the '72 compstang is here!!!

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:33 pm

Love. I want that.

Post by **Hurb** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:58 pm

The guard has reacted with the poly paint I reckon for whatever reason. that aint normal shrinkage.

very hot guitar stewart! like awesome.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:10 pm

Hurb wrote:The guard has reacted with the poly paint I reckon for whatever reason. that aint normal shrinkage.

very hot guitar stewart! like awesome.

yup, as soon as i find a better one i'll get shot of it, it's fucked.

glad everyone likes it, i can't stop looking at the bloody thing! all i really have to do to it now is route it for a bridge humbucker, lock the trem, flip the tailpiece, change the bridge to a tune-o-matic, shoot myself in the head and i'll be ready to go................

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:00 am

at the begining i thought you were serious, with the whole "route for a bucker, put a tune o matic...... etc etc"
and then i read the last line and had a good chuckle.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:09 am

GET GOING.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:21 am

It's always fun to take apart a guitar. The duo and Musicmaster look cool too.

Raist330 · Post by **Raist330** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:47 am

Someone pass me a Kleenex.

Or a moist towelette.

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:01 am

Will you post me it?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:02 am

More Cowbell wrote:Will you post me it?

sure, i've got more than enough to spare!

Wonka · Post by **Wonka** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:32 pm

It looks like someone tried to glue the guard down flat at some point. Does anyone have a fix to flatten a warped guard? Only thing I can think of is to sandwich it between glass and let it sit in vey hot water. You know Kurt would never route his competition stang for a bucker. Only his jap reissues as well, they were disposable. Is the '76 a lot heavier? Great score!

BobArsecake · Post by **BobArsecake** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:24 am

Beautiful! :D

BusterRoberts · Post by **BusterRoberts** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:39 am

Damn... that is one beautiful guitar. LPB is one of my favorite colors. Congrats.

sp3k · Post by **sp3k** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:47 am

really nice, love the stripes

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:23 am

i bet that you could re-shape the plastic, but you would have to do it delicately.
its hard to reverse something that has been happening for 35+ years.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:38 am

Wonka wrote:It looks like someone tried to glue the guard down flat at some point. Does anyone have a fix to flatten a warped guard? Only thing I can think of is to sandwich it between glass and let it sit in vey hot water. You know Kurt would never route his competition stang for a bucker. Only his jap reissues as well, they were disposable. Is the '76 a lot heavier? Great score!

er, yeah, i'm not really going to route it for a honkbucker... and i know his competition stayed stock (as if i care that much). 'twas a joke. the '76 is heavier, in a comparison between this, the '64 duo and the '76 it's somewhere in between.

robert(original) wrote:i bet that you could re-shape the plastic, but you would have to do it delicately.
its hard to reverse something that has been happening for 35+ years.

i had considered maybe warming it in the oven then pressing it between sheets of thick ply in a vice... but it might just make it worse. the heat required to make it flexible would probably just warp it even more. and it seems pretty far gone, the bent bits are rigid.

i'm bidding on a '66 guard on ebay, hopefully i'll get that and it'll be fine. looking at the under-guard shots, there is an awful lot of excess lacquer there, maybe that's what's reacted with it, as hurb said.

in other news i've raised the pickups, taped the bridge posts, lowered the tailpiece a bit and it plays like a dream. there's pretty much no fret wear whatsoever, it's as if it's sat in its case and been brought out for jam at a christmas party once a decade... it feels like a new guitar. you could say i'm 'stoked'.

i don't think i'm going to gig with this, i'll keep it for recordings and civilised playing. i have a tendency to accidentally bash guitars off low ceilings and whatnot, so i'm going to try and treat this one nice.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:41 am

That's all great news! I wouldn't worry about the pickguard, you should be able to get one at a decent price. You could try to reshape the old one but old guards can get pretty brittle. I tried to 'fix' an old 60s musicmaster guard and the lower portion of the guard at the lower horn snapped off.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:55 am

yeah, i think it's beyond repair. if you look at the pictures you can see where the screw holes have stretched, and where each screw is on the curve it's gone kind of square... there's no way i'd be able to get it back to its proper shape, and really, for the sake of Â£30 or so i don't think i'll bother trying. but i'll keep hold of it just for the sake of authenticity if i ever sell it. which i won't.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:01 am

Yeah, the extended screw holes forming channels means it's a goner.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:04 am

trew, i had forgotten about that.
dan erlwine could probly fix it, but he'd charge about 4 thousand bucks.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:12 pm

i'm just about to head off to rehearsal and thought i'd have a play through an amp before i go just in case there were any nasty surprises (i.e. it doesn't work). i gave it a cursory signal check the night i got it, but haven't played it amplified til now.

in comparison, it sounds a bit brighter than the duo-sonic. the 76 is in its case on top of the wardrobe and i couldn't be bothered hauling it down, so i can't check it against that just now... however, the switches are wired wrong! when they're both switched in parallel it's out of phase, and vice versa. it's not the end of the world, and when i get a new scratchplate i'll maybe rewire it, but it's odd. i wonder if they occasionally came from the factory like that or if some dude's swapped it round at some point.

hmm.