AndyD
HI. I have Just Aquired a 1983 Japanese JV Squire, butterscotch blonde, great guitar but serious work needed. The body has been routed out to take a floyd rose type trem (Badly Done) and a cheap no name humbucker put in the Bridge position. The body is in good nick apart from the routing. The plan is to buy a telebridge, replace the humbucker with a tele single coil, recommendations welcome. The difficult bit is going to be filling up the spaces where the additional routing has been done. The body is ash and the plan is to get some ash and carefully fill the spaces and route out the original neck pickup space. Where will I get some ash to do this as there is now a cavity, just like a strat on the back? I dont Plan on refinishing the whole body as it is a nicely aged butterscotch blonde, but once the wood has filled the trem cavity I will seal it and cover it with a plastic like cover as you would find on a strat. By the way Manny your pine tele looks outstanding! Pics to be posted shortly
DonovanB
Will probably be easier to get a new body to your spec.
singemonkey
I'm inclined to agree with Don. The body's been effectively ruined, so how much does its pedigree count anymore? Take the neck and put it on an Ash Warmouth body or something, would make the most of it, I feel.
AlanRatcliffe
Then again, Gilmour's Black Strat was routed for recessed Floyd Rose and then filled. With the more expensive version of the Gilmour signature Strat, Fender went to the extreme lengths of routing and filling too. ?
Having said that, ash is all but impossible to find locally (and add the fact it's a tricky job getting a good fit for the wooden insert I've done it and it took a lot of fiddling and tweaking). Matching the finish with a trans finish is near impossible too. So, unless you have specific sentimental reasons for hanging on to the body you have, I'd also recommend a replacement.
guidothepimmp
Hmm, instead of doing a refill or new body, how about modifying the rout for a contemporary tele bridge like an evertune, this is closer to tele look but with extensive differences in the back, and I reckon if you modify a floyd rout to be bigger, you may be able to clean it up?
Dunno what the extent is but that is something I would consider before filling.. Let us know..
And where's the pics?! >☹
AndyD
I went Ahead and repaired the Body. Went To Rarewoods in Epping and found a great piece of Ash for R40. I then took the body to a friends furniture manufacturing business and Routed out the Badly done cavities on an industrial cnc machine.He then made mirror images of the Routed out areas and once cut, these fitted perfectly in the routed out areas. These were then glued into place (Tight Fit). Once this was done the body was put through a sanding machine and the excess height of the plugs sanded down in 2mm increments resulting in a perfectly flush fit which can hardly even be seen. This Body was definitely worth saving. Thanks Trevor! Pics will be posted once I can get them off my Phone
guidothepimmp
Good stuff Andy, that looks great..
I would say let it all settle properly before painting so you don't end up with marks where the plugs are. I say that cos I plugged a pup rout once which seemed flush.. Sprayed and a week or so later started getting the plug outline..
Not saying it will happen to yours, just let it all settle and if need be resand prior to finish.. Looks great though. Even the ash is relatively similar looking..
Wonder what the guy was on when that humbucker route was done?
Neon-Gecko
Yeah man, that's a sweet repair, nice one. 8)
If using a nitrocellulose sealer, allow for plenty of curing time between coat because it does shrink. But with such a tight fit, it all should go pretty smoothly. (pun intended)
DonovanB
Would be nice to see before pics. ?
for the wood guru's. How will different pieces of wood affect the tone?
Neon-Gecko
Donovan Banks wrote:
for the wood guru's. How will different pieces of wood affect the tone?
Obviously if you use timber from two different species there most probably would be a detectable tonal difference. Like Maple in Ash, or Mahogany in Zebrano for example.
Even from the same species there may be a slight variation in tone because of the different growing environments, resulting in different timber densities.
DonovanB
I can see one major drawback is that you'll have to go for a solid colour finish.
On a positive note, at least this tree didn't die in vain, lower carbon footprint and all that...
singemonkey
Eating my words. Looking good.
But I agree that a solid finish is the way to go.
nicovlogg
Don't listen to the naysayers.. great job. Depending on exactly where you place the bridge, I'm guessing most of that will be covered by the tele bridge plate?
AndyD
Its come out really great but I have pretty much decided to go with a Daphne Blue. I will leave it a few weeks to settle and then look at applying the colour. Loving this project. Thanks for all the comments, advice etc. Will post mor pics shortly.
AndyD
Any Advice re a bridge. Is there anything good I can get locally or is it a stewmac order. The original neck pickup is still good but was thinking of putting a tonerider to start with. Tought comments?
AndyD
And the Build Goes On! All Routing and filling Done and the Bridge pickup cavity cut. Trevor has been working more of his Magic with his cnc Machine. Nice one Trev! All that remains to be Done is the drilling for the Strings and ferulles and the Spray work. Nico I ordered the Wilkinson compensating Bridge, a Perloid Pick Guard, and string ferulles from guitar fetish. Thanks for the heads up.
Before
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After
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Trev is a real Artist and He will be the First to play the Tele once setup etc
More Pics to Follow
Manfred-Klose
i just got my parts from guitar fetish for my next tele.
the wilkinson bridge looks like good stuff
slyd
Wow, nice work Andy (and Trevor) ?
That's a "proper" fill.
