Squier strat rebuild

WezV

This ones a bit of a challenge.  Its been heavily modified throughout its life and i have been challenged with putting it back to a normal configuration, without making it look like a brand new guitar or a purposeful relic.

Its one of those jobs that doesn't make the most economic sense, but its not always just about that.   My first guitar was very similar to this, and also got modded whilst I was still finding my way, so its kinda cathartic to get to put something so similar back to its old state.   The good news is i still have the abused neck from my old one.  Its beyond saving and has been used as a paint stick. It will be used as a donor for some of the wood plugs needed here





I will start with some structural fills front and back.   Once they are done i will inlay a new centre section.  then if the joins ever reappear it will look like a 3-piece body

the neck needs the nut shelf rebuilding and some plugs front and back.  its already had a new fretboard but it is very flat so needs a re-radius and therefore a re-fret too

normula1

I'll be watching this one with interest

Rabs

Wow that is quite some mess.....  I do wonder if its worth the work on a guitar like that..  I once picked up a really nice Squire strat at a boot sale for £30...

WezV

Rabs said:

Wow that is quite some mess.....  I do wonder if its worth the work on a guitar like that..  I once picked up a really nice Squire strat at a boot sale for £30...

It’s worth it when the guitar means something to someone.  Just replacing the body was discussed, but not an acceptable option

the finish was a bit rough but you can see most of the previous work was done fairly well.  It’s all solid and plays well even if the neck pickup and Floyd route could be neater. 

Jez6345789

Gonna nearly be like Triggers broom.
New finger, board refret, infills.

someone loves this very much to do so much work

as always follow WezV projects with interest.

Rabs

Yeah well as you say, should be an interesting project...   and I agree its not always about the economics..   I want to help provide people with guitars they want the way they want them..  You cant always get that off the shelf.

And a guitar with sentiment..  If you get that right (which im sure you will) will bring the owner immense joy..  Which in itself is priceless and worth while I think.. 

normula1

I'll hold my hand up that this is mine.
It does have huge sentimental value that for me way outstrips any sanity in having the restoration done and fundamentally it's actually a pretty good guitar to play.

My sadly now departed father in law helped me do a lot of the modifications well over twenty years ago when I wasn't in a position to go and buy a guitar that had the features I wanted. Plus like all modification it's fun to do.

It's by no means Trigger's broom but I will admit to it having had a new brush head or two over the years

I recognised that I have very little of the woodworking skills required to bring it back into something like stock and I'm incredibly grateful that Wez has agreed to take on the challenge.

WezV

I have done similar, anyone who has been modding guitars for a while probably has. Many won't admit it   

I will approach this squier the same way I would a vintage strat, because the next one might be.

anyway, the body paint is off. its all good wood underneath. and i can soon start on the structural stuff.   the contours are really quite nice on this

joeyowen

piiiicccssss

WezV

joeyowen said:

piiiicccssss

okay, all sanded




you can see that most of the previous woodwork has actually been done pretty well

I have made grain matched plugs. 


  the ones on the body are just to take care of the deepest holes, they will allow me to keep more of the original wood in place

the ones in the neck will be visible when done, but are drilled from the headstock of my old, thoroughly dead, squier neck.

i found a spare slab of basswood to do the rest of the work.  i used it for the plugs here, its a good match

Gizmo

Cool project my kinda thing,are you binning the ibby floyd as it's looks like it long since been locked down?

impmann

Bookmarked!

Great to see this - no, it makes no sense financially but so what? Things don't have to make sense to be superb.

normula1

It's an Ibanez Edge from '93-94 and it still works pretty well. As it was recessed into the body we milled down the block a little. 

normula1

That's looking pretty good IIRC the inlaid block of wood was a lump of beech that I got from the same chap that did the fingerboard.

normula1

@WezV you wouldn't believe the grin I have on my face 

munckee

Have you still got the original pickups to put back in?

WezV

I assume the original pickups are long gone.   

This is not an attempt to put this back to an original state

munckee

OK, just thought I have some squier standard strat pickups with no covers you could have had if you were trying to go back to original state.  Mind you its a recent alnico set so might not be the same anyway.

normula1

As it happens, in a box a bits and pieces I do still have two of the originals that were bolted to a bit of hack-sawed and drilled brass letterbox and then stuffed into a humbucker cover with a load of wax. The magnets were in a plastic former so were easy to push out and invert to turn the pair into a humbucker which mated quite well with a Schaller Super Distortion knock off I had in the bridge (of a different guitar).

Suffice to say, they'll not be going back in

munckee

normula1 said:

As it happens, in a box a bits and pieces I do still have two of the originals that were bolted to a bit of hack-sawed and drilled brass letterbox and then stuffed into a humbucker cover with a load of wax. The magnets were in a plastic former so were easy to push out and invert to turn the pair into a humbucker which mated quite well with a Schaller Super Distortion knock off I had in the bridge (of a different guitar).

Suffice to say, they'll not be going back in

What are you putting in?

normula1

Wez has got loads more work to go through before that gets' revealed.... plus it's his thread and I don't want to derail it chipping in all the time