Squier strat rebuild

JayGee

Not my guitar, ands not my business, but did anybody else look at that first batch of pictures and immediately start thinking about Dave Gilmour’s eponymous Black Strat... 

WezV

frets are out



hmm... hadn't noticed before - that doesn't look like indian


time to do something about that nut shelf

my old squier provides a suitable filler piece

DannyP

WezV said:

frets are out

I just can't keep up with the trends.

WezV

Just done the big structural plug on the front.  It replaces the existing beech and goes a bit wider and a fair bit longer to just behind the floyd route.

it is a nice tight fit.  I put it in to test and struggled to get it out again.  It’s now been glued in place  and will be trimmed back later this week... then pics

gusman2x

He'll get some money back for the edge!

WezV

i skipped a few steps in documenting this

firstly i did the big structural fill on the front.   That would have left a hard line behind the bridge so i then inlaid a 3mm basswood veneer  to make it look like natural joins in the body, and a feathered join on the contour. which will blend better than a hard join at right angles to the grain.   The other way i was considering was to route out a  big deep strip down teh middle and put one big fill in, but the way i did it keeps more of the original wood.   

It now looks like this

Gizmo

Nice

normula1

That's f**ing brilliant. Way better than I hoped for.  

DannyP

That's a fantastic bit of plugging!

WezV

Floyd....   What Floyd???

again i have progressed quite far and forgot to take pictures

You may remember the back looked like this



the spring cavity had been extended , the block section had been widened etc...

i did pretty much the same as the front.   I first filled the block section.   Then i filled most of the spring cavity.  once they were set in place i routed a wide shallow slot for a veneer  to cover it all up.   

The heel had been angled, which is a mod i thoroughly approve of so the contour has been preserved.   it does mean we have another feathered join line on the veneer, but those are less likely to show up than a hard joint


You can see a slight trench near the end of the srping cavity... i didn;t join the plugs fully here as its a non structural join.  when gluing up the plugs i used some wedges in this gap to push both plugs  tight against the important glue surfaces

normula1

Wow. Mrs Normula1 just said "is that really your guitar?"

WezV

ha.  Definitely still your guitar.

i am going to leave the body alone for a few weeks now so it can settle in.  concentrate on the neck.  Then once its fretted I will put it together for a test fit and see if I need to make any changes before finishing

WezV

Lacquer has been on for a week or so now.   Needs a few more weeks before levelling and buffing out

normula1

Ooooooooh

WezV

going back together.  It still needs the nut cutting but i am really happy with the transformation so far