70s Strat makeover project (now finished)

NPP

I have a sunburst lefty Strat built around '78-'80, apparently the worst era for Strats. It's my first proper guitar bought back in the mid-80s. I have from time to time thought about stripping it of its thick finish, and a recent discussion on here, in particular advice from ICBM, made me finally get a start with it. I know 70s Fenders are now going up in value, but I would never sell this guitar, having had it for so long, and anyway it bears the scars of various experimental pickup configurations and has had its neck sanded off in the early 90s.

So that's @ICBM's post:

ICBM said:

I think the thin, shrill sound of 70s Strats isn't the pickups - it's the over-heavy, lumpy bodies with Thick-Skin finish, sloppy neck joint and cheap alloy bridge blocks and saddles.

I once completely rebuilt one by removing the finish, re-shaping the body and oil finishing it, tightening up the neck joint, replacing the bridge... but keeping the original pickups. It sounded great.

Of course, I totally destroyed its value .

So that's where it all starts with:

NPP

No contours at all on the body, so that needed to change - note the use of professional tools:

Some little progress made:

More shaping - but still a long way to go:

Again following advice from on here, I bought a cheap heat gun and started stripping the paint (started between the routings, the forearm cut is sawed and sanded away, not stripped):

Progress (also note highly professional caveman-style routing work carried out in the 80s when I had to have a humbucker in there - at least I had the good sense to oil and wax afterwards):

NPP

And that's where we are now - front, back, and a mockup of it being put back together:

The next steps are:

- tidy up the forearm cut

- round off the edges where material has been taken off

- give it all a good sanding up to 600

- Danish oil - again following a procedure described on here (http://juansolo.co.uk/stompage/bajage.html)

Things I still hesitate about:

- do I buy a new pickguard, or reuse the butchered old one? New one will be difficult, as it's a lefty and I want to keep the Tele pickup in the bridge position.

- do I strip the paint out of the neck pocket? For reasons of tone and workmanship, that's probably what should be done. On the other hand, there's still the sticker and serial number in there. Advice on that point would be much appreciated!

jd0272

I think you're past worrying about the serial and the sticker. Enjoying this muchly, you're a braver man than I!

Andyjr1515

Great stuff! Decent bit of wood under all the gunk

citizen68

Nice work man - contemplating doing similar to my Japanese Tele but still don't have the cahonies to start!

ICBM

Good work!

Is that a DIY trem stop in the back as well?

frankus

Jesus Titty Fucking Christ! I've got a 1984 Strat, identified as the worst era for Strats... I'm too scared to change the trem to a Kahler.

You're a brave brave man. or a nut job.. or both.

WezV

Looks good, natural will be nice.

 

I did a 70's strat rebuild project, kept the body original as it was not too thick - but this was a 74.  Its an original body, plate and knobs with a newer mexican neck reliced to match.  we did debate getting an original neck but it would have been a lot mroe money and a lot worse quality, the MIM neck was in good condition and a good fit  so a bit of a no-brainer

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/complete%20guitars/01gwem.jpg

NPP

jd0272 said:

I think you're past worrying about the serial and the sticker. Enjoying this muchly, you're a braver man than I!

I have decided to carefully remove and later reapply the sticker. See whether it works ...

ICBM said:

Good work!

Is that a DIY trem stop in the back as well?

it's not DIY, it was sold by Rockinger in Germany in the 80s. Two weeks after installing it I broke off my trem arm and that was that. 

frankus said:

Jesus Titty Fucking Christ! I've got a 1984 Strat, identified as the worst era for Strats... I'm too scared to change the trem to a Kahler.

You're a brave brave man. or a nut job.. or both. 

I wouldn't think of myself as brave, so ...

@WezV, nice guitar!

frankus

Well, your actions are inspiring, nonetheless (in no small part to how successful it looks) - I may attempt to get a kahler on the Strat by the end of the year.

Also if you're a south-paw and on facebook - I started a group called "The League of Sinister Guitarists" come along and join us ... share the pics there too if you do Facebook..:)

ICBM

frankus said:

I've got a 1984 Strat, identified as the worst era for Strats... I'm too scared to change the trem to a Kahler.

A Kahler makes a really nice job of a Freeflyte Strat, but filling the rout first is a bit of a pain the backside...

I wouldn't put the locking nut at the other end these days either, locking machineheads are almost as effective and don't mess up the headstock.

NPP said:

it's not DIY, it was sold by Rockinger in Germany in the 80s. Two weeks after installing it I broke off my trem arm and that was that.

Ah, interesting!

Yes, the broken arm problem is the reason I changed the bridge block on the one I rebuilt too - it's quite common if you overtighten the arm, it can sort of 'cold weld' to the block, and it's almost impossible to drill out without the drill wandering off and wrecking the block.

I still managed to sell the old block (with full disclosure about the stuck arm thread) for a fair price on Ebay years later though! Some people will buy anything...

thermionic

I knew the countours on 70s Strats were not right, but that's the first I've see that had no contours at all!

NPP

thermionic said:

I knew the countours on 70s Strats were not right, but that's the first I've see that had no contours at all!

well it had a small belly cut but the forearm cut was non-existent.

@frankus I have a facebook account but it is just a placeholder, I don't 'get' social media I'm afraid, in particular the intermingling of your hobbies, professional and private lives that goes with it.

@ICBM, I didn't bother with the trem because I got into changing quite a bit between normal and open G tunings. Earlier this year, I bought a new Wilkinson trem but I kept all the original bits from the guitar - trem, pickups, even pick guard screws, it's all still there

 

frankus

NPP said:

@frankus I have a facebook account but it is just a placeholder, I don't 'get' social media I'm afraid, in particular the intermingling of your hobbies, professional and private lives that goes with it.

 

I understand, I like my life being a car crash of professional, family, martial arts, guitars and inappropriate shop signs and it's interesting to find how much cross-over there is

Deadman

Scary stuff! Hats off to you NPP.

NPP

Progress has been slow and unspectacular so far and there will be no pics this time. 

The body is now sanded down to 600 and feels and looks good. Annoyingly, I have run out of sandpaper and cannot find anybody locally who stores the finer stuff. I thought about just leaving it as is and start applying oil, but then decided to do it properly and ordered some 1000 grit sandpaper on ebay.

What do I do to get the body dust-free after sanding? The vacuum cleaner doesn't lift all of the dust off.  

Deadman

I use tack rags. You can get them in Halfords etc.

NPP

Deadman said:

I use tack rags. You can get them in Halfords etc.

like these: http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repairs/car-paint-supplies/u-pol-maximum-tack-cloths-x-10 ?

Would an ordinary microfibre cloth work, perhaps slightly damp? 

Deadman

Those are the ones. Yes I suppose it would, you just wouldn't want to do that for a finish coat, not on a guitar anyway. Maybe a skirting board or door. Tack rags are the industry standard/normal practice. There are usually 64 usable sides on them too so they're definitely re-usable.

NPP

ok as I can't do anything without new supplies of sandpaper I'll post pics instead:

front:

back:

contours: