Members Alecto Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 I didn't know EC models came with EMGs. Weren't they the noiseless Fender pups? Not sure. The Eric Clapton sig either came with the Lace Golds or the new edition Noiseless pickups. They never came with EMG's: my guess is the guitar's previous owner tried to make it a pseudo-EC sig but didn't get the right pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _pete_ Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 How hard is it to disassemble a Strat? It's so easy a caveman can do it. (Sorry Doctor Morbius but someone had to say it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flummox Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 You're sanding the finish off your favorite guitar and you don't even know how to take it apart? There's no way to strip one layer of poly off another without sanding. You can use an electric palm sander to do the flat parts. But with 150 grit you really risk going through the surf green color coat and into the primer. no matter what you do. Even if you don't, getting any kind of a gloss back on a poly finish you've sanded to 150 is going to be an insane amount of work. It can all be done, but that's a tough project you've started. For anyone else thinking about this, the best way to do it is to buy a Fender body off eBay in the color you like, and sell the one you've got to recoup the cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 someone needs to start a youtube contest timing people on how fast they can tear down a strat / rebuild one.. like marines and their rifles.. This is my stratocaster. There are many like it but this one is mine. It really is braindead easy. If you can remove and then replace a screw, you can disassemble and reassemble a strat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deadllama Posted March 23, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 The Eric Clapton sig either came with the Lace Golds or the new edition Noiseless pickups. They never came with EMG's: my guess is the guitar's previous owner tried to make it a pseudo-EC sig but didn't get the right pickups. This. I'm going to assume the previous owner is also responsible for the Pewter, but once I have it apart I'll see the neck and body dates and know for sure. It's got a 1984 serial number, just like all the first run of American Standards, and the body has awesome, super-deep contours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Orange Jackson Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 This. I'm going to assume the previous owner is also responsible for the Pewter, but once I have it apart I'll see the neck and body dates and know for sure. It's got a 1984 serial number, just like all the first run of American Standards, and the body has awesome, super-deep contours. I advise you to take is super slow as soon as you get anywhere near the bottom of the finish. It gets really easy to put a dip in the surface of the body/ wood once you start getting close to getting the finish off. I would probably do a chemical stripper, have heard good things about citri-strip, sold at home depot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deadllama Posted March 23, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 You're sanding the finish off your favorite guitar and you don't even know how to take it apart? It's not that I don't know *how*, I just haven't done it before and was asking if there's anything I should watch out for. There's no way to strip one layer of poly off another without sanding. You can use an electric palm sander to do the flat parts. But with 150 grit you really risk going through the surf green color coat and into the primer. no matter what you do. Even if you don't, getting any kind of a gloss back on a poly finish you've sanded to 150 is going to be an insane amount of work. It can all be done, but that's a tough project you've started. I'm not so much worried about gloss. I've got some finer-grit stuff but the 150 is working well so far. Whoever had the guitar before me used some sort of electric sander on the back and took parts of it down to the primer, which was how I knew the surf green was there to begin with, so this guitar wasn't exactly in great shape finish-wise to begin with. Part of this is just because I got bored and decided to see if I could do it, part of it is because I like surf green better than pewter. Just from having the pewter coats off the back, the top side, and part of the front, I've already noticed that the guitar (unplugged) resonates better and seems to have a little more sustain. This probably won't translate to the amp, but it's definitely a little bit louder unplugged. Lest anyone misunderstand: this guitar is a player, for sure, not a museum piece. I just want it to be surf green and have too much time on my hands For anyone else thinking about this, the best way to do it is to buy a Fender body off eBay in the color you like, and sell the one you've got to recoup the cost. This. If I didn't already love the way this body feels that's definitely what I would've done. It's a hell of a lot of work, and someday I may still get a surf green nitro-finished body and go with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lp_junkie Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 If you have that muich room in the neck pocket you must have some big neck pockets:confused: Nah sometimes when rebuilding a guitar for the millionth time there are slight variations in the neck heels or the pockets, but I'm not talking massive amounts of play just a hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flummox Posted March 23, 2010 Members Share Posted March 23, 2010 It's not that I don't know *how*, I just haven't done it before and was asking if there's anything I should watch out for. I'm not so much worried about gloss. I've got some finer-grit stuff but the 150 is working well so far. Whoever had the guitar before me used some sort of electric sander on the back and took parts of it down to the primer, which was how I knew the surf green was there to begin with, so this guitar wasn't exactly in great shape finish-wise to begin with. Part of this is just because I got bored and decided to see if I could do it, part of it is because I like surf green better than pewter. Just from having the pewter coats off the back, the top side, and part of the front, I've already noticed that the guitar (unplugged) resonates better and seems to have a little more sustain. This probably won't translate to the amp, but it's definitely a little bit louder unplugged. Lest anyone misunderstand: this guitar is a player, for sure, not a museum piece. I just want it to be surf green and have too much time on my hands This. If I didn't already love the way this body feels that's definitely what I would've done. It's a hell of a lot of work, and someday I may still get a surf green nitro-finished body and go with that. Sorry, I missed the part about the previous owner. I just had to do something like this to a 97 Standard in Shoreline Gold. The PO had taken an icepick and scratched this godawful tramp-stamp style floral design into it. I thought I could just sand it out of the color coat but it went into the primer in several places. I ended up taking everything down most of the way through the color and shooting Fiesta Red nitro over that. It turned out nicely and was actually a lot less work than trying to restore the gold would have been. If you're patient, nitro is much more forgiving and easy to work with than poly. It does sound noticably fuller than my other Strat, but as you said, it's nothing that would translate to an amp and not nearly worth doing for that benefit alone. I love those early-80s radical contours and I really wish Warmoth or somebody would start making 'em like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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