As I started with the guitar body stripping yesterday, I decided to carry on whilst the mood took me. This is my 5-string G-tuned Tele (well it would be if it had strings).
It has a one-piece mahogany body (made by a mate of mine a very long time ago) and given to me in exchange for some musical kit I gave him. The current neck on it is an eBay copy, as the neck it came with (maple board) was in bad condition, with the frets almost falling out (it had been stored in a loft for ages before I got it and the pickups were all open circuit). Last year I worked on the old neck, took the old frets out, re-radiused the board then fitted new frets. It has some tinted lacquer coats on, but needs a few clear coats as well.
The body had been varnished and wasn't smooth at all, so I spray-painted it red over the top of the varnish (this was a few years ago). Either the acrylic car paint reacted with the varnish, or the acrylic did its trick of not drying, because the paint has always been very soft.
Here you can see how the pickguard has caused a crease in the paint round the edge. Also, you can see how the neck pocket had been cut a bit short by my mate. leaving a gap between the guard and the neck (artfully disguised by a black Sharpie).
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So it was time to give it a revamp and start work on the body. After the success with the heat gun yesterday, I tried it again today with slightly less accomplishment. Whilst the paint came off, it was all a gooey mess that stuck to the scraper and back to the wood. So here it is after I stopped with the heat-gun, in the best Jackson Pollock tribute I could muster...
But after a run over with the belt and detail sanders, it's all come up looking nice and fresh.
As you can see, he didn't rout the cavities but used a chisel.
There are three main things I need to do:
One is remove the existing string ferrules and replace them. I wasn't sure about trying to drill them out, so currently plan to try and tap them and then pull them out after fitting a bolt. They were flush-fitting to start with, so if left will be below the level of the paint. I could live with it if necessary, but I'd prefer to replace them if I can.
The next is to thin the neck pocket, as it is over-wide at the front. I have some veneer strips on order. In theory all quite easy, but I need to ensure the pocket remains at the correct angle.
The last is to thin the body a bit. It's about 3mm too thick at the moment. I could leave it as it is, but being solid mahogany, it's rather weighty, and could do with loosing some mass to help my poor back.
My plan, with it being mahogany, is to give it a Gibson TV yellow finish, which should still let some of the grain show through, but also give it a Fender 'Blond' general appearance. There are a couple of areas where there is some filler (around the output jack hole is the main one), so the initial white spray coat should make these areas invisible.
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Originally Posted by Simon Barden
