ChrisLAdams

I'll take a closer look at the routes and see about the wood. I've not got a good eye to tell what kind of wood if it's solid, but should be able to tell if it's plywood. Up till now, I've mainly focused on trying to decide on a bridge, and tuners. I've plenty of parts to buy, obviously. It only came with the toggle switch plate and 1 of 2 back plates. I put a set of those Gotoh Vintage tuners on the old Japanese LP copy I have. Beautiful tuners. I had to redrill the head for them because they original tuners were at an angle, and the Gotohs were not.

I've heard of using toothpaste as a lapping compound, so I can see how that might work in this case. Another good idea.

Nuclear pencil apparently. Seriously, I grabbed a std #2 pencil, and it would not touch it; it simply smeared all over and made a mess and left the original line still visible (weakened, but visible). Grabbed an electric eraser I bought the wife, wouldn't remove it, simply smeared it all over. Went at it with gun oil, and it started reducing it to almost 0%, but not in all areas. Some areas it didn't completely come off and is still visible. The polishing paste is a good idea. I don't really want to lighten the yeller tooth look, though, so not sure about the baking soda. A fine (0000) non-whitening polishing compound just might do the trick, though. Good idea

I got ya on the scaling and GIMP. I do that sort of thing a lot. As long as I know one single measurement, I can scale it perfectly, then print to scale. Good idea there! That's kind of what I was planning if I end up having to make a custom designed pick-guard. Really hoping I can just mod a '58 reproduction guard. Interesting to hear your take on this piece (wood vs. plywood). I've really no idea. I'd read mid-80s, but who knows, might be earlier. Or might just be from early in the batch. Def. not a bolt on, tho. If you check out one of those links I supplied in the initial post, there are some good shots of about everything but the front of the head and tuners. Mine looks identical to that guitar but for all the missing parts.

Tell me about it. I was so glad he had not proceeded with Operation Hacksaw. As it is, that pencil is on there good. I used a teflon based gun oil (hoping its slickiness would get that off) and it only removed maybe 85%-90% of it. I'll have to tackle it again. I also used an eraser, followed by an electric eraser, to no avail. Not sure what else to try. In that one pic you can see that I did get most of it off. Thanks for the colour match tips! I'll only attempt to touch-up the bright white areas that are exposed, if any. For all I know, that bridge may drop right in and cover all that up nicely. I'll have to do something when I work on the tuners, though. I figure some filling and drilling are in order. For sure on that one broken screw. Not looking forward to that.

Speaking of this old mammoth tooth color, anyone know how 'doctor' touch-up paint to semi-match? I've read of matching stains and resins, etc. I don't plan on fixing all the nicks and bumps, mostly where I have to do any carving, or any area (such as around the bridge) where the virgin white is in evidence. As can see in this image, it has suffered some abuse. I have one broken off tuner screw I'll have to get out and then fill.

The strange markings visible in that first image are where my wife's sister's bf (yes, that again) was planning on going at it with a file and a blow torch. Those were his penciled cut marks. I wiped them off (mostly). I'd like to save as much of this killer patina as possible.

When my wife's sister's boy friend (I know that sounds like a meme, but he's a super cool guy) offered me this guitar body, I thought it would make a fun project --- a completely gutted Hondo Revival Flying V from (what I've read) the mid-80s. On an older Reverb.com ad (here, and then the same guitar again here), I read that these were built in Korea by Samick, and came with a pseudo Strat vibrato tremolo. The hole in the body looks right although the mounting hole-pattern is different, being a four-hole pattern versus a six. I wondered if anyone on Project Guitar had ever fooled with one of these Hondo Vs, and could say one way or another if a Strat tremolo system would fit (with filling and re-drilling the mounting holes, of course). It might sound crazy, but I had the idea to turn this into a completely badazz shredder, and am willing to throw some cash at it over time. I've no idea what I'll do pickup or tuner-wise yet, but I have come across this Strat replacement tremolo bridge by Babicz (no idea how to pronounce that, I just say bay-bitch) that I think would look killer on it, and restore it's vibrato abilities. They're a bit pricy. They do have some lower cost models than the one I linked to, but I like this one. I just don't feel the standard Strat bridge would look awesome on this. I mentioned it needs tuners and pickups. If anyone is familiar with replacing these on this Hondo, I'd really appreciate a heads up on what to expect. For instance, I restored an old 70s Ventura LP (law suit guitar) a couple years ago. When I went to install the tuners I discovered the mounting hole pattern was completely different (vertical versus diagonal) and the holes for the peg were too small (drilled the head out to accommodate). I doubt that would be an issue with this head as these holes look enormous to me. I'd entertained the idea of putting a '58 style pick-guard on it, but haven't verified the dimensions of the pickups etc. That might have to be a custom job. Where I work we make lamacoid nameplates out of lasered plastic, so I could do something along those lines (I use AutoCAD and can make the drawing). But I like the finished edge of a '58 reproduction guard, so it'd be nice if I could mod one to use on this. Or just leave it off and forget it. Any ideas or suggestions (except to forget it, because I'm going to definitely do something with this body) are welcome!