My strat style rebuild

[gitlvr]

In my first post here, I mentioned that I was in the process of refinishing/rebuilding one of my guitars. I was asked to share the process, so here goes.
First off, I'm not a pro, but this is not my first refinish nor my first parts build. The guitar in question was one built from used parts. The body is of indeterminate origin, bought used and chosen from a pile of bodies at a local music store. It is alder, and was originally black. However, it has been several different colors(I lost count), and has had a couple of different pickguard/pickup combinations.
The neck is a Squier neck. I bought the whole guitar cheap, kept the neck and tuners, and gave the body, pickups and electronics away.
The bridge was one I had laying around so long I forgot where I got it from. I believe it was given to me.
I have used this guitar over the years as kind of an experimental platform. As such, it's an old friend, and I have decided it's time to give it it's final form. Since the body is of unknown origin and the neck is a Squier, I'm not trying to use top quality parts or high dollar pickups. I'm shooting for a decent quality, workhorse. Something that sounds, looks and plays good, but won't break the bank.
Here is what it looked like before I began.

And here it is stripped down.


Since this guitar has been stripped and sanded more time than I can remember, the top edges have been flattened over time, so I need to address that. Using a technique adopted from our very own Ron Kirn(thanks, Ron) I started out by rounding all the outer body curves, then continued by drawing a line that continues that contour around the curve of the horns.

Where I differ is that I use a file, and I don't draw the center line, as the file defines a sharp center line for me.

[gitlvr]

After filing, I hand sand until the contour looks right to me.

By the way, sorry for the photo quality. My camera's cheap.
Here it is with the contours restored and sanding sealer applied, sanded and ready for paint(by the way, I plugged all of the pickguard and hardware screw holes, I'll redrill them fresh).


The black on the back is the original poly coat. I'll paint over it with narry a problem.
I've chosen Krylon's Regal Blue. Since the body is made of three pieces of not so well-matched wood, I think a solid color is much more appropriate. Here she is with a couple of coats on her.

Humidity is too high right now to do any more finish work. When I get the chance, I'll hit her with a couple more coats, let it cure for a while, and then it's on to clear coats. That will also give me time to come up with cash for the hardware and electronics.

[gitlvr]

Just for fun, here is a pic of it with the old hardware and electronics on.

[valriver 1940]

its lookin good. keep on spraying and sometime in the future we will see the finnished product.

[gitlvr]

Thanks Valriver!Yeah, the finish will take a while to do properly,and the hardware and electronics will trickle in slowly as I order piece by piece. It won't be a fast build, that's for sure. I'm sure this thread will fall off the front page a few times, but I'll revive it as I do more work on the guitar. I plan to refinish the neck as well. Was gonna actually build a neck for it, but I will save that for a scratch build in the near future.

[evol04gt]

it would look AMAZING with cream pups and knobs.... blue with tort is SOOO SEXYY

[Vol. Knob]

Your "Before" pic looks a whole lot like an "After" pic of my '86 Squier strat refinish job I did last week.

[strive2walk]

Could you please tell me what color stain was used in the "before" pic? I am finishing a tele and really like that color.

[gitlvr]

Vol.Knob, they certainly do look similar. I'd be interested in seeing your finished product.

Originally Posted by strive2walk

Could you please tell me what color stain was used in the "before" pic? I am finishing a tele and really like that color.

Strive2walk, it was a mixture of Minwax Golden Pecan 245 and Red Mahogany 225. If I remember right, I used the golden pecan first, then applied the red mahogany until I got the shade I wanted. Of course, I could have that backwards, it's been awhile since I did it, but those are the stains I used. I'd suggest get them and practice on something else 'till you get what you want. Good luck, and let me know how it turns out.
Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[Vol. Knob]

LOL

That is my finished product. I wanted to feel the wood, I hardly used much tung oil. I don't like glossy finishes.

Seriously. I just busted off all the thick plastic "Paint" via pocketknife, for a while. That took too long so I ran it through a planer... then hit it with sandpaper, etc... See my other post about it here....

[gitlvr]

Vol.Knob, actually, I misread your post. Sorry 'bout that. For some reason I was expecting a solid color,LOL. I can't tell from your pic how many pieces your body is(yours is matched a lot better than mine), but I wish mine had been better matched, as I would have left it natural as well. And thanks for the link. I'll definately check your thread out. As far as the "plastic" paint goes, the way I stripped mine was with 40 grit sandpaper. It actually made quick work of it. I think you're better off without it, whichever way it was removed.

[gitlvr]

Did some sanding, and had a couple of small sand-throughs. After reshooting them and hitting the whole thing with another wet coat of finish, as I was preparing to hang the body from a coat hanger, the hanger came loose and scraped the back side of the treble horn. Now, I'll have to wait 'till the finish dries for about a week, then sand that out and re-shoot it. I'll probably go with one more coat of paint then as well. I'd actually like to get a couple more coats(that would give me 5), but I only have one can of paint left, and I need to save a little in case of sand-throughs on the final coat. There is not any more Regal Blue in the old formula Krylon anywhere nearby, so what I have is all I've got. For good or ill, when that's gone it's on to clearcoats.
As a side note, I'm finding it is quite difficult to photograph certain steps in the process, especially when I'm pressed for time.. I have a lot of respect for many of the build threads on this forum in that regard. I'll have to do better than I have.

[gitlvr]

In keeping with the idea of this being an affordable, workhorse type build, I've decided to make this a GFS build, except for those parts which they do not sell. I've never used them, but they have a decent rep on this board. I placed my first order today. In this order was included tuners. These, in particular http://store.guitarfetish.com/gosusmgost14.html
IME with tuners,most of them work fairly well, as long as the strings are installed properly. However, if any of you have used these particular tuners, your experiences are welcomed and will be appreciated. Of course, I will post a review of all the parts as well as the entire guitar once it is completed and I've had some time to evaluate it. I've decided to go with gold hardware, as I think the blue will set it off nicely, however, I have not decided on pickguard color yet. My other strat is tortoise, so I won't be going with that. So far I'm contemplating white pearl with cream knobs and pup covers, black pearl with white pup covers and knobs, or solid black with black pup covers and knobs. Opinions solicited here as well.

[gitlvr]

Spent some time wet sanding yesterday.

I want to sand it until everything looks like this:


Almost there

but this is as far as I got. I ran out of time yesterday. I work mostly outside when sanding/painting, and it got dark on me. They are calling for rain today through Monday, so that will slow me down some. I spent some time today making templates off of this body, but I don't have any pics because I did this work indoors, and the cheap camera I have won't take pics you can actually see in indoor lighting conditions. They aren't finished yet. They'll take awhile. I'll post pics of them when finished, if there is interest.

Got a package from guitarfetish today. Quick service. They beat StewMac to my door.

All items as advertised. I ordered the upgraded import kit(steel saddles, screws, bar and block). I prefer the narrower spacing over the vintage 2&7/32" (I know, sacriledge, huh?) It's a nice, solid, heavy unit, well made. I couldn't be happier with it. They will get more business from me. The tuners are Gotoh copies. Don't yet know how they'll work out, but they were worth a try. I'll post a review of them once the guitar is finished and I've had a few weeks to let the guitar settle in and see how well they work. I'll be ordering the rest of the hardware and the pickguard as soon as possible. I've decided to go with a white pearl pickguard with dual humbuckers , 1vol,1 tone and 3 way switch. All but the pots and switch will be GFS. I'll purchase the electronics from StewMac and the switch will be a Fender 3 way. I'm contemplating gold covered pickups and gold tele knobs.

[gitlvr]

Got a couple of clearcoats on today. The guitar beside it is one I'm refinishing for a friend.



Sorry about the angle, but I tried to get a position that would allow me to show the glossy clearcoat(cheap cameras and really bad photographers don't mix well). Now I need to get a few more coats on them. That'll take some time, as weather and opportunity allows. I won't bore you with repeated pics of that. I'll post more pics when it's time to begin the wetsanding and buffing of the clearcoats. That'll be at least 4-6 weeks after the final clearcoats go on. I'll know when they're ready when I can tap the finish and it doesn't leave a mark from my fingernail. The sound of the tapping will be a little different as well. Unfortunately, all you can do once the final coats go on is wait, wait, wait.

[gitlvr]

It was over 72 degrees today, so I thought I'd work on the strat body while I had the chance.
Flat sanded and ready for buffing.


And after medium buffing compound.



Here's a close-up. Hey there!



There are still some fine scratches from the buffer. If I have time and the weather's good I'll hit it with swirl remover tomorrow until I get a nice scratch-free surface. If it looks substantially better through this cheap camera, I'll post pics of that. Thanks for looking!

[Shadowrunner]

wow blast from the past!

can't wait to see it finished!

[gitlvr]

Originally Posted by Shadowrunner

wow blast from the past!

can't wait to see it finished!

Thanks for looking, Shadowrunner!
Yeah, this build is slow, but I'm having fun! I don't have anywhere else to work except my front porch, so I'm dependant on the weather/temp. Also, it'll be some time before I can scrape together the cash for pups/electronics and pickguard. I'm also still trying to decide whether to use the existing neck or build one to my specs, so this thing will disappear and reappear off and on til I'm done.Hopefully, there'll be a point where everything comes together fairly quickly somewhere down the line, but as for right now I'm having fun working on it as time and money permits. I've had this thing together in a lot of different finishes and combinations, mostly from cobbled-together parts, and when it goes together this time it will be for keeps. No shortcuts.

[fletch]

Lookin' good !

I can relate to working on the front porch and backyard, thats all I have to work in as well. I desperately need a workshop of some sort...

If you've got some time to spare before you get in the rest of the parts in, I say have a go at making the neck !

What is the pickup config you are going with ?

[gitlvr]

Originally Posted by fletch

Lookin' good !

I can relate to working on the front porch and backyard, thats all I have to work in as well. I desperately need a workshop of some sort...

If you've got some time to spare before you get in the rest of the parts in, I say have a go at making the neck !

What is the pickup config you are going with ?

+1 on desperately needing a shop! As for the neck, I just might go ahead and build it, since I could probably work inside for that. But the humidity is too high right now to be glueing a scarf-jointed headstock(which is what I'll be building). I'll have to wait until it gets cold enough outside to turn on my furnace and lower the humidity in my home. I also need to build a fret radius bender.
As for pickups, unless something changes, I'll be going with an H/H configuration. I love the strat feel, there's nothing quite like it. But I need that thick, creamy humbucker tone, too. That's one of the main reasons I started building partscasters. If I build 'em myself I can get exactly what I want, exactly the way I want it. My main guitar is my avatar. It was the first partscaster I built using all new parts. It's the best guitar I've ever owned or played, period. The guitar in this thread is the one I used as a kind of experimental platform to figure out just what I wanted before I built that one. Now it's time to do this one right. She's earned it.

[gitlvr]

Well, I hit her with swirl remover. Here are the results.


Definate improvement.


But I guess I got a little carried away with the buffer. Here are the results.

Just a small spot where I burned through the finish. I'd fix it(easy fix), but since I don't have a shop and have to work outside, it'll have to stay for now. It's winter, and humidity is up and temps are going down. It'll be 4-5 months before I can spray again. If the guitar is finished by then, it'll probably get a few more knocks than that. I'll decide what, if anything, to do when the time comes. By the way, this is a very thin finish. 4 coats of color and 3 coats of clear, with sanding inbetween.

[gitlvr]

Well, I have run into a few problems with this build. I have been waiting until I could afford the pickguard and electronics to finish this build. Money's tight, so I assumed I'd start back on it sometime in the spring. In the meantime I wanted to play it for a while. I had the original pickguard and electronics, so I put 'er back together. I've been playing her for about a month now. She still sounds good and plays well, but there are "issues".
If you remember, this body has been finished several times, so the body is thinner(by aprox. 1/8"). I knew this going in, but thought I'd be o.k. But apparently this last refinish pushed the body beyond it's limits. The pickup routes are at 4/8", as is the neck pocket. What this means is that the neck and pickups sit higher than norm.I was able to get action off the frets with a very thin shim behind the front screws(close to the headstock), but fine tuning the action revealed another problem. The pickups are high enough that now I can't bring the action down past 4/32" without considerable string buzz off the tops of the pickups. And there is no more room in the cavities to lower them. I will have to figure out how to address these issues. Meanwhile, just for fun, here are some pics of the way I've been playing her, with the old parts on her.

[gitlvr]

O.K., now to address those "issues I talked about. So I got to thinking, and realised that the only pickup routes I needed to worry about were the neck and middle. The strings are naturally higher over the bridge pickup, so there is plenty of adjustment there. So I broke out my humbucker routing template and routed the neck pickup cavity 3/16" deeper. I did not have a decent template for the larger route that includes the middle and bridge route, so the router travelled a bit, but all in all it turned out o.k. It will be covered by the pickguard anyway, and this gives me the nescessary adjustment for the neck and middle pickups, so I'm satisfied with the outcome. The router bit hit the left hand trem claw screw, but it didn't go all the way thru it, and since I deck my trems and won't be wailing on the bar, I think it'll be just fine.


Now I needed to turn my attention to the neck and neck pocket. Since I don't have a neck pocket template (yet), the first thing I did was take a frighteningly sharp chisel and carefully carved some of the wood in the bottom of the neck pocket away, being careful to keep it flat, but also carving a very slight angle to the pocket, so that it was slightly ramped from the heel to the headstock end of the pocket. I followed this up with pencil lines/hash marks on the bottom of the pocket, which I removed with a fine flat file, ensuring the bottom was level.

Next is something I wouldn't recommend. The only reason I did this is because this neck, though very playable, is slightly narrower at the nut than I prefer, and so it will never be used on anything other than this guitar. What I did was thin it slightly at the heel, at the same time again giving it a slight ramp beginning at the heel and sloping down toward the headstock. I believe the combination of these two slopes will give me the clearance over the frets that I need, at the same time keeping the neck from looking like it's angled to far forward in relation to the body and letting me get rid of the shim.


Now it's just a matter of waiting until I can get the cash for the pickups, pickguard and electronics.

[gitlvr]

I went ahead and put her back together. It worked! Plenty of adjustment for the pickups, action is great and the shim is outta there! I love it when a plan comes together!
By the way, I highly recommend the GFS tuners I used in this build to anyone needing decent tuners on a budget. I've used them for at least a month now. Once the strings stretch and settle in, they hold their tune about as well as any other decent brand of tuners I've used, and they tune up smoothly as well. I will definately use them again. In fact, all the stuff I've used from GFS has been good quality. I will be replacing the pickguard and the neck pickup and the pots with GFS parts. I'll get the 3 way lever switch elsewhere, and I'll be keeping the Carvin C22B bridge pickup( the best bridge humbucker I've ever used, period) and doing away with the center single coil. Now I can't wait to finish it.

[gitlvr]

Hey there! Been a long time! Sorry for the absence, but I've been quite busy. I've been working on a scratch build, learning to play piano, and waiting on funds to finish this. I've made some changes since we last "talked".
Firstly, I decided to go with a standard 3 single coil strat arrangement. I don't have one of these, so I thought "why not?". Being cash poor, I went with this.
http://store.guitarfetish.com/alpiprgublma.html

I've only read a couple of comments about this setup, which were unfavorable. However, I love these pickups! I have never really liked single coils(which is why I didn't have a guitar with them), but these cheap pickups have changed my mind. I still like my humbuckers, but there's definately a place for singles. The pots are no name and the switch is a cheapo, however, I've got a nice switch and pots are inexpensive. If either gives me problems , I'll change them all in one go. For now, though, it's fine like it is.
Secondly, I could no deal with the 1 & 9/16" nut width, so decided a new neck was needed. I got one of these, but in the strat style.
http://store.guitarfetish.com/unrotestnepa.html
My impression of it after playing it about a week is that it is a steal. Nice and thick, and plays great. Frets were fine, but it got a level and crown anyway(s.o.p. on any new neck for me) There were a couple of minor issues, however. 1-the nut was glued in wih huge amounts of CA. I took a small chunk off the treble side of the board removing it, even though I scored it well with a razor blade. replaced with bone.
2-the heel was about 1/8" thicker than standard. If you remember, my neck pocket was already shallow, so I re-routed to 5/8". Unforunately I didn't measure the neck heel, and after finish and assembly found out the hard way because I couldn't get the strings off the frets. I removed the neck and hit the heel with a surform until it was the right thickness. Unfortunately, it is getting toward winter, so I will have to wait untill spring to touch it up. I also used some maple stain on the neck before clear coats. At first it was too orange and I thought I'd made a misake, but it mellowed during cure and I think it turned out great. Here are some pics.





This completes this guitar. I'm happy with the way it turned out. This is on it's way to becoming my new #1. Thanks for taking the journey with me.