Need help from F-100 owners

I am looking at a very early 9/80 F-100, but it has two issues that are concerning me, one the headstock mark is missing, and secondly I am wondering if the paint has had a refin due to the neck pocket being painted (though it is being claimed as the orig finish. Pictures below, has anyone seen anything similar?

The body is definitely a refin. It shouldn't have paint in the pocket. The neck has the correct tuners for an early one, but is missing the "birthmark". I just checked mine from January '81, and there is nothing in the photo suggesting a screw hole in the right place.

Ken

Echoes,

I hope Fred the Finisher is around to answer your second question (although I have my suspicion what the answer will be). On your first question though, if this is an early F-100, it should still have a skunk stripe. Unfortunately your pic is cropped on the left side so I think it is just not visible. These necks were made differently so no birthmark is present. The tuning machine and slot pole pieces all look correct for early an F-100 so no worries there.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

Jos,

My '81 F-100 has a skunk strip and a birthmark. I can't get to my other skunk-stripe G&Ls at the moment, but I have one photo of my '80 L-1000 that does not show a visible birthmark. I will try to dig the bass out tomorrow to check.

Ken

Here's my early 80's F-100 and note that a previous own replaced the Schaller tuners with Grovers and you can clearly
see both birthmark dots and the skunk stripe neck:



Echoes, does this neck have the skunk stripe and, as Jos mentions, it is out of view?


I'd like to see a photo of the front of the headstock showing the decals. Echoes, do you have any photos showing this?

Jos,

My '81 F-100 has a skunk strip and a birthmark. I can't get to my other skunk-stripe G&Ls at the moment, but I have one photo of my '80 L-1000 that does not show a visible birthmark. I will try to dig the bass out tomorrow to check.

Ken

My October '80 F-100 (neck) does not:


- Jos

Jos,

My '81 F-100 has a skunk strip and a birthmark. I can't get to my other skunk-stripe G&Ls at the moment, but I have one photo of my '80 L-1000 that does not show a visible birthmark. I will try to dig the bass out tomorrow to check.

Ken

My October '80 F-100 (neck) does not:


- Jos

I checked Greg Gagliano's G&L pages (http://www.ggjaguar.com/) and looked at his photos for L-1000's and F-100's. Both of his photos of the 1980 instruments don't appear
to have the visible birthmark dot, while his photos of the 1981 instruments do show that birthmark dot. I had not noticed this before.

I had an email exchange with Echoes earlier today and he mentioned the neck date was 9/18/1980, so if that neck under question has the skunk stripe and the decals are original,
it might just be the original neck.

To add to the data-
my early F-100 (G000893) has no birthmarks (and a skunk stripe) .

(Did the 70's Musicmans have pin-router marks ?)

Jos,

My '81 F-100 has a skunk strip and a birthmark. I can't get to my other skunk-stripe G&Ls at the moment, but I have one photo of my '80 L-1000 that does not show a visible birthmark. I will try to dig the bass out tomorrow to check.

Ken

My October '80 F-100 (neck) does not:


- Jos

aha, well that answers the birthmark question, but still not the finish one, is your neck pocket painted?

And to some others, yes it has the skunk stripe.

Also, since people asked



Though I'm not worried about the neck dot anymore since hearing that the 1980 ones do not seem to have it.

But I definitely need to get an answer on the paint.

But I definitely need to get an answer on the paint.

Ken wrote this in one of the posts above:

The body is definitely a refin. It shouldn't have paint in the pocket. ...

You might have missed that one in between all the discussions about the birthmark and the pretty neck pics

Just for comparison, this is what the pocket looks like for my (mahogany) F-100:

With all that paint in your pocket, it is hard to see what the body wood is on yours although I suspect ash.

- Jos

But I definitely need to get an answer on the paint.

Ken wrote this in one of the posts above:

The body is definitely a refin. It shouldn't have paint in the pocket. ...

You might have missed that one in between all the discussions about the birthmark and the pretty neck pics

Just for comparison, this is what the pocket looks like for my (mahogany) F-100:

With all that paint in your pocket, it is hard to see what the body wood is on yours although I suspect ash.

- Jos

I actually did see Ken's response, but apparently the 81's and 80's aren't quite the same, so I am hoping another 80 owner can tell me what their pocket is like.

they had a plate that bolted to the body to hold it for paint .... hence "no paint in the neck pocket" will still stand true ... it's a re-finish

Echoes,
It would be nice to see a pic of the entire body. The finish has been redone or at least touched up. Even if the finish were to have been touched up in the factory, the final assemblers would have cleaned out the neck pocket. This was not done in the shop. It still looks like you have a nice instrument.
Fred

Echoes,
It would be nice to see a pic of the entire body. The finish has been redone or at least touched up. Even if the finish were to have been touched up in the factory, the final assemblers would have cleaned out the neck pocket. This was not done in the shop. It still looks like you have a nice instrument.
Fred

Thanks Fred, I was hoping you might chime in on this one. The refin looks good, but I am not in possession of this yet, I am looking at buying it, but currently the price is way too high since it is a refin. Not sure if they will budge or not as they believed it to be the original paint.

(Did the 70's Musicmans have pin-router marks ?)

My '77 Stingray doesn't have any on the headstock that I can see.

Ken

Thanks Ken.

I found this pic of an early F-100 neck pocket :

I really do appreciate all the help. It looks like I am going to pass as the owner won't lower the price even though it is a refin, too bad too... the search continues!