Members texasguy11432 Posted September 12, 2018 Members Share Posted September 12, 2018 I know what you're thinking...why bother? Well, I bought it on ebay for $120 shipped. It came damaged, in addition to electronics not working, so I got a partial refund of $50. I saved it because the neck and playability just seemed so damn good, if only it had good hardware and electronics...and a cosmetic make over. I did just that. Still haven't strung it up, but it's good to go for strings and to be intonated. Really looking forward to playing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 That looks really interesting... can you tell us more about how you did the various mods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted September 12, 2018 Members Share Posted September 12, 2018 A huge improvement over what it was. It's all about doing what you can with what you've got.. I like it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted September 12, 2018 Members Share Posted September 12, 2018 That turned out pretty well. Not sure I like the shape of the new pickguard but it's not my guitar and everything else looks pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members texasguy11432 Posted September 15, 2018 Author Members Share Posted September 15, 2018 Thanks for taking an interest! So to start, I knew I had to make room for the humbuckers. That required getting the lines right, starting with the bridge so I knew where to cut out with the plunge router. After that, drilling through the body for the new string-thru bridge was the next challenge (turns out my drill press didn't have a large enough deck for the bit to reach the holes, so I was forced to try something new. This occurred by using a Milescraft Drill Block. Excellent tool for drilling straight with a regular drill. After that I started on the layering and sanding process of body filler to repair the damage that occurred in shipping, and then gave the whole body a rough sanding with some 220 sandpaper. From there, it received several coats of rustoleum flat black, followed by several coats of rustoleum matte clear. The most tedious part was the pickguard. As stated, I used the original as a template for a starting point, for knowing the boundaries of where I needed it to cover, but I wanted to modify it a bit. Getting it cut and then smoothed out so it didn't look like a complete hackjob was the challenge. If I had a CNC, it would be a breeze, but I had to rely on my dremel (rotary cutting bit and drum sander), in addition to hand-sanding and a metal file to help achieve straight lines. The mess this created was insane. It's not a perfectly shaped pickguard, but I'm pretty happy with it. Other than that, I bought the components, including the wiring harness off Amazon and soldered the pickups in and was able to test that the electronics work, so that was easy. Great project, but honestly, I may find myself dissatisfied with the quality of the wood in this body, so it's entirely possible that I buy another thinline body (maybe from warmoth) and try again, but hopefully this one stands up. I sourced every single part from Amazon, by the way. Pickups, wiring harness, strap buttons, input jack, string ferrules, tuners, bridge, knobs. I believe all for under $100. Hopefully will be done soon and will post up some playing to hear how it sounds. Since the pics I posted, I have added gold knurled knobs with abalone top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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