'72 Strat / Mustang rebuild - advice please

Vades · 2010-09-17T12:57:39+00:00

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

no i am just being a pain, people love to relic stuff....

Wizard

Vades wrote What would you suggest then?
The neck would not look right on a new body.

An old neck on a 475 euro body ??
How much do you love that neck?

You could just get a new neck ... and (cheaper) new body
Or even a new guitar ...
Or even a 2nd hand guitar ... where it will be possible to choose from any level of relic'ed-ness
?

Bob-Dubery

Vades wrote
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.

That depends on how much you want to spend. Necks can be refinished.

What you should do before shelling out the folding stuff is to make sure that the neck and the body will be a good fit. Fender's dimensions and neck mountings were not consistent.

An option might be to reassemble the "Stratstang" and take it to a technician who can examine it and give you an opinion on what needs to be done. You didn't mention intonation and tuning problems, and the bridge seems to have been relocated, so it may be that it would not need too much work to be playable. May be. Reassembly won't cost you much and neither should an examination.

Not that you shouldn't go ahead and buy another axe, but this way you could have a playable axe whilst the rest of your plans are falling into place.

Vades

I don't know why I'm so attached to the neck!

I agree it is a lot to fork out for a relic body, but as you say, it would be taking a huge chance shipping one here without having it matched. If I was really hell bent on doing it I could always ship the neck to have it matched.

I see now that the neck has been filled and drilled to accommodate four holes (third hold is still intact) so that could further complicate things.

Either way, I think I'm out of my depth and should really just take it to a guitar tech.

Any recommendations? PE area would be good, but not a necessity as I travel to Pretoria regularly.

MIKA-the-better-one

you know i really really would keep that body and neck and connect them again... cheaper and it will be SO COOOL.......... make it a real monster....... get a mustang bridge, some nice strat pickups, nice hardware, get repaint...... It would be so unique and so cool......... instead of having a boring strat the all of us have. Or a mustang.... a stratstang........... so sweet

MIKA-the-better-one

http://www.jag-stang.com/2007/10/27/strat-stang-combination-stratocaster-and-mustang/

DaLoCo

I would say, judging by the red under the purple that this could have been quite a valuable guitar before the re-paint job. That red looks like the original fiesta red Fender used.

Use the online fret calculator http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator to determine if yours fall within the correct scale lenghts, and use a vernier to measure.

If you went for an original as possible finish and refurbish it might net you some good cash. Look for manufacturing dates stamped inside the p-up cavities or the neck pocket.

Either way, I think I'm out of my depth and should really just take it to a guitar tech.

Any recommendations? PE area would be good,

There is a very good guitar tech in Humansdorp, used to work for Bothner's, Andy McGibbons, specialized in Martin's.

MIKA-the-better-one

this country pays nothing for mustangs, nothing.... even Usa is not paying out for mustangs yet....

I know this from experience
but its a cool body shape

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