75 Music Master project guitar

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:15 pm

Hi everyone. I thought I'd post some pics and stuff about a short scale project I'm working on. It all started out with a beat up 75 Music Master I saw on Ebay one day. Here are some pics from the auction that show what it started out as:

The pickup that was in there wasn't stock. I'm not sure what it was. Someone had tried a DIY wax potting job, but had the wax too hot and melted / warped the pup cover. No pickguard, and no decal on the headstock. The neck is straight, but has been obviously refretted. Body and neck were both stripped. The body was probably originally white, and someone had painted the whole thing orange at one point or another - there was orange overspray on the control plate, knobs and some of the other hardware. Neck plate and pots date to 1975.

A beater to be sure, but my original intention was just to do a quick refinish, put a bridge pickup in and call it good. I have about 16 other guitars, but wanted something in a 24" scale, and this wasn't too terribly expensive, although I did probably bid higher on it than it was worth - IIRC, it was about $400-$450 for it in that condition. Darned bidding frenzy.

Anyway, more images ad stuff to come - I just wanted to start this thread up over here so I would have a URL to put in my "Hello, I'm a n00b" thread over on the other forum.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:19 pm

Welcome to the forum, Phil.

What colour are yuo going for in finish and pickguard?

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:32 pm

Mike wrote:Welcome to the forum, Phil.

What colour are yuo going for in finish and pickguard?

Thanks for the welcome Mike.

I knew exactly what color I wanted from the moment I saw it, and while I've had tons of people try to sway me, nothing shall deter me from it - it is going to be Sea Foam Green.

I've always wanted a SFG guitar, but have never owned one, and since this one was already stripped and beat up, there's no guilt about refinishing it.

I purchased a pickguard for it already, although it's a touch "off" in terms of alignment, so I am not sure if I am going to keep that one or get something else to use instead - it's w/b/w.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:34 pm

Seafoam Green (we love the pastels) and a flat white guard will have a lot of admires round these parts.

I reckon solid black pickup covers would set it off a treat.

Fully approve of the added Bridge pickup aswell, I can't imagine being without one at my disposal.

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:44 pm

I really like the way a stark white guard "pops" against SFG - I always thought that looked really cool. Much better IMO than black, tort or even mint looks.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:46 pm

Clearly you mean surf green.

(I know you didn't, but surf's so much nicer, surely?)

Post by **Mike** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:48 pm

Looks so much nicer than it did with that horrible tort.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:50 pm

I still love the tort: but enough about me.

I'm keen to coax Phil up to fifty posts so he can see the manifold charms of the Classifieds.

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:57 pm

benecol wrote:Clearly you mean surf green.

(I know you didn't, but surf's so much nicer, surely?)

Man that's a beautiful Jazzmaster!

But no, I want SFG, not Surf. I'm pretty adamant about that.

This one isn't mine, but it's a shot of a Strat I saw when I was over taking a tour of the Fender factory and CS in Corona a while back:

I think Surf is nice, but I just prefer the slightly darker Foam Green. YMMV. Apparently, it does.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:02 pm

hey phill, keep an eye on the thread for my sea foam green bronco....its going to be sea foam + coats of yellow tint to make it extra pukey old looking.

http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32900

a forum member here named rodvonbon is going to be refinishing it if it ever stops raining in chicago / buffalo. (its bee complete shit up north here for 2 weeks)
i mailed it out to him at the beginning of the month but everything is on hold.

DAMN YOU CALIFORNIA PEOPLEZ

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:14 pm

Speaking of the Fender Custom Shop, a good friend of mine (and the drummer in our band "Mostly Harmless") is a master builder over there - Dennis Galuszka. Since he's obviously WAY more qualified to do it than I am, and he offered to help, I had him do the routing of the body to turn it into a "Duo Sonic" configuration. The earlier Mustangs, Duo Sonics and Musicmasters from '64 to '69 all shared the same body (with the obvious addition of the trem routing on the Mustangs), and apparently, even the MM's were routed for dual pickups, but Fender stopped doing that some time shortly after the DS was discontinued in 1969. Since this is a '75 body, it lacked the routing, and there was no way *I* was going to attempt it - I would have butchered it for sure! So anyway, Dennis did it for me - here's some pics of it on his work bench as well as in the process of being set up and routed.

The end result is a '75 Music Master body with Duo Sonic switch and pickup routing. Not stock, but essentially a 75 Duo Sonic, done "at Fender, by Fender" so to speak.

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:22 pm

robroe wrote:hey phill, keep an eye on the thread for my sea foam green bronco....its going to be sea foam + coats of yellow tint to make it extra pukey old looking.

http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32900

That's going to look hideous! I mean that in the best possible way.

a forum member here named rodvonbon is going to be refinishing it if it ever stops raining in chicago / buffalo. (its bee complete shit up north here for 2 weeks)
i mailed it out to him at the beginning of the month but everything is on hold.

DAMN YOU CALIFORNIA PEOPLEZ

I've been putting off getting started on the refinishing of mine until it stopped raining and got warmer here too. We've had a pretty wet winter. Today it was only 72, and it got down to 47 degrees last night - Brrrr!

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:29 pm

Anyway, here's more about the story of my guitar...

One of us - either Dennis or me (probably me

) misplaced my bridge plate and saddles, so I had to source another one. After asking around over on HC, and searching ebay for a bit, I finally found a suitable replacement - advertised as being a "60s" unit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0233191580

A hundred bucks? Ouch! But the guitar is worthless without a bridge, so I guess I had no choice. Dennis said he completely searched his whole work area (due to having to do inventory anyway) and didn't find it, and I've looked around the studio here and have not found it - but I suppose one day the original will turn up. The replacement actually appears to be a bit nicer than the one I had, so it's an upgrade I suppose, although I am always wary about claims of being from a specific year or decade with parts like this since they remained unchanged from the mid 60s until the early 80s....

And so begins the demise of the idea of it being "just a beater". More on that later...

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:47 pm

Its good to have friends at Fender. WOW.

I'm going to be watching this thread closely.

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:09 pm

benecol wrote:I still love the tort: but enough about me.

I'm keen to coax Phil up to fifty posts so he can see the manifold charms of the Classifieds.

I hear it's a wonderful, magical place.

Heaven knows I've been pumping enough dosh into this guitar as it is... and I'm loving it so much. The 24" scale bug has really hit me hard. I have pretty small, stubby fingers, and I tend to play a lot better on smaller necks.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:17 pm

Why the threads are paved with golden Jaguars...

It's going to be quite the guitar Phil, just been reading about your Ybarra-wound pickups. Very jealous.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:21 pm

Abigail is a living legend, no wonder you don't mind the robroe covers won't fit.

I have a '66 Jaguar but I don't know if the pickups in it had her magic touch. It sounds lovely though, regardless.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:34 pm

Thats a great colour you've chosen, i'll enjoy watching this for sure! Hope that original bridge pops up, I've recently been feeling the sting of the inflated "vintage" parts assembling my '78 Musicmaster. Certainly not my cup of tea but I just keep telling myself I'll have a great instrument in my hands when its all over.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 4:38 pm

i say leave it like in the first pic (although it appears you've already routed for the bridge pup.

looks great, and welcome.

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:06 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:i say leave it like in the first pic (although it appears you've already routed for the bridge pup.

looks great, and welcome.

Thanks for the welcome. You're not the first person who has felt I should have left it exactly the way it was in the Ebay auction pics... and several other people have suggested I do nothing in terms of refinishing it, even though it now has the new routing and pickguard, extra pickup, etc.

But darn it, I REALLY want SFG.

That, and the 24" neck, were the main reasons I got it to begin with.