Members u6crash Posted March 6, 2021 Members Share Posted March 6, 2021 Some time back I inquired about thoughts on a new guitar to celebrate three years of not smoking cigarettes. Won this on eBay a couple weeks ago. I've wanted a Fender Coronado II for 20 years. The thing is, I know a true vintage instrument will command a pretty penny and still maybe not play well. I also know the reissues are semi-hollow instead of truly hollow. So I'm pretty excited to get this body to make the guitar I want. It's not going to be a faithful restoration. The headstock will get the same shape as a nod to the original manufacturer, but I want to do something funky with the finish. I'm not going to track down an original set of pickups, either. Right now I'm leaning towards the Guild DeArmond Dynasonics. The only part I have ordered is a generic tailpiece, which I plan to modify. I'm going to remove the steel anchor and replace it with a wood one that is in the shape of the original. Anyway, here are some pictures. Work is killing me with overtime, so I expect progress to be slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 6, 2021 Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2021 some wear and tear, but it looks like a good project body. Looks kind of like the 'wildwood' series body. Good score! Looks like someone already stripped the old finish...* What kind of finish are you considering? I like the De Armond p-ups [the original DeA-Rowes are hard to find under $500 a pair], but a set of P90s would look interesting on that, and would sound classic. Some routing may be required..... *did you buy this from a guy in Detroit? Just curious, because I remember a project with a very similar body from about 5 years ago, from a different forum...let me look...AHA! Gretsch Talk...https://www.gretsch-talk.com/threads/coronado-strat-build.154391/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted March 7, 2021 Members Share Posted March 7, 2021 Happy New Guitar (Body) Day. Keep us posted as the build proceeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6down1togo Posted March 7, 2021 Members Share Posted March 7, 2021 Looks like a great start for your project. That body looks like it will be easy to strip and get ready to a finish. If cost is a consideration, GFS sells surface mount pickups also, the NYII (single coils) and NYIII (humbuckers). Their Filtertron clones look like a drop-in fit also. What finish do you have in mind for the body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted March 7, 2021 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2021 9 hours ago, daddymack said: some wear and tear, but it looks like a good project body. Looks kind of like the 'wildwood' series body. Good score! Looks like someone already stripped the old finish...* What kind of finish are you considering? I like the De Armond p-ups [the original DeA-Rowes are hard to find under $500 a pair], but a set of P90s would look interesting on that, and would sound classic. Some routing may be required..... *did you buy this from a guy in Detroit? Just curious, because I remember a project with a very similar body from about 5 years ago, from a different forum...let me look...AHA! Gretsch Talk...https://www.gretsch-talk.com/threads/coronado-strat-build.154391/ This is at least the second time someone refinished the body. There are some kind of deep sanding scars in the binding. I believe the WIldwood finishes used wood from trees that were injected with dye while the tree was still alive. The streaking in this looks more like it was from different attempts at stain. I got this body from a guy in Oklahoma. Still unsure of the finish. I'm more of a visual artist than a musical one, so I'm very tempted to put a one of a kind stamp on it. I've also considered matte black and shell pink. I've wanted a shell pink guitar for a while now. 2 hours ago, 6down1togo said: Looks like a great start for your project. That body looks like it will be easy to strip and get ready to a finish. If cost is a consideration, GFS sells surface mount pickups also, the NYII (single coils) and NYIII (humbuckers). Their Filtertron clones look like a drop-in fit also. What finish do you have in mind for the body? Yeah, since I'm going to go with some sort of solid finish, it will be mostly about making the surface smooth enough for the first coat of primer. I've never painted anything that has binding before, so that might be a new challenge. Just checked GFS and measured the cavities. The original pickups are surface mount and at 1" (25mm) x 2.875" (73mm) it doesn't look like much of anything fits in it. Dynasonic replicas cover the hole and require four new screw holes and covering the two existing screw holes. It could be that I fabricate a kind of mounting ring that mimics the shape of the original pickups. Most likely I will order a neck in order to figure out the bridge and once I have those in place I'll have a better idea of how high any given pickup can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 7, 2021 Moderators Share Posted March 7, 2021 Shell pink...I see the pink strat in your avatar [did you draw that?]...I'd go with the black [personal choice]...although TBH, I do not recall ever seeing a pink semi or hollow body before [although I know Ibanez does make them, and I believe D'Angelico just released one recently], so that would certainly be different. Having tried to fabricate mounting rings, several times for custom mods, I will suggest you not do this...😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted March 11, 2021 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2021 On 3/7/2021 at 10:31 AM, daddymack said: Shell pink...I see the pink strat in your avatar [did you draw that?]...I'd go with the black [personal choice]...although TBH, I do not recall ever seeing a pink semi or hollow body before [although I know Ibanez does make them, and I believe D'Angelico just released one recently], so that would certainly be different. Having tried to fabricate mounting rings, several times for custom mods, I will suggest you not do this...😉 A matte black finish would definitely be a different look for this guitar. It might inspire some pinstriping. What were your mounting ring problems? That seems fairly safe compared to my other failed projects. Today's project was handmade playing cards. It didn't work, but I learned some things. And yes, I did draw the image in my avatar. Guitar playing robots are a favorite subject did mine to draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 11, 2021 Moderators Share Posted March 11, 2021 Problems? No, as long as you have the right tools...but for what is really a I'm a 'learn as you go' kinda guy, with a bad habit of taking on new things with no freaking idea how to do it... *I have made custom wooden mounting rings [as well as pick guards and truss rod covers] for a few people over the years, but let me say that for every pair I sold, I destroyed at least a pair, usually because of weak grain or a hidden knot in the wood...and sometimes pilot error Trying to make them like the plastic ones does not work well with wood, they need to be what I like to call 'more ornate'...[read: thicker, wider, heavier walled] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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