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A pair of twin 73-74 SG standards, w/ ebony boards & non MOP. J.Hill built Tele. A African teak top custom 1 off that plays & sounds excellent. The GT is an 1978-79 MIJ Tokai that was employee built for himself & serial scrubbed off fret board, I could write a long story about this guitar. The fret marker material is very very convincing & hand done as in no pin route corners . It was originally a burst. Refinished at factory. A MIJ Gretsch & a 60's Guild freshman =full size version. I'll post more later
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Finally did the last (?) of the modifications to the Harley Benton TE-52. Previously replaced were the tuners, string trees, saddles and bridge plate.

Last night I installed an EMG T52 "Retro Active" kit, which includes both pickups, full control panel, and output jack. This required some routing beneath the control panel and a slight expansion of the pick guard's opening for the neck pickup. Neither of those chores is something I've done before but it was managed without too much embarrassment.

EMG wasn't my originally intended way to go but when I learned they have a kit that includes pots and switch, and doesn't require soldering / taking to a tech, it seemed well worth it.

Total cost, including the guitar itself ($250 including tax), was $582.

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Edit: For the record the cost of the EMG kit was $206 including tax.
 
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Steve Dallas said:
In that case, you should know about the Stratosphere on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/thestratosphere/Bodies/_i.html?store_cat=3&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211

They buy blem guitars from major makers and part out the non-blemished parts. I have purchased several, and they have been perfect. I linked to the bodies, but they have necks, pickups, loaded pickguards, and all other parts.

They also commission their own parts, which are well made and very inexpensive.

You can save some money on the neck by finishing it yourself if you like hand-rubbed oil finishes. The method is apartment friendly. You just lightly fine sand the neck with 320 then 400 grit then sparingly rub the finish on with a piece of paper towel, wait 2 minutes, buff it back off with a clean paper towel. Do this again every 24 hours until you have 3 to 5 coats applied. Wait a few days for it to cure, then buff with a piece of old denim and again with an old T shirt. Done. A lot of people like TruOil for this. I use Minwax Antique Oil, which seems to be a less expensive version of the same thing according MSDS sheets. You can tint it with stain if you want some color.

This neck was finished that way with 5 drops of Early American stain mixed into 1 TBS of Antique Oil:

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You can finish rosewood fretboards with it too. It seals and conditions the wood and makes it maintenance-free for something like 20 years. Looks really nice too. Oiling the freboard becomes a thing of the past.
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Progress. We have many skills to learn. Cutting the extra slot in the pick guard for the Sustainiac driver. Drilling a 5/8" hole for the GK13 connector . routing slots and space for the circuit boards and switches.

Minwax Antique Oil Finish is hard to find now. Will have to spring for the Tru-Oil.
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Multicore said:
Progress. We have many skills to learn. Cutting the extra slot in the pick guard for the Sustainiac driver.
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Excellent! We'll have you building from scratch soon ... ;-)

I have an original Sustainiac Model C laying about somewhere. More flexible than the 'stealth' versions (better tone and don't require modding the guitar) but a bit more fiddly to use.

Multicore said:
Will have to spring for the Tru-Oil.
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I love Tru-Oil. It's a great finish for guitars. Feels nicer than nitro and much easier to apply. Put some shellac French polish on top and you get that classic 'shellac over oil' look of early 20th Century instruments.
 
Steve Dallas said:
You just lightly fine sand the neck with 320 then 400 grit then sparingly rub the finish on with a piece of paper towel, wait 2 minutes, buff it back off with a clean paper towel. Do this again every 24 hours until you have 3 to 5 coats applied.
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Hi @Steve Dallas , in "Do this again..." does this include the sanding or just the application and buff?
 
Multicore said:
"Do this again..." does this include the sanding or just the application and buff?
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Not Steve, but I can usually do two applications of Tru-Oil per day especially here in the summer. Sand every other application. After the first few coats start going up in sanding grits, 800, 1000, 1200 etc. Tru-Oil is very forgiving if your prep is good. Make sure the wood surface is perfect before putting any finish on. Good lighting is important! When it's finished, I let it harden for a month or two then buff it out with Tripoli powder ...
 
bluefuzz said:
Not Steve, but I can usually do two applications of Tru-Oil per day especially here in the summer. Sand every other application. After the first few coats start going up in sanding grits, 800, 1000, 1200 etc. Tru-Oil is very forgiving if your prep is good. Make sure the wood surface is perfect before putting any finish on. Good lighting is important! When it's finished, I let it harden for a month or two then buff it out with Tripoli powder ...
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Thanks. We're talking about the Warmoth neck that just arrived Thursday. Flat hard maple. The surface condition is great.

When can I play it? It's the first electric I'll have played with 44mm nut.
 
Multicore said:
Hi @Steve Dallas , in "Do this again..." does this include the sanding or just the application and buff?
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There are a lot of techniques based on preference. At a minimum, you can sand to 400, apply finish, buff with white Scotchbrite or old denim, and repeat the finish and buff steps every 24 hours. You can also sand finer to the point if polishing the wood. I have started sanding to 800, but still just buff with denim after each finish application. Denim is slightly abrasive, which serves to polish.

Bummer that Minwax seems to have discontinued Antique Oil. It is good stuff.
 
I always polish the fingerboard to at least 800 and polish with denim or white Scotchbrite between coats.
 
Multicore said:
Flat hard maple. The surface condition is great.
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I know Warmoth have a pretty good reputation but I've never seen any of their stuff in person. I assume it's CNC'ed so it may have small tooling marks. I'd go over it with 400 grit before putting any oil on it but if it looks good to you then it is good! Check the fit on the guitar before anything else, Even string it up before putting on the finish to make sure everything is how it should be. No point in finishing it if the scale length is off or something ...

Multicore said:
When can I play it? It's the first electric I'll have played with 44mm nut.
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When it feels dry and not sticky. But it will take a few weeks to fully harden up so don't get too wild on it the first month or two, especially since it's a maple board which I assume you will be putting Tru-Oil on too? But if you ding it then it's easy enough to just sand it a little and give it a bit more Tru-Oil ...
 
One more thing with Tru-Oil: Get the smallest bottle you can (100 ml?). Thet's plenty for a whole guitar. And don't take the foil off the top. Puncture it with a toothpick so just a drop comes out. Then store the bottle upside-down between sessions. It will last much longer that way and won't dry in the bottle.
 
Steve Dallas said:
There was a well-conducted study some years ago in which a Strat with a floating tremolo and dual humbuckers and a Les Paul were recorded through an amp and mic and blind tested. The pickups were the same for both guitars. These guitars sound nothing alike when played unplugged, but participants absolutely failed to identify a difference when participating in a blind test featuring the recordings.
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Interesting. I've been under the impression that the shorter scale length of the Gibson pushes the pickup closer to the neck, changing the FR of the pickup ("warmer").
 
Just in: Fender Stratocaster American Standard from 2013. Ash body and medium jumbo frets, not that crazy fret wire they're forcing on everything these days.

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Not sure why the photo attached sideways.

The color isn't as dark as the photo makes it appear.
 
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funny story about my little P42 :
during 2013, my wife thought I was cheating on her(I was not). One night she was drunk and tried to smash my Parker on the tile floor like she was Pete Townsend.
She failed : = )
 
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