PSA: Squier CV 60s Jag

[MattK]

Thomann sent me a Paranormal JM XII and a Charcoal Frost CV 60s Jaguar. Arrived today. Here's the Jag fretboard.

[MattK]

For comparison, here's the XII headstock (same lighting same phone camera). The fit and finish are spectacularly good - high end Fender quality, just about.

[sunshiner]

We need full pictures. And congrats! Thomann is a long way from you.

[MattK]

Yeah, not one of my wiser moves. It’s been a weird year.

[MattK]

Thomann were very decent about it and offered me a discount around 15%. Since it’s fully functional and can likely be made better looking, I’ve accepted that.

[sunshiner]

That's nice of Thomann. Show us the full pics and tell us about them guitars a bit more

[MattK]

Well for now -

[Gavin]

Are those Indian laurel fretboards, because they look horrifically light coloured to me.

[MattK]

Yep. I have to stop taking photos on that charcoal grey carpet, it makes everything look weird. Renting so not what I would have chosen. The XII looks rosewood-y but could use an oil.

[Nick]

In these pics the XII looks more like the Pao Ferro that was on my old (now Shad’s) Vintera Jaguar.

Actually looks quite nice- I’m usually not a fan of Indian laurel- purely a visual thing (my Jazzmaster has one but I’m not sure how long that neck will last on it)

[sunshiner]

Both look nice to me. My affinity strat made 8 years ago has a rosewood board that looked almost orange and super bright if you compared it to other rosewood fretboards. It got a tad darker with the time and oiling, but I didn't mind it when it was bright. There's an element of defiance to it too

[MattK]

So - after an hour of cleaning, sanding, wetsanding with oil, steel wool with oil, and buffing, I got it looking better. Still got a huge light area on the high strings:

Overall, the dusty look is almost gone. It's still covered in file marks (you can see the high E edge looks like it's been chewed) but I tidied up the frets and it looks OK from a few feet away:

Ironically I oiled the XII fretboard as well, and it did almost nothing!
XII is a knockout to play, a bit harsh in the pickups, and the Jag is pretty excellent with a similar glare, I don't know how a neck pickup can sound bright but it does. Might change pots, might use the ... <checks notes> ... "tone" control.

[taylornutt]

My Squier CV Mustang had a very dry fretboard as well.

My Squier CV Silver sparkle jag was dry but has gotten better with oiling and playing.

My Gretsch has also has a Laurel fretboard but seems to better than my Fender guitars.

[MattK]

I dunno why phones won't take a straight up image these days, but take it from me that the mint green was too mint green. Got a Musiclily parchment guard off eBay, not a micron-precise match but no mods needed.
Before:

After:

At first it looked white, but it's barely off. Top-to-bottom new parchment guard, original mint, white guard on the 50s Precision.

New vs old:

[Doog]

Big improvement; the mint guard looks like it should glow in the dark


nb: I hate mint guards

[MattK]

I don’t mind a subtle mint, and I saw a 64 Strat once and it looked great.
Frosty looking good these days, the fretboard calmed down after two intense oil binges.

[Gavin]

That looks really really nice

[rahbro]

Man if squier shipped them looking like that last photo it would justify the hike in all the prices.

I would love to get my purple one that good looking

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