Refinishing a Fender Custom Shop?

Hattigol

Madness or not?

Contemplating getting another Jazzmaster and having the body refinished professionally. 

On the plus side with a CS, I know it'll be a cracking guitar. On the downside, even with a cracking job, I know the value is going to be decimated - £500 less than a non-refinished one? More?

That said, if it's a keeper, not an issue?

Been offered one at a reasonable price. Should I? Or does something like an American Professional make more sense.

Funkfingers

The American Professional Jazzmaster is an almost entirely different animal to the American Vintage or the majority of Custom Shop examples.

Back in February, an Am Pro owner and I had the opportunity to make a direct A/B comparison involving my AV’65. The other guy preferred his Curtis Novak pickups over my stock Fender ones but had to admit the AV neck profile and my Staytrem modifications made the AV play more nicely than the modern interpretation. Conversely, I could not get on with the modern neck profile, big frets and selector switch location.

My point is that the Am Pro is a completely differently ride to any vintage-flavoured variant. The stock V-Mod pickups make nice sounds but these are more like a fat Strat or a Gibson Alnico than any Jazzmaster. Thus, this model is no substitute for the traditional JM experience.

stickyfiddle

If you definitely want a CS but not in the colours available (presumably also erring away from the £5k+ price to have one in a very-custom colour) I would consider buying the guitar, then getting a new body and swapping the bits over. The new body would probably be sub-£500 for anything you could dream of, and you'd be able to put it all back to stock if you ever wanted to sell AND sell the other body separately and recoup some of that £500

Corvus

You could have a JM body made and painted, cost might be less than loss on a CS refin. There's a few of us here could do that for you. That said a refin might not hut so much if it's a popular kind of scheme.

barnstorm

I wouldn't – it's a hassle and will cost you a decent amount of money twice (if you eventually sell), and in the past I've grown to like a finish I wouldn't have chosen, just because the guitar was really good.

A MIM Classic Lacquer would be a good candidate for a refin, I reckon. Used ones can be had for very reasonable money, sometimes with a Staytrem or Mastery already added, and it would obviously be easier to strip than an Am Pro or other poly guitar.

Hattigol

stickyfiddle said:Corvus said:

You could have a JM body made and painted, cost might be less than loss on a CS refin. There's a few of us here could do that for you. That said a refin might not hut so much if it's a popular kind of scheme.

If you definitely want a CS but not in the colours available (presumably also erring away from the £5k+ price to have one in a very-custom colour) I would consider buying the guitar, then getting a new body and swapping the bits over. The new body would probably be sub-£500 for anything you could dream of, and you'd be able to put it all back to stock if you ever wanted to sell AND sell the other body separately and recoup some of that £500

Great idea, chaps. That seems v sensible. 

I know @GoldenEraGuitars makes superb JM bodies. Anyone else?

Corvus

Rexter made one or two I think. I thought SCR bodies were Guitarbuild, not that it matters, the bodies are straightforward to make until you get into chambered, bound and such.  It's more about the paint really, whether you want subtle aged/post-nuke/spangly pearl/flake or whatever.

guitargeek62

I’d buy the CS and live with it for a bit first. If you’re still liking it after a few months then order a second body in a colour you want, but don’t sell the original body. The  rest of the parts won’t be worth anywhere close to the whole otherwise if you ever wanted to sell the JM on again.

UnclePsychosis

This whole thread demonstrates perfectly one of the issues I have with Fender. For guitars supposedly designed for ease of mass-market production and part-swapping its ridiculously hard to get one in anything other than about four standard colours.

FWIW, I wouldn't do this with a CS guitar.