Early 90s MIM Squier Strat Neck

[ifallalot]

First off, this is my fault for not taking care of this guitar.

My first electric was bought for my 13th birthday by my mom and is a 1993 MIM Squier Strat in Olympic White. After having various other nicer guitars for the last few years it had sat in its hard case under the bed; unfortunately our old house was very wet and cold (Santa Cruz, CA very close to the ocean). I recently had opened up this guitar and found that it looked like it had been through a flood.

The body was fine and everything electronic looked good under the pickguard; the pups were able to be cleaned off. However, the rosewood neck is now completely dried out(?) and the frets look like the Statue of Liberty. I can get pics when I'm not at work

I know this is just a Squier but it is my first electric so it has sentimental value to me and I would like to pass it to my son. Should I try and refinish this neck or just buy one off eBay? There are plenty of MIM Squier necks that are exactly like this on so its not like its rare.

I'm pretty sure that this guitar is going to become a mod platform so I'll probably be back...

[Thighbanez]

Pics please?
I would love to see the effect that time and seawater atmosphere has had on that guitar.

:)

[ifallalot]

I'll take some when I get home

[Thighbanez]

Kewl!

[3 Chord]

Get some of the blue painters masking tape and tape the fretboard off, exposing the frets. Buy some mothers mag polish or similar and clean the corrosion/oxidation off the frets. Try not to run it into the fretboard.

Lemon oil the fretboard a few times giving time in between coats.

My #1 player is a '98 MIM Squier Telecaster. I play it more than my great '76 USA Tele. These MIM Squiers are cool guitars imo, worth saving. It should have factory AlNiCo pups too!

good luck

[ifallalot]

Thanks!

This always sounded better than other Squiers that friends had back then, now I know why

[ifallalot]

Here are the pics

From afar it doesn't look bad besides what looks like light aging. Could have been the ocean air or the fact that it is nearly 20 years old (man I'm getting old )



Pickups and bridge look a little gunky, but I can clean them up





The back looks fine; the old stickers and the big chip in the bottom are from being a teenager in a band



Now the bad parts. The tuners look ok, but the decals are coming off



And this is the worst part; this is all the way up and down the neck.



Could the technique mentioned in the post above clean this up?

[ifallalot]

Originally Posted by 3 Chord

Get some of the blue painters masking tape and tape the fretboard off, exposing the frets. Buy some mothers mag polish or similar and clean the corrosion/oxidation off the frets. Try not to run it into the fretboard.

Lemon oil the fretboard a few times giving time in between coats.

My #1 player is a '98 MIM Squier Telecaster. I play it more than my great '76 USA Tele. These MIM Squiers are cool guitars imo, worth saving. It should have factory AlNiCo pups too!

good luck

Thanks for the tips; neck cleaned right up and looks as good as new. I'll probably lemon oil the fingerboard one more time or so.

Reading this BB has given me the mod bug, now I don't know if I want to dive into modding this or sell/trade it for a Squier Tele that I can Esquire up

[Hiker]

Now, you've really got a nice (made in Mexico) Squier!

[3 Chord]

Originally Posted by ifallalot

Thanks for the tips; neck cleaned right up and looks as good as new. I'll probably lemon oil the fingerboard one more time or so.

Reading this BB has given me the mod bug, now I don't know if I want to dive into modding this or sell/trade it for a Squier Tele that I can Esquire up

Glad to hear it cleaned up. Either way it's a win,. If you keep it, it is nicer for you, if you trade it off, you should be able to get more for it.

Play it for a couple of weeks and decide if it stays or if someone else is going to get to enjoy it.