New project guitar

[McCreed]

Well I managed to fix up the bug damage, and then got 3 more coats on (mostly) without incident.

With the second coat, a tiny but longish bit of lint (like a single fibre) made its way on to the headstock (about 1cm from where the friggin' bug wing was! ). Luckily it had an end that was just sticking up a wee bit, and I was able to extract it with tweezers.

After that I did one more coat and decided I had pushed my luck with the Finishing Gods far enough...

I'm happy with the end result though. Now comes the inevitable waiting we all love. I'm really looking forward to getting this back together and playing again.

I've also just started on another neck that is getting a re-radius followed by a re-fret followed by another re-finish! Lots of "re-" going on here!

See??? No bugs!!!

[Rodc]

Well I managed to fix up the bug damage, and then got 3 more coats on (mostly) without incident.

With the second coat, a tiny but longish bit of lint (like a single fibre) made its way on to the headstock (about 1cm from where the friggin' bug wing was! ). Luckily it had an end that was just sticking up a wee bit, and I was able to extract it with tweezers.

After that I did one more coat and decided I had pushed my luck with the Finishing Gods far enough...

I'm happy with the end result though. Now comes the inevitable waiting we all love. I'm really looking forward to getting this back together and playing again.

I've also just started on another neck that is getting a re-radius followed by a re-fret followed by another re-finish! Lots of "re-" going on here!

See??? No bugs!!!

Nice recovery mate..🤙
That waiting game is a pain.
I sprayed poly on for 4 days while it was raining. Only left it for 2 and sanded it and polished it up. Today I fitted all the hardware. I’m hopeless at waiting for clear or paint to cure..🤦*♂️
Re: radius? Never even thought of that. Do you use a radius sanding block McCreed?

[McCreed]

Re: radius? Never even thought of that. Do you use a radius sanding block McCreed?

Yes. The neck is currently a 14" radius. A bit too flat for my liking, so I'll pull the frets and hit it with a block, then re-fret it.
I haven't decided whether to go with 12" or 9.5" at this point.

[McCreed]

I finally got this guitar back in action today.

I was just waiting on the finish on the neck to set. I did the last coat of satin poly 2 weeks ago.
Polished up the gloss poly on the front of the headstock and started the reassembly and set up.
It came together quickly as I kept all the hardware on the body since all I did to it was the neck screw ferrules.

Set up went quickly too as everything had been adjusted before I took it apart. Even the intonation was near bang-on.

The parts I swapped or added are: black pickguard; Fender Gen 4 pickups; Alpha (Taiwan) pots & CRL 3-way switch with a reversed control plate; dome top knobs with position markers; strat switch tip for the switch (don't like the trad tele tips); solid stainless steel block saddles and a barrel-style string tree (my personal fave). I kept the stock bridge plate, tuners and nut, and of course the body & neck.
Oh, I did upgrade the jack plate also. I was going put in an electro-socket, but that would have required filling the old plate screw holes and refinishing, so I just went with a better quality chrome plate. Still better than the old school cup jack IMO.

I had it playing well before attacking the neck and now it's back to it but with a much better feeling neck!
(I really don't like the factory "satin". It feels like bare wood to me.) I'm very happy with it now, even if the pickups cost more than the guitar!

[Bakersdozen]

Very very cool

[McCreed]

Thanks BD. That didn't take you long to notice!

[Rodc]

Very nice mate. Love the colour of the neck now. Similiar although a tad darker then the J Mascis Jazzmaster.

[fender3x]

I had a car almost that exact color in my youth. Really looks classic. Amazing how it's the same guitar as what you started with, but absolutely everything is better.

[McCreed]

I had a car almost that exact color in my youth. Really looks classic. Amazing how it's the same guitar as what you started with, but absolutely everything is better.

Yes, the colour is Ice Blue Metallic and one reason I decided against a refinish. (the other reason is just couldn't arsed to do it )

I am regularly surprised at how much a "cheap" guitar can be improved with some finesse and TLC (and great pickups!).
I haven't bought or owned a guitar over $800 in many years and very satisfied with all of their performance (albeit with some "performance enhancement").

[jonwhitear]

That looks great. Nice job!