Yamaha SG-3 tear-down and restoration

[HorseyBoy]

Man, the back of that neck has some some action over the years. Love it. Coming along really well.
As for the colour, I've always figured Yammy's "Pearl White" looked closer to Gibson whites than Fender whites. Can't tell you why exactly, just that I always thought they looked like the "Special White" on old Gibson SGs or maybe even "Polaris White" on old Epiphones.
A quick Google image search turned up some big images of a later Pearl White Yammy SG-200 that might be useful (they're big, so I haven't embedded them):

https://elitevintageguitars.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/image72.jpg

https://elitevintageguitars.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/image74.jpg

Page is here: http://elitevintageguitars.com/2015/02/24/yamaha-sg-200-pearl-white-1980s-2/

And here's a link to a 65 Special White Gibson SG with some good images:

http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/collections/sg/products/gibson-sg-special-white-with-vibrato-1965-price-drop

[theworkoffire]

Thanks for the links - I know what you mean about it having a slight creaminess to it - those all seem a bit too green on this screen. The mint one that was for sale on Reverb is about what I'm after, I think. There's an aged Oly white nitro available here, but I suspect that will be too yellow.

This was the new maple glued in place:



Re-drilling the tuner holes:




Then planed and sanded down flush:

[MattK]

Some like to watch football, some like to watch birds, some like to watch porn, some watch their weight. Me, I like to watch THE WORK OF FIRE.

[MattK]

That is insane, I had the television on with the Australian music clip show Rage on, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on it ... I look up and there is the band noodling on a red SG-3 and a blue SG-5.

[theworkoffire]

^^ Doubly weird that those are the almost the exact two Yamahas I own. Their blue is blue, mine's a deep turquoise.

Oh, and it turns out my red isn't red...

I started stripping the body - coating it in Nitromors and leaving it in a placcy bag to fester. I always find using a heat-gun leads to too many scraper marks on the wood, and I don't trust old body glue to survive the attack...and I didn't want to sand the thick poly off - just doing the headstock was a pain.



The chemical stripper discolours the wood, but it means I can just use a gentle plastic scraper instead of metal, and I know I'm shooting a solid colour over the top so it's fine.



Anyway, under the red in the cavities, I started to uncover white. At first I thought it was just a primer, but it was a completely different composition from the red (which I'd already figured was a re-fin, but assumed was just red over red) - the white was much tougher and more resistant to the stripper. There was also a thin greyish layer between the white and the red in some places - possibly shielding paint, but also possibly just grime that whoever re-sprayed in red hadn't bothered to remove. [Actually, looking at PoppaPopp's it probably is the light grey shielding paint]



Also, there were horrible little star washers in the neck screw holes, and when I took them out there was white directly underneath them, so they must have gone in inbetween the white and the red, which means the white is very unlikely to have just been an original primer.





The white is also in a thin line down the edge of the neck pocket, which must have been from an original spray-stick, exactly the same as PoppaPopp's white one!





And check out the horizontal glue line. You don't see many of those - runs all the way around. It's either a 6 or 7-piece body.



So anyway, that destroys any guilt I was feeling over re-finishing it white instead of red - turns out it was white all along, and I'll actually be returning it to it's former glory. Couldn't be happier

[Pacafeliz]

THAT'S INCREDIBLE!!!

(there, i finally said it too!)

[moleng1]

Every time I read one of these threads it only reminds me of how totally useless I am when it comes to wood working!! I'm in awe!!

[HorseyBoy]

Always knew white was the right choice.

[chase]

I fell in love with the exact same white SG3 photo, so I was very much in favor of white too.

The (aged) Yamaha white is odd. From a distance or in a photo it looks very white (mine looks almost exactly like the one in the photo), but in person, up close, it's more of a pale lemon color, with a pearlescent sheen to it (as per the color name, "pearl white"). The pickup covers, the pickguard, and the body of mine are all different shades of white, although I suspect that the original paint color was much whiter than it is now after nearly fifty years. I'll see if I can get a photo that is an accurate depiction. Unless you're intent on complete faithfulness, though, I'd be inclined to just make it as white as the one in that original photo, the one in your dreams.

[46346]

Always knew white was the right choice.

me too! it's the coolest - though it's the only color I havent seen in person. ...maybe that's why.

Ben - I sent you an email yesterday with my best shot of the early headstock logo.

Cheers, all!

[theworkoffire]

That strap-button pretty-much sums up the post-election mood in our house this morning. One man's 'repair' is another man's wooden stake up the arse.

[ludobag1]

fews part body need a solid color to hiden it ,the good part is a fews part body is more stable than a one part

[theworkoffire]

fews part body need a solid color to hiden it ,the good part is a fews part body is more stable than a one part

I hope so, Ludo! Apart from being in lots of pieces, it's lovely wood - very light weight. A lot lighter than my swamp ash replica body I think.

[46346]

was playing my sg-3 all night last night and i did remark on how it's lighter than my two Jaguars ( a '65 and a '13 Thinline).

...and my condolences to you and the labor party. sounds like pretty rough going

[HorseyBoy]

Just noticed Found Sound in Melbourne have a Pearl White 67 SG-2A (as well as a refinished SG-3, linked in the "official" thread):

http://www.foundsound.com.au/stock?man=YAMAHA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They might be kind enough to take some pics of the finish for you if you drop them a line…