CursesFoiled from Michael Christian Gaudet, since 2007.

For my 1960 Jazzmaster guitar, I finally found a vintage white celluloid pickguard of the right year for it to wear. It came to me from Scotland via eBay.

Photo © 2013.

I’d been using a Fender American Vintage Reissue replacement pickguard since I had the guitar refinished a few years ago. Although it wouldn’t look any different, I was anxious to get the real deal pickguard onto the guitar. The only issues were that the vintage guard had one small break and was painted over. The break adds character, but I can’t abide the paint.

These old early-60′s celluloid white guards are called “mint green” because they turn a shade of green as they oxidize. Somebody had painted this one white to recapture the original color, but then the paint started yellowing over the years. That’s where I swooped in to rescue it. The old pickguards are practically unaffordable unless you find one that’s got issues like this. The mint green has more charm than the paint, but to reveal it would take some work.

Continue reading →

Fender Visitor Center, Corona, CA. Photo © 2012.

I made a special trip this October to pay homage to guitar-maker Leo Fender, the originator of the Stratocaster electric guitar and other saintly miracles like the Jazzmaster. I went to California to take the tour that Fender offers at its current Corona guitar factory near Los Angeles.

The Fender Visitor Center, which is the public lobby for the factory, had an impressive display of most of their current guitars, surrounded by reproductions of memorabilia from over 60 years of guitar selling history, but the gold for me was in the factory tour.

Continue reading →

Opry in Nashville. Photo © 2012.

Opree in Saskatchewan. Photo © 2012.

One summer Saturday morning (August 4th, 2012), I left home in New York and flew up to Saskatchewan, Canada, to visit my family. My Aunt Linda’s new husband Garth had a magnificent prairie barn with a converted hay loft made out for dancing and a stage for a country band. They had a hand painted sign that read “THE GRN OLE OPREE.” After dancing and singing that night at my aunt’s country wedding reception, I had to get back quickly to the United States and go to Crawfordsville, Indiana, to deliver book files to the printer RRD Donnelley. This was for a project I was working on for Little, Brown and Company. A very long road trip ensued on Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday, I was even farther south, in Nashville, for more book production work. At this point, after many driving miles with very little sleep, I couldn’t resist visiting the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, the stage at the Ryman Auditorium. Two Oprys on the same trip! Technically, I did see the newer Opryland, the location of the newest Grand Ole Opry, too, so it was three, I think. But I lost count.

Photo © 2012. “Lumberjack” Breakfast Version, left. “Lumberjack” Poutine Version, right.

As a Canadian living in the United States, I consider the 1st of July (Canada’s “Dominion Day”) as an opportunity to celebrate my Canadian heritage and share Canadiana with my American friends. I’ll name drop northern legends like David Suzuki, Anthony Henday, P.K. Page, and Cordell Barker for blank looks. It’s also my birthday.

So, along these lines, I feel the need to do at least one thing “Canadian” for my birthday if I’m stuck in the United States. I had discovered that there was excellent French-Canadian Poutine to be found in Brooklyn at a Montreal-inspired diner called Mile End, and lunch there for Poutine with Smoked Pork on a previous July 1st was delicious.

For 2012, I decided to make something “Canadian” for myself. I pondered building a Poutine sandwich… is that possible? I’d try. I coined it “The Lumberjack.” I planned it for a couple of weeks, daydreaming of a Canadian sandwich to end all sandwiches. I finally settled on a basic foundation, a French Toast “Monte Cristo-style” sandwich, with Canadian Bacon and Cheese Curds. French Toast substitutes for the French Fries. Then it gets better with Breakfast (sweet) or Poutine (savory) variations. And it works.

I found all the ingredients throughout Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill over a few days. Cheese curds are the hardest to find in NYC, while Saskatoon Jam has to come from Canada, and sometimes you just need a lil’ jar of Heinz gravy instead of making a pot roast just for the drippings. Lumberjack instructions follow…

Continue reading →

Photo © 2013.

In 2010, it was my 1960 Fender Jazzmaster restoration, but in 2011 it was a ’63 Jaguar that I brought back to life. It started with an original body and neck, but no original hardware. The neck was oversprayed with new finish, starting to front bow (from being unstrung for too many years), and had been treated badly in the past. The body had been professionally refinished, but had new deep scratches, and was drilled for tune-o-matic bridge posts. It was going to take some work. I was going to need to resource everything else from 1963.

Continue reading →

My thanks to OffsetGuitars.com for being a wonderful source of collective information and guidance, as well as to Jim Shine, for his “Intricacies of the Fender Jazzmaster” webpage, a great reference. Special thanks to everyone who helped me directly.

In 2010, I began to repair and restore a 1960 Jazzmaster, starting from an old chestnut of a body and using original 1960 components. While the guitar is was not fully restored with 100% original parts, its close to 95% original, and it’s now relatively complete as a Jazzmaster after some months of work.

Photo © 2010.

When I first received the vintage body, it was missing its coat of paint. Its original Sunburst paint had been covered over with Dakota Red many years ago, and then Olympic White, and then it was partially stripped down to the bare wood, but then finally abandoned at the white primer stage and left very rough. Also, several of the tail piece screws were lost in their holes (with broken off heads and with no easy way to remove them.) Additionally, it required a replacement neck. So, I set an agenda to have the body repaired and refinished in Inca Silver, an original Fender custom color from 1960, and saw about getting a new replica neck with a matching headstock.
Continue reading →