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TeleToTheRain
March 22nd, 2012, 07:49 PM
sorry, it's a long one!
My guitar journey started about 17 years ago with a meager Squier Bullet Series Stratocaster... I can still remember my pops taking me to the store to pick it out after I had saved up enough. I was in heaven! I learned to play on that guitar, but I also learned how to completely mess up a perfectly fine instrument! I thought things like:
...if only it had a humbucker
...what would it look like in this color
...I need a "real guitar" if I want to get any better
after countless re-incarnations, it finally just got put on a shelf as decoration and forgotten about. I even left home for the first time without it, only to ask my parents a couple years ago if they wouldn't mind losing what had now become just a piece of their decor... next to my old books, toys, etc.
It hasn't exactly had any more of a glamorous life after being moved to my house... more of the same... wall decor for the music room... occasionally inspiring a passing thought as I reached for a more "worthy" instrument... someday I'll do something with that, etc.
Well today is the day! Upon further examination, what I thought was just a lowly guitar is actually a full thickness alder body, rosewood "slab" neck and a fairly chunky neck profile! (and that neck fits the pocket wonderfully, better than some other models I'll leave nameless) all things I've come to love in my forays with other instruments. Swimming pool route being the only minor deviation, but this is going HSS anyway... not after anything here but re-living my youth and having fun. However, something tells me I might end up with even more than I bargained for.
So here's the plan:
what I'm starting with is basically just a neck, body, original bridge assembly (with upgraded saddles and block)
-refret the neck (original frets are worn, and they're popping out at the edges)
-EVH pickup in bridge, possibly Blues Specials neck and mid (EVH & SRV being the ones that influenced this guitar the most)
-celluloid "tortoise" pickguard
-re-paint body black since I had stripped original finish off it many moons ago (this time using nitro)
-install upgraded tuners (been sitting in a box for 10 years!)
-use as many original and extra parts I find lying in my parts bins
the body has many blemishes, but I'll leave most of them, as it's part of the guitars history. surprisingly the neck has remained straight and actually has a nice patina to it.
I think I may just be as excited as when I was 14! maybe more! now if I can only get Dad to bump my allowance so I can afford all this!.... haha!
Pics to come. Maybe even the one of me holding it in it's original form from when I was 14.... eh, maybe not!
My guitar journey started about 17 years ago with a meager Squier Bullet Series Stratocaster... I can still remember my pops taking me to the store to pick it out after I had saved up enough. I was in heaven! I learned to play on that guitar, but I also learned how to completely mess up a perfectly fine instrument! I thought things like:
...if only it had a humbucker
...what would it look like in this color
...I need a "real guitar" if I want to get any better
after countless re-incarnations, it finally just got put on a shelf as decoration and forgotten about. I even left home for the first time without it, only to ask my parents a couple years ago if they wouldn't mind losing what had now become just a piece of their decor... next to my old books, toys, etc.
It hasn't exactly had any more of a glamorous life after being moved to my house... more of the same... wall decor for the music room... occasionally inspiring a passing thought as I reached for a more "worthy" instrument... someday I'll do something with that, etc.
Well today is the day! Upon further examination, what I thought was just a lowly guitar is actually a full thickness alder body, rosewood "slab" neck and a fairly chunky neck profile! (and that neck fits the pocket wonderfully, better than some other models I'll leave nameless) all things I've come to love in my forays with other instruments. Swimming pool route being the only minor deviation, but this is going HSS anyway... not after anything here but re-living my youth and having fun. However, something tells me I might end up with even more than I bargained for.
So here's the plan:
what I'm starting with is basically just a neck, body, original bridge assembly (with upgraded saddles and block)
-refret the neck (original frets are worn, and they're popping out at the edges)
-EVH pickup in bridge, possibly Blues Specials neck and mid (EVH & SRV being the ones that influenced this guitar the most)
-celluloid "tortoise" pickguard
-re-paint body black since I had stripped original finish off it many moons ago (this time using nitro)
-install upgraded tuners (been sitting in a box for 10 years!)
-use as many original and extra parts I find lying in my parts bins
the body has many blemishes, but I'll leave most of them, as it's part of the guitars history. surprisingly the neck has remained straight and actually has a nice patina to it.
I think I may just be as excited as when I was 14! maybe more! now if I can only get Dad to bump my allowance so I can afford all this!.... haha!
Pics to come. Maybe even the one of me holding it in it's original form from when I was 14.... eh, maybe not!