jamgie Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 About two years ago I bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112m. It has been seriously battered around, with some massive chips and a crack by the neck socket (that I have repaired). I want to totally overhaul the body, and was looking into adding a flame or quilted maple veneer (which do you think looks better?). The problem I have is that I want to get rid of the scratch plate, so more of the veneer is visible, is it possible to do this? The pickups will then have to be screwed to the body Les Paul style, is this possible with the pickups already in the guitar, or will I need to budget for new ones? I take it I'll have to change the shape of the routed area the pickups fit into now, what changes do I need to make here? the control cavity will need to be accessed from the back of the body, is it possible to just route the shape of the current cavity right through the body, or is it not that easy? I want to do this but I cant affored a new guitar if it goes wrong (which is why I'm just changing this one in the first place), so all the help I can get will be good. Thanks, Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 Not with veneer. You'll need a drop top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 this is very possible.... and reminds of me the guy that converted a strat to a an electric accoustic guitar. I like flame myself, but there are so many cool patterns, don't make up your mind till you've checked out some nice peices on ebay, gallerywoods, etc.... I would sujjest going with a 1/4" top if you can, this will require a planner but will make it a bit easier. plane the guitar down glue the top on, bend it arm rest and glue that, then re-rout the pickups neck and birdge, this avoids timeless filling of holes and leveing it back down like you would have to do before glueing on a veneer. converting to a rear access isn't hard since you're adding a top, with the veneer it's a bit trickier. But when you cut thru the back you'll most likely have to touch up or repaint that area, especially if you're going to use a cover thatwill be flush with the back of the guitar instead of a one that just sits on the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Yikes. I don't think I would plane the top off the guitar just to cap it. A much more simple option would be to strip the finish, apply the veneer and then cut a clear pickguard. If done correctly, it will look very cool with the clear guard. I would go so far as to coat the inside (pickup cavities and control cavities) with a black shield paint. Another idea is that you could make a custom pickguard that would recess flush into the body, perhaps out of melamine or a thin board (anything that will take glue). That would take some quality cutting and shaping. With that in place I would veneer the whole schpeal and then cut out the pickguard with an xacto knife. Better to do the body 1/2 at a time if you want to see where to cut with that knife. Not sure if all that makes sense or not, but I'd rather do that than remove 1/4" of the top of the guitar for a cap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deshibs Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 you could fill everything in and the reroute it all, it would be time consuming. there is a pictoral of a person making a 5150 guitar, they converted it from two humbuckers to a single humbucker and it came out nice! look under the In Progress and Finished work thread and look for Kramer 5150 project for an idea of how it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamgie Posted August 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 thanks for the feedback, thats all exactly the kind of help I needed. Im not too sure about having a clear scratchplate, good idea though. I quite like the idea of a propper cap, but obviously there are some pretty big risks involved with sanding down that much of my guitar! Any ways I could make this easier for myself? If I filled the pickup routing, then added the cap, then rerouted the holes that would work yeah? The problem then lies with how I would mount the pickups. They are attached to the scratchplate at the moment buy bolts, the bolts go through the scratchplate into the pickups, so the pickups themselves are bigger than the cover that you see from the top, if you know what I mean. How do I mount these and keep them looking good? Because if I make the hole they fit into bigger, you'll be able to see the rest of the pickup (currently under the scratchplate) wont that look messy? If I added a thick cap like that, could I add binding as well? How? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
american_jesus Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 dont know how handy you are, but there was a guy on guitar.com that was redoing a strat body like that. what he did was filled in all the routing on the top of the body with ash pieces, then routed out new pickup holes, and back mounted the electronics. it came out looking awesome, and with a veneer on top, as well as a stained finish, it'd look pretty high class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deshibs Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Stew-Mac sells single coils Strat style pickup rings, they will cover the routed holes and allow the top to show with out large pickgueards, the problem is that the electronics will have to be done from the back! http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_part...es.html#details Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 It sounds like you should just build a new one??? It wouldn't be too expensive for an alder blank, then it would be easier. You could put a top on easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamgie Posted August 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Again, thanks for the feedback. I hadn't thought about filling the pickup route with a block of wood, so obvious as well! Those singlecoil pickup rings are a good idea. This guitars gonna look sweet! I'll post picks when its done, not gonna be for a while though, got a few other non-guitar related projects on the go. oh does anyone know where I could order a 1/4 thick piece of flame maple? Krazydereks may be crazy, but I like his idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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