serven
Hi All,
Can anyone recommend someone that will be able to refinish a black strat body and neck? It's a MIM '98 I don't know if the finish needs to be stripped completely, it's just got a whole lot of minor scratches and slight dents in that I would like to get smoothed out. Nothing so deep that you can see the wood underneath it, but quite a lot of them.
The neck has also suffered some finish chipping at the headstock and some lacquer denting at the back.
Lesson learned: Kids & Guitar Stand on Tiles = No no.
Point is, I know it is only a MIM but I like this guitar (playing & tone wise), it was my first guitar ever and I bought it 2nd hand/imperfect when I started - would like to return it to a better condition than I found it in.
Problem is, I have no idea who to trust or who has a good reputation with this. I asked my local guitar shop who told me that they know a guy, who doesn't necessarily refinish guitars but do spraypaint work which has freaked me out a bit.
Please assist with a/some recommendations please? I am out in Kempton Park but don't mind driving around Gauteng a bit.
Thanks
guidothepimmp
Assuming youre in the jhb or pta area,
Jhb.. speak to wayne (neon gecko) here on the forum. You can drop him a pm and his number is in the luthier thread. He does finishing for bvans customs and has done finishing for me too... great great quality work. Also check out his facebook page under bvansguitars to see some work he has done from new builds through restoration.
Pta, andries vorster, his contacts are in the luthier thread..
Cheers
Gtp
Nitebob
Alternatively...strip it completely. Slide it up and down the street a couple of times re-assemble and call it a relic... ?
Seriously. I also like a good looking guitar. There is a plethora of DIY sites expliaing these kind of repairs. Have a look at that as well. I can vouch for Andries Vorster in Pretoria, but wasn't there long enough to meet the other guys, but heard good things...
serven
Thanks guys appreciate it, will go from here.
And haha @ the "relic"-ing. Yes that's really not my thing, also like a good looking guitar ?
IceCreamMan
post pics.....
I think leave it as is.....if not adversely affecting the playability of the guitar...its nearly 20 years old, allow it to be 20
Norman86
Wayne Pritchard is the man, based in Kempton Park.
So many people use his services, including other well known people, that the get the credit for Wayne's paintwork.
IceCreamMan
nice looking guitar .....
and I understand , I am personalty type A in that regard too....
I dislike dings in the neck and would have those attended too, but the body ones in the body I would leave. As norman mentioned, take to Wayne... should not be an expensive exercise either.
Attila
Don't rub out the guits character hey
the dents are easy to take out with an iron and a folded damp cloth ..... look up the how-to vids
serven
Just an update here,
I have had a few people explain to me that the cost of a MIM is a lot less than what I am going to spend getting done here what I want to. It is funny but I'd prefer getting this guitar fixed than replacing it even if it costs more. Maybe because it is mine! I don't know if anyone else has the same kind of sentiments around instruments, but it feels better to get a 25 year old instrument that was your first fixed up than just buying a new one.
Maybe it helps that this isn't my primary guitar - but I think it's a good idea to have classic-ish strat because it is so different to the others.
I have spoken to the man who has made some rough estimated costing on neck & body repair/refinish etc. (he hasn't seen it in person yet so it might still change) but it's really not that bad price-wise for something you're attached to.
However before I go ahead with that there's a few things I would like to get in order first. The tuners need to be replaced (and standard ones won't fit here which makes this tricky), and there are some rusted screws that need to go. Also need to do something about the bridge or at least the saddles on it. I re-strung the guitar last night and had to set the intonation which didn't go well. Lots of getting-stuck and not moving and so on.
But the immediate concern is the pickups and electronics. I have no idea what is in it. The POTS (all dirty and lots of scratching) are 500k which is odd (as I understand it they're supposed to be 250k)- I am not sure if someone retrofitted humbuckers in here. There is next to no noise so it might be it. The 5-way switch works (except for some rust and scratchiness so will replace it anyway) but the one tone knob (neck pickup's) does nothing (even though it is wired up). I will say this though, the tone is actually really good (to my ears anyway). If they are humbuckers I will try a set of single coils just to see how I like them although that might be an expensive exercise without any fruit.
Would it be possible to identify the pickups inside if I take them out? Unfortunately it would mean stripping the strings and taking everything apart again which I am not a fan of but if it would help. It annoys me not knowing what it is
Thanks for all the excellent advice from everyone
serven
Haha, favourite of those would still be mr Hammet's Greeny
Tell you what if I ever get to own a guitar that is worth more than R 30k I promise to not touch it at all!
slyd
I really think that, if the neck dings hinder your playing, then get them filled . . . easy job.
The body dings etc. . . . .that's called "roadwear" . . . and should just remain part of the guit's character !
Remember, THERE WILL BE MORE! As the guitar gets older, and played more, the more dings and scratches it will accumulate, no matter how careful you are! Wear those dings with pride ?
Anyway, my 2 cents
Nice axe btw
serven
Thanks, for the comments! I have found the cause of the non-working tone control. One of the wires has come off. While I had things open I had a poke around. Is there absolutely any reason why someone would've swapped both the tone and volume controls out to 500k pots? I checked the cabling against Fender's schematics for a MIM and the rest seems normal. The cap though is also .033 uf
Since there's quite a bit of rust and scratchiness and so on I will replace the tone controls. Should I replace with 250k instead? I like the current tone however it is perhaps just a little bit harsh? But it could just be me being used to EMGs instead of the single coilness
Pictures if the insides:
V8
serven wrote:
Is there absolutely any reason why someone would've swapped both the tone and volume controls out to 500k pots? I checked the cabling against Fender's schematics for a MIM and the rest seems normal. The cap though is also .033 uf
Since there's quite a bit of rust and scratchiness and so on I will replace the tone controls. Should I replace with 250k instead? I like the current tone however it is perhaps just a little bit harsh? But it could just be me being used to EMGs instead of the single coilness
Perhaps these links will help :
http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Pickups_and_Electronics/Which_control_pot_to_choose.html
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams.wiring_faqs/
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showpost.php?p=10542167&postcount=6
Last year I refurb'ed a HSH and spent some time messing around with pot values (500k vs 250k) and cap values (.2, .33, .47) just to see what difference
it really made I could discern. I didn't think my ears would find too much difference - but I was wrong. Setup w/o any pots in the circuit the SC's were impossibly harsh - like a audio icepick, H's were good, bit fizzy but I could live with it. I tried 250k & 500k pots and settled on 500k pots - overall the guit is very bright in SC & fairly bright in H, which I've come to prefer. Also the way I wired it up - "gibson 50's wiring" had a lot to do with the sound - has a bonus of acting as a partial treble bleed mod (treble is somewhat retained as you back off the vol.
http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19909-mod-garage-50s-les-paul-wiring-in-a-telecaster
The cap's didn't make a huge difference to me - there was a definite difference between values (alas I didn't have different types of cap's in the different values available at the time) but only when the pot was not on 10. Since I play 95% of the time with it on 10 - not a big deal for me.
I recall Alan calling humbuckers, "mudbuckers" ? The EMG selects I have in my headless guitar exhibit every bit of this Clean tone muddiness, only really sounded good under loads of gain. After using the strat as the main weapon for quite a while, most humbuckers now sound muddy (and indistinct) to me - while SC's, P90's and PAF's rock my clean&dirty tone world...though turn the gain (all the way) up and gimme a full phat humbucker!
serven
Today's "challenge": I have managed to sort out the non-working tone control for the neck pickup by soldering the wire that broke off back on. However, in position 4 (2nd closest to the Neck), the Neck and Middle pickup must be active, however the Middle pickup is silent. So position 4 at the moment is identical to position 5.
The middle pickup does work in the centre position, as well as with the bridge in position 2. Can someone maybe suggest how to diagnose this? It looks like all the wires are connected correctly (see previous post) - could it be a faulty 5-way switch maybe?
Attila
If you want to hear what they sound like without fitting new pots. Just tack on a 1M or a 500k resistor over the out side legs. of the pot.
Also think about a Hi-pass filter or Treble bleed mod on the volume pot, this is to pass the higher freq at low volume
By the way there are no real rules to cap values and pots. The ideal value for guit pots are around 350k at a 65/33 taper for single coils. But no one makes them any more, and if you do find them they are hellishly expensive But there are ways to get values that suits YOUR tastes.
Don't follow the crowd blindly;
Edit: Sorry I was texting from my mobile phone
if your pots are 500k add a resistor over the end lugs (in parallel) will work out some thing like this...(1/R1= 1/R + 1/R2)
500k + 500k = 240k
500k + 1M = 330K
Hi Pass or Treble bleed mod
Place a 100k 1/4w resister and a .002uf cap (in parallel- the" Duncan" ) between the hot and middle lugs (output to jack) of the Volume Pot, remember you can play around with these values to suit your setup
There are two other ways to do this there is the "Kinman" resistor and cap in series and the "Simple" which is just a cap ....
serven
Attilla, hey thanks I actually didn't think of that! I suppose I can "open up" the current 500k pot completely and just tack on a 250k one to fiddle with not to get more or less of an idea?
I am getting the "don't follow the crowd blindly" thing now more than I did before. The more and more I play this thing the more it's coming to life and the more I am enjoying the tones as it is. The only exception here is the bridge pickup alone which is such a terrible shrill shrieking duck-quacking noise (to me anyway). The rest however and everything in-between is very beautiful indeed. It seems I might leave the pots as they are if I can use contact cleaner to get the scratchiness ironed out.
Attila
thats it ....added some text to my post above
serven
Aha that makes mathematical sense - I will definitely definitely try that thanks a million!!
