I had my ‘64 Jazz body (not the neck) refinished in nitro by Pat Wilkins for less than $1k in 2021. Pat does amazing work, and he did a fantastic job on my bass. Highly recommended! Here’s the bass.
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Vintage Fender Jazz Refinishing
- Thread starter onlyruin
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- fender jazz refinish vintage fender
That's nuts. I have a lot of experience in furniture refinishing using all of the same materials, and I can't imagine what needs to be done when refinishing a solid body guitar to a factory new standard that would raise the price to that point.
Was there additional repair or restoration work beyond stripping, spraying, and finishing the finish?
I have somewhat similar experience both with furniture and guitar finishing/re-finishing. I completely agree with you. $3K for a body and neck is ludicrous.
Stripping and prep is the most laborious part of the whole job. IMO, the labor stripping portion of the job for a body and neck should be in the $80 to $100 range for each part which is about what MJT charges for cleaning off old lacquer.
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Yeah, forget about Nitro, it has only one advantage : It self destructs in a manner some people find pleasing aesthetically. Otherwise just a crappy, obsolete finish.
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Thanks for all the input! Lots of food for thought.
Got a quote from MJT for just over 500 plus shipping. I’m leaning toward that, but gonna sit with the bass for a bit before I pull the trigger. I’ll certainly follow up with the results if I decide to send it off!
Got a quote from MJT for just over 500 plus shipping. I’m leaning toward that, but gonna sit with the bass for a bit before I pull the trigger. I’ll certainly follow up with the results if I decide to send it off!
Something worth seeing if you may want a lacquer refinish. Joe Riggio knows pre-CBS Fenders.
You're not wrong, but man nitro just feels better imo. Like a broken in baseball glove
NO ONE is going to refinish a pre CBS bass with anything but nitro...ridiculous.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Agreed. A pre CBS ax should be done with nitro.
You may want to contact Hot Rod Six Strings in Brookfield, CT. They used to take care of my friend's 58 Strat and 63 ES335, and they do a nice job building and repairing axes. They helped me with 2 builds. Not too far from you.
If you want, PM me and I'll give you my name so he knows I sent you.
You may want to contact Hot Rod Six Strings in Brookfield, CT. They used to take care of my friend's 58 Strat and 63 ES335, and they do a nice job building and repairing axes. They helped me with 2 builds. Not too far from you.
If you want, PM me and I'll give you my name so he knows I sent you.
+1 on MJT, I’ve had several great experiences with them. Great work, great customer service.
Not so much with RS Guitarworks in Winchester, KY. I don’t recommend them after the debacle that was the last refin I sent them. Way wrong color and grumpy if not slightly hostile customer service.
Not so much with RS Guitarworks in Winchester, KY. I don’t recommend them after the debacle that was the last refin I sent them. Way wrong color and grumpy if not slightly hostile customer service.
Here ya go. Just send mjt the body and tell them you'd like something like this (with more or less wear) and they'll get you squared away.
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Wow, ya’ll got me thinking. I have 1955 P-bass that was stripped down to bare wood decades (maybe a 1/2 century ago). The neck is untouched. I am hankering for a lightly relic’d black finish. Maybe I’ll just go ahead and do it now. I love that bass, the neck is an absolute baseball bat. It feels great and sounds incredible.
Yeah but nitro is what people want, we like to see it age fast, so what? Life is short!
Just two thoughts:
- be careful with a sunburst refin. I've only seen one or two convincing sunburst refins. It's very hard to get it right. And sometimes when they do get the colors right, it's wrong for the era. So it looks like a 61 burst while it's a 65 bass. It's safer to go for a solid color.
- make sure they don't sand off too much wood. I hate it when the body shape alters and I always check if the router hump is still visible when I see refins. When the hump is gone, so is my interest.
Good luck!
- be careful with a sunburst refin. I've only seen one or two convincing sunburst refins. It's very hard to get it right. And sometimes when they do get the colors right, it's wrong for the era. So it looks like a 61 burst while it's a 65 bass. It's safer to go for a solid color.
- make sure they don't sand off too much wood. I hate it when the body shape alters and I always check if the router hump is still visible when I see refins. When the hump is gone, so is my interest.
Good luck!
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That's OK for a late '64. The burst process changed right around that time. Previously the body had yellow dye, then sealer (Fullerplast starting around '63) then the black and red and then clear - so the wood grain was more visible and the yellow in the burst tended more towards amber. Around late '64 Fender started using a semi-opaque yellowish white basecoat (presumably to better hide lamination lines or other flaws) and this led to less grain showing through and brighter yellow to the bursts (aka targetbursts - or clownbursts for those who don't like that look...). Later still, Fender did some bursts over fully opaque basecoats - some of which even had brushed fake grain.
Very true. Sunbursts were very clearly different in different year ranges. The previously mentioned Joe Riggio and Gord Miller in Canada (and Clive Brown and John Elliott in the UK) know these finer points and do very convincing work.
Likewise, blonde finishes are an art to themselves as well. Carson Hess is exceptional for these in particular (though everything I've seen from him is great).
I've been surprised on some of the MJT bursts, unless I'm mistaken, that they've sprayed the red under the guard as Fender never did this.
Also if doing a solid color on a '63 Jazz, I'd be looking for matching headstock as well as that would be standard for custom colors in that year. If the neck was original finish and original decal, I'd go sunburst (or blonde if ash body but those are scarce).
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