OffsetGuitars.com

Interesting "boil in the bag" method to remove the cavity paint. When I get round to refinning my '59 I'm nicking that idea.

I've always wondered if there'd be any markings left behind.

andrewaward wrote:If the body was a factory blonde, then the wood is ash..............should be light also.

Ah - that would make sense. It's not tremendously light - quite a solid slab, but pretty resonant. Bit annoyed that I used Alder to patch it now, but the only ash I have is quite wide-grained swamp ash, and probably less of a match. I'll see what It looks like when it's sanded down.

yeah swamp ash is different (denser) from the 60s ash.

I've always found 60s ash to be lighter than 60s alder...........all the JM ash bodies I've had have been around 1700grams..............vs 1900/2000 + grams for alder.

It has been mainly early 60s ash bodies I've had (60-63).

I have had very light alder bodies also...........pot luck a lot of the time I suppose.

I'm sure this is going to end up as another masterpiece, but I really like that purple and will be sorry to see it consigned to history.

the world needs more purple guitars. please consider spraying it in purple.

Purple, tort and clear headstock just reminds me of Gavin Rossdale, and that's a long, long way from my comfort zone, I'm afraid.








Anyway, 'tis just a distant memory now. Pics to follow.

This was the outcome of yesterday's tinkering:


A luthier friend once told me the way he stripped bodies was to run them through his sander, which seemed absolutely brutal, but given how horrible the top of this was (which probably doesn't come across in the pictures) I thought I'd give it a go - first time using my new slightly old thickness sander:



The belt took a lot of cleaning between runs - the usual cleaner stick and scraping off melted paint with a razor blade.



Result:


I wonder if Fender's post-CBS timber came from the mill sized for Strats and Teles...? The only othe JM I've stripped was a 68 or so, and had exactly the same extra piece to make up the width on the ass. Would stand to reason, assuming they were making loads more of the smaller ones.


I used a template cut from that previous JM to restore the shape of the cavity. They weren't exactly the same size - this body's cavity was mostly everso slightly smaller, but had a slightly larger cut-out for the jack, I think. Also the rhythm cavity was about 1mm north on this one.



Used a heat-gun on about half power to soften the remaining paint without scorching the wood - it came off really cleanly most of the time:



Fully nude . Needs a little sanding to restore the edge transition, but other than that, it's in great shape. The previous refinisher had been really careful around the edges, thankfully - they still have all the smoothness and colour of the factory sealer, as far as I can tell, which I think is why it stripped so clean.

andrewaward wrote:yeah swamp ash is different (denser) from the 60s ash.

I've always found 60s ash to be lighter than 60s alder...........all the JM ash bodies I've had have been around 1700grams..............vs 1900/2000 + grams for alder.

It has been mainly early 60s ash bodies I've had (60-63).

I have had very light alder bodies also...........pot luck a lot of the time I suppose.

This one's almost exactly 2kg stripped...

Good work!

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:Good work!

Vouch!!

These threads are the best, as are the "it's perfect as it is. Play the hell out of it!" posts that inevitably appear.

VERY impressive, sir!

theworkoffire wrote:

I'm amazed by your ability to telepathically match the grain on that plug BEFORE stripping the finish!

you, man, are THE GUITAR REVIVAL GOD!!!

will wrote:
I'm amazed by your ability to telepathically match the grain on that plug BEFORE stripping the finish!

Pure luck, I swear