64 SG Jr

[msgdman]

Posted this in the intro section, love this guitar, it is in great shape, and sounds wonderful. Looking for any advice on cleaning a guitar this age, it has some gunk and grime on it.

 

[Chiseen]

This is what i've learned to do.. some of the steps below may not be suitable for your '64!!! Just use your own common sense if the advice looks wrong.. It works for my collection.

 

1. Loosen the strings.. if you take them off completely the bridge/tailpiece will be loose and you might adjust the bridge height by accident. You can Loosen 3 or four strings at a time and leave the others reasonably tight so they hold the bridge in place.

 

2. To clean the fingerboard. You can use lemon oil and a duster. This will be a long job if it's really gunked-up. You can use a razor blade to GENTLY take away the waxy deposits on the finger board, but be careful you don't scratch the wood. Probably best to take your time with the lemon oil. Especially on a '64.

 

3. To do a proper job on the fret wire, mask off the fingerboard with good quality masking tape (cheap stuff will leave behind glue!). Then get some zero wirewool and VERY GENTLY polish... alternatively, use the lemon oil and cloth, this is less abrasive.

 

4. Now you can choose to polish the bridge/tailpiece. To make it really shine you can take it off. Use the masking tape to secure the bridge screws in place so there is no adjustment of height and use BRASSO ( i don't know what it's called internationally). But don't use BRASSO while the bridge is on the guitar.. it's no good for the paint. You can probably use guitar polish for the same job and it's safer.

 

5. The paint: You can use a three-step restore/polish/protect set of creams if you like. Although, I think the 'Restore' acts a bit like T-CUT, so use it at your own risk.. I usually just polish my guitars with Dunlop 65. They have Caruba wax too. Make sure you use a high quality cloth for polishing. After a sweaty gig, use a microfibre ( like a glasses cloth or the one that comes with the macbokpro) cloth to wipe off the grease and sweat. This means that the grime doesn't build up so badly.

 

6. Before and after playing I use FASTFRET. This helps condition the strings and fingerboard.

 

I hope this is useful. The RAZORBLADE and WIREWOOL steps (2 and 3) will probably cause a stir on this forum. Like I said, if you are not okay with it.. DON'T do it, use a cloth and take more time. With more time, you'll get the same results.

 

(LEMON OIL cannot be used on Maple fingerboards.. it says on the bottle.)

[Tman5293]

The stuff I use on my 2008 SG is actually made for vintage guitars and made specifically for nitrocellulose finishes. The company is called Virtuoso. They make both a cleaner and a polish. The cleaner is made remove dirt, sweat, caked on waxes, skin oil, cigarette smoke, soda, and any other form of grime you can think of. Keep in mind that you have to use the cleaner before the polish. Otherwise the polish will just spread all the dirt around. The polish, which, unlike carnuba wax, does not build up on the finish. It helps make the finish more finger print resistant, and also provides UV protection. This helps avoid finish fading caused by direct sunlight.

 

However, this stuff kind of expensive and goes for about $10 a bottle. But trust me, it's top of the line and it makes the finish on my guitar so shiny i can see my reflection in it. You can get it at Guitar Center.

 

Here's a link to their website:

http://www.virtuosopolish.com/page3.php

[msgdman]

Here is a quick video of my 46 year old baby. Not much on the talent, but the guitar and amp make up for my crappy playing:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJfIKN2O2h0

[cabba2203]

Beautiful Guitar!

 

Is that the RR Signature Marshall?

[msgdman]

Beautiful Guitar!

 

Is that the RR Signature Marshall?

 

Nope, about $3000 less!!!

 

Bought a chassis from a Marshall 1977 JMP 50 Watt Master Volume combo amp on EBay. The chassis in the combo is the same as in a head (2204/2203). Bought a new white head cab on EBay and slid the chassis in. Painted a Marshall Logo black and attached it. Bought a beat up Marshall 1960 "B" cab and redid it in white tolex, and the result is a $1200 half stack that is every bit as good as the $4000 1959RR.

[cabba2203]

Nope' date=' about $3000 less!!!

 

Bought a chassis from a Marshall 1977 JMP 50 Watt Master Volume combo amp on EBay. The chassis in the combo is the same as in a head (2204/2203). Bought a new white head cab on EBay and slid the chassis in. Painted a Marshall Logo black and attached it. Bought a beat up Marshall 1960 "B" cab and redid it in white tolex, and the result is a $1200 half stack that is every bit as good as the $4000 1959RR.[/quote']

 

 

Now that's Genius!

I watched your video, the amp and guitar sound great together! Very cool!

[msgdman]

Here's how it looked, $700 for the chassis, $190 for the head cab:

 

 

 

Then put em together, and for under $900 I had this:

 

[msgdman]

I can get nice thick distortion out of it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwoI6l5N-gg

[cabba2203]

Very Nice!

[80LPC]

The trademark bright crunch of a JMP 50 MV What are the 2 extra pots for ?

[msgdman]

The trademark bright crunch of a JMP 50 MV What are the 2 extra pots for ?

 

I agree, I think the JMPs are a little hidden secret, and now that the 60's Plexi's are out of everyones price range, these 70's JMP's will be the next big collectors item. They are still reasonably priced.

 

Not sure what you mean about the pots, from left to right:

 

Presence / Bass / Middle / Treble / Master Volume / Pre-Amp Volume

 

The extra volume pot is what gives it all that bite, I dime the Pre-Amp volume at 10, and bring the Master up to about 2 and get tons of gain.

[80LPC]

With the 2 knobs placed on the chassis, I thought it had been modded.

 

I usually have the preamp between 4 and 7 - it's amazing how much crunch is on tap.

 

[msgdman]

I looked back at the picture and figured out that was what you were looking at. Yes, I was swapping out the standard black combo amp knobs for ones that would go on a head and was just setting them there.