My 1995 Jag-Stang Overhaul

Highanddry

So I decided to take my old JS back to wood and refinish it and while I was at it, invest in a few (okay more than a few) upgrades.

The finish was a saga. I started with Wudtone’s ‘Lady Teal’ but I wanted solid colour and that was really the wrong finish for that task. I then tried Nitro in ‘Lake Placid Blue’ but with zero margin for error and an expensive lesson in how important following the instructions regarding temperature is, this was also a fail (barely, but a fail). The final finish I laid straight over the nitro. I used Dulux Duramax ‘Dark Blue Metallic’ enamel. It came out really well. I’m happy with it anyway.

The upgrades include Hipshot, locking-nut, vintage tuners; Mastery bridge; pickups (Dimarzio Area 67 in the neck, and an SD P-rails in the bridge); ToneShaper Mustang wiring kit (swapped in a linear pot for the tone); neck plate; hardtailed the tremolo; and re-shielded the cavities.

My wiring needs a tweak as I’m only getting the 67 to work, but I’ll do that in due course. My kids were able to present me with it this morning for my birthday. ?

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/67sc47lnf2v32fi/AACbgAnp40XssAxfAQOc0UZea

Alex

It looks like a great overhaul! Dig the color. How do those pickups sound?

SillyBilly

Looks really good. Well done.

How much experience did you have before this in painting guitars? Did you use any special equipment or just a bunch of sand paper?

I’d love to go black with black pick guard. I don’t think I’ve seen a jag-stand in black before.

Highanddry

Thanks! Al, I'm still only getting sound out of the Area 67 at the neck. I haven't had a good chance to sort out the wiring. I know what I did wrong, I just need some (kid free) time to get the soldering iron out. The Area 67 sounds great, although darker than I was imagining. I'm playing through a Blackstar HT-5R which may be contributing to the darkness, but it still sounds great. I went with 250 pots rather than 500 which I thought would be too bright. I'll kepp that in mind for the future.

SillyBilly, I didn't have any experience other than a 335 build I did a few years ago, but I used the Wudtone for that so I didn't do any spraying. I ended up using rattle-cans for both the nitro and the enamel. I would say that the enamel is more forgiving but under the right conditions, nitro would turn out great. In terms of sanding, I used wet and dry for the whole thing. Dry for the prep up to 400 than after the clear coats were finished, I used 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000, then Turtlewax cut and polish. Very much on a budget. If budget wasn't issue I would have bought some micromesh for the finishing.

JStrohl

Wow. That is nice!!! Would you ever consider selling it?