BBC The Repair Shop- Restoration of a mid-60's Fender Jazz

Flame_Guitars

For any fans of The Repair Shop have a look at last Wednesday's episode in which I restore a mid-60's Fender Jazz bass. The bass was owned by Tony Wilson, founding member of the band Hot Chocolate. The bass was in a poor condition and needed a re-fret, work on the back of the neck which had suffered quite serious damage, replacement of the Fender decal, overhaul of the wiring circuit and a good clean. Hours of work condensed down to 15 minutes in the show! Here's a link to Series 4 Episode 18.
The Repair Shop

jellybelly

I saw that too - was really interesting, and certainly to-the-point. I especially liked the relicing of the new bridge cover with a hammer and a stone...

thegummy

Nice one! My dad told me about this and he watches it and said I'd have loved that episode so glad to see it linked.

Flame_Guitars

jellybelly said:

I saw that too - was really interesting, and certainly to-the-point. I especially liked the relicing of the new bridge cover with a hammer and a stone...

Don't think I can claim the credit for this being my original idea. I think I might have seen it on a Dan Erwine video. But I wonder if I could start selling stones specially selected for relicing guitar parts!

Philly_Q

Nice programme, thanks for posting the link.  I must admit I was a bit alarmed when you took a spokeshave to the back of the neck, but it all turned out very nicely.

bacchanalian

Thanks for posting. Very interesting.

Henrytwang

Interesting. I think that if you’d gone any further it would probably have been to far.

Flame_Guitars

Henrytwang said:

Interesting. I think that if you’d gone any further it would probably have been to far.

Yes, I'm well aware that the extent of any work done on an instrument of this age will be a contentious issue for many. I too could say much about this. In short, I think that a balance has to be struck between leaving the instrument as is and making it playable. With regards to bass shown in the film the damage to the back of the neck was such that you might have cut your hand on the splintered wood. So after some thought I decided to reshape the neck and make it playable. But I might have taken a different view if this was  Fender Jazz from the first year of production!

Deadman

I watched this earlier. Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing.

bbill335

I had a '66 mustang with a chunk out of the neck a little bit like that. Played fine, no splinters. 

lovestrat74

My Dad mentioned this show to me at the weekend. Never heard of it before then this thread appeared!!

An enjoyable watch that, OP thanks!

Guitar_Slinger

Just got around to watching it, very interesting.  Thanks for the tip @Flame_Guitars ;

57Deluxe

Not seen this b4 but immediately recognised is located at Singleton Ope Air museum... Fantastic place...

But was with the massive Fret Buzz at the end??

Henrytwang

Flame_Guitars said:

Henrytwang said:

Interesting. I think that if you’d gone any further it would probably have been to far.

Yes, I'm well aware that the extent of any work done on an instrument of this age will be a contentious issue for many. I too could say much about this. In short, I think that a balance has to be struck between leaving the instrument as is and making it playable. With regards to bass shown in the film the damage to the back of the neck was such that you might have cut your hand on the splintered wood. So after some thought I decided to reshape the neck and make it playable. But I might have taken a different view if this was  Fender Jazz from the first year of production!

You have to wonder how the back of the neck got that badly damaged. I guess that if it had been an extremely rare collectible guitar the solution would have been getting a good  replacement neck in order to make it playable and keeping the old neck in the case so that a “hang it on the wall” collector could fit it at a later date.

jellybelly

Flame_Guitars said:

Henrytwang said:

Interesting. I think that if you’d gone any further it would probably have been to far.

Yes, I'm well aware that the extent of any work done on an instrument of this age will be a contentious issue for many. I too could say much about this. In short, I think that a balance has to be struck between leaving the instrument as is and making it playable. With regards to bass shown in the film the damage to the back of the neck was such that you might have cut your hand on the splintered wood. So after some thought I decided to reshape the neck and make it playable. But I might have taken a different view if this was  Fender Jazz from the first year of production!

I think you did exactly the right thing - it was his dads guitar, he wanted to play it, there was no other way and maximising value wasn’t the order of the day.

Based on how many threads around here go along the lines of ‘vintage stuff is overpriced’ I’m surprised so many people are commenting on the loss of originality

Flame_Guitars

jellybelly said:

Flame_Guitars said:

Henrytwang said:

Interesting. I think that if you’d gone any further it would probably have been to far.

Yes, I'm well aware that the extent of any work done on an instrument of this age will be a contentious issue for many. I too could say much about this. In short, I think that a balance has to be struck between leaving the instrument as is and making it playable. With regards to bass shown in the film the damage to the back of the neck was such that you might have cut your hand on the splintered wood. So after some thought I decided to reshape the neck and make it playable. But I might have taken a different view if this was  Fender Jazz from the first year of production!

I think you did exactly the right thing - it was his dads guitar, he wanted to play it, there was no other way and maximising value wasn’t the order of the day.

Based on how many threads around here go along the lines of ‘vintage stuff is overpriced’ I’m surprised so many people are commenting on the loss of originality

Thanks mate, appreciate that. Having worked on many old guitars I am content with my approach. But it is worth hearing others peoples views on this matter. It is also worth pointing out that other restorers, such as painting restorers, have had a hundred years or so to develop a common understanding about sympathetic and appropriate restoration. In the guitar community this is relatively recent issue. Let's make the Fretboard a place where we can have a respectful discussion about this.

bacchanalian

I don't think you should just be content. You should be delighted with getting his Dad's guitar in to the condition he wanted it in. 
What would be the alternative? Tell him to run a duster over it and hang it on a wall?

markv

I think The Repair Shop is a sweet show and usually very interesting. In amongst the little clips they show at the beginning, a few weeks ago there was a brief glimpse of a guitar, so I'd been waiting for the show! Excellent job, I thought.

Having watched the show anyway for a couple of series now, I've always wondered ... do the experts do all the work in that barn, having to transport all your their tools to it? Or was most of your work actually done back at your workshop?

Flame_Guitars

All work is done at the barn. I've now made two repairs at the barn and the biggest challenge us not the repair but working out what tools and materials I need to take with me. Got caught out on the second repair and had to improvise . The resident experts are on site for about 4 months and have their tools at the barn.

iseverynamegone

Just watched it, never seen the show before but what a thoroughly decent watch. 

Congratulations on being involved, 

thegummy

That was good to watch, thanks for posting.

Great job!