Project Guitar of The Month - May 2010 - DIY Repairs and Modds Focus

[relinquish69]

Hmm yea apparently in Singapore you need to have a license to own or purchase borax..?

Due to some guys putting Borax in their noodles and rice to sell making it 'shine'

I asked around at certain art shops if there was anything that could 'break' the water surface in order to allow the paints to float and hence able to swirl them without mixing them

Unfortunately 90% had no idea wad i was talking about the remaining 10% had no idea where such an item could be found.

Well.

Anyone can give any options to swirl? Any substances that allows paint to float on water? :S

Found some answers here but i have no idea where to get carageenan or methylcellulose :[

I heard rat poison is an alternative (no joke) but I have to confirm with my friend again. he tried doing a swirl on a small piece of wood and it looks damn good! while dipping please dip slowly so the paint wouldn't be so thick hence making you lacquer thicker just to even out the finish.

problem is my friend is not in Singapore at the moment. will get back to you on this when I hear from him. *fingers crossed*

 

[superpotato_30]

Thanks man. Wow rat poison lots of poisonous chemicals we're dealing with here

 

[middleman]

here's my guitar after being sanded down:

i need a bridge and locking tuners
im trying to get like gotoh wilkinson tremolo vs100 and Tone Drive JN-07 SP Locking tuners

 

[dodgethis]

Break surface tension? Soap does that easily. Lots of videos on Youtube showing this.

 

[fgl]

most of those replacement pickguards usually a little off here and there but can be dealt with minimal filiing. should be "safe". the holes would most definitely be wrong though.

ah... my rg 1570 is the rear rout model - no previous pickguard - so no holes ... just need all the components to line up ...

some pickguards actually dont fit - I learned thatthe hard way when trying to refurbish my previous jem that I bot from tetragramatton

 

[fgl]

here's my guitar after being sanded down:

i need a bridge and locking tuners
im trying to get like gotoh wilkinson tremolo vs100 and Tone Drive JN-07 SP Locking tuners

Go for the tone drive locking tuners - $50 and value for $$ - faizalrocks installed a set recently n they work great .. available at SV

Rankin sports wilkinson bridge at $40 .. the pop in trem arm is a great touch.

last suggestion - spray paint your headstock face matching black lah bro

 

[relinquish69]

ah... my rg 1570 is the rear rout model - no previous pickguard - so no holes ... just need all the components to line up ...

some pickguards actually dont fit - I learned thatthe hard way when trying to refurbish my previous jem that I bot from tetragramatton

hahaha! I bought that pickguard from you remember? a little bit over cut at the neck pu area but that's alright. fits my rg570 body nicely.

the one thing I don't like about Ibanez. no original pickguard replacements! most of us go the hand cut route.

 

[superpotato_30]

Break surface tension? Soap does that easily. Lots of videos on Youtube showing this.

Thanks man!

 

[fgl]

hahaha! I bought that pickguard from you remember? a little bit over cut at the neck pu area but that's alright. fits my rg570 body nicely.

the one thing I don't like about Ibanez. no original pickguard replacements! most of us go the hand cut route.

hahaha - oh that was U ah? .. anyway U scored a great deal for that piece man ...

Jeannie pkgrds got replacement parts - I recently got my cavity covers fro some Ibanez rules website - ok ok prices too

 

[eieio]

heys i got a satin finished guitar tt i made
is there any oil or what tt could protect the satin finish?

Besides cosmetic, lacquer is generally used to protect paint from unwanted external elements such as weather, etc.
It reduce chances of damage against minor abrasions/knocks, once removed paint will become more vulnerable

However if you need a general purpose cleaner here is a suggestion,
Dr. Duck - scroll down to bottom page here for photos :

http://standardvalue.com.sg/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=436

​

 

[middleman]

Besides cosmetic, lacquer is generally used to protect paint from unwanted external elements such as weather, etc.
It reduce chances of damage against minor abrasions/knocks, once removed paint will become more vulnerable

However if you need a general purpose cleaner here is a suggestion,
Dr. Duck - scroll down to bottom page here for photos :

http://standardvalue.com.sg/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=436

​

heys..
my guitar the finish is like when i let sweat touch or water maybe the paint will come out leh

Go for the tone drive locking tuners - $50 and value for $$ - faizalrocks installed a set recently n they work great .. available at SV

Rankin sports wilkinson bridge at $40 .. the pop in trem arm is a great touch.

last suggestion - spray paint your headstock face matching black lah bro

the wilkinson bridge is what model? where is it placed?
i dont want to paint the headstock cos im actually making a jim root strat replica^^

 

[eieio]

heys..
my guitar the finish is like when i let sweat touch or water maybe the paint will come out leh

paint come out like this?

the wilkinson bridge is what model? where is it placed?
i dont want to paint the headstock cos im actually making a jim root strat replica^^

The chrome one, 1 round + 5 oval screw holes
Jim Root? go for mahogany body + ebony neck.. hehe

​

 

[middleman]

paint come out like this?

The chrome one, 1 round + 5 oval screw holes
Jim Root? go for mahogany body + ebony neck.. hehe

​

do they come in black?

 

[eieio]

I don't know, can you find out for us if they do let us know ok
Black hardware sure do look good on your black strat project right?
Btw that worn strat, most expensive guitar ever sold frm a living artist..

​

 

[eieio]

Here is an update of project entries, as of last week of June 2010:

From ShredCow,

Thank you!

Here's mine...

Stock.

Modded.

List of mods made

1. Replaced EMG808s with Passive humbuckers.
2. Overhauled electronics
3. Stripped the finished off the back, sides and neck.
4. Took a rasp to the cutaway to make it more accessible.
5. Tru Oil-ed the bare wood.

 

[eieio]

From Taypeng81

and

Composer of Requiems:

Thank you!

This just came in the mail 2 wks ago... can count as DIY job? heheh
crappy china made 335-copy.

stripped the hardware and started work on the back. wanted to do a red stain but the wood wont take water-based stain. the 2-1 gel stain and nitro lacquer wont dry hard. sigh.

stripped the red paint and simply and spray painted with black metallic paint. but has a fret buzz on 5-8 fret..zzz not entirely sure how to go abt fixing it. if i can get it working, its going to be loaded with GFS pups

This isn't as in-depth as my previous stuff, and can't really compare to some of the others in this thread, but anyway...

So I decided I should actually learn some guitar basics, might be useful in a band, and I grabbed a strat copy 2nd hand...

My first idea was that I would try veneering it, but it didn't turn out too well, so I removed that, and then went back on my self-imposed ban not to use spraypaints anymore:

It's basically a metallic gold - candy tone red - opaque metallic black sunburst, but with a pearl purple layer over it so it's tinted purple. The purple-ness depends on the angle.

Then I swapped out the pups... Hot Rails in neck, Stack plus in middle, and some funky humbuckers I had lying around in the bridge.

Volume pot replaced with a push-pull to center-tap the stack plus.

This is the end result. Heh it's not as shiny since I really didn't want to do all that hardcore polishing again, and the finish is a little uneven (although not as much as the photos show- that's due to lighting and stuff).

Now I need to start working on my guitar skills!

 

[eieio]

From faizal_rocks

and

dodgethis,

Thank you!

Here's my entry for May..a double humbucker black Strat

Allparts 70s headstock with rosewood neck
Mighty Mite ash body
Tonedrive Locking tuners
Tusq graphite nut
Roller string tree
Wilkinson trem bridge
Tesla Extreme neck and bridge humbuckers
1 vol, 1 tone pots with orange drop
Tonedrive 3 way switch
HSH pickguard with empty black SC cover to cover up middle hole..heh..

Sounds great and this thing stays in tune well no matter how much I whammy on this fella..

Thanks to KC of Maestro Guitars for the hardware/setup/intonation installation and to Beez for the wiring of pots, switch, input jack and pickups

Got me a black HSS pickguard to replace the mintgreen one on my American Strat.

Had to break out my Dremel to route the humbucker opening slightly as a covered humbucker won't fit perfectly. I did the replacement of the pickguard without removing the electronics as it is a massive PITA to desolder and resolder, especially the Control X blender circuitry. Will need to make another run to Peninsula on Saturday as I forgot to get black screws and black single coil covers yesterday.

And yes, no tone pot. Does anyone know where to get a spacer to plug up that hole?

The colour combination looks great, if I may say so myself! Ignore the parchment single coils for now.

Did I miss anyone?


​

 

[eieio]

From junkiemanxl

and

middleman,

Thank you!

Finally completed my retro rg. here it is.
Ibanez RG350MYE
Dimarzio Breed pups
Redone and Rewired all the electronics.
Mid pup cover painted.

Before:

After:

here's my guitar after being sanded down:

i need a bridge and locking tuners
im trying to get like gotoh wilkinson tremolo vs100 and Tone Drive JN-07 SP Locking tuners

More entries are welcome..

Thank you for the support!​

 

[middleman]

maybe im gonna transform this jim root strat replica into a evh strat without floyd but stays in tune!

 

[fgl]

More entries are welcome..

Thank you for the support!​

bro gonna be JULY liow - time to start the JULY EDITION