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A friend brought this Jaguar by asking if I could "clean it up". It belongs to her Dad who is in a nursing home at age 88 and she would like to display it at his pending funeral. I've build the Palen archtop acoustics for about 15 years now but have very little experience with solid bodies. Would like some advice on cleaning the various hardware pieces as to what type of cleaner/polish etc. I realize that it's not going to look like a new guitar just want to do justice to the many years that it was played. The fretboard has severe cratering and I realize that is part of the character so just want to clean it up to look presentable.
All help and suggestions appreciated.

Sorry about the picture size, not sure what caused that. (Probably something to do with Iphone4 IOS7) Also sorry about the text, it should read:

A friend brought this Jaguar by asking if I could "clean it up". It belongs to her Dad who is in a nursing home at age 88 and she would like to display it at his pending funeral. I've build the Palen archtop acoustics for about 15 years now but have very little experience with solid bodies. Would like some advice on cleaning the various hardware pieces as to what type of cleaner/polish etc. I realize that it's not going to look like a new guitar just want to do justice to the many years that it was played. The fretboard has severe cratering and I realize that is part of the character so just want to clean it up to look presentable.
All help and suggestions appreciated.

There are a few tips on the Stewmac web site.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

Ultrasonic cleaner, if you've got one.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

if you go polishing off all the patina and signs of aging you will ruin much of the value of it. i'd just use stiff dry paintbrushes to get the dust off, and then get it appraised and ask the appraiser for further advice. resist the desire to make it all shiny- lots of folks paying tens of thousands of dollars for vintage instruments want it to look just that- a vintage instrument, that doesn't look just like a brand new made in mexico guitar...

Chris,
The action at the 1st shows .010 on both middle strings. The height at 12 shows .037 on the G and .048 on the D. I will have to remove the pickguard to get string height in that area.
The strings are .010-.046 gauge. Can anyone recommend the most common string size for the Jaguar?
Nelson

Chris,
I measured the pickguard thickness at .100" give or take a few thou. With an 18" straightedge across the top of the frets and taking the pickguard thickness into account, I'm seeing about 0.381" depth to the body at the end of the neck and about 0.537" next to the bridge position pickup. This would translate to about 2.234 degrees of neck angle. There is a shim placed under the neck where it joins the body that is about 1/32" thickness which would tend to decrease the neck angle if there is no shim under the other end of the joint. If the mute is affecting the bridge height on yours, it would make me think that the bridge is too low. Rocking the mute back and forth doesn't touch the bridge at least on the one in my shop.
The tremolo arm is loose on this one letting it pivot loosely. Is there a way to fix that?

Edit: http://mmguitarbar.com/2013/03/09/demystifying-the-fender-jazzmaster-and-jaguar-pt-2-bridge-over-troubled-vibrato/
Interesting article.

Thanks for the tips, Filippo.
I was pleasantly surprised, when wiping the chrome parts with a cloth, that what appears to be pitting wipes off for the most part leaving a nice looking surface. The string saddles on the bridge, however, are rusty and probably won't clean up well.
I was surprised to see the Ebay asking price on some of the Jaguars. I didn't realize, and probably not the owner either, that they're worth some money.