Drunk project number 2

impmann · January 2016

As I alluded to in the other thread, I'd "pulled the trigger" on a few bits on the lead up to Chrimbo that in view of my financial situation were less than clever ideas... the joy of a few bottles of christmas cheer, sod-all on the telly, the in-laws whittering inanely and only my iPhone for sanity...

Anyway, a brief introduction... back in the early 90s, I wanted to be Jimmy Page. I had a Les Paul Goldtop copy (Antoria) and was quite happy playing pentatonic noise over chugging "marshall-esque" distortion. That all changed when a mate lent me Wish You Were Here. Now I wanted to be David Gilmour, but didn't realise that Mr G didn't play a Les Paul... in my naivety, I thought all great guitarists played them and you have to realise that there wasn't such a thing as the internet to look this stuff up. Couple that to the fact that Pink Floyd rarely had pictures of the band on album covers, I had no idea what guitar he played... So I got increasingly frustrated that my Les Paul sounded nothing like those amazing sounds on WYWH.

Then a more-informed friend enlightened me just before my 21st birthday in 1992. All of a sudden, I *needed* a Strat. It was around this time I discovered Guitarist magazine - they didn't have such exotic magazines in the local post office and so imagine my surprise when I discovered such a thing existed. The first edition I picked up had a review of some new Squier Japan guitars, called the "Silver Series" and the Strat pictured was a, frankly stunning, Sea Foam Green colour. I wanted one and at £199, I could persuade my mother to buy this as a 21st birthday present for me. So began a search for an identical guitar to the one in the magazine review...

Again, remember that there were not such things as the internet. The local music shop to where I lived had a Korean thing that was not what I wanted, so with £200 in my pocket I took the train to London to wander around the music shops around Denmark Street. There was a black one, and it had a maple neck but not the Sea Foam Green I wanted. I remember the guys in Rose Morris Music telling me that they couldn't get one in that colour and it had been a mistake in Guitarist magazine... they weren't making them in Sea Foam Green.

Disgruntled and disappointed I went home. On the Monday, I went to work in Potters Bar and at lunchtime I went for a walk along Darkes Lane. Back then, there was a little music shop about half way down that mainly sold classical instruments and sheet music... but in the window was A SEA FOAM GREEN SQUIER SILVER SERIES. I got them to hold it for me and I picked it up the following day.

That guitar was my main instrument for a lonnngggg time. I even had US Strats come and go, yet the little Sea Foam Green dude was special to me. Then, during some dark times when money had run out and my ex-girlfriend had spent all the rent, I was forced to sell it. I've blanked from my memory how much it went for and to whom, but it meant a lot and I was hurt.

So fast forward to Christmas 2015... I'm sat there bored, trying to escape the usual Chrimbo things and searching around eBay. One of my searches is "project" under musical instruments and on that day a sea foam green Squier Silver Series Strat popped up. It was a mess, but without thinking (actually... I blame the Port I was drinking) I made the guy an offer for it... a few moments later the phone 'bonged' to say my offer had been accepted. Time to relive my mis-spent youth....

The guitar arrived this morning (long story - and genuinely not the seller's fault for the delay) looking like this:

What you can't really see in these pics is the state of the paint. The previous owner had deployed a brillo pad to it about 12 years ago to dull the finish down and make it look "old". It was scratched, discoloured and flat as a plate of piss. I'm not a fan of psuedo-relic balderdash at the best of times, and on this gorgeous colour it was heartbreaking. It was also covered in sellotape for some reason. As you can see, the PO had decided at one point to rewire it a la Brian May... he'd got as far as drilling the holes and breaking the neck pickup, then run out of steam. It as filthy from being sat in a cupboard for years and battered as hell from its ordeal.

The first thing was to clean it all up. Hours were spent with Micromesh, cutting compound and 3M Hand Glaze - it now shines, but the paint is hardly perfect... but what do you want, its 24 years old.

It was looking better, so I rummaged around in a drawer and found an old Fender Mexican bridge pickup that had similar discolouration of the cover and so I dropped that into the original guard, removed the micro switches and rewired it back to stock. This involved lengthening every cable and digging through my box of electronic chod to find the missing bits. I'll rewire it properly at a later date - when I can afford some better pickups... but for now it looks like this...

The nut was missing as bought, so I've slung in a secondhand graphite one I had in the bottom of a tool box. It needs cutting down properly but as of 4:00pm this evening the guitar was playing again for the first time in 12 years.

There is still a long way to go to improve the guitar to a state that I'm happy with it but so far the expenditure has been just a set of strings and a few hours of my time. It will gain some new pickups, electronics and a scratchplate that doesn't look like its been attacked by the Driller Killer, plus probably a steel block for the original trem.

For now, I shall enjoy the nostalgia. I still think its one of the best looking guitars Squier ever made. I'm going to try not to let this one go...

JookyChap · January 2016

Brilliant.

It is tucked away in storage at the moment, but I've got a loaded scratchplate from a silver series Strat of a similar vintage. When I can get in there to find it, tis yours if you want it.

Hertz32 · January 2016

Gorgeous!
Never really looked at sea foam green, but that strat may be turning me on to the colour! Whats the neck shape like?

impmann · January 2016

@Jookychap - thanks, mate! If it's a white plate of similar vintage, I'd be very interested!

@Hertz32 - I'm a bit crap at neck profile descriptions. It's a medium C and full width, so it's got proper string spacing. It feels like coming home!