MJT Partcaster

This guitar was relisted 3 times on our used market. Its a MJT body in a tasty darkened Lake Placid Blue (i believe) with a Musikraft neck for the price of just $560. I had to ask the guy why it did not sell, this was a suberb deal where you get plenty pro-features.

He said he did not understand it either.. so i bought it from him. Primarily beacuse it has a nice thick C-shape neck. I have been moving on to thicker necks of late and i am selling a couple guitars with slimmer profiles.

The listing also said it had bootstrap pickups, Gotoh Tremolo and tuners, and that it had just been into to service at a shop.

Just all quality straight tru…

I usually trash-talk relic guitars, but i have to admit to all you boys and girls that i am a closeted relic lover.. But i only like lightly or very subte relic Strats. All those super heavy relics are stupid to me. I like some dings and nicks and some fade, but i will not buy those color-on-color heavy relics.. Ever…!! The decal was kinda cool, but they are not my thing.. On with the real stuff…

When i recieved it, i bust out my screwdriver and opened it up. Surely enough, Musikraft neck and all. Under the hood came the first cheap components, the pots were non-branded asian trash with needed muscles to rotate. They were so heavy on the torque that they were useless almost. Beside, the knobs did not sit well on them. Had to save them before the plastic got all grinded inside. These are also some tasty relic knobs too.

As for the Bootstrap, they were not Bootstrap at all, but Fender Pure Vintage ’59 instead. SCORE

These pickups were incredible bright, so if you want icepick sound, look into these. So yeah, more bang for the buck.

Whoever serviced this guitar should never be allowed. The tremolo mount screws was backed out at least 5 turns. Simply done with zero knowledge.i had to laugh..

I decided to sell a few sets of pickups, and the 59´s went as well. I bought a pickguard with Pribora pickups recently and a freeway switch. The Freeway went in this guitar with a set of Lollar Tweeds temporary. So it has 10 different sounds now… I thought it was neat to start with..

The Holly Handwounds:

I have been eyeballing pickups from Sarah Marie Holly for a while. So i finally bit the bullet and ordered some. The wife and husband team Holly´s sells old trinkets on Ebay and our mysterious miss Holly has a knack of winding old-looking pickups by using only 50’s methods of making pickups. Everything from winding technique, wire, laquered magnets and potting is done the old way. And the aging is so good that you will have a hard time telling them apart.

However, i wired back the 5-way switch. These super-switches by Freeway is not my thing. It just confuses me and make me fiddle to much with sound too much. So i yanked it out and put the 5-way back.

PICKING THE PICKGUARD

A week later, someone posted a Nitrate Celluloid pickguard for sale. Celluloid Nitrate guards was used by Fender from 1959 to 1963. These are the so called “greenguards”. Recent repros where made by Lashing who made one batch only in 2008 never to make them again and has since shut down as well as the Italian factory that made the Nitrate. The process of getting the material to the manufacture of these things are long and very costly.

You can read about these guard HERE
These though, are Crazyparts pickguard and sells for $300 new. This guard was intended for a guitar build by the seller but never materialised . So i copped it, And it was half price of $150.

I am not so easily drawn into spending silly money on parts, but you only live once so i thought… “Why not..” Nitrate guards can be hard to find.

I been speculating getting another rosewood neck from Musickraft anyway and this guitar just came all the sudden. So most likely a Rosewood neck but i am always confused with what neck shape i want. Not sure if i want the '52 shapes or not.. So i will spend a few weeks thinking hard before i drop an order.

Meanwhile, with this neck, It plays well. Might need a fret level in the upper register, but so far, killer player.

SPECS

BODY: MJT Relic in Lake Placid Blue (?) ($560)

NECK: Musicraft Roasted Maple neck with Chunky “C “.90-99

PICKUPS: 60’s Pickups from Sarah Marie Holly ($200)

TREMOLO: Gotoh GE101TS w/ Fender Pat.Pend Saddles (Aged) ($130)

SPRINGS: Raw Vintage ($20)

PICKGUARD: 3-Ply Nitrate Celluoid ($150)

KNOBS: Parchment white (Aged?)

TUNERS: Gotoh SD91 ($60)

POTS:: 3X CTS A250k Audio Taper ($25)

WIRING: Standard with Tone 2 also on Bridge

SWITCH: Oak Grigsby 5-Way

CAPS: 047uf Emerson

Parts with amount is what i have spent on top of the $560 that i paid for it