Anyone had a set up from J White Guitars in Ash Vale?

Offset

^^ Bloody hell.  That's bonkers.  I'd heard a few tales but strewth...

darthed1981

p90fool said:

This is bollocks, my 63 strat just needed a refret and that was all that the then owner asked for. 
It came back with a refinished neck, a different, homemade Fender logo, he'd dug out the clay dots and replaced them with pearloid ones, changed the scratch plate (he was fond of burning the originals as they gave off a pretty green flame) and painted the pickup covers with what looked like Tippex. 

He did exactly the same neck work on my mate's 62 Precision, again unasked for. 

Of course they were worth less in those days, but he wasn't carrying out customers' wishes, he was just mental. 

They might not have been fine vintage guitars, but they were much loved second hand guitars he was butchering without consent. 

Fuck me.  

Instant honest reaction, that's really bad.

guitars4you

darthed1981 said:

p90fool said:

This is bollocks, my 63 strat just needed a refret and that was all that the then owner asked for. 
It came back with a refinished neck, a different, homemade Fender logo, he'd dug out the clay dots and replaced them with pearloid ones, changed the scratch plate (he was fond of burning the originals as they gave off a pretty green flame) and painted the pickup covers with what looked like Tippex. 

He did exactly the same neck work on my mate's 62 Precision, again unasked for. 

Of course they were worth less in those days, but he wasn't carrying out customers' wishes, he was just mental. 

They might not have been fine vintage guitars, but they were much loved second hand guitars he was butchering without consent. 

Fuck me.  

Instant honest reaction, that's really bad.

It reminds me of a cringe moment a few years ago at the Manchester Guitar Show - Customer wanting to sell an early 60's Strat - So of course we all want a look 

The lacquered rosewood fingerboard instantly made you cringe - It just got worse the more you looked at it - After a longer evaluation and a chat it was confirmed that is was a J Birch 'restoration' carried out in the early 70's 

Lacquered boards was a common JB mod - See it on many SG's as well as a few with his 'super flux' p/up changes - Look at Slade for such work 

p90fool

Yep, he lacquered mine too. 

WezV

guitars4you said:

Lacquered boards was a common JB mod - See it on many SG's as well as a few with his 'super flux' p/up changes - Look at Slade for such work 

He liked to bury those frets in lacquer, I'm sure he saw it as an improvement.

My JB Les Paul was massively improved by stripping the stupidly thick lacquer that covered everything, and refinishing in a thin coat of nitro.   I did this as it was badly damaged and most of the lacquer was already falling off in razor blade sharp flakes.  It's also been changed to normal wiring with a varitone and kill switch filling the extra holes. 

Offset

p90fool said:

Yep, he lacquered mine too. 

I didn't think it could actually get worse, but holy crap...

OilCityPickups

p90fool said:

OilCityPickups said:

WezV said:

simonhpieman said:

Offset said:

^^ Fair point @darthed1981 - but there a few unhappy bunnies on here which would suggest this isn't an isolated incident.

My memory is crap but wasn't it John Birch who similarly ploughed ahead and did his own thang regardless of what the customer wanted?!  Happy to be corrected.

John Birch was nothing more than a butcher who did whatever the hell he wanted before giving a guitar back in a VERY different state, possibly with different parts (not limited to small parts but necks and bodies, too!). He'd have been long out of business if the Fretboard had been a thing back then! Absolute madman and egotist.

My mind is going blank now but I'm sure I've met someone who had a guitar looked at by him that didn't end well...

J White is certainly surrounded by echoes of J Birch, that's for sure.

I have a soft spot for JB because of his place in British Guitar history.  His mods are usually bad, his factory guitars are usually pretty good apart from a few additions of body filler hiding under paint.  His custom builds are all over the place.


It's easy to get blinkered when working on guitars - the ones you see are heavily skewed towards the examples with problems, and it's easy to forget there are still a lot of good examples out there.  Many lean into this to say how much better they are than the big factories.  I'm fairly sure JB saw himself as fixing all those issues. We now see it differently, but almost all of his ideas are based on the issues he saw musicians as having at the time.

I too have a soft spot for JB ... I've played quite a few of his own guitars and always quite enjoyed the experience. People now see him as butchering f'ine, old vintage guitars' - but at the time they were just ratty old guitars that didn't do what the customer wanted.   

This is bollocks, my 63 strat just needed a refret and that was all that the then owner asked for. 
It came back with a refinished neck, a different, homemade Fender logo, he'd dug out the clay dots and replaced them with pearloid ones, changed the scratch plate (he was fond of burning the originals as they gave off a pretty green flame) and painted the pickup covers with what looked like Tippex. 

He did exactly the same neck work on my mate's 62 Precision, again unasked for. 

Of course they were worth less in those days, but he wasn't carrying out customers' wishes, he was just mental. 

They might not have been fine vintage guitars, but they were much loved second hand guitars he was butchering without consent. 

You are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine, but perhaps you might like to wind in your aggression level. :-)

Philly_Q

p90fool said:
.....my 63 strat just needed a refret and that was all that the then owner asked for. 

It came back with a refinished neck, a different, homemade Fender logo, he'd dug out the clay dots and replaced them with pearloid ones, changed the scratch plate (he was fond of burning the originals as they gave off a pretty green flame) and painted the pickup covers with what looked like Tippex. 

He did exactly the same neck work on my mate's 62 Precision, again unasked for. 

Of course they were worth less in those days, but he wasn't carrying out customers' wishes, he was just mental. 

They might not have been fine vintage guitars, but they were much loved second hand guitars he was butchering without consent. 

@p90fool did you restore it to something more closely resembling original specs, or is it still in that state?

guitars4you

WezV said:

guitars4you said:

Lacquered boards was a common JB mod - See it on many SG's as well as a few with his 'super flux' p/up changes - Look at Slade for such work 

He liked to bury those frets in lacquer, I'm sure he saw it as an improvement.

My JB Les Paul was massively improved by stripping the stupidly thick lacquer that covered everything, and refinishing in a thin coat of nitro.   I did this as it was badly damaged and most of the lacquer was already falling off in razor blade sharp flakes.  It's also been changed to normal wiring with a varitone and kill switch filling the extra holes. 

Good that you have such skills that can carry out such work as a project ands seriously upgrade it, albeit player grade - Which are often better players 

p90fool

Philly_Q said:

p90fool said:
.....my 63 strat just needed a refret and that was all that the then owner asked for. 

It came back with a refinished neck, a different, homemade Fender logo, he'd dug out the clay dots and replaced them with pearloid ones, changed the scratch plate (he was fond of burning the originals as they gave off a pretty green flame) and painted the pickup covers with what looked like Tippex. 

He did exactly the same neck work on my mate's 62 Precision, again unasked for. 

Of course they were worth less in those days, but he wasn't carrying out customers' wishes, he was just mental. 

They might not have been fine vintage guitars, but they were much loved second hand guitars he was butchering without consent. 

@p90fool did you restore it to something more closely resembling original specs, or is it still in that state?

@Philly_Q  ;;I just played it for 36 years or so then sold it to V&R in 2018, who said "Butcher Birch!" the second they opened the case

It's the one on the right.



It sounded good though, even just running through the pickup settings with a crappy practice amp.



Sorry for the highjack OP!

digitalscream

Good lord, that logo looks like a 5yr old made it.

EduardoFalicioni

Politely pointing out to all; that this isn’t a John birch thread and I’d politely suggest that it’s corrupting / derailing the original intent of the thread. 

This should be for people to share the good, bad and in my case; ugly… about J whites; so people can make a somewhat informed decision as to whether they wish to procure his services 

victorludorum

EduardoFalicioni said:

Politely pointing out to all; that this isn’t a John birch thread and I’d politely suggest that it’s corrupting / derailing the original intent of the thread. 

This should be for people to share the good, bad and in my case; ugly… about J whites; so people can make a somewhat informed decision as to whether they wish to procure his services 

I'm going to vote 'no' for his services. Good luck with the follow-up :-)

EduardoFalicioni

Unfortunately- I’m starting to find ongoing comms over remediation painful 

Offset

EduardoFalicioni said:

Politely pointing out to all; that this isn’t a John birch thread and I’d politely suggest that it’s corrupting / derailing the original intent of the thread. 

This should be for people to share the good, bad and in my case; ugly… about J whites; so people can make a somewhat informed decision as to whether they wish to procure his services 

Fair point, and I'll hold up my hand and admit I raised the spectre of Mr Birch 

EduardoFalicioni

As dialogue continues; it turns out that they countersunk the large over sized holes erroneously drilled in the body, but didn’t countersink the neck insert holes liked I’d ask - it all continues to boggle the mind 

enjo

Are you sure you mean countersink?
I'm not quite following from the pictures what could have been countersunk with the inserts. I'm shocked at how someone could go that far wrong regardless.

Example below:


Thanks for the heads up anyway, it means I won't be tempted by his services at any point as he is very near by.

EduardoFalicioni

enjo said:

Are you sure you mean countersink?
I'm not quite following from the pictures what could have been countersunk with the inserts. I'm shocked at how someone could go that far wrong regardless.

Example below:


Thanks for the heads up anyway, it means I won't be tempted by his services at any point as he is very near by.

Yep - the erroneously drilled holes in the body in which the neck inserts were installed received a pronounced countersink - which apparently is why they look so big in my photos earlier in the thread. The inserts at the neck heels conversely were not counter sunk as requested, thus causing the mounding and damage pictured. 

It further blows my mind as to how there wasn’t even consistency of approach. There’s mistake and inexplicable decision on top of mistake
ans inexplicable decision 

victorludorum

So any dowel repair will need to be even wider now because of the countersink.

EduardoFalicioni

Yes, and they are at present telling me that they won’t be drilling and doweling to the width of the countersink - they proposed either to leave the counter sink or to use filler