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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:32 pm
by hornz
Awesome find! A good Strat is hard to part with, I'm sure you'll enjoy tinkering with this one.

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:04 pm
by kracdown
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.

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:13 pm
by kracdown
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:
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I know that Fender switched to a Poly finish in the late 60's, but man, this checked nicely:
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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:44 pm
by kracdown
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:
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After:
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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.

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:26 pm
by tonehungry
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

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:50 pm
by kracdown
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

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Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:42 am
by countertext
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.

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:26 am
by mcjt
:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
that is one massively cool Strat!

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:15 am
by kracdown
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!

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:46 am
by Ursa Minor
Incredible looking strat! OMG that checking! Would definitely vote to keep that finish. It's one of a kind!

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:25 am
by mcjt
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!

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:43 am
by will
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.

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:44 am
by Pacafeliz
mcjt wrote:that is one massively cool Strat!
+1!!! :-* :-* :-*

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 11:45 am
by mcjt
:)
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.

Re: 1969 Fender Strat Restoration!

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 6:05 am
by Fiddy
FUCK PHOTOFUCKET!!!!