Kelvin's Guitar/drums stuff and JV Squier refurbishment thread.

KelvinS1965

I thought I'd start a thread showing my oldest guitar getting refurbished; I'll add pictures as it goes along too as I know we all like them.

I've had this guitar since I was 17 back in 1982; I always wanted a Strat and when the Squier range came out in 1982 I knew I could just about stretch to one if I traded in my Ibanez Les Paul copy and put my birthday and Christmas money towards it. It played beautifully and I even had the use of a colleague's Fender Twin reverb valve amp to play it through while he has away at sea. I even took it down to the Falklands on a patrol in 1985, so it's well travelled.

Over the years I've resprayed it metallic blue, then gloss black. I also modified the tone controls and added a switch to the scratch plate. About 6 years ago I took it apart to sand it back to the bare wood in order to get it refinished in the original two tone finish. However I couldn't find any one locally to do it for me (since I didn't want to DIY again as I wasn't confident about getting the wood colour showing through the 'burst correctly).

I haven't been playing much in recent years (spending more time and effort on AV as some who know me will be aware ), so it sat forgotten in the case. I have a cheap Squier Telecaster and an Ephiphone Les Paul for the odd times I've felt like playing, so it hasn't been top priority.

Anyway, fast forward to this year and I've started going to a local college 'rock school' with my next door neighbour and this has rekindled my interest in guitars. One of the guys there gave me the details of a local guy who is very well regarded, so I'm taking it in on Friday to get the body resprayed and can't wait.

I've got a proper Fender '57 scratch plate to replace the one I drilled a hole in for the tone control switches. I've also got two new tone pots (250K as per spec) since the original ones have long gone. I've done a lot of research too and found that mine has the fairly standard American pickups (not the revered 'red bobbin' ones, for those familiar with the JV series), it doesn't have the 'Fender' script on the headstock either (I was slightly disappointed when I collected it as this had just changed over). Obviously the refurbishment and new parts will devalue it to some degree, but I never plan to sell it anyway, so that's academic. It's not as if I could retire on it's value anyway.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'll go and take some photos of the parts and add them to this thread and see if I can scan an old photo of when it was new to add later to this thread.

It's hardly a £1/4 million rarity, but I'm so looking forward to getting it back together and actually playing it again.

hyperfish

Please keep this updated, I will look forward to this.

Not as ambitious as your project but I recently stripped and cleaned every bit of hardware from my 76 P bass and took photos along the way. It only needed a tenners worth of parts, foam pickup pads, intonation screws and springs.
I'm not into that ageing and relic stuff. I just wanted it to look it's best.

I found Dave's World to be a great resource. Hundreds of setups, refirbs and repairs with added humour.
Dave's World of Fun Stuff - YouTube

Good luck with it.

KelvinS1965

I dug out the photos of when it was new:

                                                                                 

                                                                       

KelvinS1965

I transferred the pick ups and original volume pot to the new pick guard and then wired in a new 5 way switch and two new tone pots. I'd done some weird mod to the tone pots years ago, which also involved an extra switch, so that's all been put right with new parts where needed, though I've tried to keep as much of the original bits as possible.

Pile of Fender parts:
                                                                                 

The bare wood body:

                                                                                 

New pick guard wired up. I connected it to my amp and tapped on each pick up to check I had it all wired the right way and the tone controls both work correctly. The original volume pot is crackle free (though I have a spare new one just in case if I need it later).

                                                                                 

The old scratch plate hadn't yellowed as much as the pick up covers and knobs had and the new plate is only a little brighter than the old one. If only I hadn't drilled the hole in it (circled in red) when I did that tone mod...

                                                                                 

Finally a mock up of the guitar in the case. I polished the frets the other night, but I've had a quote to stone them flat and to set it all up which was less than I expected so I'm giving it all to the sprayer like this for him to put back together and set it up properly after sorting the frets:

                                                                       

hyperfish

Looking good, well done. You've done a very tidy job of the wiring

Reminds me of a mates blonde maple neck Strat.

KelvinS1965

Thanks Hyperfish...I used to work as an Electronics Engineer back in the 1990s, along with my OH, so I had to do a neat job or she'd tell me off and probably redo it herself. I quite like the look of the bare wood, but there is a bit of black staining at the edges (should be hidden by the black paint when finished).

I'm already thinking about building a different type of Strat after I get this one back together: I fancy a twin humbucker, with no scratchplate (or perhaps a very small one just behind the strings) using chrome Telecaster knobs in a similar colour to my Z3/Avatar.

...Or maybe I should just concentrate on improving my playing with this one and the others I already have.

KungFuPro

Looks like a nice guitar to restore, should look great with the new finish. Don't forget more pics when it's all setup.

KelvinS1965

Taking it in tomorrow. It's being done in Nitro so it may take a while, but I'll put finished photos up: Might even put a few bars of sound if I can figure out how.

KelvinS1965

Well, I've dropped it off and I think it's going to be a while before I get it back again. Lovely bloke doing the work; turns out he's originally not that far from where I grew up. He showed me another guitar he's working on and loads of photos (including more than a few pretty well known owners too) so I'm confident it will be a great job, though it won't be rushed.

...Now the wait begins. I put new strings and set up my cheapy Squire Telecaster last night, so at least I've got that to play on as well as my (30th birthday present) Ephiphone Les Paul.

Lots of photos will be posted once I get it back.

KungFuPro

A good finish will last for years, I've not used nitro or any industrial type lacquer but I've read some can take a month or 2 to properly cure.

I don't have the patience whenever I've refinished a guitar, I'm putting the parts back on before the paint has even dried.