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BobArsecake wrote:ideally in nitro, but I'll have to see what the supply is like UK side for that business.

There is a place in Manchester that does a full range of colours.

Manchester Guitar Tech

Not cheap though.

I'm splitting for the Philippines early tomorrow morning, but had the day off today for tropical storm Fay. I combated boredom by drinking, wetsanding, polishing the headstock, drilling for the string tree, and applying the decal:



See ya in a few weeks...

That's going to be wonderful. I may order one of those necks.

I've been back form the philippines for a couple of weeks and have been letting the neck and body sit in the sun almost every day. The taped guard, the nut, and the neck binding aged very nicely in the sun.

Today I installed the pickguard. I found the location by measuring between the ears of the aft bridge pickup cavity and the center of the trem, and drawing a line. Then I drew a line on the pickguard between the ears of the bridge pickup cutout and the middle of the bridge leg holes. Then I held the guard snug to the neck pocket and lined up the lines I had drawn on the guard and body and drilled pilot holes. At first, I only drilled the guard holes at either bridge hole and both sides of the neck pocket.







Then I found the center of the bridge cup holes and drilled pilot holes:



After which I enlarged them and drove in the bushings with a piece of wood and a hammer:



Then I drilled the rest of the guard holes and set the bridge and pickup covers in place:



This is supposed to show some really cool checking, but it just doesn't really appear in the photo:



Same thing with the headstock, there's some very realistic checking going on that the camera can't catch:



Sorry for the fuzzy pic, but you can see the white primer showing through the chips where the checking is at the tip:



For anyone who thinks I overdid it with the pickup covers... those are vintage. I had one that had been painted black and I stripped it, and happened to find one on the bay that looks like it had a similar treatment!

I have an AVRI tail on the way and a set of repro double-lines. The repros are WD-Pings, which aren't known to be the greatest quality, but I really wanted the stamping on them. I'll just have to send them back if they are POS' until I get a good set.

I decided on SD Antiquity IIs because they're aged and have gray bobbins. I'll be ordering those pretty soon, along with an aluminum guard shield and the pots. I'll be using vintage cloth wiring in the correct colors to tie it all together.

Here she is deglossed and suntanning. Note how I avoided deglossing the trem area, I'll touch it up when the AVRI unit gets here. This is pretty much her final form, save for the electronics and tuners. And of course, further tanning even after completion...

very pretty.

Why the tape down the middle? Am I missing something?

I think its holding the pickup covers and bridge from falling out

read the thread noobz.

Absolutely gorgeous work, Fullerplast!

BTW, what do you do at NASA? I've always been interested in space exploration (hence my screen name of astro).

That color is to die for. Fitting for a beach climate. Great work!

Every day should involve polishing the headstock.

OH MAN! This is definitely my favorite Jazzmaster now. MUST..RESIST...REFIN..

I actually have a Tele in RR fiesta red and a '51 in their Coral. None of them look truly fiesta red. They need to meet up in some middle ground but I have seen some fiesta reds faded to an almost Coral.

Thanks guys!

As a complete surprise, the tail and tuners showed up yesterday... quick shipping! I already gave them the muriatic acid treatment, but haven't installed them.

I might polish the body and headstock back out to a semi-gloss... more in some areas (like the forearm contour). I also want to take the finish off the back of the neck in a few places.

The tape was a lazy way to simulate strings, most guards wear differently under the strings. The tape just lends a bit of contrast that should just barely be noticeable once strung.

astro - I'm a quality assurance guy for NASA. I worked on the orbiter for my first three years, but then had a chance to transfer to the institution branch. I oversee the contractors running the infrastructure. Working the shuttle was cool, but it was very confining being in the hangar all day. Now I can get out and drive around, goof off, etc.

2 things
1. good job! your dedication to authenticity is the shit!
2. i still think that filling the allparts logo on the inside and making a "realistic" looking paint stick mark and what not is a bit over the top.
but none the less, its still a pretty badass looking geeter so far.

I must say. That is a thing of beauty.

Congratulations!

Fullerplast wrote:astro - I'm a quality assurance guy for NASA. I worked on the orbiter for my first three years, but then had a chance to transfer to the institution branch. I oversee the contractors running the infrastructure. Working the shuttle was cool, but it was very confining being in the hangar all day. Now I can get out and drive around, goof off, etc.

Awesome!
When I was little, I dreamed of being an astronaut. I used to read and reread my dad's old National Geographic magazines from the late 50's and the 60's because they always had detailed articles about the then current American space missions. My mom has some thoroughly embarrassing (but totally LULZ worthy) pics of my brother and I as little kids with home made space suits, cut out of paper grocery bags. We looked like space hobos, but at the time we were sure that such training was necessary since everybody would be living on the moon by the year 2000.

If I had $20 million in loose change behind the couch, I would buy one of those trips on the Soyuz to go do a timeshare on the ISS. Unfortunately I won't be able to afford that kind of trip anytime soon on my salary!

You should try and convince the NASA brass to allow one of the astronauts to bring one of your project guitars to the moon. You'd have the most awesome project guitar pics out of anyone on the board!

I don't know how I missed this whole project, but that color looks like candy, and I'm hungry...

Your attention to detail and dedication to the relicing is awesome. One day, some one is gonna find this guitar and actually believe that it's a Fender, and then argue with the people at Antique Roadshow about it.

Great work, man.

Your attention to detail and dedication to the relicing is awesome. One day, some one is gonna find this guitar and actually believe that it's a Fender, and then argue with the people at Antique Roadshow about it.

Thanks for the compliment, but I'm gonna put my name on the butt of the neck where the stamp would go.

Generally, I find relics a bit silly... but its fun to recreate an authentic-looking old guitar. Not overdoing it is the key... and its a tough temptation to resist!

Have been massively impressed by all the projects you have posted, you really have great skills and the guitars look brilliant.
Look forward to the next one

Hurb wrote:read the thread noobz.