Shimming the neck on my Jaguar

milocj

I picked up a parts project Jag a couple of weeks back that is a mix of 1960s and US reissue parts. It had a TOM bridge at one time and I had to plug the holes for the thimbles and install the correct parts. Now I need to shim the neck.

Due to the fact that the bridge has that U-shape to it is it best to shim the entire neck up so the strings won't breakover and hit the edge or should I still be okay if I just shim the body end of the neck and add some angle to it?

Also, is there any way to guarantee that the body is an original? I was told that it's a refinished 1965 body. I can see one plug on the back in the yellow of the sunburst that looks like Fender pin router markings and there is what looks like an "S" in the yellow of the sunburst between the pups. This area has a different coloring to it so I think whoever did the refinish must have just sprayed clear over that marking to preserve it.

Here's a link to some pictures.

My Project

Rick

yeah, i'd say the body looks like an early 60's one. you can see the yellowstain and the neck pocket looks a good quality tight fit for the neck. i think mine had that marking under the pickgaurd too. it would be nice to see the trem route untouched, because they usually have a date in them. it looks as if someone's done something to it though. the bridge and trem are non-fender aftermarket parts, based upon japanese parts.

as for shimming the neck, you just need angle it. raising the whole thing doesn't make any sense

milocj

What are some of the clues that would flag this as a 60's body? I bought it knowing that there was a chance that it wasn't. The seller told me he bought it with the same thoughts but that it came from someone with a good rep in dealing vintage parts. I'd kind of like to do a refin in a '60s custom color anyway but I also sort of hate to cover up any last hint that the body was original. I guess it really doesn't matter since I only paid a touch more than a used CIJ/MIJ anyhow.

I forgot about the trem being a cheap replacement. That has to go sometime in the near future and get replaced with a real part or a Fender Reissue trem.

1965Jaguar

I have an original (not refinished) 1965 sunburst Jaguar and I agree that the body you have looks everything like an original. The yellow and black paint mishmash in the neck pocket is just like on mine (except for the "shadow" from the paint stick, more visible on mine) and mine also has a "S" written between the pickups. But, IMO, the round plug on the back is the best clue, as the MIJ/CIJ don't have them.

milocj

Were the dates in the trem cavity written in pencil or were they stamped? Is there a way that I might be able to remove some of the black paint in the cavity without disturbing a date (assuming it's still there)? Part of that black is pretty thin and not all of the cavity seems to have been messed with.

Since the guitar has already been refinished I'd like to do it over again in a custom color but I don't want to destroy evidence that the body was original.

Rick

it was written in by hand