ShortScale.org

Advertised as a 1964 Jaguar.

http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sel ... Z232561576#

A lot of stuff seems wrong.

Tuners are obviously not OG
Two string trees?
Headstock decal and placement seem dodgy
No truss rod nut (is there even a truss rod in there?)
Black nut?

Hard to tell from the photos of the body but:
Chrome looks like Stainless steel
Bridge and saddles look weird.

What do you guys think?

truss rod seems to be missing, additional string tree seems to be added. Neckplate looks strange too. Rest looks ok, but I 'd need to see in person ... would not order that. But Servicemans usually have weirder hardware.

Hard to say but that paint has not aged enough compared to that heavily yellowed neck. The neck could be vintage with replaced tuners and nut but I'm not so sure.


Also the truss rod adjustment doesn't look right but I can't say for sure since I'm not familiar with guitar that old. Did they usually have that giant gap hole?

There is no truss rod there. There should be a giant Phillips style screw head plugging that hole at the heel. WTF.

most likely a refin, looks like a mustang bridge, plus all the other stuff mentioned, but difficult to tell without seeing all the bits up close. no truss rod, eh...... away and fuck off.

I emailed the dude to let him know he might not have what he thinks he has.
He sounds pretty reasonable, I don't think he's trying to rip anybody off.
He did sound pretty disappointed that it's not worth $2400. Anyway, here's more pictures of the body. Maybe we can help him figure out more or less what it's worth...

Neckplate looks severely questionable. What's with the hole in it?

I'm really starting to think this is one of the better Servicemen guitars
Look at this pic of a term plate from a confirmed Serviceman:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YyWDE_zaOs0/S ... kejag6.jpg

The script and pat pend numbers are similar in style, size and placement. The collet is also very unusually similar.

laterallateral wrote:No truss rod nut (is there even a truss rod in there?)

Maybe the truss rod broke when someone tried to adjust it with a seized nut?

theshadowofseattle wrote:Neckplate looks severely questionable. What's with the hole in it?

Did Fender ever do a 4-screw Micro-tilt neck? OTOH my '73 3-screw Micro-tilt plate has "Micro-tilt" written on it.

[edit]Yes. From Fender Australia's website

'86 American Standard Neckplate
This chrome-plated Fender neckplate with Micro-tilt hole was used on American Strats from 1986 to mid-1999. Four mounting screws included. Vintage "Plain," Am Std Bass and Am Deluxe Guitar neckplates are also available.

NickS wrote:

laterallateral wrote:No truss rod nut (is there even a truss rod in there?)

Maybe the truss rod broke when someone tried to adjust it with a seized nut?

I think so. The dude said that the rod, itself is still in there.

Maybe once the truss rod was broken it got pillaged and the plate with a vintage serial got "re-used"?

Very interesting...
What's your take on the headstock decal, Nick?

laterallateral wrote:Very interesting...
What's your take on the headstock decal, Nick?

Sorry. I know next to nothing about decals*.


*One weird thing; my '73 Strat came with a separate decal, which I still have, that is just like the one under the varnish except that it also says "with synchronised tremolo".

trem looks legit to me. same patent numbers as mine. the serviceman trem looks as if the lock button is there for cosmetics.

i reckon it's just a parts guitar.

Yeah, it appears to be a parts guitar with a broken trussrod and some non vintage parts. I'd say 1K tops and then only if you know the body and pups are original.

What the hell? So the truss rod would have to be replaced, meaning you'd have to carefully remove the fretboard to get to it?

Holy fuck, that is not worth $2500.

nah, i think it's just the end bit that's missing. i dunno how easy that is to fix. but yeah, no way is it worth that kind of money.

yeah, looks like a parts guitar and it's missing the truss rod. the neck looks legit. never seen a serviceman with a date stamp or with decent looking maple like that. they're usually some multipeice southeast asian wood.

if its a servicemen its the best i have ever seen.
the decal is not legit, for sure.
the wood behind the nut is different from the rest on the fretboard.
the nut is aftermarket.
its hard to tell from the photos if the trem is real or not.
i know that from the three servicemens that i have owned and the parts i have gotten before that the trem lock never works and is just there for looks.
my best guess is...
its either a parts guitar(as stated above)
or it is the best servicemen ever produced.
which is a possibility seeing as how the three that i owned were all radically different in feel, size, parts, and well. everything.