Starting Customization/restauration Project

[ShadesOfGrey]

Hi everyone!

So basicly I have a guitar lying around which plays and sounds rather well, but is really in need of some crafting love and a slicker/more modern appearance.

In other words, it's time to pimp my guitar.

However, before I start, there are some questions/issues that need to resolved before I'll be even thinking about planning everything out on paper.

I've searched for every question beforehand, so my apologies if they've been asked and answered before..

For starters, I have no idea what the hell is infesting my tremolo and electronics cavity..

It's much worse in the electronics cavity..

My instincts say it's mildew/fungus growing. Though it could be any number of things.

Anyone have a clue what it is, and how/if I should remove it?

On to the neck:

After checking it, my neck definitly is suffering from back bow.

However, I'm not quite sure if it's just angled wrong, or if the neck is warped.

I doubt pics would help a lot here, but here is the screws being..well..screwy

It's not as noticable on the screws facing the neck, though the screws facing the body definitly arent right.

Is there any way to tell if a neck is either mis-adjusted or simply warped?

I also expect the screw cavities to have some (obvious) tearing.

Can I fill/repair the tearing with (epoxy) resin or something simmilar?

[Mickguard]

Well, first things first. You need to scrape off some of the fungus and taste it. Wait 45 minutes. Tell us what you see

To me it looks like polishing paste that wasn't cleaned out properly. How long have you had the guitar?

For the neck question: if it plays well, then it plays well. Looks like whoever monkeyed with the guitar drilled the screws in on an angle.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Well, first things first. You need to scrape off some of the fungus and taste it. Wait 45 minutes. Tell us what you see

To me it looks like polishing paste that wasn't cleaned out properly. How long have you had the guitar?

For the neck question: if it plays well, then it plays well. Looks like whoever monkeyed with the guitar drilled the screws in on an angle.

I see Pretty colours

I've had it for as long as I've been playing.. about 6-7 years should be right. That stuff has been there as long as I remember.

It plays well as in, a fast comfy neck that I'd rather not replace. Though, it has serious fretbuzz/dead strings above the 12th fret, and doesn't have enough room between the fretboard/strings as a properly aligned neck would have.

[killemall8]

its from the wetsanding process. when the clear gets wetsanded, it makes a white residue, and then it dries. i am positive that is what it is. all production guitars have that.

what screw cavities? the ones thru the body? those arnt supposed to be threaded. try adjusting your truss rod clockwise, and that will get the backbow out if it is not warped.

[ShadesOfGrey]

its from the wetsanding process. when the clear gets wetsanded, it makes a white residue, and then it dries. i am positive that is what it is. all production guitars have that.

Thats a relieve. So it's basicly scraping, some compressed air and/or vacuum cleaning?

Is this going to be one of those goggles/mask jobs?

what screw cavities? the ones thru the body? those arnt supposed to be threaded. try adjusting your truss rod clockwise, and that will get the backbow out if it is not warped.

Unthreaded? That's a relieve too.

Guess I'm just a silly noob

I just hope it didn't cut into the wood anywhere.

So I have another question..

When converting a tremolo into a hardtail/string-thru, is it absolutly essential to use the same kind of tonewood as the main body, or can I use a bit of mahagony for extra punch?

[Mickguard]

When converting a tremolo into a hardtail/string-thru, is it absolutly essential to use the same kind of tonewood as the main body, or can I use a bit of mahagony for extra punch?

Hard to believe there'll be any difference whatsoever.

[killemall8]

its from the wetsanding process. when the clear gets wetsanded, it makes a white residue, and then it dries. i am positive that is what it is. all production guitars have that.

Thats a relieve. So it's basicly scraping, some compressed air and/or vacuum cleaning?

Is this going to be one of those goggles/mask jobs?

not even that much. you could just wet a rag and wipe it down. if not, use some wax and grease remover. its only like 4 bucks a quart.

[Bryan316]

Yeah that fungus-y looking stuff is either wet-sand residue that collected or polishing compound residue when the body was buffed. Standard fare, seen it in just about every guitar/bass I've ever opened up.

As for the neck screws, here's what you should start looking at.

Eye-balling down the bridge looking alongside the fretboard, do you see the neck having the same amount of curve from front to back? If the top of the fretboard is curved more than the bottom, then that's twisting and warpage. That's the wood aging and shifting, and nothing you can do to undo it. You CAN... however, have the fretboard resanded so it's once again flat and true, then have a refret done. That'll get flattened worn buzzy frets replaced, high frets or low frets taken care of, and any minor cosmetic dings and scratches cleaned up.

Now...the strings compared to the fretboard. At the nut, the E strings (Or low B and high E strings for you 7-slingers) should have a certain spacing from the actual edge of the fretboard. All the way down, that spacing should be consistent. One string should not be closer to the edge and the other string farther away. If you see that happening, then the neck is crooked in the pocket. This either needs some small shims (masking tape, metal shims, wood shims, a layer of epoxy, anything can be used to fix the pocket) to make the neck sit straight to the body again.

In this process of removing the neck and correcting the neck pocket, you can then look at the screw holes in the neck itself. Are there only four holes? Are there extra holes cuz the previous owner stripped the wood and drilled that crooked screw crooked to find fresh wood in the neck? The neck cane easily be salvaged if this is the case.

First, you drill out the existing holes with some forstner drill bits. They make very straight, clean holes with square bottoms. Then, you glue and hammer in hardwood dowels. Maple neck, use maple dowels. The glue will be far harder than the wood around it, so plugging the neck is a stable and structurally sound repair process. This lets you redrill your screws into solid wood again, instead of the ol' toothpick-And-Elmer's trick.

Once the neck is plugged and cleaned up, sand it down carefully and clean the bottom surface. Put the neck back in the pocket, and do your shimwork. For this process, you can use dental floss in the outside string positions to see if the spacing stays perfectly parallel. Then, use a piece of flat rubber between very large clamps to hold the neck in place. Anything can work here, from buying a couple squares of urethane rubber, to a flip-flop sandal's sole. As long as it doesn't damage the fretboard or frets, it'll allow you to put lots of clamping force on the neck. Then, flip the body on its side and drill some new pilot holes for rescrewing the neck. Remember, even the smallest pilot hole, smaller than the bottom pitch diameter of the screw, will assure your screws go in straight.

If your body's screw holes are large and loose compared to the pilot drill bit you're going to use, you can wrap masking tape as a drill bushing. This makes sure your pilot hole is located coaxial to the body's holes, and assures your screws go in straight and clean.

After that, reassembly.

It should be easy, if you go slowly and test-fit every chance you can.

[ShadesOfGrey]

I'll add pics later, but after removing the neck, the screw shafts (both neck&body) are actualy indeed threaded.

I also found out that it's not so much the neck angle causing the weird screw placement, but that whoever was in charge with screwing the head to the body realy needs to do a better job.

Damn, only thing I can do to salvage the body is refilling the shafts and redrill i. And that's not even looking at the neck, if I'm going to replace it later on or not.

[ShadesOfGrey]

After some deliberation, I think I'll replace the neck annyway, seeing as I wanted to change the headstock, have some different inlays and probably even add a new fretboard or ebonize it.

So I was looking at Warmoth, and I have an idea..

The original guitar is Alder body, Maple neck and a Rosewood fretboard. Pretty standard so far.

What I am looking at is.. a Mahagony neck with a Purple Hearth fretboard, or Purple Heart Neck with a Ebbony fretboard.

Would there be any issues in using those combinations?

Will a Mahagony neck be unbalanced on a Alder body?

Will either combination brighter or warm up my sound, in your oppinion?