


Seasons greeting and blessings to you all! I thought I'd show you all my early Christmas present!
Bestowed upon me by Richard (Forumite Chabenda) with the hopes that I can make it playable once more! It's been through quite a bit and will need some work but at the moment I'm happy! ?
Glamour shots:









This is a guitar that I will cherish and it is highly unlikely that I'll ever sell it. The guitar itself is has been heavily modified over the years in order to try and make it playable and as I have it now, it's not in the best of shape.
Issues:
- The fretboard has been planed down by a half (2-3mm), and has lost its radius, to remove deep grooves that were played into the board. the frets are also wholly uneven.
- The original bridge pickup is broken and has been replaced by a Seymour Duncan Vintage JM pickup. I plan on rewinding the original pickup. (is this a good idea?)
- Replaced parts include pickguard, bridge, pickup and tuners replaced with Klusons
- Guitar was refinished. I'm not sure what the original colour was (Chabs?) but at the moment it's a sunburst thats a tad scruffed up.
- The electronics are barely working... Probably because they're 50 years old?
- The Fender logo is also a sticker that was redone after the refinish.
So here's my dilemma... Do I repair it to playable standard while keeping it as "stock" as I possibly can, or do I strip it to the bones and turn it into basically a new, playable guitar?
For the latter, I'd probably refinish it, either replace the rosewood board or cut an entire new neck, clean up all the parts (which I wouldn't do if I was keeping the 'stock' vibe) remove all scratches and rust, rewire it completely, rewind the old pickup, and possibly get a new pickguard
(I'd keep the old parts of course...)
Obviously this choice will damage the value it still had but as I said, I don't plan on selling it. The other problem with this is that when I whip out a brand new looking guitar, no one will believe it's a '61 Fender from the old Fullerton Factory... Then I can't show off :'(
So what I've got is an old guitar with tonnes of mojo and I can either try and preserve that and sacrifice some playability or totally ignore that and end up with something entirely "new"
Any advice? Help? Ooh's? Aah's?
Thanks in advance ? and Merry Christmas to you all! (or just happy public holiday if you don't celebrate.... Don't complain you got a free day off! ? )