ShortScale.org

Hello All:

I just picked up this beauty and I need a little advice. For the short term I just want to just get it up and playing. Its missing tuning knobs, pickups, etc. I was just thinking of grabbing an uncut pickguard material from guitar fetish and copying the original, and routing it for whatever pickups I choose. And then maybe mount a few temp pickups, any suggestions? I need to get the rust off of the trem. What's the best way to deal with the rust on the bridge? I have one pickup- with black top part (not pictured) but Im missing the rest of the cover which I've read are known to disintegrate. I've seen the post about a replacement for that but $30 is pretty expensive for me at the moment so I might hold off. I want to slowly restore it, but in the meantime I want to just get it going as cheaply as possible, without damaging any of the original stuff, til funds come in.


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Great find!
For the rust, I recommend pulling it apart, spraying with a little penetrating oil (WD40, RP7 etc) and polishing with fine steel wool. Chrome is harder than steel so as long as you are gentle, the rust will be removed leaving the chrome intact.
For the pickup - I know a lot of 70s Japanese guitars had similar pickups, you can get them around the place. They sound pretty raw generally, well worth it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Teisco- ... 2073602157

Excellent advice MatthewK- I soaked the bridge over night and did two rounds of fine steel wool- about 3/4 of the rust is gone. I have one major spot and a few small bits left. Im soaking it again, and will try some more. I'm not sure if you can see it in the photos but the body has flakes of paint that have spray on it- do you have any advice on getting that off without removing the actual paint job off?

Thanks for the advice on the pickups. I have a friend giving me a mini humbucker, and I am attempting to get the lone pick up working- I might stick a strat PU in there as a place holder.