Mexican Classic Series 50s strat - Nitro Refinish complete

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Quite pleased with how this one turned out. Started life as a Mexican Classic Series 50s strat, which I loved to play but felt the finish was too shiny and plastick-y. So it's had a full strip down and re-spray in Daphne Blue nitro, plus a light relic job. (Yeah, yeah I know, but I don't care - I love the look and feel of it now ...)

First time I've sprayed with nitro - have to say I prefer using it to anything else now. I should have probably gone for a few more clear coats as I ran into a little sand-through when flatting back, but I wanted as thin a finish as possible really. Body was sprayed daphne blue, then a couple of clear, then a light spray of tinted clear to dull the colour a little and finally a few more clear. 

Body was given a few weeks to cure and then spent 72 hours in a freezer, the subjected to a hairdryer on hot. Cracks are subtle but look great. 

Neck has also been stripped down and re-finished in nitro, with some light ageing. Didn't want the same contrived finger grooves that a few of the over-the-top relic jobs seem to go for. Turns out stripping a neck takes a long time and a fair few razor blades! Decal is now above the lacquer which I believe is period correct for a 50s strat.

Hardware has been aged by abrasion and ferric chloride, should start showing a few rust spots before too long.

Lost the string tree and strap buttons so have spares on order. Will probably re-do the volume and tone knobs as they're a little too much at the moment. 

Anyway, here's before:


And after:


Before:


After:


And a few more shots ...

Andyjr1515

Very nicely done.  Much better than the heavy relics you see.....

sawyer

Looks cool. Proper chips. Hate it when people just sand the edges off. You've obviously been researching genuine vintage guitars and aged it in all the right places. Good work!

WezV

Yeah, looks good that

Jez6345789

I don't much like relics but a tasteful job.
as I don't know should it have a more aged pickgaurd looks a bit stark to the untrained eye

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Jez6345789 said:

I don't much like relics but a tasteful job.
as I don't know should it have a more aged pickgaurd looks a bit stark to the untrained eye

I was thinking the same - but apparently the 50s white pickguards were made from a material that doesn't yellow over time, so the fact it's still white is more accurate. Allegedly.

PVO_Dave

Great job, relic work suits it

Sassafras

Very nice but you've put the trem springs on wrong. They're all askew.
  

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Sassafras said:

Very nice but you've put the trem springs on wrong. They're all askew.
  

I just put them back on the way they were ... first time I've reassembled a trem. :-) Should they be parallel? 

JezWynd

Fabulous colour. have to say I prefer it unreliced, it looked beautiful. Great work either way.

Teyeplayer

This looks fantastic buddy, well done!

marktheharp

Nice job looks sweet.   Great job Daniel'.. as Ryan Adams says....  

Chuffola

Very, very nice...

thermionic

4114Effects said:

Sassafras said:

Very nice but you've put the trem springs on wrong. They're all askew.
  

I just put them back on the way they were ... first time I've reassembled a trem. :-) Should they be parallel? 

The angled thing came about mainly because it's more fiddly to hook them up at the edges so people hooked the ends in one hole in from the edge. The Dan Erlewine books go into some detail about this, and he argues that they're better parallel because all three springs have the same extension. Otherwise the outer two are stretched further than the middle one and it feels different... ok, we're getting into cork sniffing territory here. Leo designed them to be parallel, so that's how mine are.

usedtobe

I might've preferred it unrelic'd, but I think it looks excellent, anyway! Much better than the before pics!

JD50

Nice job. How did you go about stripping the body & neck?

Christophe

Nice job but I'm afraid I'm going to be in the minorty here as I think that model prior to refin is one of the best looking at any price

Jack_

How do you get the sort of aged tea like build up/look nearer the frets?

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JD50 said:

Nice job. How did you go about stripping the body & neck?

Sandpaper for the back and headstock, razor blade and a lot of patience for between the frets. 

Jack_ said:

How do you get the sort of aged tea like build up/look nearer the frets?

Woodstain / dye, wiped on and left for a few minutes then wiped off the middle of the frets. Was an idea I tied and seemed to work well. 

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JD50 said:

Nice job. How did you go about stripping the body & neck?

Body was stripped with a heat gun and scraper blade, came off very easily!