Guitar Project! I need help, advice, and tips!

Hey guys, I was referred here so that I can get some help regarding this -
I have a future project to work on and need some help/advice/tips from anyone that has done this before. I am renovating an old guitar that was one of my dad's first guitars. The pics are how it currently looks. I basically just want to clean it up and replace or somehow get the rust off the metal pieces (tuners, bridge). It is an OLD Harmony Rocket and is a super lightweight hollowbody and the neck feels AMAZING. I would like to know a few things in particular, along with any tips and advice you guys may have. I'm probably going to try to get the help of a local guy that I know that works on guitars for wiring and such. But is there a bridge like that that I might be able to find? I would probably just go for the same metal piece (the wood piece is good still, but the metal is rusted up), but a new one if I can. I want to do some humbuckers on it, if money is no issue and I need something to contrast from my strat (bassier than most strats btw), what should I get? What kind of knobs should I get? What kind of pickup selector should I get (has to be a circle type - maybe Gibson-esque?)? What is the best way to clean up an old guitar? The paint looks like it needs to be refinished to prevent chipping and the sides have already chipped and need to be repainted. Don't really know anything about painting/finishing though. Keep in mind that I really don't know much about doing this.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/p480x480/148991_4079637993385_988944687_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/75966_4079639993435_1355606605_33663504_1237843831 _n.jpg

I'm not into artificial relics but that's the real thing. I'd just make it playable and forget the rest, clean it of course, people use naphtha. Maybe do an image search for Harmony Rockets see what kind of knobs they have. ( nice white flat tops, I looked). The pU looks cool, does it work? How does it sound?
Look at bridges http://store.guitarfetish.com/Archtop-Bridges-and-Tailpieces_c_31.html
And pups http://store.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Retrotron-Series_c_99.html They also have mini hums which look more like your pick up now. Nice pearly humbuckers too.
Cheaper is Ebay trolling but you don't really know what your getting, I don't anyway. I'm still new to all this myself. Good luck, it is fun. Jack

If you do a pick guard you won't have to worry about that wire. Also, I think this is the best place on the net for guitar tech, look at the home depot section and finely finished. I also use the google search function a lot.

If I were you, I would not refinish it unless you could take it all the way back to a like new finish. You might want to head over to reranch.com as well for finishing advice.

Knobs: ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reproduction-Harmony-and-Silvertone-CUPCAKE-guitar-knobs-1-Tone-1-Volume-/390421279638?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item5ae6ebf396)

Looks like you are missing a pickup near the bridge. I would replace just that one. But, these are surface mount pickups. A traditional humbucker would sit higher up b/c it is meant to mounted in a routed out pickup cavity. So, if you do replace, make sure you take that into consideration. There are some surface mounts on the page 61fury linked.

Have fun!

told ya this would be a good place ;)

That's a great looking guitar, BTW

Thanks for the help already, guys. I do not think the current pickup works, and if it does, my dad says that it never sounded that great. Yes it is surface mounted. Is it possible to have a regular pickup surface mounted, or no?

OH yes, btw, I would like to get some pickups that can get a bit heavy if possible, while contrasting from my strat. Maybe something like an ES 335 sound? Idk.

also, I took a second look at the paint and it is holding up very well on the sides besides near the tailpiece. There is pretty bad paint chipping going on there. I'm probably replacing the tailpiece with this (http://store.guitarfetish.com/Classic-Epiphone-Casino-Gibson-ES-330-Style-Trapeze-Tailpiece_p_167.html) most likely (looks pretty much the same, just a little bit nicer), so when I take the tailpiece off, I need to do something on that area to keep the paint from chipping before I put the new tailpiece on. What can I do there?

re: refinishing.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that guitar body is gorgeous just the way it is.

it would be a crime to change the look of that sweet old body. she earned that patina, let her keep it.

see if you can find vintage looking knobs and hardware that will go well with her nicely aged look.

yeah, I won't be refinishing, just need to do something about the area around the tailpiece.

i have a similar guitar...an old Kay that belonged to my grandfather. it also has one of those mounted pickups with the wire that goes across the top and down through the f-hole. you can see how the pickguard hides that:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/hekawi/SANY0073.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/hekawi/SANY0079.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/hekawi/SANY0080.jpg

If it were mine, I'd spend a lot of time at the Harmony Database (http://harmony.demont.net/name/rocket) before making any decisions. I'd do only as little as possible to get the guitar playable again. I certainly wouldn't put humbuckers on it. Excellent new guitars with humbuckers are available inexpensively, but that is not true of the distinctive Harmony Rocket sound.