my old ply jap strat refurb

OK so I thought it about time to learn to refret, so after some research I bought the basic tools: Technofret 19" levelling beam, goeldo crowning file, some fret pullers and had a pair of end cutters ground flush, some micro mesh cloth up to 12000 grit and some pre cut fret wire.( still waiting for the new Warman sc pups to arrive)

I had initially thought to buy an old cheapo strat thing to practice on, but it dawned on me that the guitar I was going to refret IS an old cheapo (still the best damn guitar I own.....and i have a beautiful Thunder 1-T...) so decided to get some practice on this before I remove the frets..

I levelled the frets, then using the marker pen method, recrowned them and by god it was easy....I was dreading this for a long time but 40 minutes levelling ( there was an awful lot of fretwear, and these frets had been levelled and recrowned once before, about 18 years ago) and another 20mins crowning, piece of cake, then came the micromesh....this stuff is amazing! from 120MK,400MK,1800,2400,3200,4000,6000,8000 and 12000.. I gave each fret 10 dry swipes with each grade, just using my finger as a contour, then gave them another 20 or so wet swipes with the 12000, and they look and feel brand new!

I restrung(without electrics) and played a little, I cant believe what a difference this has made......I'm starting to think about keeping them in now, I love the small, thin frets these have become!

so....any advice for me for installing the new fretwire? hints, tips etc :?:

Whip across to the Matt site and hunt down posts on just this subject by Racing, our resident Swedish expert; he has a lot to say.

Ya - he has a sticky post here:

Refretting

Superb info! thanks guys!!!
Another thought struck me today, my maple fretboard had been sanded lightly (read badly!) with the frets on! (yes, it WAS me....many many moons ago before I knew what a fretboard was) I did this to matte the varnish....kinda worked...
My thinking now is, I want to finish this board maybe with some of this micro mesh cloth, If I go through the varnish to the maple, can I just leave the maple untreated? or will it need oiled/waxed? I really dont want a high gloss finish on this as the whole guitar is a matte finish,
also do you think just using the palm of my hand to do the board will suffice? i cant see it needing too much work and I dont own a radius block.

I would do a .0000 steel wool - it won't mess up the frets, actually it will clean them up nicely - and smooth the fretboard at the same time. Although I would try not to go through the clear. Going through the clear on a maple fret board will let dirt and oil seep into the wood (which some people want so it looks like it has been played every day for 30 years).

I've never used oil on a maple fretboard, so not sure how that would turn out. I would imagine, putting coats of the original clear would be best.

I actually sand the clear off the back of my maple necks down to the wood as it just 'feels' better for me. It needs to be done everyone once in a while to break down the dirt buildup, but just gets so smooth when done - it's the most comfortable type of neck for me - much better than a finished neck IMO

I should have made myself clearer, I meant After I removed the frets to sand down the varnish a little.

I just removed the frets, took all of 4 minutes, no soldering iron needed, they just came out so clean....I guess |I got lucky
the steel wool is a nice idea, thanks....though now Ive removed the frets my impatience will no doubt take over and I might just introduce some micromesh....just a light going over to remove the old heavy grit paper marks.

I also made the back of my neck a satin finish, so much less sweaty!

Why replace the frets if it feels and plays ok??

Find another to practice on.

Clean a maple fretboard without taking the frets out with a stanley blade scraper. Carefully. Depends how bad it is.
Get some 1/8 or 1/16 masking tape(frets) and respray with clear, tinted if you like.

Westbone wrote:
Find another to practice on.

despite my love for this guitar, this IS the "other" to practice on, it was always going to have new frets, the old ones I dressed were feeling nice, but far too low for me to play lead on, and the fretboard did need some work, which I just did, going through a few grades of micromesh, finishing with 12000, didnt go through the varnish and it turned out just lovely.

Thanks for all your suggestions, very much appreciated

Barry's Advice, for what it's worth:

Number one, do not sand or steel wool the maple fretboard. It will lose its protection from finger jam and the open grain will look like hell.
Number two, if you must strip the glossy finish you may as well go all the way and do the neck too as Sarc does. In that case I recommend using what Music Man does on its necks...gun oil and bees wax. The result is silky smooth to the touch and the wood is protected.

Thanks for the info Barry.
I already lightly sanded off the grit marks, with plenty varnish left to leave a nice light sheen, I just used a few grades of micromesh very gently.
there was already some of the varnish gone from the first few frets, and frets 11, 12 and 13, but thats real wear, not "relic" treatment.......mojo for sure.
Finally put the new frets in, nipped, levelled, filed, crowned and polished....woweee does this make me feel good, the guitar too!

you guys are as ever a great source of help and valuable information, Thank'ee muchly

Sounds cool! I am wondering if you did anything to preserve the radius or simply levelled and dressed the frets. Will need to learn how to do this eventually.

Beavis, I really didnt want to change anything with the radius, being a 10" it suits my fingers perfectly, the frets came pre cut and radiused to 9.5".
so basically it was level and dress the old ones for practice, remove the old, a very fine sanding of the fretboard then hammer in the new, level and dress again.

grab and old beat up guitar and go for it!, the tools were not 'too' expensive and it was a hugely satisfying experience.
I've now 4 guitars and a bass getting jealous

pictures?

no, I didnt take any during the process and to take one now would be a bit pointless as you'd just be seeing a scruffy ply strat with no guts and nice frets

One thing I am having trouble with though, is I cant get any relief in the neck, the truss is as loose as possible without it rattling around.
the neck is straight as an arrow though, always has been.

Sgt. Vimes wrote:no, I didnt take any during the process and to take one now would be a bit pointless as you'd just be seeing a scruffy ply strat with no guts and nice frets

Why not?

no batteries

had it been a westone I would have gone and charged some AA's

Sgt. Vimes wrote:One thing I am having trouble with though, is I cant get any relief in the neck, the truss is as loose as possible without it rattling around.
the neck is straight as an arrow though, always has been.

Unusual situation fer sure. Normally a neck will swing both ways with little problem. Probably the simplest solution is to string 'er up and leave 'er alone for awhile and see if she'll respond. The string tension should win out in the end. You could also increase the tuning a semi tone or two in order to amplify the tension a bit, or use a heavier gauge. I think time should bend her to your will.

Sgt. Vimes wrote:had it been a westone I would have gone and charged some AA's

That's fair.

I just like pictures of guitars, but I understand.

just for you Brain, I'll take some pics for you to laugh at

Hi all, I just wondered what exactly is gun oil, I've got an old Encore neck that I'm going to make a body for, and it needs refinishing, I really like the sound of the "silky smooth" description of the gun oil and beeswax finish. However when I search for gun oil on Ebay, all I get is lubricating oil. Is this the right gun oil? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also I have the option of commandeering a slab of Iroko(?) to build the body from. Has anyone got experience of using this wood? I'v been told it's rock 'ard.

Thanks in advance and forgive me if this should have been in a new thread.

Ian

Ian, I too searched a lot for gun oil and came up with probably the same results as you, however I didnt need it in the end.

I've only ever sanded off the original finish and left the bare wood. If the encore neck is successful then I would probably do my strat as well. I've never been completely in love with the semi glossiness of the original finish. Would the oil be OK for the body as well? Even over a stain/colour?

With a name like Iroko it sounds hard and it is. Used for flooring ect.

Gun oil, try looking for Tung oil.

What you want is gun stock oil, not the lubricating variety.
Google is your friend: LINK

Many thanks all....am off going googling! D'ya reckon Iroko would be good or bad as a body wood? Close to mahogany in tone?

pics as promised, excuse the awful camera technique

hopefully the Warman pickups arrive tomorrow 3 Propoganda single coils in black for very little cash...
http://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/single-coil-pickups.html

Woo-hoo! That's as plywood as you can get!

And a tele neck?!?

Hardtail, too...sweet!

No not a tele neck, its the original neck, but it sustained some damage many years ago, 2 huge chunks snapped off from both extremeties, so a little work with a pencil and a jigsaw......

gotta love me some hardtail action....not the original bridge obviously, that was an ashtray deal, now hammered flat and acting as a splint on my sofa!......damn kids

Like the copper shielding, very neat.

Love the layered look...
methinks the copper's worth more than the guitar!

the copper Slug Repellent was about £3......so yes, you'd be about right

having some problems with my wiring, 1 vol, 2 tones all 500k, 5 way switch with 7 lugs, bridge tone jumper.

My neck tone is acting like a volume control and I cant find a way to tone it up! I bought the pups and harness pre-wired from warman, initially he had the wrong pot on the neck tone, but just replaced it with the correct pot, and still the same.

this is his setup http://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/wiring_diagram_downloads/Strat-5-way.pdf
and this is mine


both are identical, execpt for my bridge tone jumper, can any of you wonderful folks see an obvious issue and correct it? this has been going on since february and Josi Warman isnt helping....I just want to play my baby!

Just google strat wiring..duh!

obviously! cant find a strat diagram with this switch and setup on google, I just thought I would ask a bunch of guys who know their stuff....

sorry to say, but that warman diagram is defective.
here is a link to another....
strat wiring
you will need to change the connections on the 'tone 1' pot to make it like the new drawing


explain the bridge tone jumper you added? is that to get some tone control for the bridge pup?

my answer to tone control on the bridge pup is a quickie.
it is the one mod i do to most of my strats, change the tone controls.
Tone-1 remains the same (neck).
i change Tone-2 from control of the middle pickup to control of the bridge pickup, leaving the middle pickup with no tone control. (i find i rare play the middle alone so the control is more useful on the bridge)
this is easily done by simply moving the (yellow) wire connecting the tone-2 pot to the 5-way switch. move it over one contact on the 5-way from the middle pup to the bridge pup, done.

thanks for the reply, if you see the warman diagram, the switch is a 7 lug version, not 8 like the link you provided, so the lug configuration doesnt match up.

The bridge tone jumper is just that, taking a jumper from the middle tone lug to the spare lug, so I have both middle and bridge using the same tone pot, I do use middle pup quite often so really need both.

well, Ive tried every possible configuration, including the link guitarsaurus posted, and no joy, I can only assume the switch is either broken or more likely cheap chinese sh*te.....new switch it is then! not f*****g happy

looking at the photo now....
it looks like the reason why your tone is acting like a volume pot is because the tone circuit should not go to ground at tone 1. it must pass thru the capacitor before going to ground for tone control.

you need to unsolder the center lug of the tone-1 pot and remove it from the shell.
then run a wire from center lug on tone-1 to lug 3 on tone-2, the same place where the tone cap is soldered in.



i would also check all the functions of the 5-way with a meter before removing it.

gittarasaurus Thank you! you nailed it, i did as you said and also removed the ground from that tone pots case, BINGO!
I really thought I had gone through every combination, a sttep learning curve this is!
Thanks so much......much more help than Mr Warman!

my motto is:

Don't retire it; Rewire it!

Rock On!

you did indeed, follow the diagram exactly.
but the diagram was wrong.
someone at warman should correct that drawing.

glad i could help!

His Diagrams suck, but his pickups are superb!

just installed his Zebra 2's in my washburn rs10v, to replace the flavourless EMG selects......boy oh boy these zebras sing!
the single coils in this strat are great too...£10 for the set...money very well spent





thanks again...

Glad you like the Warmans Sarge. I have certainly found them good for pickups and other items. I might try their zebras on your recommendation.

Hoax

All that copper should increase it's value

Good on ya Mike.
Glad we have someone around who is great at circuits!

hoax wrote:
Glad you like the Warmans Sarge. I have certainly found them good for pickups and other items. I might try their zebras on your recommendation.

Hoax

I wasnt sure about the zebras when I first installed them as they are so dark, and I mean dark!, but a little distortion and they are very bluesy, almost gutteral.
It may be the mahogany body and neck helping them along the moody path or the .47k cap....I might go for a .22 and see if it brightens it up a touch.
dont go for them unless you like em moody!

Stick in a treble bleed capacitor on your volume pots and you will be able to roll off volume without making things even darker.

Hoax