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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Dick Dale custom "surf burst" Jazzmaster?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JPaYQnUrIg

Based on Brian's picture, I guess I was wrong about seeing Nick and the guitar in person, but I found a clip of Norm and the Surf Rockers - and Nick has the guitar. I must have seen the clip before.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Thanks for tracking that down! So cool to see it in action. It really is a beautiful guitar and really noteworthy for its great history, regardless.

Had to bump the thread because this beauty popped up on eBay just recently. The seller claims the guitar is believed to have been used in the movie "Beach Party" by Dick's rhythm guitarist.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1960-FENDER-JAZZMASTER-VINTAGE-ELECTRIC-JAGUAR-CUSTOM-COLOR-SPARKLE-GUITAR-1961-/301486170185?pt=Guitar&hash=item4631f9e049

Really amazing that this has surfaced...thanks for the link! It's obvious to me now that Nick O'Malley's blue burst Jazzmaster that started this thread was different to these sparkle burst instruments used in the movie. Having watched the movie clip many times, I always felt that the finishes reflected light like a flake finish, but it was hard to know whether this was due to the stage lighting/resolution.

The seller makes a case for the finish being original factory ordered, but it has what looks like some unusual and rather sloppy looking masking lines over the original sunburst finish. Anyway, very cool. As for the price, well, he certainly is aiming high....

Last edited: Jan 17, 2015 13:23:01

buy it Maxx

Jeff(bigtikidude)

websurfer wrote:

The seller makes a case for the finish being original factory ordered, but it has what looks like some unusual and rather sloppy looking masking lines over the original sunburst finish. Anyway, very cool. As for the price, well, he certainly is aiming high....

Yeah, absolutely non-factory finish. This re-fin was done by somebody who had, obviously , never finished a guitar before. Clearly sunburst in several locations.

Also... it is a '59, not a '60. This is very clear...

This guitar is in bad shape, it is really dirty. The re-fin is in terrible shape, there is dirt/wood shavings everywhere. And the refin is really thick...

This guitar is worth.... $3000-$3500($4000 at MOST and that is from a top dealer)

Last edited: Jan 17, 2015 13:52:18

Question everything. The truth is out there. They are watching. Burn the evidence. Add another layer to your tinfoil hat. The end is nigh.

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

I thought this was a friendly environment of like-minded people where I could feel free to get my geek on and explore the minutiae of what interests me about surf guitar (in this case my love of first wave players and custom guitars of the era). I don't expect to be ridiculed as some sort of conspiracy theorist whack job for doing that. Yes, as the originator of this thread and main contributor, I do take your comment personally.

websurfer wrote:

Really amazing that this has surfaced...thanks for the link! It's obvious to me now that Nick O'Malley's blue burst Jazzmaster that started this thread was different to these sparkle burst instruments used in the movie. Having watched the movie clip many times, I always felt that the finishes reflected light like a flake finish, but it was hard to know whether this was due to the stage lighting/resolution.

The seller makes a case for the finish being original factory ordered, but it has what looks like some unusual and rather sloppy looking masking lines over the original sunburst finish. Anyway, very cool. As for the price, well, he certainly is aiming high....

I think the saturation of the film makes the guitars look darker in the movie than they are, and the lighting makes them look more metallic than they are. I'm nearly certain that the Ebay guitar was never used by the Del-tones.

Nick himself said that they had 3 guitars painted blue at Dick Dales request. His Jazzmaster, a maple neck Strat, and a P-bass. I think Nick's guitar started out as gold with a gold pickguard. Watch the video of Miserlou from "A Swingin' Affair" below - I think this is the 3 guitars pre- paint. It's the same 3 bandmembers as the "Beach Part" movie clip.

Nick still plays that guitar, and it really doesn't look anything like the Ebay guitar. It's more foam green than blue, and while it has some pearl to it, it's definitely not metal flake. Video is posted of the guitar as it looks today below with Norm and the Surf Rockers.

So - how do we know that the 3 guitars that Nick mentioned painting are the 3 guitars in the film? Because of the maple necked Strat! Fender didn't have any maple necks in '63 to send off to have them custom painted in surf burst metal flake, supposedly specifically for the movie. - But the Strat in the movie has a maple neck, and it has to be one of the 3 that Dick Dale asked the band members to have painted.

That's my amateur detective work, and I'm sticking to it.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Last edited: Jan 17, 2015 17:33:11

Sonichris wrote:

I think the saturation of the film makes the guitars look darker in the movie than they are, and the lighting makes them look more metallic than they are. I'm nearly certain that the Ebay guitar was never used by the Del-tones.

I absolutely agree, I was just sleuthing this and came to the same conclusion.

FWIW - The Ebay guitar in question has been for sale for years and years I've learned - it was $8500 a few years ago. I hear the seller has a reputation for possibly "stretching the truth" about items he is selling.

And - Nick O'Malley is still around, and on Facebook. Although he isn't very active. Surely someone here knows how to get a hold of him and ask him if he ever played the Ebay guitar.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Last edited: Jan 17, 2015 17:34:21

The pot codes are from the middle 1960. It is interesting that the neck has no date stamp of any kind. It has a slab fingerboard and the birdseye maple is nice, however, the neck butt looks like it's been sanded to remove the markings.

Without the date stamp on the neck, I doubt this instrument is of significant value to collectors. However, it does appear to be a nice player guitar since it is made from vintage parts. It should be priced as though it were a refinished 1960 Jazzmaster, certainly nowhere near $30,000.

If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

Date stamps are commonly omitted until the mid-60s then they start to become more common.

When did Fender start stamping the date on the heal? 1962?

I read where they stopped penciling the date after some swear words were written on some bodies in late '59 early '60. Not too many dates until the stamped date codes started.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Stamp shows up in 1962, I think March '62 is the first I've seen...

The bodies always got the date, but the necks stopped getting them.

image
image
image
image
http://www.frettedamericana.com/sites/default/files/00899_00899_date.jpgimage

If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

From provide.net...

The 'no neck date' are from the last half of 1959. The practice was d/c'd in late spring or early summer of that year, and only a few of the last maple necks lack dates. It's generally associated with the earliest rosewood boards.

The pencil dates resumed some time in early '60.

^^Hmmm. Learn something everyday. I thought it was longer, but it makes sense. It's seems that everything had a date code back then.

So what do we think this Ebay Surf Burst Jazzmaster should cost?

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I would place it at around $4,000.

Any claim like that should have some provenance to make it worth the cash

http://thewaterboarders.bandcamp.com/

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