retro_10s

I've used paint stripper in the past then scrubbed it heavily to get all the stripper residue off. Then before priming I used a bar coat I've also used a small hand powdersander, as long as you just rough the paint up and are careful not to burn through to the wood, they're very effective.

So far it's only cost me £70 (I used to run a music shop that i still frequent and work at occasionally hence low prices hehe) And yes it is a good way to kill some time, I work long hours and find coming home to solder and fiddle quite relaxing.

How about you build one for me? Seeing as I'm fitting an entirely new, upgraded and differnt wiring loom including Two totally different Pick-ups to those fitted as standard all correctly sheilded and built up.... I fail to see how it couldn't make a difference. Also better hardware will undoubtedly make a difference.. though I suspect it would make more difference to the playability of the guitar rather than the sound, the bridge was shocking and rattly, the Topnut was shocking, not even profiled correctly, and was about 2mm short of width across the neck. With regards to building a new body... I don't have the time or room to build my own guitar body. I'm currently restoring a 1980 Austin Mini clubman... which takes up all my room in the garage and most of my time also. Polishing a turd,... nah...I dont see how Maple and spruce can be called turd.. MDF perhaps It could be much worse.# ** edit, think i'll polish the rails on the HBucker The body itself isn't too bad mate. And with regards to the action etc... well,.. it wasn't far off the mark, but by No means the way i like it.. and wasn't intonated at all but that didn't bother me as it will need a setup once built anyway. The neck is really the reason I didn't just scrap the guitar striaght away, it's a Nice comfy neck.... and whilst the fingerboard needs another feed of Lemon oil... it's quite a comfy and fast to play.. and I don't usually like painted necks, My Godin SDXT has a kind of Plain neck and it's just gorgeous.

that's great, thanks for the help

I'm gonna be fitting a coil tap to my project,.. My bridge humbucker has the needed four wires, Now how exactly do I Wire in a coil tap switch?... I'm just using a simple on off switch for the time being. I'ts being fitted to a terrible LP copy (see thread in projects forum) wires off the pick up are green, red, white, black (earth) and the shelding. sorry If i'm being vague, I'm not 100% on coil taps. surely it would just be an interrupter on the circuit to stop power to one coil?

Ooh! The postman is fast becoming my fave person look what he just bought me! sorry about image quality,... i was a bit rushed and excited well... got me bladebucker then!!! now... how to Coil tap it.. **and yes those are my pants in the background

Pictures! Here's a quick mock up (as I coudln't be bothered to re-assemble it prooperly to it's former 'glory') you ge the idea... Note all the crappy gold hardware Pulled the wiring out, here it is on a piece of card i labelled up to keep it all in place... I've removed a couple of ground loops I found... in any case... ALL the parts you see here... will be removed, so I'm building a totally new loom for it. you can also see my little coil tap switch in the corner, not sure if i'll use this yet or buy a new one. Any ideas what the yellow wire is? Here's a rough mock up of the part finished Idea... i might not put the scratch plate back on... I bought some Qparts perloid knobs which really do look good against the new tunomatic bridge etc. Silver hardware is a nice change on an LP I think. I've laid the P90 out just to see how it will fit, I love the look of the soapbar To get the P90 in I'm only going to have to square off the rounded corners of the old chambers that the terrible terrible buckers were in. Started sheilding with some thick aluminium: Does sheilding have to be a complete 'circuit' so no gaps? note the crappy worksmanship on the inside!!!

Cool!, thanks for the reply, as said, pics to come, probably tomorrow,.. kinda been thinking about maybe refinishing it too as I'm pretty handy with paint Quick update already folks, just ordered a real of some Nice thick wire to totally replace the internals with

Hey dudes, I'm Mike, I'm in the UK and this is gonna document my efforts to get a complete shocker of a guitar into good playing nick: The story begins: So... I was bored, fancied a New guitar project... not being in the mood for a simple project i.e. throwing in some new pickups and leaving it at that, I went onto (cue lightning strikes and rain) Ebay. What i wanted to find was a terrible terrible guitar that only had one thing going for it... hopefully, the neck. And, It's exactly what i found! I recieved the guitar (branded as Fitnesst) in an unpadded cardboard box (no newspaper inside or anything to pad it out hmmm.) First thing I did was to Plug it in. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ twang. Not impressed, this guitar had NO tone, nothing, dead as a dodo..... also noticed it had the wrong size Topnut (now attatched a proper LP one).. I decided to open her up and see what i could see... Revelations: On removal of the backplate I nearly decided to scrap the guitar, straightaway I found 4 'ground loops', One of these earths was not even attatched and needed re-soldering, the jack socket was held on the inside with 'duck tape' washers, NO shielding of any kind anywhere, Wires so thin they weren't even worthy of being used on a calculator, the pots were 100k's and Teeny! The Rhythm/Treble switch is at the end of it's life (despite being brand new) due to massive corrosion! All or nothing: I decided to keep it... and to get on with the project, mainly because it gives me something to do, but because I relaised I was back in my element.... tearing things to pieces Right I'll get some pics up soon, But... for the time being, progress so far (had the guitar for a week now) is as follows: All of the cruddy Gold hardware (tunomatic etc..) has been removed and replaced with TGI replacement silver parts (noticeably heavier... must be a good thing), Old wiring loom and components removed and laid out on a labelled up board ready for a total wire for wire re-build, I have started thoroughly sheilding the inside cavities, Headstock De-badged with wet and dry then T-cut. As it stands It's just a bare Body and neck now. Started adding some very thick sheilding tonight in all the cavaties. Will get pics up soon, Have ordered a P90 for the neck P/U and a 'Hot rail' type 'blade' humbucker for the bridge P/U which I'm going to fit a coil tap on. also ordered 4x 500k pots (I like the sound of the 500's even though the 250's are meant to be warmer...) PICS TO COME! **edit.... just to say... this was a BRAND NEW guitar!**

Hey, i think you'll find the stock pickups to be quite fun, not completely balls out so to say,... but they have enough tone etc for you to get to the know the guitar... and Imo a good stock Bucker. Just to throw another spanner in the works.... you could always just add a coil tap, then you get your single coil sound at the flick of the switch. Only problem is, I can't remember if the RG in question will have the four wires you need for the tap... I'd be suprised if it didn't.