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So I decided I wanted to get some better microphones and maybe do so by freeing up some funds I have in gear I'm not really using. On the chopping block were my Alternate Reality XII and Nord Electro 2 61. I got one lowball offer on the XII, followed by a trade offer for a blue vintera jaguar. Hoping it wasn't the sonic blue I said maybe...I wasn't really wanting to trade but what he sent photos of was my ideal Jaguar....the same one that keeps catching my eye in the musiciansfriend/sweetwater banner ads, only upgraded with a staytrem bridge and mint pickguard. It was my birthday, I wanted to gift myself a new guitar without spending anything. I was a little on the fence because the honeymoon wasn't really over with the Tele I just built but fuuuuuck, I used it at practice tonight and now I just wish I had got one sooner. This may have also scratched my Jazzmaster itch because frankly this is just so good to play. I might be kicking myself when the XII reissues are like $2k on reverb in 6 months but here it is:





So now I have a Mustang and a Jaguar, feel like I finally belong on this forum haha.

Very much Happy Birthday!

That is a pretty amazing looking Jag!

Stunner. What are the details on that? Love the matching headstock.

dots wrote:Stunner. What are the details on that? Love the matching headstock.

Thanks, it's one of these:

http://www.fender.com/en-US/electric-g ... 73300.html

Beauty.

I'm not normally a fan of mint guards at all (looks more parchment-y tho?), but it looks so good in this context; it really complements it, rather than being this big goofy anomaly like on this seasick Strat
A real beauty, Nick; happy birthday indeed!

Doog wrote:rather than being this big goofy anomaly like on this seasick Strat

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A real beauty, Nick; happy birthday indeed!

^ too much surf music?

Doog wrote:big goofy anomaly like on this seasick Strat

hahahahaha

Mint guards only look good if everything else is mint too. This whole “cream covers and knobs with mint guard� thing that has started happening is wrong and looks bad.

That Jag is perfect, in any case.

Mint guard is a result of natural aging of some protoplastic pickguard materials that were used on early strats as I understand it. Vintage beat up sunburst strats with mint guard are sexy to jerk off look at. New guitars with mint guards look horrible more often than not. By the way, with all the cream guitars that have appeared in the last decade to cater to vintage tastes of the contemporary generation of guitarists I all of a sudden like these cheap blidingly white strats in thick poly finishes with blidingly white guards. They look like an insult and don't give a shit about your feelings.


The Jag is one of the best looking Jags, looks really, really nice

Welcome to the OTM crew, let me show you through to the tort lounge...

benecol wrote:Welcome to the OTM crew, let me show you through to the tort lounge...

I do have the original tort pickguard with it should I ever feel like changing it up. I‘m liking the cleaner mint look right now though.

Tort looks shite. Always. Even the apparently really good tort. That looks shite too.

Mint is the best shade of parchment, which is the best shade of white, which is a viable alternative to black, which is the other pickguard colour.

Imma gonna make a tort Jaguar with a mutharapearl pickguard.

plopswagon wrote:Imma gonna make a tort Jaguar with a mutharapearl pickguard.

Firstly I’m LIVID at everyone up in here subtweeting my mint guards on my VM Jaguar and Thinline telecaster (surf green) but I LOVE that guitar

Beautiful and the bridge is a winner too - I love mine

Looks like a proper guitar

Rules

When I stay at a really nice hotel I expect a mint guard on pillow.

sunshiner wrote:Mint guard is a result of natural aging of some protoplastic pickguard materials that were used on early strats as I understand it.

The '50s Strats had protoplastic, potted material like "bakelite" which had covers and knobs that would yellow ahead of the pickguard. The reissues of these take this into account with just a mix of white pickguard and cream everything else.
On the '59/60s stuff the Strat got all new plastic parts which actually were off-white with a very subtle greenish tint to begin with, and they've darkened over time. These covers and knobs still aged slightly more yellow than the guard on the originals. The reissue color takes the age into account by going fullblown pistachio ice cream, but the vintage ones weren't bright white like a late '60s/'70s Strat guard (which basically just removed the green from the equation and if they aged they went in more of a "cream" direction than green).

On the subject of things changing hue though, the lacquer clearcoat on the entire rest of the guitar invariably yellowed... so the finish and neck maple was all different to the reissues as well. I find the idea of looking past an amber tinted neck/headstock just to go "hey pickguard did Fungus the Bogeyman wipe his arse with you lol" is a bit of a double-standard. I'd rather have a bright white pickguard than a bright white maple neck though, so my sense of priorities would kick in when the going gets tough.