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

[DrNomis_44]

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




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.

[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.

[DrNomis_44]

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.

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:





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



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.

[stan]

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

[Simon Barden]

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.

[stan]

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

[DrNomis_44]

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.

[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...

[corsair]

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!

[DrNomis_44]

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...

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.