Previous owner purchased this in 1981 - Big Dudes Guitar in Joplin, MO. 1986 original pickups were removed and installed DiMarzio PAF neck pickup and DiMarzio Invader pickup in the bridge. To do this, the previous owner enlisted the help of a master machinist mill out a portion of the receiver to accept the pickups. Also tapped holes for socket heads to mount the pickups. The original brass nut was replaced with a graphite nut, and the knobs and toggle switch cap have been replaced.
I will be restoring the guitar to its original state by filling the receiver gap with aluminum and reinstalling the original pickups (luckily they were included in the purchase). I will also be replacing the knobs, cap and nut to return it back into stock condition.
Receiver cavity serial number was unfortunately milled out. Serial is visible in the head stock and in pen below the bridge on the neck. Also, serial is visible on the wood under the bridge. A visible marker 'S' is written in the receiver.
Restoration 8/14/10:
Had to build up the area where the receiver was milled out to accept. Went to a few machine shops and finally had one that was willing to cut 4 pieces of T6061. After receiving the pieces, I glued them into the receiver.
Next was to tie into the bridge pickup lead. As you can see in the photos, the bridge pickup was cut extremely short (3/4") tail. I used similar teflon pickup lead to tie to. I kept the lead long so I could remove the pickup without stressing out the connection close to the actual pickup. I cleaned out all the non-original wiring in the electronics area and things cleaned up nicely.
I replaced the toggle switch cap with Gibson white toggle switch cap. The knobs were replaced with original (previously used) bottle top knobs.
I replaced some of the electronic cavity cover screws. I also replaced 4 string height adjustment set screws in the pole pieces since they were either stripped or rusted.
The final piece remaining is to replace the graphite nut with a brass nut.. which should happen this week.
Pot Codes:
Only two codes are clearly visible:
Neck Tone Pot: JK1944 - 1377619
Bridge Volume Pot: 13776..
Looks like CTS pots that were created on the 19th week of 1976.
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