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ok so first of all the back story!

I recently picked used a US deluxe strat body for

If the glue seams appear sound I'd get some good oil based wood filler. Stay away from the water based {censored} as it expands & contracts too much. Fill all of the sins, let dry overnite, sand and do it again until smooth. Go as far as 220 grit sandpaper. And use a sanding block. Then get thee to reranch.com and read up on painting.

All I can say is wow... I looks like a retarded beaver needed a chew toy... Definitely got to post pics of stages of filling and rough body fixes...

Sorry I haven't been around lately guys... Snow storm has made life fun... lol...

thanks guys,joints definitely dont seem stable enough unfortunately

Thats a dam shame. This is exactly why my advice to those who dont like their guitar color is to sell it and get what they want. Refinishing destroys the value of the instrument and if you dont know what the hell you're doing, leave it well enough alone.

With that off my chest, lets give some input.

For the joints, Take some wood glue and dilute it 25~50% with water and soak it into the joints then clamp the sucker down till it dries.

Another option is to use crazy glue and do the same. You have to work fast with the stuff so you bead it in there and immediately clamp so you can close the gap and have a towel ready for leakage. Have the guitar clamped and add the pressure the second you get done filling the gap.

The last, if you can fit a business card in the gap is to use epoxy. Dip a thin piece of plastic in the epoxy and run it down the gap to get as much as you can in there, then clamp it. Epoxy will fill the gap better than the other two but the application cant be topical, it has to be in the groove.

The rest of the body, I'd sand the best you can to the wood. Use sandpaper and a wood dowel and sand the areas that are curved. Be careful around the neck pocket not to remove too much and make the neck overhang when installed. The original finish can be very thick there.

Then fill the bad areas as custom tele suggested. Sand till baby ass smooth. If it isnt dead smooth add more or do over. Any and all flaws will be visable with paint applied. Do not think paint will hide any flaws. This is like doing auto body work, sanding with finer and finer grits is the key to getting it smooth.

Next prime the thing several times and sand again between coats. You can go thick with the primer. Use an electric sander. Unlike sanding the wood and wood filler which sand at different rates, the sealer will come down evenly. When the high spots begin to show, stop in thet area. You can apply another coat of sealer and take that area down again so its smooth.

Work in bright light and syop frequently and eye your work up and use you hands to feel for smoothness as well as holding it up to the light and inspect for wavyness. Mark the areas you need to pay specual attention to.

If you get past the primer with a smooth surface, then and only then go on to the final painting in the color of your choice.

It hurts me to see a Strat body that has been so hideously abused.

It's a bit like finding out Cindy Crawford was raped.

(which she hasn't, it was just an appropriately heinous analogy)

yeah I know it's hideous!

thats why I want the best advice I can get before putting another hand on it,

I'm not Atrox or Meandi but I want to do as close a job as I can to those guys

yeah, mmm that is sad, are you going to remove everything now? because i highly recomend a cabinet scraper cause it does not mess with the glue, and when used properly doesnt mess with the wood, at least on my strat project that i am doing with royal c johnson, it is working fine

Any progress?

not yet,

I'm still in two minds as to how I should fill those body cracks in a way that keeps it stable for 20~30 years

I think Superglue is out,in Ireland it's just too Damp in winter,I think with swelling this will crack too easy

so I'm leaning towards cleaning out the joins and using some form of glue to seal the cracks my dad has those very large clamps that will span the entire width of the body

but do I use

old fashioned cabinet makers wood glue,which lasts for years and years and is very strong (but I imagine needs clean wood surfaces to bond well)

or do I use epoxy mixed with Hardwood sawdust,as has been suggested

also I'm finding it hard to get Reranch paints over here,nobody wants to ship them via airmail

Thanks for your help Meandi!!

If the cracks are "tight", an ultra thin super glue may be the best way to get the glue deep into the crack.

The ultra thin has a good capillary action that will allow it to wick down into the crack.

Bear in mind, that once the finish is on, the wood work will be sealed from the atmosphere.

Cool,I think i'll try this then sand it,spray it with primer and leave it for a couple of weeks to see if it's stable

Isnt going to matter which glue is used because it will be sealed by the finish and make it moisture proof anyway.

Wood glue can be affected by moisture. There are some newer yellow types that are much better.

Crazy glue sinks deep into the wood fibers, its not going to be affected by moisture and in fact moisture is what makes it harden.

For epoxy, theres zero reason to add sawdust, the only thing that will do is prevent you from closing the gap when its clamped and weaken the bond.

Theres alot of misapplied suggestions out there and I dont think some of them are based on good old basic common carpenter sence. With a hack job body like this one its likely going to need to be repainted, not a natureal finish. Wood filler will be needed to cover up the hack marks and scratches, then promer and paint then clearcoat.

All that needs to be done is glue the thing up, clamp it, fill any other gaps, sand it baby ass smooth, for finishing. (The smoother the better so flaws dont come through the paint/finish).

sounds pretty logical,thanks dude!

yeah I'm hoping I can shoot Burgundy Mist on it

I did this one on the left with rattel can auto paint cans. Its got some metalic in there tast spakles in the light but the clear coat dulled it a bit.

I refinished that one three times before I found something I liked. It also had a major hack job done where someone tried to make a bass body out of it and put a pup route near the tail I had to fill in. Wood filler shrank a littel but you wouldnt notice it if you didnt know it wasnt there. It wound up being my best whammy guitar.

excellent stuff,which wood filler was it that shrunk can you remember?

thanks guys

All fillers as well as the finish coats will shrink as they cure.

Some more than others.

Some mfgs have incorporated uv booths to accelerate the cure time on their nitro finishes...smaller builders such as benedetto will allow for 6 to 8 weeks for cure & shrinkage once they are done with their finish applications.

Those pics are painful, but it can be rescued for sure. I got a Squier Tele in similar condition, where someone had used a chisel to try and strip the paint off it. Gouges all over. A bit of time, sanding, filling, planing and it looks good now.

The work you do on the body will be your canvas. Can't rush it. Fun project, just the kind I like.

I had a similar body crack in an rear routed superstrat made from basswood. Crack was filled with woodworking PVA and clamped. Worked a treat. However, my crack was very "mobile" and open. It ran from volume pot hole to side mounted output jack.

Reranch stuff can't be shipped by air.

Your refinishing options are most likely:

car paints (like from Halfords, Or Tetrosyl or Simoniz).

Commerical spray job (like some car fixer/body shop place) spraying a 2-pac colour + clear coat for you

Nitrocellulouse

Get a luthier to do it for you.

Nitro is very hard to get in UK + I imagine RoI. A guy on Ebay sells cans of it.

Burgundy mist would be a bit of a tough job, if you are a first time sprayer. Candy/metallic paints can be tough to get a feel of. And if you make a mistake you can't really sand out and slap another coat on to hide the mistake.

It can't hurt to post this at the reranch forums either. Amazing advice there. Look out for the user topcat, who did a gorgeous Les Paul using Halfords paint.

(However, he and I both realised that the Halfords gloss coats are highly reactive and temperamental paints, reacting with just about every kind of manmade fabric or material out there. Hence I'd recommend, if you did use car paint, to get a pro level 2-pac clear coat or some other clear coat on it.)

To help you on your way I recommend reading the reranch 101 guide and following it closely.

You can get sanding sealer from Ebay too. A crucial part of the finishing process.

excellent posts guys!!

this place is just the best

I'd also recommend not going too crazy when filling with wood putty/filler....I learnt this the hard way: putting huge blobs of it to fill a tiny gap/gouge. Takes a long time to sand out.

For the little scratches and gouges in the underside of neck pocket, + elsewhere I'd use a cocktail stick to grab some of the filler, just enough to cover the line of fill the gap, roll it into the gap, press with finger to make sure it is in there and let set. Don't rush the waiting there. Sand only when everything you are going to sand is fully cured, dry or set.

You'll come to realise that patience is the name of the game with refinishing.

The bad news is that it looks like a whole lot of either a thin fascia or veneer or sealer coat has been stripped away, which is common when stripping Fender poly bodies....

you can see difference in the pic you posted there, between front of guitar and chest contour edge. I think you'd have to get the whole thing back down to real raw wood, which is what you have on the front before you go further.

(Or maybe it's the original paint?)

The horn contours are always a nightmare. You can help yourself out with some Nitromors stripper and a sharp paint scraper. I recommend you buy two, unless you can sharpen one, cause the one you use goes blunt quick.

I got my stuff from Homebase.

Stock up on 80 grit 3M paper (green), 120 grit 3M paper (brown) to do the meat of your sanding but go easy using 80. Take it slow, as always. Try not to use 80 on anything near or on raw wood too much. 120 is not so bad. Just be gentle.

Even Nitromors/stripper will take a while to kill the poly. You may find yourself applying then scraping paint at least 3 or four times.

Never fear though, it can be done for sure, and the whole process is a buttload of fun. Really satisfying.

you sir are a legend! thanks!!