New 80's Superstrat build project (Non-PBG Kit).

Hey Everyone,

After a suggestion from Wokkaboy, I have decided to start a proper build diary of another 80's Superstrat which I'm building from a spare Eston guitar neck, and a body that a good friend of mine gave me, these two parts form the platform for this new build and here's a pic to show what it looks like:

Attachment 15779


Hope Adam doesn't mind me adding another non-PBG kit build diary to this forum section.


Okay, here's the plan for this build, I am going to build this guitar so that it looks a bit like an 80's Metallic Blue Charvel Model 2 Guitar, here's a pic to show what they look like:


Attachment 15780



So, here's what I've worked out for the Super Strat build:

* Make it look like an 80's Charvel Model 2 Superstrat, finished in Metallic Blue.

* Keep it simple and go for a single Bridge-Humbucker Pickup Configuration with a 500k Log Volume Pot.

* Go with a Tonerider Octane Humbucking Pickup (The original Charvel Model 2 used a very high-output Humbucker that measures something like 15k Ohms), I could quite easily use a 500k Push-Pull Pot to implement the coil tapping.

* Use either a Chrome Schaller Lockmeister Floyd Bridge, or a Chrome Kahler Bridge.

* Use a set of 6 In Line Chrome Gotoh Tuners same like the ones used on the HotRod Strat.

* Of course, I'll also add a set of Chrome Ernie Ball Strap-Locks too.


I have a Chrome Kahler String Lock mounted on the Headstock of the Eston Neck, so I'm going with all Chrome hardware, the body is solid wood, so it'll be interesting to hear what it sounds like tonewize.


Note: All comments are most certainly welcome.

Good plans doc. love that blue. you will have to do a sound demo of this once its finished

yeah Doc should be a cool build plans sound good. Hopefully with the painting experience you have gained you can get a better finish. Take your time and sure you can. Lots of wet sanding between coats !

Cheers guys, this time around I will not let impatience get the better of me, and yes, I will do a demo once the guitar has been finished, that's for sure.

Hey Wokka, I'm planning on using some paint-stripper to remove all the black paint off the body and strip it all back to bare wood prior to re-finishing it, that's not going to cause any issues is it?, I will be doing the paint-stripping out on my balcony so there should be heaps of ventilation, I have used paint stripper before to strip the paint off the frame of a Mountain Bike, it did the job pretty well.

Hey Doc. That's what I would do strip as much paint as you can and sand back to bare wood. Post some close up pics of the grain to see if it's needs a grain fill

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

Hey Doc. That's what I would do strip as much paint as you can and sand back to bare wood. Post some close up pics of the grain to see if it's needs a grain fill

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Will do mate, I have a feeling that the grain isn't going to be anything special, so it'll probably won't warrant doing something other than going with a solid colour, but, we shall see.

I might see if I can pay a visit to the big green shed and see if they have any paint stripper in stock on Tuesday next week.

You might not get any results with paint stripper if it's a polyester finish. It wouldn't touch the finish on my late '70s Ibanez ST55 (with about 2mm of black polyester finish on it). Even polyurethane might be quite resistant as the paint's polymer chains are very long so don't let much through. In that case it's sanding all the way. A belt sander will help strip it relatively quickly on the flat surfaces and I'd use a detail sander on the curves and edges.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

You might not get any results with paint stripper if it's a polyester finish. It wouldn't touch the finish on my late '70s Ibanez ST55 (with about 2mm of black polyester finish on it). Even polyurethane might be quite resistant as the paint's polymer chains are very long so don't let much through. In that case it's sanding all the way. A belt sander will help strip it relatively quickly on the flat surfaces and I'd use a detail sander on the curves and edges.

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Good point, from the looks of it, it looks like Black paint which has been sprayed onto an undercoat of some sort, there's a section where the finish has been worn away a bit from the back of the body, I'll post a pic of it tomorrow so you can see what it looks like, a part of it has worn down to bare wood.

I guess you guys are wondering why I have this fascination for the colour Blue?....hahaha.....as it turns out, I suffer from Colour-Blindness, more specifically, I suffer from what's called Red-Green Deficiency Colour-Blindness, here's an explanation, in a normal human eye, there's an area at the back of it called the Retina, the Retina is made up of millions and millions of light-sensitive cells, there are four types of light-sensitive cells, one type is sensitive to the overall brightness, and the other three are sensitive to Red, Green, and Blue light respectively, now normally each of the cells when they are all working correctly exhibit the same amount of sensitivity to their respective colour and they are able to correctly distinguish between different colour hues, but, in my case, the cells which are sensitive to Red and Green light aren't working like they are supposed to, the end result is that it makes it hard for me to distinguish between different shades of Reds and Browns, and Greens and Oranges, but I can distinguish between different shades of Blue with no problems, it's not like I'm totally blind though, I can see Colours but not like how most other people would see them, I also happen to suffer from Short-Sightedness, technically I should be wearing my glasses, but I can see relatively well enough without them to be able to cross a road safely enough, I was also born cross-eyed too, basically my eyes were mis-aligned from birth, but an operation on my eye muscles when I was 6 years old fixed that, there is still a slight mis-alignment but it is nothing to worry about cause it doesn't really have much of a negative impact on my quality of life, hence the reason I tend to gravitate to the colour Blue.

And here's the close-up pic of the finish wear on the back of the body:

Attachment 15829


Not sure if it shows it clearly enough, but you should be able to see the layers of paint on the body, I'm not sure what the cream-coloured stuff is just under the layer of Black Paint, it could be that the previous, or some other, owner decided to re-finish the guitar in Black, I did notice a hole in the control-cavity which had been filled-in prior to the body being re-finished in Black Paint.

I was just thinking that it would have been unlikely that the headstock logo survived a respray (and certainly not with the original maker's name on), so it's probably a factory finish. Maybe there was a flaw in the original finish so they re-sprayed it black to hide those flaws? Quicker than stripping it back to wood and starting all over again. Both Gibson and Fender have been known to do that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I was just thinking that it would have been unlikely that the headstock logo survived a respray (and certainly not with the original maker's name on), so it's probably a factory finish. Maybe there was a flaw in the original finish so they re-sprayed it black to hide those flaws? Quicker than stripping it back to wood and starting all over again. Both Gibson and Fender have been known to do that.

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It's possible, the neck is actually not the original one that came with the body, the mate who gave the body to me also gave me an all maple neck, which I suppose I could use with the body, but it needs some TLC work done on it, the frets need re-leveling/re-crowning, the fretboard is really grotty, and is coming away from the neck where the nut-shelf is, I'll see if I can get some pics of it posted, I have a feeling that it is an actual 80's Charvel neck, actually, I just had a look at the headstock and I can just make out the Charvel logo on it, would be cool if I can get the neck reconditioned.

Here are the picks of what I strongly suspect is an actual Charvel neck:

Attachment 15861

Attachment 15862

See the faint outlines of the headstock logo?, that looks suspiciously like the Charvel logo to me.

Attachment 15863

Might be a little hard to see, but just where the nut-shelf is, the fretboard is starting to come away from the neck, I think it should be fixable with some Titebond.

I think you are spot on about it being a Charvel neck, Doc.
Now i see why you love blue, great explanation.
It shouldn't be too hard to fix the neck up, it seems totally usable. Frets out, clean up, wick some slightly watered down titebond into the fret board that's lifting and a rub down and refinish - you'll learn a lot from doing it. I learnt heaps from saving the neck on my jazz guitar project - still unfinished, you'll be fine

Yes, a Charvel logo. Thought at first it might be a cheaper Charvette, but the 'h' in the Charvete logo is lower-case, not upper as here, so definitely a Charvel. The Gibson style hex-nut truss-rod, rather than a hex-socket one, suggests something less ordinary as well, and some pointy-head Charvels certainly had them.

Simon, you seem to be an encyclopaedia of guitar stuff, you never cease to amaze me...

Hey cheers mates, good to know that I was on the money, if I'm going to use the Charvel neck for this guitar build, I'll have to dowel the existing mounting screw holes so I can fit the neck to the body, the existing holes are a bit oversized and are in the wrong place, I may have to drill them out to something like 8mm or so, if it can be avoided, I want to leave the frets installed on the neck, reason being is that I really don't have any proper fretting/leveling tools at all, and I really need to invest in some.

I sighted the neck to determine it's straightness, and it has some back-bow, but it doesn't look twisted so that's a relief.....no pun intended....lol.

This looks like it will be a great guitar!
I'd be careful with the paint stripper, I'd worry that it might get into the timber grain and mess with subsequent primer and topcoats.
I remember these guitars when I was in school in the 1980s, they were the real shredders delight! I'll look forward to following this one along... I do hope you have some suitable clothes from the period in your wardrobe to match?
Here's another possible paint job...
Attachment 15866

Westones of the same era had the very same headstock design, right down to the Allen head truss rod; they even put locking nuts on the guitars rather than the behind-the-nut setup they used to avoid paying copyright to FR!

Yeah; that neck is eminently usable - just needs a little tarting up!! This should be a fun guitar to play when it's done!

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

This looks like it will be a great guitar!
I'd be careful with the paint stripper, I'd worry that it might get into the timber grain and mess with subsequent primer and topcoats.
I remember these guitars when I was in school in the 1980s, they were the real shredders delight! I'll look forward to following this one along... I do hope you have some suitable clothes from the period in your wardrobe to match?
Here's another possible paint job...
Attachment 15866

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Hahahaha.....unfortunately I will have to make do with a pair of blue jeans and a Pitbull Guitars T-Shirt for clothes to wear while playing the guitar, although I may have a long-sleeved denim jacket in my wardrobe somewhere, I could peroxide my hair to get it close to blonde but it may take a while cause my hair is something like a dark chocolate-brown, those were fun times, I miss the 80's, nowadays it seems like a lot of things to do with guitar playing are taboo, like for example 80's style shredding, even guitar solos seem to be frowned upon in some styles of music.

That guitar in the pic has a cool paint-job on it, I have to admit, I used to want a BC Rich Warlock with a Yellow and Purple Zebra-Stripe paint job on it, and I actually drew a pic of what it would look like when I was younger.

What would be a good product to use to get all the brown stains off the fretboard and clean it up a bit?, I was thinking of giving some household Spray N Wipe a try, but though it would be better to check first.

Is it a finished neck? I presume so. I don't know the answer, sorry, but a closer inspection should reveal what has happened. A look at the pic seems to show a neck with a lot of wear, I can see wear marks on the frets even on that scale. What are they like? If they are very worn you will be up for a refret.
I wonder if the stain is where the original finish has worn through, allowing the players fingers to mark the fretboard with sweat and dirt. I'd avoid using anything with water in that case, as you don't want damp in the wood. Although maple is very dense so the water penetration would be low.
I have no idea. I might try wax and grease remover. But I'd guess you will have to remove all of the finish from the fretboard, possibly lightly sand it and reclear it for it to be gone.
I'd be interested to hear what people in the know might say.....
Last word... I like the aged look of the neck as it is!

If it were me, I'd leave it as it is. Other people would pay good money to have a neck relicked so well! Otherwise, I'd first try turps and/or lemon oil, just to get any surface dirt off the wood. Avoid water-based cleaners if possible, as they could make the grain swell up and possibly even loosen the frets if you got it wet enough. If you have to use them, then apply on a damp rag only - not enough to soak the wood.

Looks like a lot of fret wear to go with the fingerboard wear. It really would benefit from a fret levelling and re-profiling. The associated fret files, notched straight-edge and fingerboard protectors are probably some of the best luthier tools to invest in as almost any guitar can be improved by a good fret job at some point in its life. A good set of nut files is very useful too, though expensive. Get those, and you can set up almost any guitar. You could also make some money on the side by doing set-ups for other people.

Just avoid charging for levelling stainless steel frets at the normal rate!

After applying some turps or lemon oil, scraping the neck with an old-style single-sided razor-blade or flat craft knife blade is a good way to quickly get built-up surface dirt off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

Is it a finished neck? I presume so. I don't know the answer, sorry, but a closer inspection should reveal what has happened. A look at the pic seems to show a neck with a lot of wear, I can see wear marks on the frets even on that scale. What are they like? If they are very worn you will be up for a refret.
I wonder if the stain is where the original finish has worn through, allowing the players fingers to mark the fretboard with sweat and dirt. I'd avoid using anything with water in that case, as you don't want damp in the wood. Although maple is very dense so the water penetration would be low.
I have no idea. I might try wax and grease remover. But I'd guess you will have to remove all of the finish from the fretboard, possibly lightly sand it and reclear it for it to be gone.
I'd be interested to hear what people in the know might say.....
Last word... I like the aged look of the neck as it is!

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The fretboard doesn't feel like it has any finish on it, on the other hand, the back of the neck might have been finished in a Satin Clear-Coat, but it has been worn through, the tops of some of the frets look like they have some wear, and pretty much all the frets hve had their crowns flattened, I personally think that they could do with a good fret-leveling and re-crowning.


Cheers Simon, looks like I'm going to have to have a serious debate to myself about whether to get rid of the brown stains or leave it as is and call it custom relicing, even though it is genuine relicing.

There's nothing stopping you from spraying a clear satin finish on the back of the neck - though you'd probably need to stick with poly rather than acrylic or nitro. Test on an area like the heel first for compatibility where it won't matter too much if it starts to bubble or pucker.

You could apply some Danish Oil to the fretboard to give it some protection but also leave a more natural feeling finish. It won't go shiny like TruOil or Tung Oil, but you may like that feel better.

Hi Doc, just caught up with this thread.

One of my mates has a EVH Wolfgang and they have unfinished maple fret boards which has to lemon oil quite regularly. Maybe this neck is the same and therefore just the light Stanley knife blade or razor blade scrape might be all you need to use to remove any crud.

Tend to agree about trying to retain the relic look as that is priceless and gives the guitar some character.

So, the general consensus is that I should leave the neck alone, except for sorting out some minor issues, like the fretboard separation at the nut end, and doweling of the mounting-screw holes, no worries, what about fixing up the lacquering on the headstock?, the original lacquering is flaking-off.

I will definitely be sorting out the Frets though, some of them are displaying some fret-wear, and the crowns are a bit flat, so some re-crowning work is definitely needed, looks like I'll be doing a big order from Stewmac sometime next year, the other possibility is to have a yarn with Dingobass and see if he can sort it all out for me, it needs a new nut installed too anyway.

Update:


Since we have been getting a fair bit of rain lately, I haven't really done very much work on my current build projects, I'm going to wait till the weather dries up a bit before continuing on.

We've been having a spell of sunny weather with clear skies. However, as result of the clear skies, it's gone midday and the outside air temperature is still only -3°C.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

We've been having a spell of sunny weather with clear skies. However, as result of the clear skies, it's gone midday and the outside air temperature is still only -3°C.

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Sydney is supposed to hit 37 today, too hot for sanding!