RK13

I appreciate all the info everyone. While I am doing this mostly to learn, I want to come out the other end with a nice enough guitar. And one that will stay that way. I’m not confident enough in my ability to plug those holes well enough that it won’t cause issues at some point, and I change my mind a lot, so I’ve decided to just block the trem. Every other style of guitar I want, and plan to build eventually, is a hardtail, so it makes sense to keep this strat the way it is. Plus, playin around with a trem does look kinda fun. Still doing everything else, finish, re-fret, nut, etc. The original plan was only that. I got a little overzealous. Thanks for grounding me.

Hi everyone, new to all of this and looking for some advice. I have a Squire Classic Vibe 60s Stratocaster that I'm going to strip down to bare wood, plug the trem assembly and bridge holes to hardtail it, refinish, and replace the frets and bridge. I have a few questions about the finish and plugging the holes. 1) Does the wood used for the plugs matter? The body is Nato should the plugs be a similar wood to that? Or, Nato if possible? 2) Does the cut and humidity matter? I was planning on using a quater sawn cut of whatever, but I'm clueless about humidity. Questions about the finish. I was planning on using spray can nitro for the natural relicing years from now, and ease of use 3) Since I don't have any experience with finishing wood or painting I'm going to buy 2 color and 2 clear, as well as the pore filler and primer, just in case I mess up too bad the first time. If I don't mess up, I wanted to try for a Fender factory refinished look, so I was going to cover the first coat of color with the second coat of color. When should I do that? Should I let the first color and clear coat dry for a few days before applying the second color? Anyway, I appreciate anyone takin the time out to read and help. Thanks