"dream guitar" or self delusion?

FuseG4

FuseG4

Our Neighbor Totoro
Occasionally one of my "dream guitars" pops up on eBay and I can't usually afford to jump when it does.
The thing is it's a jazzmaster, cij, with a very limited paint job that I find SUPER GOOD LOOKING. It's a metallic blue they called "Jupiter blue" with a white competition stripe.
Other than that it's a standard cij jazzmaster. Basswood, "fake" jazzmaster pickups that are really more like strat pickups in jazzmaster covers, all that.
I've got a squier jazzmaster and I really like it.

I kinda love my jazzmaster and really just wish it had that paint job.
So... I would be delusional to occasionally think about selling my gear or taking a loan out over a paint job right?

I'm starting to think about looking for someone who could refinish my Squire. Sure it would double the price I paid for the guitar but I'm pretty in love with having a Jupiter blue w/ competition stripe JM, it MUST happen before I die. But it's this delusional too? It's certainly cheaper than trading up to a $1000 used guitar that I can't play before I buy because the guitar was Japan only.
No one hears the color of your guitar, but in my vain ways I know I pick up the guitar more if I love how it looks.
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

If it's "THE ONE" and you're sure, spend away. Even custom shop guitars from boutique luthiers don't even come close to cool car, boat, new home, vacation to Hawaii $. Once you buy it it only needs new strings and will more than likely not go down in value like most other things.

A person only spends so much time on the right side of the dirt, if you've had this itch for years, do what it takes and make it happen.

P.S. I've never played a Japanese custom guitar that wasn't b@da$$, one of them that even the best from Gibson custom couldn't touch.
 
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Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

CIJ Jazzmaster prices are 100% ridiculous. Also, a lot of CIJ colors don't look correct (or good) to me in person; too garish, almost as if I'm looking at a photo with mis-adjusted white balance and saturation, a lot of really harsh colors that seem too bright and edgy vs. what they're supposed to be.

In my opinion the Squier has much better pickups out of the box, and the hardware quality is just about equal (as in, I've had as many faulty CIJ trems as I have Squier trems; they both need replacement. The most obvious difference will probably be body weight; I like the Squier necks more in all honesty.

So I say go ahead and paint it. Or if this is your "dream" guitar, dream of an American or (recently quite awesome) Mexican Jazzmaster before you dream CIJ. I dislike CIJ Fenders on a good day, but a lot of their faults are even more obvious on Jazzmasters.
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Thundermtn said:
If it's "THE ONE" and you're sure, spend away. Even custom shop guitars from boutique luthiers don't even come close to cool car, boat, new home, vacation to Hawaii $. Once you buy it it only needs new strings and will more than likely not go down in value like most other things.

A person only spends so much time on the right side of the dirt, if you've had this itch for years, do what it takes and make it happen.
Click to expand...
Yeah I know what you mean. The guitar in question only seems to go up in value, I used to see them asking $800 when I first started watching them years ago, now it's never less than $1k. If I get the real thing at least it's a lasting object that's not depreciating
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

The hardest part of getting a specific paint job is getting the color match correct. If you have access to any guitar with that color, you can take it to any autobody shop and go through their paint chips/camera matching system. Chips are preferable, btw. Then you can go to an autobody paint supply store and have them mix it for you. If you dont have spray equipment, the store can actually make up spraycans for you.

From there, the rest of the process is tedious but quite easy. If you want to refinish your own guitar, I'd be happy to walk you through the process. It would save you lots of $$ and you get the sense of accomplishment that comes from doing it yourself
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

If you buy it and don't like it, it'll sell for about the same as you paid. Plus you'll have exact color match in your hands for a re-paint of a guitar you know you like.

Either way the answer is really so simple I should've smacked myself for typing so many words.

Always buy more guitars! LOL
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Taz Rules said:
The hardest part of getting a specific paint job is getting the color match correct. If you have access to any guitar with that color, you can take it to any autobody shop and go through their paint chips/camera matching system. Chips are preferable, btw. Then you can go to an autobody paint supply store and have them mix it for you. If you dont have spray equipment, the store can actually make up spraycans for you.

From there, the rest of the process is tedious but quite easy. If you want to refinish your own guitar, I'd be happy to walk you through the process. It would save you lots of $$ and you get the sense of accomplishment that comes from doing it yourself
Click to expand...

I've actually done this once, I took a Yamaha Pacifica down bare wood with block sanding and redid it in Dakota Red reranch nitro. It took three weeks including letting it dry and I might have rushed it and it came out kinda like a Gibson Satin nitro but it was fun.
Still, the hard part was going down to bare wood but I know this is not necessary.

Also getting a real sample to color match is very difficult. The finish was only used on a few Japanese models for a special run.
The dark blue on an Epiphone around the edge of a blue burst lp is very close, but needs metal flake.
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Is the Squier body standard? Or is it goofy like the bullet / affinity models? If it’s normal, maybe get a body from warmoth, allparts, etc. and find someone to paint that? Then you can slowly Johnny Cash One Piece at a Time it until you have a really killer guitar. And in the meantime you have your color.

I understand, I just love Blue Ice Metallic Strats, so when I found the one I just had to make it happen.
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

PFDarkside said:
Is the Squier body standard? Or is it goofy like the bullet / affinity models? If it’s normal, maybe get a body from warmoth, allparts, etc. and find someone to paint that? Then you can slowly Johnny Cash One Piece at a Time it until you have a really killer guitar. And in the meantime you have your color.

I understand, I just love Blue Ice Metallic Strats, so when I found the one I just had to make it happen.
Click to expand...
Yeah the squire body is normal thickness and all that, so yeah I could get a warmoth body and that would actually be a real upgrade, Alder is for me the fender sound when it comes to JM but I've gotten so used to how my particular slab of basswood sounds,
 
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Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Your delusional

If the one you have is great
Just rattle can it close as possible
And wrap tape on it for stripes

If you kinda like it
The spray paint will come off with the same solvent that removes the poly

That purple reddish blue is what ibanez calls Jewel Blue
Toyota calls it something else. I'll update this post with the color number from my trucks sticker

Body shop or paint supply should be able to match it right up
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Decent point on resale. The Squier basswood body is super-light (I'll have to measure but I think it's also a mm below standard thickness or so.) it also dings and strips screws easily. In my opinion that is the biggest gain of the Japanese guitars. In almost every other respect I actually prefer the VM Squier.
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

ehdwuld said:
Your delusional

If the one you have is great
Just rattle can it close as possible
And wrap tape on it for stripes

If you kinda like it
The spray paint will come off with the same solvent that removes the poly

That purple reddish blue is what ibanez calls Jewel Blue
Toyota calls it something else. I'll update this post with the color number from my trucks sticker

Body shop or paint supply should be able to match it right up
Click to expand...
Thank you this helps!
I really might do it this way I'm sure I can get it to look good if I take my time. The more I think about it the more it sounds like fun.
If I screw up I can try again or farm it out
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Silence Kid said:
Decent point on resale. The Squier basswood body is super-light (I'll have to measure but I think it's also a mm below standard thickness or so.) it also dings and strips screws easily. In my opinion that is the biggest gain of the Japanese guitars. In almost every other respect I actually prefer the VM Squier.
Click to expand...
And yes it certainly does ding and strip easily, not sure about body thickness being slim, all I know is that any real strat neck seems to swap in no prob
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

Started looking at Jewel blue Ibanez and that does look correct! Makes me feel better about rattle canning if it's a color I can grab without huge hassle
 
Re: "dream guitar" or self delusion?

PFDarkside said:
Is the Squier body standard? Or is it goofy like the bullet / affinity models? If it’s normal, maybe get a body from warmoth, allparts, etc. and find someone to paint that? Then you can slowly Johnny Cash One Piece at a Time it until you have a really killer guitar. And in the meantime you have your color.

I understand, I just love Blue Ice Metallic Strats, so when I found the one I just had to make it happen.
Click to expand...

I vote for this. Then put everything else on to that body. Then gradually upgrade everything until you can reassemble the original guitar and also have a complete new one! :-D
 
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