Fenton Weill Stereomaster project

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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mgeek
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Fenton Weill Stereomaster project

Post by mgeek » Sun Jul 28, 2019 3:32 pm

As a few of you may have noticed, Fenton Weill's are my 'thing' - based entirely on the fact they are old, weird and English (in the best sense of the word- made by a Jewish fella in London who moved here to escape the Nazis) Here's one I rebuilt a while back http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=79625

I've had one of this- their top or near top of the range model before, but sold it cos I just can't hang with red guitars unless there's no other option... even though there are only 3 of this that I've ever seen, knowing that 'natural' was a possibility soured the red one for me.

The example here showed up in fully abused state on ebay some years ago- painted purple and looking visibly gouged even in the terrible ebay pics! but I could tell from the headstock it had originally been natural sycamore...the seller was asking too much money- 400. I waited a few rounds of relistings, hoping to talk him down a bit, because I'm fully aware to most people these guitars look like complete pieces of crap, and really even though they are rare they just aren't worth that much because no fucker wants them. Unfortunately someone bought it!...ffw 6 months and that guy moved it on to my friend for what he'd paid...ffw some more time, and my friend sold it to me, and I finally relented and paid what the seller was originally asking :fp: ;D

The issues here are pretty straightforward...just needs respraying and refretting. My friend put a new fretboard on it before selling to me, which is good cos the originals are a bit sketchy, intonation wise. The issue with the respray is that whilst the purple is gone, there have been other finishes before (just like the other fw i restored, only not as bad) which have been somewhat ground into the grain (second pic). If anyone has some tips of removing the last little flecks , then I'd love to hear them, but I *think* I can get away with just sanding, hopefully without compromising the contours too much.

The other thing I'd like to do is re-gold plate the pickups and trem. This is the only one I've seen that came with all gold hardware, and as I'm restoring it I'd like to go all the way. Tuners are fine, but the trem is almost completely bereft of gold, and the pickups are patchy. Any tips re: that very welcome! I've been looking at brush plating kits, heard a few horror stories re: sending stuff off to be done- bits lost etc

Pics:

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Third pic is the unmolested headstock face, demonstrating what it could have looked like if left alone! ;)

Last pic is a pair of 'Triplemasters' the normal wiring version of this, both with glorious natural with black blown in neck, finish. You can see from looking at the two of them together that there's a fair amount of variation between examples. Spot the difference! :D
Last edited by mgeek on Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:34 am, edited 6 times in total.

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Danley
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Re: Natural refin/grubby wood

Post by Danley » Sun Jul 28, 2019 6:41 pm

Acetone/nail polish remover doesn't work?
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: Natural refin/grubby wood

Post by mgeek » Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:22 am

Danley wrote:
Sun Jul 28, 2019 6:41 pm
Acetone/nail polish remover doesn't work?
sadly not, I gave it a go yesterday

I'll try and post a picture later, the paint is 99.9% gone, it's just the odd little fleck that's left, but kind of going along with the grain if that makes sense. In reality it's probably gonna remove like, 0.1 of a MM all round to fully get rid of it, but as the wood is kinda flat now I guess it's making me feel like it's a shame to remove more...I'm probably being silly

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Re: Fenton Weill Stereomaster project

Post by mgeek » Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:11 am

pics added

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antisymmetric
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Re: Fenton Weill Stereomaster project

Post by antisymmetric » Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:12 pm

mgeek wrote:
Sun Jul 28, 2019 3:32 pm
The example here showed up in fully abused state on ebay some years ago- painted purple and looking visibly gouged even in the terrible ebay pics! but I could tell from the headstock it had originally been natural sycamore...the seller was asking too much money- 400. I waited a few rounds of relistings, hoping to talk him down a bit, because I'm fully aware to most people these guitars look like complete pieces of crap, and really even though they are rare they just aren't worth that much because no fucker wants them. Unfortunately someone bought it!...ffw 6 months and that guy moved it on to my friend for what he'd paid...ffw some more time, and my friend sold it to me, and I finally relented and paid what the seller was originally asking :fp: ;D
:D :D That's been similar to my experience a few times with old oddballs (especially Commodores). You think nobody else will be interested, and wait for the price to get reasonable, but all it takes is one other misfit showing interest, and you've lost out. :wtf:

Re your paint removal issues, maybe something from these guys would help. I've used their 203 for getting old nitro lacquer off open grained woods. I usually remove whatever I can by mechanical means first, then get in there with the stripper and a little brush with stiff java bristles running along the grain lines, it seems to loosen that stuff buried down between the fibres. YMMV of course...
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Re: Fenton Weill Stereomaster project

Post by mgeek » Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:36 pm

antisymmetric wrote:
Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:12 pm
mgeek wrote:
Sun Jul 28, 2019 3:32 pm
The example here showed up in fully abused state on ebay some years ago- painted purple and looking visibly gouged even in the terrible ebay pics! but I could tell from the headstock it had originally been natural sycamore...the seller was asking too much money- 400. I waited a few rounds of relistings, hoping to talk him down a bit, because I'm fully aware to most people these guitars look like complete pieces of crap, and really even though they are rare they just aren't worth that much because no fucker wants them. Unfortunately someone bought it!...ffw 6 months and that guy moved it on to my friend for what he'd paid...ffw some more time, and my friend sold it to me, and I finally relented and paid what the seller was originally asking :fp: ;D
:D :D That's been similar to my experience a few times with old oddballs (especially Commodores). You think nobody else will be interested, and wait for the price to get reasonable, but all it takes is one other misfit showing interest, and you've lost out. :wtf:

Re your paint removal issues, maybe something from these guys would help. I've used their 203 for getting old nitro lacquer off open grained woods. I usually remove whatever I can by mechanical means first, then get in there with the stripper and a little brush with stiff java bristles running along the grain lines, it seems to loosen that stuff buried down between the fibres. YMMV of course...
ah! thanks for the suggestion! Will check it out...those little bits are such a pain. You feel like you've got to the 'bottom' of the finish, almost everything is off, then you are faced with the apparent choice of removing slightly too much material or having the flecks...

Do you think that'd work with super tight grained wood like this? It's sycamore which is basically maple...I can get my head round the brush thing working with mahogany but perhaps this is a bit close?

The oddball pricing stuff is all part of the game isn't it haha. There have been times when whoever bought it realised the error of their ways and ended up moving it on for a loss, which suited me, but unfortunately this time it wasn't to be. BTW always interested if you've picked up any more Commodores or Jansens! Love seeing them

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Re: Fenton Weill Stereomaster project

Post by antisymmetric » Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:25 am

Yeah, my technique might not work on that wood of yours. I got to wondering what would happen if that body of yours was immersed in the appropriate solvent for whatever those marks consist of, maybe nothing, maybe it would remove them, or maybe thay'd just "smudge" and end up looking like ink blots. :ph34r: So what's left- sand them out as you mentioned, or maybe concealing them? Some opaque finish the same colour as the wood applied with the end of a pin to just cover those marks? Just throwing ideas around, no idea if it would work.

Re the price game with the weird old instruments, for two of my Commodore guitars I just had to pony up (no regrets), the lap steel was a bargain because the seller listed it in a silly place. The bass purchase was interesting- it came up for sale and because I'd been just spending on another guitar, I didn't go after it (trying to be sensible for once). It got snapped up by a well-known local gigging/ recording player, and I was at least pleased to see it had gone to him. Then a few weeks later, he had it up for sale- he was not happy, he had really been after one of these, but there were loads of issues the seller hadn't mentioned, and he just wanted a working bass and not a project, so he put it back up for sale with a list of the issues and a reduced price. I wasn't about to let it go again. So that was an anomaly, kind of "he who hesitates wins". :wacko:
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