1993 Japanese Fender '62 Strat make-over

[Simon Barden]

Today I got up the courage to take apart my 1993 Japanese Fender 1962-style Strat in preparation for a strip-down, a refinish in Daphne Blue, and the fitting of a Clapton boost circuit. The alloy bridge block is marked 'Fujigen', so I'm assuming that's also the factory it was made in.



Whilst not a FotoFlame model, it's got a FotoFlame front and back - which means the body is basswood rather than alder. I picked it up used in 2001 or 2002, when it already had most of its battle scars. But it was the nicest playing of all the Strats I tried in the shop and already had the Graphtec saddles fitted. But some of the cracks have lengthened over time - and cracking finishes has always been an issue with the FotoFlame guitars.

I fitted a 'Traditional' Kinman pickup set (AVn62/AVn56/AVn56) to it a couple of years after that - which vastly improved the sound. Well the old pickups were the cheap and nasty ceramic pickup glued on the back types, so almost anything would have sounded better.

Here I've tried to show the gouge+ extended crack damage more clearly, but it's not that easy to photograph.



And here it is with all but the machine heads removed (which I did afterwards). As you can see, it has a nice traditional pickup rout. You may also notice the lack of finish on most of the neck. This is because I've been reprofiling it to feel more like my Dave Gilmour Strat with a soft V neck. I still need to do a little work on the neck to remove a couple of ridge lines, but it's pretty much there.



Next step is to strip the body, The top and back should be relatively easy to do with a belt sander follower by random orbital, sander. But the sides and inner curves could require a lot more effort.

[Chuck]

Great project Simon. Reading your post made me go and look up "fotoflame" as it wasn't something I was aware of. Sounds like an amazing process that looks incredibly real. I wonder if the "film" will remain intact when you strip it or it's just too thin and paint-like?

[Simon Barden]

It looks good from a distance, but obviously lacks the 3D-movement that real flame maple has. It rained here most of the day, so couldn't do much outside (it's been pretty hot and dry for a while, so the garden needed it).

I'm hoping it's not a polyester, but rather polyurethane finish, as the polyester finishes are really hard and tough to remove. Supposed to be dry and not too hot over the next week, so hopefully some progress all round.

[king casey]

the polyester finishes are really hard and tough to remove.

I can attest to that. Having stripped back a Squier Bronco bass and a Squier Telecaster.
A heat gun and paint scraper with lots and lots of elbow-grease.

cheers, Mark.

[stan]

nice project Simon. Might be time to buy a spindle sander - I think I need one too, perfect for sanding the fiddly bits

Those Fujigen strats are supposed to be really nice, hope yours is a good one

[DrNomis_44]

Looks like a cool project Simon, I reckon that Stratocaster guitar will look great finished in Daphne Blue, pretty sure Daphne Blue was one of the standard Fender colours available in 1962, I seem to remember George Harrison from the Beatles owning a Daphne Blue Stratocaster that he painted using Day-Glo paints, would easily have been a 60's Strat since it was around the time when the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released.

[Simon Barden]

Well, the body got it's basic strip today.

I got to this point using my belt and detail sanders, then it all started getting rather hard. The finish in the belly cut just didn't want to come off.



So I thought that I'd just try the hot air gun and scraper and it worked a treat! That belly cut still caused a few issues as there was a creamy glue residue left that took a lot of effort to finally shift, but elsewhere the finish just peeled off.

So now the body is basically all stripped and now requites full sanding to remove small dents, marks and ridges caused by the belt and detail sanders.





The wood is quite soft, so probably basswood as the web suggests, but I think it's quite nicely figured, but not enough to make me change my mind about the colour, and go for a sunburst instead of a solid colour. Besides, the daphne blue paint's ordered and is on it's way.

I wanted to get this body stripped before starting the spraying on my ES-3 and some other bodies that need a touch of paint because of all the dust it was going to produce.

However I'm now tempted to strip the body of a Gordon Smith Strat that a friend gave me to revamp, rather than just spray the edges darker and add a few clear coats on top. It was very badly painted to start with, and some of the top coats have detached from the coats underneath in a few places.

[JB RETRO]

Really interesting for me to watch this one as I'm doing a strat also. Will be great to see how it progresses

[robin]

Gee Simon, you've got a few projects on the go. AND THEY'RE ALL COOL!!

[Simon Barden]

I'm also in the middle of re-doing my pedal board with 3M Dual-Lock instead of velcro. The velcro just kept coming unglued from the pedals, especially when it got warm. I'm hoping the stronger adhesive on the Dual-Lock works better - especially as it's very expensive stuff!