guitarcrazy

I was recomended this forum by someone on metal sludge.

For some time i have wanted to start a project, make a cool looking jaguar shaped guitar of some sorts. and TBH i never really had a clue where to start.

I was at my local car boot this morning and i saw the body and neck of a guitar which is quite a rare thing to find at a car boot! (even rarer to find a cool shaped one! anyways i bought it for a £1 so it doesnt really matter if it is no good, wood is too bad etc etc. but at least it would be something for me to start on, paint and laquer etc befor maybe buying a decent body and messing it up right?

So the guitar is in pretty rough shape. even in my novice state i kindof get the inpression it is a fairly cheap design (maybe even home made?) the headstock doesnt look that profesionally done. So i have pretty much come to the conclusion myself, unless someone would tell me toherwise that it would not be a great idea to invest all the money into hardware etc to get it running and i will only do like i said befor and finish stripping and then paint it for experience.

But anyways i am curious as to what brand of guitar it is and to see a fully set up one (if only on ebay)

so here are 3 pictures i took this morning.

any help would be apreciated wether that be information on the guitar or what steps to take next. i have a feeling its down to the local hardware store to buy some nitromorse and some sandpaper though!

The guitar you bought for the price of a soft drink has no intrinzic value on the street ! However , the knowledge & experience you will gain by stripping and refinishing this monstrosity is momumental . Do it over and over again . try stains , try dyes , try solid color finishes , hell try bicycle paint ! also take the time to de-construct the neck , play with the truss rod if there is one & re-construct the neck . Pull off the frets and see how they are designed . There is a wealth of potential learning at hand so enjoy the process then build your own guitar just the way you want when you feel ready . Then you could use this one as a paddle or something !

im rewiring my strat and it has a dpdt on-on mini switch which adds the neck pu to the bridge pu, while it was useful i was wondering what other possibilities i could use the dpdt for?

Borge , if your budget permits , swap out your single coils for stacked coil humbuckers . there is no refitting or changing the guitar in any way . But with 3 stacked humbuckers , you can take 3 dpdt mini switches with the on/off/on configuration and totally turn your guitar into a tone killer . you have the option of wiring the pickups as single coil / off / double coil , and that gives you 21 tonal combinations . Or you could wire each pickup as your guitar is presently and have a in phase /out of phase option a la Brian May . My personal favorite is 3 Tom Anderson humbuckers all coil tapped as single on / pickup off / humbucker on . 1 Volume & 1 tone pot . You can mix single & humbucking modes on any or all pickups at the same time . what you get is tone options not available on any strat or les paul ! Check it out !

In my experience with lacquer based finishes , the longer the better . Drying time really depends on 2 issues....first is the viscosity of the lacquer you're using . Is it a store bought aerosol ( usually thick ) or are you mixing your own consistency ? Thicker coats are good for building up finishes , but take longer to gas off and set . Second remember a new coat of lacquer will melt into the old one making drying and handling times progressively longer with each new coat . If you mix your own lacquer then you probably have the experience to thin out your final top coats . Bottom line is be very patient and let the guitar hang , when you think it's ready wait some more....your patience will be rewarded with a great finish the first time around . We are all chomping at the bit to play our new creations , but rushing the setting time can bring you more headaches by having to resand and refinish a flawed lacquer job . Fingerprints in a finish suck !!!

On a personal experience note....be careful with casing your newly finished project.. I once and only once put a guitar that I just finished buffing into a gig bag with a nylon lining....what a disaster...the lining melted the finish and was ruined because lacquer and nylon apparently are volatile...who knew !!!

For speedier finishing , after the wood is dyed , a couple of sealer coats with light sanding in between , then spray automotive clearcoat to finish . Drying time is about two weeks and if your sanding is good the final coats are flawless and durable . I apologize to all the purists who believe that laquer is the only finish for musical intruments .