80s Bullet FINISHED & better pictures

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:28 am

So, as you may have seen in a couple of other threads I picked up an old tele style bullet body, it cost me just over Â£30 I think, can't quite remember 40 maybe. I'm using a squire telecaster neck that I bought for a generously low Â£80 (full guitar) from Mr GreenKnees.

here is what has happened so far:

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Body with super ugly, super patchy black paint job, hacked and slashed for bridge humbucker.

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Couple of shots of the guard, the attempt to cut it for a humbucker is ridiculous. I don't think I can squeeze any life out of the thing.

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So this is pretty much where I am now. I've just used some standard B&Q paint stripper. Its taken about 10 coats to get rid of most of the pain, 5 front 5 back. It went through the black, to metallic blue, to a lighter almost Daphne Blue, to what was presumably a primer white. You can make out a little of the original red in in places in the cavity.

Now, things to think about/shortscale to chip in about...

Colour: The guitar came in either Red like mine or sort of vintage white/cream. I hate red guitars so that is not for me. I do like the look of the white ones but I've already got a white eppi SG and a 'desert sand' Baja tele and I'm not sure I want to be the white guitar guy (if/when I get a jazzmaster it will definitely be white so that's 3 white slots taken)

I'm thinking something obnoxious, Comp orange with matching head stock? FrankenBullet?

Pickups: The guitar had mustang pickups from the factory, god only know where they are now. So options are SD antiquities (I'm crazy about the duo sonic ones I put in my last project), or some random fender mustangs off ebay, or just something hot cheap and nasty. At the moment I'm favouring the hot and nasty option.

Guard/bridge.. I've found a Uk website that make custom guards including metal ones, for ok money, If they will do the bullet bridge in a guard thing, that might be cool..Otherwise, convert to string through plus strat bridge vs top loading strat bridge. Either way I'll need to sort a new guard.

More pictures after I sand off the rest of the body and start to paint.

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:35 am

you could park a VW in that bridge pu route...

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:42 am

SGJarrod wrote:you could park a VW in that bridge pu route...

I know. Safe to say, this guitar has been in the hands of an idiot at some point.

Pacafeliz · Post by **Pacafeliz** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:53 am

ROUTE FROM HELL!!!

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:05 am

what did they do? put an EB pickup in there for the humbucker or something? holy hell.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:51 am

yeah, stuart wrote bridge humbucker but all i could see fitting in there was this:

but you'd still have plenty of room for a bad ass chrome pickup cover plus a place to put your cigarette when you SHRED.

cooter · Post by **cooter** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:27 am

Those tele bullets are sweet. Cool project.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:03 pm

What is the story on sanding sealer? Do I need it? What product? is it only important for Nitro, which I'm probably not using?

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:11 pm

oh same question for grain filler too.

cur · Post by **cur** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:18 pm

Sanding sealer, keeps grain from raising and allows stain to stain evenly once applied. Some woods, like cherry can stain blotchy without it. It can have some grain filling effect. It must be water based, because you put it on and it will raise the grain and then sets up. You then sand to knock off raised grain.

Grain filler is something different, used to fill the low spots of the grain to make a nice smooth as glass finish.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:43 pm

cur wrote:Sanding sealer, keeps grain from raising and allows stain to stain evenly once applied. Some woods, like cherry can stain blotchy without it. It can have some grain filling effect. It must be water based, because you put it on and it will raise the grain and then sets up. You then sand to knock off raised grain.

Grain filler is something different, used to fill the low spots of the grain to make a nice smooth as glass finish.

Cool thanks. So I probably don't need to do sanding sealer, but I may need to do grain filler, which is sort of what I thought from the reading I'd done.

So I need to order THIS ? or can I get away with THIS ?

The Polyfilla mentions grain filling in the description and I can go get it from a shop rather than waiting, but it also looks like it is for repairing cracks

cur · Post by **cur** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:13 pm

I don't know the second one you listed, but it might work just fine. The first one is a traditional grain filler. There are several approaches to doing this. It may depend on the type of wood you are using and the final finish you want to apply. If you want a natural look you may want a traditional grain filler designed to match the wood you are using. Wood with bigger sized grain pores might want to use a filler like the one you posted. If you have fine grain wood like maple or poplar, you can get away with more options. If you want to paint, not stain, maple or poplar you can get by with several easy approaches. First, if it is fairly smooth can shoot it with a high build primer. This will give a little build up and can then be sanded to a smooth surface. You can also get a can of spray shellac. If it is nice out, you can give it three thin quick coats, then sand with 400 and repeat until you are happy. You can also use 2 part epoxy. I would recommend stuff with at least 15 minute working time. Mix up small batches and use a Bondo spreader or rubber squeegee to spread on thin coats. Since it is very thin it will take longer than 15 minutes to set, but this gives it longer to flow out. you can add new coats as the stuff sets up. use some 320 paper between coats and rub dust of with paper towel. (you can clean tool with vinegar and if you use poly propylene for tools or mixing it can be peeled off when dry). If you let it set more than 24 hours you may get some amine blush, this can be washed away because it will interfere with further coats of epoxy and maybe paint. System three epoxy does not blush. Scuff sand before painting or priming.

Close your eyes and feel the surface for imperfections.. This will tell you if it is smooth.

ploppy · Post by **ploppy** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:50 pm

The metal pickguards are difficult to get hold of these days - could you get someone to weld a metal plate in then recut the original single coil bridge hole?

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:04 pm

ploppy wrote:The metal pickguards are difficult to get hold of these days - could you get someone to weld a metal plate in then recut the original single coil bridge hole?

THIS company do metal guards, I'm hoping if I send them what I've got they will be able to reproduce the bridge thing. If not I'll just use a strat bridge like on the Custom versions of the Bullet.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:05 pm

sorry the one with the strat bridge was called Bullet Deluxe not custom.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:03 pm

Cur that explanation was amazing, sorry for not thanking you at the time, it was really helpful and I'm really happy with the way colour has gone on.

So here are a couple of pictures...

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The guitar is in shadow and the headstock is still slightly wet, but you get the idea...

Brother cooterfinger is making me a black guard, and the bridge will also be black.

Pickups wise I'm going with a pair of these lipstick things . The Big question is which output to go for. The original plan with this guitar was to go for really hot strat type pickups, so that would mean the 9ks or maybe one each of 9k and 6k. However I then read that the 4.9k is closer to the vintage dano sound which also might be cool, thoughts anybody?

StevePirates · Post by **StevePirates** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:09 pm

I have this guy. It's in pieces right now. I'm not sure what to do with it. I love 80's Bullets

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:32 pm

StevePirates wrote:
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I have this guy. It's in pieces right now. I'm not sure what to do with it. I love 80's Bullets

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a little more pointy than mine I think, which is odd, I thought they were only made for one year and therefore on shape.

ploppy · Post by **ploppy** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:56 pm

StevePirates wrote:

I have this guy. It's in pieces right now. I'm not sure what to do with it. I love 80's Bullets

Is this the mid '80's squier fender bullet?

StevePirates · Post by **StevePirates** » Sun May 22, 2011 8:02 pm

ploppy wrote:
StevePirates wrote:
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I have this guy. It's in pieces right now. I'm not sure what to do with it. I love 80's Bullets
Is this the mid '80's squier fender bullet?

Probably. I got it at a pawnshop in 1995 for $90.