure and soulful and full of character - but it has something I can only describe as punchy cardboard overtones. Yeah, that's it. Each note has "punch" but it makes me feel that my amp, a Fender Blues Jr III is a loudspeaker mounted in thin cardboard rather than whatever wood Fender use in their amps.

I have extensively A/B tested it against the other Squier VMJM with Antiquity 1s. The tone is far superior in the stripped VMJM. It is shockingly good. The AVRI JMs I played didn't sound like this either.

Of course this is now completely unfinished and prone to damage.

How does it feel? I can't stop holding it. This guitar was always light but now it is lighter still. It's something to caress and it has that fresh basswood scent. The the contrast with the poly neck is a bit unusual but I can cope with it. I actually like the neck. The body is still very fibrous and it is certainly soft.

Other things I like about the body are the figuring on the upper body, which looks a bit like a 3d scorpion, and a spine running over the belly cut. I think that is unique and very cool. It's obviously a 4 piece body just glued together, but one of these pieces is just a few millimetres so it's safe to call it a three piece body. There are some lines on the back which look like filler. There are some knots on the back. I do like natural finishes, but not sure if this body is attractive enough for a clear finish. The basswood is a bit pinkish. There are no green streaks. Besides I like the scorpion looking thing.

What kind of gunk is under the colour finishes on VMs?
Would swapping a body on a Squier VMJM be akin to putting lipstick on a pig?
Does putting expensive pickups in a Squier VMJM just make it sound like a VMJM with expensive pickups in it, rather than a custom hand finished body with expensive pickups?

Ultimately, is it worth the effort of stripping the olympic white VMJM and refinishing or better to just sell?

Stripping poly is time-consuming, messy and unhealthy. I went to the hospital to get checked out when I started getting nausea. My arms are still vibrating due to the palm sander. It's a really stupid thing to do.

Ultimately I am very glad that I went with my instinct and stripped this guitar. I have certainly bonded with the guitar and it's equal to my AVRI strat. I will add a mastery bridge at some point as Jake advised.

The question I have now is:

As I live in Hong Kong there is very high humidity, what can I do to protect the guitar without sapping it's precious tone? I'm also concerned about the vibrato sinking into the soft basswood. These are some of the ideas I have.

1. Leave it as it is. See what happens.
2. Finish stripping all poly and then spray clear nitrocellulose lacquer.
3. Respray in Metallic Caribbean Blue - its a bit like Ocean Turquoise Metallic.
4. As above but deliberately don't spray over the forearm and belly cuts to show the figuring.
5. Some kind of wax or dye. I heard dye is bad on basswood as it doesn't sink in evenly, and it definitely affects tone. Not sure about wax. I heard that it can also affect tone.

I don't have access to reranch products but I can get nitrocellulose lacquer from nippon paint called pylox. I have no idea what I could use as sealer before shooting nitro so I'm tempted to just to respray. All other instructions and products here are written in chinese...

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Replaced the ill fitting Allparts pick guard and put a Staytrem bridge on it. This is more of what I was looking for when I decided on mint green. The Allparts guard looked the same color as the pickup covers