my first project: 66 mustang rescue - all done!

[mcconnachiea]

Why's the fretboard so thin

[Stratelejazzuar]

Why's the fretboard so thin

to save money on rosewood!

[ohm-men]

I'm with Hobby_Masta_Flex on this.
I've been experimenting with all kinds of woods,like pre glued planks that make a board and they work just fine.
Like Masta suggested, if you choose your wood wisely this will work for sure. I also done headstocks this way and they sound just fine, like any other.
Even bodies work. My Firemaster and Jaguar are constructed this way and so far they sound promising.

Just a matter of getting the body cut straight, glueing in staight blocks, even try to match the grain directrion and you are on your way?
Anyway, that is what I would do as I hate seeing vintage Fender "cut-ups" going to waste. + There is nothing to loose, so why not giving it a try.

[tincob]

Would it work with just wood glue as far as strength if he was to do this?

Tongue and groove. Maybe a two biscuits?

At least with this approach you would get back the Mustang body shape and you would be able to paint it a cool Mustang color like sonic blue or orange.

[AWSchmit]

yeah, so long as the edges that are going to be butted together are real flat and smooth and make good contact, just wood quality wood glue will do the trick. I'd suggest tight bond. be sure to use several good clamps with peice of wood used to keep the "jaws" of the clamps from messing up the body wood.

[edouglaspratt]

Good ideas, all. I agree, any cutting into that neck-headstock...ouch. I like keeping the body as is, filling in the holes. It's got your Dad's story, it's your restoration, and you'll add your own stories down the new road.

The grafting could be pretty cool too...adding your wood to your dad's. However you go, great project. Send pictures.

[drteeth]

thanks for all the replies:D

i do like the idea of cutting further and grafting on new pieces of wood (i think it's poplar in these guitars?). i may very well get into that idea later but i've already got an ash body on the way from guitarmill so i'm going to go with that for the mean time. also i'm pretty new to the whole woodworking thing, and would probably just ball it up at this point. i do really like the idea of keeping my dad's original together, so this idea is going to come around again i'm sure.

i'm just waiting on the body to arrive, and the pickups. once they get here, my brother and i will set to work and the pics will flow.

the pickups are something i'm not 100% on. there is only 1 original pickup left, the bridge, while the neck is god knows what sort. it's a single coil with cream cover and a "patent applied for" sticker on it. at any rate it's has about twice the output of the bridge pickup so i just went ahead and ordered two seymour duncan mustang pickups. i may use just the neck from that set, depending on what it sounds like and if it goes well with the original. does anyone know anything about these? i guess i'm having buyer's remorse, because the SDs aren't seeming like the best idea right now. i should have either tried to find an original 60sish mustang bridge or gone with something completely different like a set of lace sensors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75gQCUIQToU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqt0Rdq4_Sw

[AWSchmit]

About the pickups, I would have went the buy another 60's pickup route. They aren't that expensive on the 'Bay. I bought a broken one for $20 and had to fixed for $40, not bad at all. It was a 66. if you would do that though, check the output before you buy. or actually. get whatever, and then check the output, and place the pickup accordingly. I'm pretty sure mustang pickups are made the same no mater the position the only different tends to be output. unless I'm wrong. I had to do this same thing with a 64 that had a real shitty replacement pickups. (That's why I bought the broken '66 one) and definitely, if what you are going for is a true restoration, Lace is not the way to go. If you like vintage tone, they suck. I had a set of those once. Pulled em and sold em as fast as I could.

[drteeth]

well it's been a few months...
the body showed up and my brother and i have finally set about getting the finish on this body.

after steaming out a few dings, raising the grain and a final 220 sanding we started filling the grain.

i should mention that we are using waterborne products for this finish. also, we're not only new to waterborne lacquer, but lacquer, finishing, and spray equipement altogether so it could get interesting.

the rough finishing schedule is as follows:

• wash coat of waterborne sanding sealer
  clear waterborne grain filler
  sanding sealer
  butterscotch blonde / off white tinted lacquer
  clear coats of the same lacquer

here is the body as i recieved it:


here is the body after 2 coats of grain filler and sanding back.
you can see in both closeups that there was still alot of unfilled grain left.






after 3 coats of filler, before sanding it back again. you can see the squeegie marks and still more open grain.



the batteries on my camera died, but we sanded again, applied a 4th coat of filler and sanded again which brought the pores to what we considered an acceptable level. we decided to move on to the sanding sealer, which as we've read should also fill the grain a bit for it's part. i put waaay to thick of a coat of sealer on, set it to dry and when we came back to it.... tons of runs & sags =( ... lesson learned.

i'll try to update with some pics of of my failure soon.

[AWSchmit]

I forgot about this project. I'm glad to see you got a whole new body. I'm presuming you're just keeping the body as a family air loom now?

Also about the grain filling. if you think that the grain will still show in the finish and if that will bother you, I'd go ahead and grain fill as much as you have too. You don't want to get it close, but have it bother you later so much so, that you sand it back down and start again. If you have too just set the body down and forget about it for a couple days, then start back into it. Either way, good luck!

[1,2,3, Pull Out!]

It's like your taking a horribly abused child and loving him better

[panoramic]

that's cool, I am doing a mustang project now as well, i got a 65 body for cheap and we shall see how the rest pans out

[cleo]

Sry, but I have to say - I like the body shape
- but the fact that its made out of a orig 60s Mustang makes me wanna

[valley_parade]

Whilst I'd prefer the original Body shape i kinda dig what's been done to it and it has history.

This. That body's kinda cool looking. I'd take it off your hands if you get a whole new body.

[FooperSuzz]

I'd love to start a Mustang resto project.