'72 Strat / Mustang rebuild - advice please

Vades

I bought this guitar in 1994 for R750. I had it rewired (not professionally) shortly after buying it and it gave me many hours of playing time.

The guitar, however, was never quite right and has been gathering dust for the last few years. The time has come to sort it out now and I would like to ask for some advice.

First, some pics:

Not the prettiest guitar.... '72 neck mated to a hacked Mustang body. Seymour Duncan pickups. The pickguard looks as if it was fashioned from a vinyl floor tile. ?

Body stripped:

I decided to sand the body as I wanted to see exactly what was underneath. Most probably basswood? Look where the original bridge holes were filled in.

So, where to now. My feeling is that everything except the neck must be tossed, after which I should source a Strat body with everything else.

What do you guys think?

MIKA-the-better-one

cant you use the mustang body, thats a beautiful body shape and so much can be done with it...... Or I could be wrong.......

Keira-WitherKay

m i'm no luthier but i would think the 1st thing to check out before you put a strat neck on a mustang body ..is ...... does the scale length match that of a strat ...cos to my knowledge the frets are spaced precisely to the mm in proportion to the scale length...... and isn't a mustang a shorter scale guitar than a strat ????....... anyway i would ask someone like alan or gearhead on the site to confirm that one can do the mustang body with the start neck and NOT mess up the intonation ... other than that .damn i love that look ........ keep us imformed how it develops

aja

MIKA the better one wrote cant you use the mustang body, thats a beautiful body shape and so much can be done with it...... Or I could be wrong.......

+1!

I think it looks awesome

MIKA-the-better-one

I think that first pic of it all togther looks great, maybe a bit of a clean, and sum wiring, good pups...... Be cool if you could get that neck and the body to work together, I think they can go together..... Sonic yout hhack there buitars apart and mix parts, they sound fine..........

Get a cool paint job, new pups, wiring, setup, maybe like a strat or solid bridge..... Unique, cool, probably sound better than all our expensive shop bought guitars, and did i say hot

Vades

Thanks for the responses so far. If I kept the body, I wouldn't be sure where to begin.

Where does one source pick guards and electronics? Online from abroad?

costafonix

I would keep that body and respray it (colour depending on how conservative or wayout you want to be). Can't say I'm too crazy about that purple though :-\ Try ebay for parts but may turn out quite expensive (its a good time to buy now with the R/$ exchange) You could maybe have a pickguard custom made by someone? Despite all that, I see lots of potential with what you have.

Gearhead

Keira is right on the money with the scale length issue - Strat always 25.5" and Mustang mostly 24" sometimes 22.5". You are not saying what was 'never quite right' but intonation might have been an issue. To me, a Mustang is a Mustang and a Strat is a Strat so if I were you I would make it into two guitars.
The Strat is an easy choice for the first project - parts readily available, whether you want el cheapo or boutique or anything in between. Despite it being a large headstock (less desirable era) the mojo of the neck is undeniable. Mate it to a Strat body of early CBS look and you've got a winner. The big choice would be between refin or leave distressed but that would also depend on what bodies you are going to go for - get a relic'ed one and you can leave the neck as is.
The Mustang is and always will be a bit of an outcast. It wants to be different, whacky and a little emo at the same time. You might sell it or fix it up after the Strat, once the fixerupper bug bites. As stated, the parts will not be readily available locally and cost a pretty penny.
Just my R0.02 ?

Vades

Gearhead wrote Keira is right on the money with the scale length issue - Strat always 25.5" and Mustang mostly 24" sometimes 22.5". You are not saying what was 'never quite right' but intonation might have been an issue. To me, a Mustang is a Mustang and a Strat is a Strat so if I were you I would make it into two guitars.
The Strat is an easy choice for the first project - parts readily available, whether you want el cheapo or boutique or anything in between. Despite it being a large headstock (less desirable era) the mojo of the neck is undeniable. Mate it to a Strat body of early CBS look and you've got a winner. The big choice would be between refin or leave distressed but that would also depend on what bodies you are going to go for - get a relic'ed one and you can leave the neck as is.
The Mustang is and always will be a bit of an outcast. It wants to be different, whacky and a little emo at the same time. You might sell it or fix it up after the Strat, once the fixerupper bug bites. As stated, the parts will not be readily available locally and cost a pretty penny.
Just my R0.02 ?

I don't want to refinish the neck - will be leaving it as is. Will have to start looking around (and saving) for a relic'ed body.

In reality I have my heart set on a Epiphone LP for day to day jamming (extremely tempted by ET Phone Home's Custom in the Classifieds) and I think I am too sentimentally attached to my "Stratostang" to ever part with it. I would still like to fix her up and perhaps I'll enjoy playing her again.

Would the Mustang body be worth anything at all?

Thanks for the info.

Gearhead

Vades wrote Will have to start looking around (and saving) for a relic'ed body.

Have a look here. This guy might be talked into selling you a body and I might even have transport for you. Soon.

Vades wrote (extremely tempted by ET Phone Home's Custom in the Classifieds)

I heard it was sold... not to me I'm afraid.

Vades wrote Would the Mustang body be worth anything at all?

You might do the quick thing and swap with one of the guys rebuilding Strat bodies for their obsolete one. MikeM? Relic'ed parts are more important than missing paint imho.

Keira-WitherKay

Gearhead wrote Keira is right on the money with the scale length issue - Strat always 25.5" and Mustang mostly 24" sometimes 22.5". You are not saying what was 'never quite right' but intonation might have been an issue. To me, a Mustang is a Mustang and a Strat is a Strat so if I were you I would make it into two guitars.
The Strat is an easy choice for the first project - parts readily available, whether you want el cheapo or boutique or anything in between. Despite it being a large headstock (less desirable era) the mojo of the neck is undeniable. Mate it to a Strat body of early CBS look and you've got a winner. The big choice would be between refin or leave distressed but that would also depend on what bodies you are going to go for - get a relic'ed one and you can leave the neck as is.
The Mustang is and always will be a bit of an outcast. It wants to be different, whacky and a little emo at the same time. You might sell it or fix it up after the Strat, once the fixerupper bug bites. As stated, the parts will not be readily available locally and cost a pretty penny.
Just my R0.02 ?

well i was looking at the pic of the stripped down body ............... and if you want to keep the strat neck on the mustang body the only other thing to do is to move the bridge and saddle section back to the correct 25.5" distance from the nut .. that way the strats frets and intonation would be put back into perspective......... and i see it looks easy just 3 holes and o wammy cavity so to my eye's not a difficult job and those holes can be filled easily enough and covered with the finish or scratch plate ........... so maybe your combo mustang /strat can work if you make that adjustment ........... again i'm not an expert at the actual building but realise the importance of getting the scale length correct to make it playable ........so again the pro "mod'ers must say if moving the bridge/saddle back is possible ..........

Gearhead

Moving the bridge back 1.5" will effectively also move the pup routs 1.5" forward - not exactly a thing that will improve the tone. Strat is Strat.

Keira-WitherKay

Gearhead wrote Moving the bridge back 1.5" will effectively also move the pup routs 1.5" forward - not exactly a thing that will improve the tone. Strat is Strat.

very true Gearhead never thought of that .........

Bob-Dubery

That's not a Mustang bridge. Mika was selling a 'Stang on the forum recently, and looking at his pictures you can see the strings breaking over the bridge closer to the pups than on this guitar. So I think whoever put this together was aware of the problem and tried to compensate, but
a) You have to get it exactly right
b) as pointed out, there will be other compromises

May well be best to stick to your original plan and just keep the neck.

I think the purple isn't that bad. You can get away with that kind of colour on a Fender.

Wizard

To me building a whole new guitar around an old neck doesn't somehow feel like a restoration project ... feels like a guitar build using an old neck.
Would make sense if you had a life threateningly intimate bond with the neck ... but otherwise ...

I would personally have some fun seeing if I could get the guitar to look cool and work functionally with the absolute minimum financial investment.
The challenge of doing it cheaply could just add to the interest.

Move the bridge back to fix the intonation, as per Keira's idea.
Move the pickups, as Gearhead implies - will require a little bit of body routing or chiselling ... and then just needs a new pickguard to be cut to match the new pickups.

Cost would be the pickguard and the finishing.
That's what I'd personally do ...

Bob-Dubery

Wizard raises some good points.

In your OP you say

it and it gave me many hours of playing time. The guitar, however, was never quite right

So it seems that you liked it in some regards but also had some problems.

So maybe you need to be clear as to what you liked about the guitar and what you mean when you say it was "never quite right". That may help you decide what to do.

Vades

X-rated Bob wrote Wizard raises some good points.

In your OP you say
it and it gave me many hours of playing time. The guitar, however, was never quite right
So it seems that you liked it in some regards but also had some problems.

So maybe you need to be clear as to what you liked about the guitar and what you mean when you say it was "never quite right". That may help you decide what to do.

I was never 100% comfortable with the action - it always seemed too high. The guitar would not sustain very well either.

What I liked about the guitar is that it was the first I bought with money earned working over school holidays, and even with the issues I could still play it.

For the record, I was not aware of the scale length issue until mentioned here. :-[

Vades

I've decided the way I want to go is to get a relic body and take things from there. Gearhead recommended RebelRelic in Holland whom I contacted on Saturday.

Cost per body, 475 Euros. (I have looked at other relic bodies on the 'net, but these look top class).

The thing is, I need to get playing again as soon as possible, so I have decided to use the money to get a guitar which is ready to play as is, and is also something I have been wanting for a long time. There is an Epiphone LP in my not too distant future. ?

This Strat project is going to have to go on hold until more funds are available.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

MIKA-the-better-one

relicing... no good...... players should do that

Vades

MIKA the better one wrote relicing... no good...... players should do that

What would you suggest then?

The neck would not look right on a new body.