1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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hornz
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by hornz » Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:32 pm

Awesome find! A good Strat is hard to part with, I'm sure you'll enjoy tinkering with this one.
hornz
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kracdown
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by kracdown » Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:04 pm

The new plan is to keep the finish as is for a while. It looks really cool. I'll work on flattening out the slightly warped guard, find an original neck pickup and wiring harness. I have a set of period correct tuners coming in now. Will update when I get those on.

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by kracdown » Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:13 pm

Opened the guitar up finally.

Finish is green with some sparkles, which did not come through so much in the initial pictures. Looks like there's some sunburst left in the neck pocket, but not anywhere else:
Image
Image

I know that Fender switched to a Poly finish in the late 60's, but man, this checked nicely:
Image

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by kracdown » Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:44 pm

Pickguard warping fixed! Nothing 10 minutes in the 200 degree oven + a book with a pack of water bottles on top won't fix!

Before:
Image
Image

After:
Image
Image
Image

Next step is to get the conversion bushings in (ordered this morning) and a fresh setup with original spec tuners. Probably going to wait to do the refin till the end of summer.

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tonehungry
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by tonehungry » Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:26 pm

This guitar is beautiful! great job on the pickguard, how did you exactly place the pick guard in the oven. I've got 65 jazz master pickguard with some bad warping.

thanks

j.o

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by kracdown » Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:50 pm

tonehungry wrote:This guitar is beautiful! great job on the pickguard, how did you exactly place the pick guard in the oven. I've got 65 jazz master pickguard with some bad warping.

thanks

j.o

Image

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countertext
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by countertext » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:42 am

The headstock faces remained nitro until '81 or so, I think. I've read that the decals wouldn't stick to the poly. If so, it would also explain why so many Fenders of that era have dark faces and pale necks.

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mcjt
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by mcjt » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:26 am

:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
that is one massively cool Strat!

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by kracdown » Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:15 am

countertext wrote:The headstock faces remained nitro until '81 or so, I think. I've read that the decals wouldn't stick to the poly. If so, it would also explain why so many Fenders of that era have dark faces and pale necks.
That would make a ton of sense. I feel like I remember reading this somewhere too, thanks for the reminder!

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Ursa Minor
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by Ursa Minor » Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:46 am

Incredible looking strat! OMG that checking! Would definitely vote to keep that finish. It's one of a kind!
The artist formerly known as kosmonautmayhem.

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mcjt
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by mcjt » Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:25 am

No, it's the other way around.
The decal stuck just fine to poly urethane. it's the urethane that Fender shot OVER the decal that didn't work. But nitrocellulose lacquer was fine.
And therefore the headstock stayed lacquer and discoloured over the years while the more resilient poly-finished neck didn't.

kracdown wrote:
countertext wrote:The headstock faces remained nitro until '81 or so, I think. I've read that the decals wouldn't stick to the poly. If so, it would also explain why so many Fenders of that era have dark faces and pale necks.
That would make a ton of sense. I feel like I remember reading this somewhere too, thanks for the reminder!

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will
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by will » Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:43 am

mcjt wrote:No, it's the other way around.
The decal stuck just fine to poly urethane. it's the urethane that Fender shot OVER the decal that didn't work. But nitrocellulose lacquer was fine.
And therefore the headstock stayed lacquer and discoloured over the years while the more resilient poly-finished neck didn't.
Weird - I always thought that the headstock face was 100% nitro lacquer. ...I didn't know that there was poly UNDER the lacquer.

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Pacafeliz
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by Pacafeliz » Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:44 am

mcjt wrote:that is one massively cool Strat!
+1!!! :-* :-* :-*
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by mcjt » Thu Jun 29, 2017 11:45 am

:)
Will, i meant that the decal *would have* stuck just fine on top of a layer of urethane.
I didn't mean that there really WAS a coat of urethane, then decal, then lacquer.
Does that make sense?
will wrote:
mcjt wrote:No, it's the other way around.
The decal stuck just fine to poly urethane. it's the urethane that Fender shot OVER the decal that didn't work. But nitrocellulose lacquer was fine.
And therefore the headstock stayed lacquer and discoloured over the years while the more resilient poly-finished neck didn't.
Weird - I always thought that the headstock face was 100% nitro lacquer. ...I didn't know that there was poly UNDER the lacquer.

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Post by Fiddy » Sat Jul 01, 2017 6:05 am

FUCK PHOTOFUCKET!!!!

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