Here is a shot of my '61 pre - L series, Jazzmaster. I bought it in Harare back in the late eighties as scrap, for what was an expensive price then of Z$300. It had spent years in a 'high density suburb', the tortoiseshell pickguard had shrunk, as they do, and the slab fretboard had oval potholes all over it from being played. I had the fretboard shaved down until it resembled a standard one, leaving one pothole behind. I had the body refinished, re-fretted it and parked it under my bed. I have slowly got new bits and pieces for it over the years and now am short one more Seymour Vintage (the old pickups worked but sounded dreadful) and the selector knob.
It is what it is - Lazarus, risen from the dead, not worth much as it has been re-finished and has replacement pickguard, pick ups and Klusons, but still alive and quite interesting. Striking a chord un- plugged is like jumping on a boarding school bed with no mattress - a rattling, buzzing, spring, string thing!
