Body finishing question/Andy Aledort

[DougF]

I have a stripped alder body that I would like to finish in a way so that it looks kinds rough like Andy Aledort's '61 Strat...any tips or suggestions?

[Vizcaster]

Okay you have to have the guts to do a really awful job then beat the crap out of it and maybe it will approach Andy's guitar. He admits that whoever stripped the original Dakota red finish and varnished it did a horrible job. There were gobs and drips of varnish or laquer that have since worn away, leaving stripes in the wood that is not as faded as the rest.

You'll need to scrape and sand heavily and gouge the wood - Andy's axe is very very rough. Any sealer or finish should be thin and satin, almost nonexistent. Then wear the fretboard so a few of the clay dots are simply popped off, some are replaced with mismatching white ones and some are the original "clay" or resin impregnated paper. One of the tuning machines is bent and loose, too, you'll want to replicate that of course.

You could post a question on the forum of his own web site, too.

That guitar is very very light and has an amazing tone, in his hands anyway. Then again, all the mojo comes from all the GuitarWorld interview-ees who have played that guitar along with him. Not sure, but I don't think that comes in a can.

Sorry for the satire (relic-ing is not my thing; I believe in guitar cases), I admire Andy and his axe has lots of incredible vibe so if that's what you're after, by all means take a crack at it.

What you're looking for is a very heavy distressing job that should really only be approached on several pieces of scrap. See if a hardwood supplier can get you an alder board to cut up and try. You don't post a location on your profile but something tells me that WoodPly Lumber in Freeport is not too far away.

[43mmNut]

If this is the strat he uses on the Axes DVD, I was wondering when I saw it, if the fretboard had been redone, it looks like he has bigger frets on it, and the board almost looks like it's ebony, it's so dark. The headstock looks vintage, though.

[Worn]

While I've been waiting for my tele body to arrive, I came across a '96 or '98 Squire Strat rough, but cheap at a pawn shop. It wasn't home 10 minutes before I had it stripped down and started sanding the red paint off with a stripper wheel, orbital sander and sander disc - anything that would get the paint off fast. Followed by an hour with a sanding block/sponge, then 120 followed by 220. I stained the alder with Minwax Puritan pine for a darkened aged honey pine colour then rubbed in 1851 Paste Varnish for a satin finish. I wanted it to look and feel like a piece of wood, rather than have a slick finish. The colour is about the same as what you're after and the paste varnish gives a nice warm finish to it.