Partscaster makeover

JNE · March 5th, 2008, 03:20 PM

Hi,

I just finished a little makeover for my friend's partscaster and I thought I'd share this with you guys.

My friend has had this no-name partscaster for a few years now. At some point he had bought a white pearloid pickguard for it, but due to lack of proper tools he had messed up the attempted humbucker routing on it. Somehow I always felt pity for that guitar, because without a pickguard and with an exposed neck humbucker I felt that the partscaster looked so incomplete. I had promised him to take care of it a few times in the past, and finally took a plunge last weekend when visiting him.

Here it is when I took it home (in the pic you can already see the masking tapes I used to draw some routing marks onto):

At first I thought I try to salvage the pearloid pickguard, but the humbucker rim was slightly off on the body and also the routing in body and also in the pickguard were a bit crooked. In the end I thought that a black pickguard would look more in-place, anyway. So I bought one and a chrome hummer cover. That meant I had to re-route the humbucker routing, because the original was too tight for the cover (most probably I would have done it anyway to correct the crookedness).

The guitar was covered with dirt and grime, I mean really! The tuners, the headstock, the body... Took a while but with some elbow grease, soft cloth and suitable cleaning agent I got the job done. I also had some spare chrome knobs in my drawer, so I threw them on too.

Here is the end result:

I think it came out pretty nice. My friend still believes I'm just going to save the pearloid pickguard (but also said that I'm free to do whatever I want to that guitar, which I obviously did!

). Hopefully he will like the end result as much as I do!

I have some more pics available here in my Webshots account, if you are interested.

Cheers,
JNE

ReddRanger · March 5th, 2008, 03:39 PM

Much better!! Great job. He'll owe you a big thank you.

Daddydex · March 5th, 2008, 03:46 PM

Beautiful! That will be hard to give back.

Dan

RichardWitt · March 5th, 2008, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JNE

Hopefully he will like the end result as much as I do!

Well if he doesn't, you can most certainly send it my way!

That looks cool!!!

Southern ILL · March 5th, 2008, 04:02 PM

Its perfect-So much better and if not for the wood grain you'd think it was a different guitar.....

JNE · March 6th, 2008, 11:04 AM

Thanks guys,

I returned the guitar to my friend today. I came to work a bit earlier than him and placed the guitar case on his desk. A while later he came in and opened the case. First reaction: "OH!! What's that...?! ...*laughter*..."

He was really surprised and seemed to be very satisfied with the result. "Now it looks like a guitar again" he said and I think I ruined half of his work effort today, because he couldn't keep his hands off the guitar.

Job done, it is nice when you can make someone happy with these kind of small things in life.

guitbusy · March 6th, 2008, 01:40 PM

Your mods look much better. Wow, almost looks like a new and different guitar. He had better be thankful!

March 5th, 2008, 03:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
JNE Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Jaervenpaeae, Finland Age: 34 Posts: 141	Partscaster makeover Hi, I just finished a little makeover for my friend's partscaster and I thought I'd share this with you guys. My friend has had this no-name partscaster for a few years now. At some point he had bought a white pearloid pickguard for it, but due to lack of proper tools he had messed up the attempted humbucker routing on it. Somehow I always felt pity for that guitar, because without a pickguard and with an exposed neck humbucker I felt that the partscaster looked so incomplete. I had promised him to take care of it a few times in the past, and finally took a plunge last weekend when visiting him. Here it is when I took it home (in the pic you can already see the masking tapes I used to draw some routing marks onto): At first I thought I try to salvage the pearloid pickguard, but the humbucker rim was slightly off on the body and also the routing in body and also in the pickguard were a bit crooked. In the end I thought that a black pickguard would look more in-place, anyway. So I bought one and a chrome hummer cover. That meant I had to re-route the humbucker routing, because the original was too tight for the cover (most probably I would have done it anyway to correct the crookedness). The guitar was covered with dirt and grime, I mean really! The tuners, the headstock, the body... Took a while but with some elbow grease, soft cloth and suitable cleaning agent I got the job done. I also had some spare chrome knobs in my drawer, so I threw them on too. Here is the end result: I think it came out pretty nice. My friend still believes I'm just going to save the pearloid pickguard (but also said that I'm free to do whatever I want to that guitar, which I obviously did! ). Hopefully he will like the end result as much as I do! I have some more pics available here in my Webshots account, if you are interested. Cheers, JNE __________________ "If you can't sound good with 1 pup, how you gonna sound good with 2?" - furrfurrfurr

March 5th, 2008, 03:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
Daddydex Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,382	Beautiful! That will be hard to give back. Dan __________________ Teles are like Mr. Potato head

March 6th, 2008, 11:04 AM	#6 (permalink)
JNE Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Jaervenpaeae, Finland Age: 34 Posts: 141	Thanks guys, I returned the guitar to my friend today. I came to work a bit earlier than him and placed the guitar case on his desk. A while later he came in and opened the case. First reaction: "OH!! What's that...?! ...laughter..." He was really surprised and seemed to be very satisfied with the result. "Now it looks like a guitar again" he said and I think I ruined half of his work effort today, because he couldn't keep his hands off the guitar. Job done, it is nice when you can make someone happy with these kind of small things in life. __________________ "If you can't sound good with 1 pup, how you gonna sound good with 2?" - furrfurrfurr

March 5th, 2008, 03:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
ReddRanger Tele-Meister Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: California Posts: 216	Much better!! Great job. He'll owe you a big thank you.

March 5th, 2008, 04:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
Southern ILL Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Illinois Age: 37 Posts: 556	Its perfect-So much better and if not for the wood grain you'd think it was a different guitar.....

March 6th, 2008, 01:40 PM	#7 (permalink)
guitbusy TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 33	Your mods look much better. Wow, almost looks like a new and different guitar. He had better be thankful!