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Right, next time i'm home i'm gonna give the cowbell jazzblaster some much needed TLC. Proper setup, truss rod adjustment and see if i can sort out the grounding issue.

Firstly, the rosewood fretboard is looking proper dry, where it looks dusty even when it's clean. What can I use to put a bit of life back into it? I'm gonna get some lemon oil too, any brand recommendations?

Secondly, the guitar has a grounding issue. It's a pretty nasty hum even when clean, goes away when i touch anything metal on the guitar but it's really annoying. As far as I can remember all the grounds (or maybe just the lead circuit grounds) lead to a wire soldered to one of the bridge posts. Whats the best way to wire the grounds in jazzmaster style wiring? I'm quite sure it's close to normal JM wiring.

Dr. Stringfellow Lem-oil is what I use:

Works real good. If yr board is really dry, you just let it sit for a few minutes before wiping it down.

If the hum goes away when you touch something metal it's normal. It's yr body acting as an antenna and picking up the AC buzz from wiring, fluorescent lights, etc. When you touch the metal parts or strings, the stray voltage in your body gets shorted directly to ground instead of traveling to the pickups. Lining the inside of the pickup and control cavities can reduce it somewhat. You can even put some shielding under the PUP cover if you wanna go crazy.

This stuff:

ditto.
sometimes tho, i have found that certain oils do better depending on the age, type, and cut of the wood.
for the most part, old english with orange oil does wonders on moderate boards with tighter grain.
but for stuff that is extremely old and dry with moderate cracking, a series of wipe downs with this furniture oil(its called murpheys, i get it from ohio)
that stuff is great for conditioning wood that seems like its lost.

I use murphy's on my floors too.
I'snt your jazzblaster just a string through jazzmaster w/ humbuckers? (I dont think I've seen a pic of it.)

Cheap UK source of copper tape: slug tape from Wilko's - get Malik to nick you some.

the_dude wrote:I use murphy's on my floors too.
I'snt your jazzblaster just a string through jazzmaster w/ humbuckers? (I dont think I've seen a pic of it.)

yeah.

Don't put too much oil on it. just enough to make it damp for a minute then wipe it all off. If you have to, you can do it twice. Too much at once can mess with with your fretwire if it gets soaked in anderneath them.