Guitar clean up: Hohner JT60.

Niallmo

Bought this off eBay. Needed to be stripped and given a good clean and set up so I thought I'd document what I do as an amateur.

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It was generally a bit mucky, old, old strings. Not very well wound on the tuners. Pretty sure they were 12's, had a wound 3rd and I think the A string was same gauge as the bottom E! It just about tuned up. Had 5 springs on the trem, two originals, three newer.

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Not a lot of info about these on the web so didn't really know what I'd find. It felt quite well built and the neck felt good but the action was all over the place and it had quite a bit of relief in the neck so it was about 4mm above the 17th fret on all the strings.

I used Flash wipes to clean as much as I could before taking it apart!

First issue:

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I was a bit worried that it had a stripped thread on the neck but it closed fine when tightened. Usual paint cracks around the heel.

I took the strings off and removed the neck. I found a working micro tilt system. Nice!

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Not a lot of fret wear on the neck and not a lot of finger gunk. I wire wooled the neck to bring the frets back to life and remove any dirt and doused it with a liberal amount of lemon oil. The frets are dead straight and have plenty of life left in them. Forgot to take a pic of that bit!

So, strip the trem. Sung Il two point system. The height screws were mismatched in that the two lower height e string saddles were in random place on the third and fifth strings.

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You can see the accumulated dust and dirt properly under the trem. And around the cutaway.


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Niallmo

Under the hood:

Time to have a look under the 'plate.

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Generic Single coils. Lots of wires, the ATN circuit and only a little fading of the colour.

It looks like it's a sandwich body. Definite line in the routs about halfway down. It's also had the middle tone pot replaced with a full size 250k instead of a mini.

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At this point I want to get it playing so I'm leaving the wiring. I know it's wrong as the volume is acting as a tone!

Anyway. Give it another go with flash wipes, making sure to do the edges of the scratch plate. Strip the tuners out of the headstock and flash wipe it. Get the Pledge out and polish the body and neck. Check the hardware...everything looks ok. Give it a quick wipe and polish. Don't want it looking too bright and new!

Put everything back together....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/Niallmo/0B58D85B-E067-4644-9C07-BC63331BB52F_zpsyvc080ry.jpg

Now it needs strings and a set up which hopefully I can get done later tonight.
That lot took about two hours to take apart, clean and put back together. Essential in older and manky guitars and easily doable with a decent screwdriver or two and household cleaning materials!

Niallmo

Couple of other pics:

Neck gap on arrival with a small paint crack.

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Different view of the complex wiring.

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Corroded pots, I guess the middle one failed to completely and was replaced.

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It's quite heavy, big body! Now it's cleaned it looks like a very honest, well played guitar. Ageing nicely.

I've now got strings on it, looks like a replacement nut but seems well cut.

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I've used the micro-tilt to shim it a little to get some angle on the bridge saddles.

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Now comes the fiddly part of setting the trem, string heights.

Planet18

That's looking really good.

Do let us know about the electrics, I've heard of that ATN circuit, but not too sure what it is.

Andyjr1515

There's a fascinating section about the ATN circuit in Alan Entwistle's 'About' summary on his website here 

Planet18

Thanks, Andy - I'll have a read of that

Niallmo

I've read the entwistle site. Not many other references come up, at the moment I've worked out that the Middle tone is a blend for the Middle pick up. The lower tone seems to act as an ordinary tone but adds gain too. The volume should just be a volume but doesn't seem to do anything. I think it may have an extra wire soldered to it in error. In any case it sounds really good, the traditional strat second position is especially good and the bridge on its own is quite fat and Tele like.

HarrySeven

Niallmo

Yep, got that chart. I'm pretty sure the wiring in mine is 2/3 of the pots wrong. Doesn't appear to be a schematic for the JT60. Only one I can find is for a 5 way but it should'nt be too hard to translate it to the 3 way.

blueskunk

Wanted one for ages - well jell

Niallmo

I remember seeing them shortly after I started playing guitar. An Independent music shop in Liverpool, did loads of Hohner stuff. I think I bought a Rockwood by Hohner Tele there. They've been on the radar since then along with The Blonde. Never really looked into them until a few months ago when I bought a couple of Entwistle pickups and ended up reading his bio which of course mentions the Hohner professional series.

I've set this one up now. It's a quality guitar. The trem works fine, the pickups sound good and the neck is great. Quite wide, with a big but flattish back. Frets are ok, played but no big divots. Managed to get a decent action, pretty much the same as my other electrics. 1.75mm high E at 17th fret, 2mm low E.

I really like it, the body shape is very comfortable, better than a strat actually.

impmann

We had one in the shop I worked in during the mid 90s. They were an OK guitar, with interesting electronics, if a little fiddly to use, IMHO. But ultimately, we couldn't *give* the thing away - we had one of these and a Revelation, which was one of the ugliest guitars ever.

Like this:

Glad you like it, though - and its good to see someone actually bothering to sort one out.

Niallmo

I'm in contact with Alan Entwistle. He's a bit busy at the mo with the Revelation brand which has been resurrected but he's said he'll get back to me on the electronics. I really want a Blonde now. And an LP59 but they seem to be "collectors" prices. Someone needs to buy my Red Special, there's a Blonde on eBay at a decent price....

Niallmo

I'd also love to know how many JT60's had white pickguards as the overwhelming majority are tortoiseshell.

dchwhite

Think I've had four JT60s over the years now (one a 12-string). None were featherweights, but loved them - must get one again when I get a chance... Nice job on the clean-up

downsideup11

As a JT60 owner myself it's good to see your comments and pictures Niallmo - good work!

JookyChap

I bought one of those when they came out as a back up to my Jazzmaster at the time, and it was decent enough, though never got used in anger. 

The ATN was interesting and there were some really good tones from what I remember, although I don't think any of them actually sounded like it was meant to, though that could have been me to be fair. 

What I do remember is that mine had what has to be the worlds' worst tortie scratchplate. I remember fotocopying my jazzmaster one and putting that side-by-side with the Hohner one and even in black and white it looked more realistic.

Saying that, I keep looking at them on ebay when they come up - nice job