bob123 Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 (edited) Found a GREAT playing 50th anniversary squier strat at a garage sale for 30 bucks. It plays so great, I'm deciding to refinish it, and spruce it up. Pro's -> Great playing, and has a wild rosewood fret board. Its multi-toned in color (which I haven't seen in person before). The neck is in fantastic shape as well. The body is solid alder wood, and has a great resonance. The neck fits in TIGHT for great tone. Con's -> the pickups flat out suck. I ordered some GFS Neovin noiseless pickups, and it should transform the tone -> The color sucks. Its a VERY drab red color... fixing that as we speak The new color is a surprise, Ill post pics along the way -> The hardware is "meh". Everything is rusted out, so I'll be replacing hardware. I have some sperzel locking tuners, a hipshot trem bridge, some new stainless steel screws, and everything will be snug as a bug in a rug. -> gonna take a LOT of work -.- -> not wild about the "Swimming pool route", but theres not much to be done about that unfortunately. Edited March 2, 2012 by bob123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Starting point. I'll spare the nitty gritty bologna we've all seen 10000x's (i.e. sanding). As you can see, its a 22 fret neck, odd for a squier, which is why I even bothered to pick it up in the first place. The rosewood is impeccable to look at Better picture of the fret board. I'll be sanding the neck back and applying some tung oil to protect and smooth out the playability. Im not a huge fan of painted necks (clear or otherwise). and I WILL be having a color matched head stock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazygtr Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 "not wild about the "Swimming pool route", but theres not much to be done about that unfortunately." That's an easy fix!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 "not wild about the "Swimming pool route", but theres not much to be done about that unfortunately." That's an easy fix!!! Would you care to elucidate this? I don't entirely care about the route, just a bit annoyed because of it's negative preconception with the guitar snobs in the community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plinky Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 "not wild about the "Swimming pool route", but theres not much to be done about that unfortunately." That's an easy fix!!! Would you care to elucidate this? I don't entirely care about the route, just a bit annoyed because of it's negative preconception with the guitar snobs in the community. Uhh... maybe fill it in and reroute pickup cavities to your liking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tht1.htm Same idea as that of course,but I don't know what "guitar snobs" you are talking about,since those very same "snobs" are going to hate the Squire printed on the headstock no matter what you do and the GFS pickups you are putting in it as well as the two tone rosewood board. You can't please everyone and you should only worry about pleasing yourself with this.I don't like strats at all or rosewood or bolt on guitars,but why should any of that affect whether you like it or not?It isn't my guitar,and you may not like the Explorers and Vs I like so much... I put GFS in my last guitar...I like the hardware quite a bit and the pickups are quite nice for the price.I won't use the pickups on any more of my builds though...not because they are bad,just because they aren't quite as lively as the Duncans I usually use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I fixed up a Yamaha Pacifica strat several years ago. New hardware, lace sensor pups (used) and a little fret end dressing. I put around $100 into it (I got a great deal on the pups). A guitar snob friend tried it out expecting to hate it. Said it played better than his American Standard Strat. You have the potential for a great guitar. About the bathtub route, take a look at the guitars that are being chambered these days. Less wood isn't bad, just different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 haha gent's I apologize! I wasn't being serious, and I came off that way. Ack. I could throw in a mahogany tone block, but that would require too much work for a guitar of this caliber. Im no snob (Hey, I DID buy a squier remember ), I just want it to play and sound better, as well as looking cool wont hurt Wait till you guys see the finish Im using. Its pretty sick haha.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Simple enough project. Still waiting on electronics and a pick guard, but for now, I can dig it. Im going to be using a pearl white guard. Can't find my tuners -.- I'll have to dig around, but these are the stock ones for the time being. Head stock -> Clear coat bonded with the tape on one of the sides, so I did a very thin natural binding to compensate. Not what I was going for, but I've done worse. Body -> Had some white epoxy left over, so Im making the hardware white as well. Wife grabbed it when the clear coat was still tacky, so theres a nice fat thumb print on the top. Most of it settled, but Im still kinda annoyed, as this alsa paint isnt the cheapest stuff in the world. I'll have to do some sunlight pictures when its sunny out, its been overcast for the past 3 days... Side 1 color Side 2 color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 That came out great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 That came out great thanks man. Its far from quality work, mostly weather issues, as I have to use my garage since its too cold to use my spray booth outside. When the weather warms up, I'll probably snag a warmoth body of swamp ash or something and give it a real make over Any comments on white hardware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted March 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 Got this finished up today. Decided to go with toggle switches instead one knife switch. Has some cool combos, and sounds terrific. Each knob is volume for each pickup. I can't really think of any other mods I could do to the wiring, so if you have any suggestions, lemme know! BTW, the overwound noiseless combo from GFS is pretty much awesome. I've used vintage noiseless fender pups and these are pretty much on par for the money. Wife has camera, so I had to take this on my cell phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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