OffsetGuitars.com

So, this pretty much qualifies as a "Why did you do this to me?!?" guitar, except I think it's rehab-able. Found this poor thing in a local music store in a small town about a 1.5 hour drive from me.

I'm calling this the StripperStang because it's stripped down to nothing, with the notable exception of a *ton* of glitter.



The body has a thin coat of some type of varnish on it, but they didn't seem to touch the neck other than installing some Schallers. The neck has a crazy amount of flame to the maple - these are just the seller's photos, but I'll try to capture some of the neck since it's just about the guitar's only flattering angle!

In case you can't tell, someone decided to give this little fella a facelift by applying what appears to be glitter nail polish all over the pickguard.



So, yes, it's ugly as sin, and I'm not optimistic about being able to remove the nail polish without screwing up the pickguard. But the guard is quite shrunken anyway, so if it's not salvageable, I'm ok with replacing it.

This leads us to the other reason this thing has sat, unloved and unsold despite an aggressively low price. The switches are obviously not original, and between the shrunken guard limiting their travel and what is probably a bad attempt at DIY wiring, only two tones are currently available - both pickups in phase, and both pickups out of phase. Every other switch position is dead.

The good news is that, since the in-phase option sounds fine, I can be confident that both of these original pickups work - I have a stash of NOS 60's Switchcraft 3-way switches, so it won't be difficult to restore the electronics. I suspect between the fooked-up switches and the stripper-tastic looks, potential buyers were scared away. Good for me, of course, since my parts drawer currently contains a spare mid-60's Mustang pickguard and those NOS switches, at which point it'll already be playing AND sounding great...though still bare naked.

So, we have two working original pickups, and a gorgeously flamed '66 neck, with a somewhat knocked-around stripped body and replacement tuners. Oh! I almost forgot...it still had its original case, which was surprisingly in 9/10 condition in stark contrast to the rest of it!

Here's evidence of its original white finish:


And the last photo I have from the seller, of the neck stamp:



I'm still on the fence about whether I'll go for a full restoration and paint it and put some klusons on it, or just get it functional/de-glittered and call it a day.

With a little TLC, it'll be back in action in no time!

"This leads us to the other reason this thing has sat, unloved and unsold despite an aggressively low price. The switches are obviously not original, and between the shrunken guard limiting their travel and what is probably a bad attempt at DIY wiring, only two tones are currently available - both pickups in phase, and both pickups out of phase. Every other switch position is dead."

This is how Mustang switches work, however I found the Mustang 5.0 mod more useful when I restored/modded an old Mustang I bought from Pat.


http://www.redherring-tonebones.com/mus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... atic-mods/

Johno wrote: This is how Mustang switches work, however I found the Mustang 5.0 mod more useful when I restored/modded an old Mustang I bought from Pat.


http://www.redherring-tonebones.com/mus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... atic-mods/

Oh, I meant that it's currently not at all how Mustang switches are supposed to work - you can't get "neck only" or "bridge only" on this guitar (even though those two options are normally available in two different switch positions each). It currently either has both pickups on (in phase, or out of phase depending on switch position), or nothing (and "nothing" happens in a lot more positions than the intended one where both switches are in the middle).

Once I have time to open it up, I'll be able to tell where things went awry. I now suspect the two switches might be connected in series, since turning off either pickup cuts all signal (regardless of whether the other pickup is turned on), but "both pickups on" works, both in phase and out of phase, just as they're supposed to (i.e. in the usual two position combinations each, as per usual Mustang fashion).

If it's nailpolish you should be able to remove it without big problems. Just don't use any chemicals. I would try to scratch it off with a razor blade, but sanding it off with a lot of patience should work as well. Take your time.

Zork wrote:If it's nailpolish you should be able to remove it without big problems. Just don't use any chemicals. I would try to scratch it off with a razor blade, but sanding it off with a lot of patience should work as well. Take your time.

I was thinking about this. It's pretty thick, but maybe this would be doable. Acetone is off the table - unfortunately. I'm going to pick a day where I have a lot of time and try to slowly remove it mechanically. I just wonder whether anything in the nail polish will have reacted with the nitro of the tort and ruined the surface underneath.

oh shit this looks GOOD!

Pacafeliz wrote:oh shit this looks GOOD!

You're actually a fan of the looks? Haha, you're the first person to say so. My wife doesn't usually comment one way or another on looks ("Isn't this exactly like the other ones?"), but when I showed her, she actually went, "Dear lord that's awful".

I'll have to take some better photos today, to show the caked-on glitter in all its glory

well these ultra-distorted-low-fi-shots of it look good to me.
to me and beer, that is.

but i'd rock any fucked up guitar.

remember, i handle TEH CRACKWHORE!

I'm loving it also , but I love wood and I love glitters, so it's easy!!!

raphaël wrote:I'm loving it also , but I love wood and I love glitters, so it's easy!!!

Well, then check this out:





The glitter effect is most pronounced at certain angles. Here's the least-glittery shot I could get:



Here's the surprisingly-untouched case:


And here is the gorgeous flamed neck:





That grain on the back is probably why this piece of wood went to a mustang and not a strat, Tele, or other sunburst guitar.

I have to say that the bizarre looks are growing on me. I still think it would look better fully restored, but right now it's just so crazy that it somehow works. Maybe...

Man, the flame on that neck is excellent! I sort of think that because of that alone it's worth doing a good restore on this. Would look amazing in that blue colour these came in!

Yep, I love it!!
The guy who did it had a real vision
I also love the wood grain of the body, mostly the back of the guitar, that pan print...

When i saw the better quality photos of the pickguard i audibly uuh'd, but i think the looks grew on me too. That was until you turned it over; does the wood have a greenish hue to it? If it wasn't for that i'd say rock it as it is. But a restored olympic white with tort sounds delicious as well; or sonic blue with tort.

I would buy many glittery lap dances from that guitar.....

mgeek wrote:Man, the flame on that neck is excellent!

+1

Hard to find them that flamey, nice score!