hee hee; I have a new project...

... while not as technical as Sarc's, it's the finish that's going to be given the treatment, and I'd like your input guys...

what d'ya reckon I should do with this...

http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9511

Body looks like ash? I would sand it down (of course) and get it really clean looking, and then go for the old scholl Ash Telecaster type finish, especially since it has a maple fretboard with black dot inlays. Give it a classy look.

Spend some time on that fretboard - I think it could come out looking nice. I'd also probably get a nut blank and fit it to size instead of using the original with a shim.

Looking forward to it's progress eh

I am with Sarc's old school tele look.

Sand it smooth and finish it with satin oil.I use worktop/counter top danish oil. Use a black pick guard.

Even consider a tele bridge and a high output tele bridge single coil pickup.

Just redress and polish the frets.

And don't take two bloody years to do it!!!

Hoax

hoax wrote:...Even consider a tele bridge and a high output tele bridge single coil pickup...

Oh the horror!

Hardware's gonna be stock; I like the MMK45 noise and I think I'll even leave the bridge there! Machines gotta go; they're rooted but the finish is the big one. This is going to be a true custom finish...

... so come on; whaddya got in the way of ideas?!

Wasn't two years... one and a bit...

You already know I'm partial to blue.

The ash grain on this model line pretty much demands a trans finish Johnny; it would be a bloody shame to cover it.

Gretsch has been pumping out some amazing colours lately. At the risk of giving Swamp Thing an inferiority complex, THIS is my current fav. (Guitar's awesome too!)

Or maybe time for something orange-y?

Keep this one as natural as you can to show that awesome grain. The trans blue would look nice but I would test a small area first then decide.

trans black...or blackburst?

I'm sorry, guys.... this is going to be a solid colour because I've had to repair the wood around the jack socket!
I'm thinking about two options atm...

One is a pacific WW2 ANZAC aviation themed top, with silhouettes of an NZ F4U-1D Corsair and an Australian Commonwealth CA-13 Boomerang on the front; don't know about the background of such a finish yet, and the headstock would be the same colour as the body, with a representation of my fathers medal ribbon bar where the logo would be.

Failing that, a purple burst; with a silver with lavender pearl back colour and a deep purple burst around the edges?

Nowt complicated in the finish department then!

Know what, I like your idea 'bout the Corsair - truely representative

corsair wrote:I'm sorry, guys.... this is going to be a solid colour because I've had to repair the wood around the jack socket!

Pity.

One is a pacific WW2 ANZAC aviation themed top, with silhouettes of an NZ F4U-1D Corsair and an Australian Commonwealth CA-13 Boomerang on the front...

Nice tribute.

Failing that, a purple burst; with a silver with lavender pearl back colour and a deep purple burst around the edges?

Ding! Ding! Ding! We gots a weiner!
Ooh, ooh, ooh, any chance of staining the fretboard black too?

corsair wrote:I'm sorry, guys.... this is going to be a solid colour because I've had to repair the wood around the jack socket!

Why not swap the jack input to the sinked in with an angle stratocaster type? More convenient anyway + it's bigger so you could still show the wood. You were going to change out the barrel bridge anyway weren't you? BTW Love what you did to the Aria Urchin, sorry for not telling you before in the appropiate thread John. That was a great documented project!

I saw it, I saw it, where is it?
There with a quick reply I found it. Not that it matters much.

I like the idea of the tribute to your dad.I had a blast when I did my project to honor my dad but I did not have as much work to to do as you have.

I just don't know what to do.....

The tribute guitar really does appeal, but may be a bridge too far as I'd want to have the aircraft silhouettes done as water slide transfers, or similar to keep the front as flat as possible, eh! And do I do them as black silhouettes or as full colour images? And what colour should the body be?

Hmmmmmmm......

@Jim; thanks, fella! Ahh, I was going to leave the hardware on it, barrel saddles and all!

corsair wrote:...I was going to leave the hardware on it, barrel saddles and all!

Ah, so you do not intend on actually playing it then?

I'd like to see what all the hubbub is about before I go changing it, is all! I'm making the presumption that a bridge change will happen at some stage in the future, but I want the finish to be all that it can be first!

Didn't think to ask if you've strung her up at all John.

If you do that should give a fair idea of how "well" the strings track up the neck. If it's like most of these buggers, they'll wander off on to the next guitar!

The length of those intonation adjustment screws adds to the general instability, but since you are Big Stiff String Man maybe they will seat better with the extra tension??

Nope; I don't think Don ever had it strung up at all either, so lets wait and see; mine might the one where everything lines up!!

Looking forward to hooking into this one, too..... once I decide what finish to do! I mean, I know I had an airbrush artist do the burst on the Urchin, and this bloke is GOOD, to paint the Corsair onto my background would be child's play to him and I am considering it seriously, but I want to do the majority of the work myself.

I suppose I could give it a go, and if it turns out a little OTT, then the purple burst goes over the lot!

It's been awhile, and the memory ain't what it used to be, but do you still have that black and white custom finish (Strat?) that looked like a moo-cow?

You mean this .....



?

Yep. Blends right in with the grazing herd don't it?

Here we go fellas...



















I've got a silver guide coat on everythign as I'm intending to do a purpleburst over silver/lavender pearl...
The headstock; I may have Dad's name and rank engraved on the TRC... too much??
The fretboard; needs work; what do I do with this, fellas - just sand it back lightly and recoat with something?
Lastly, which piece of art do you like the most... I'm leaning towards the aircraft only behind the bridge..

You blokes aren't shy so bring it on, eh?! I may not apply anything you say, but I will certainly listen to your opinions!!

How about the aircraft only between the p/up and neck.

Looks like that fingerboard has been wet at some point.

Even if you removed the finish you'll still have black stain lines in there.

My advice , just leave as is or remove all the frets and start again but it'll be a bugger to get rid of those lines.

Like this...





So, sanding the board back a little would leave black lines.... not too bothered about that, as long as its smooth!! The frets are in beautiful nick so they're staying; I might just lightly go over the board and oil it...

Thanks, Damian!

Leave it a little weathered, serves the purpose that way. Seems like that would suite the character you're going after. Make it look like it's been through something, you know? For the fretboard, sand it down and seal it over, the cracks will shine through and look great. And you Dad's name and rank on TRC, yes sir.

I like the plane behind the bridge.

What can you put between neck and pickup? If it were pertaining to the US Airforce, I'd say put the Airforce logo in there or a star. But I don't know what sybolism applies to your neck of the woods. What does apply?

For the board I would go with the Stanley blade scraping technique, I have done this on. 3 boards now and I'm very happy with the results, maybe a few coats of tung/antique oil to finish?

Glad to hear you're leaving the frets in, they look to be in good shape and it would be a shame to yank 'em out (Racing would probably disagree though).
I'd agree with Sarge, and scrape and sand the board. It's a bit of a PITA but I suspect it may go quickly since the finish already is knackered. Tung oil should provide a reasonable finish and stand up OK to light playing. Otherwise urethane is probably the tougher finish but harder to apply, unless you're considering doing the back of the neck too, in which case, spray away! I haven't tried it but you may be able to lighten the dark spots with a little bleach.

The plane looks more comfortable to me between behind the bridge. By the way, change that thing! Age a new one if need be to dull the shine a bit but no barrels!

One of the Electra lads has suggested a blue burst might be appropriate.... Pacific Ocean, big skies, airforce uniform, and I have to say I agree with him! So... in light of this.... how about I sand the board back and tint the bugger blue?? I've tried it on the itty bitty bit at the end of the board and I think it may be a runner....

Barry.... sorry bud but the bridge is staying in the immediate future! Though with the chrome machines, I may get a nice chrome bridge for the old girl....

John, have you seen the Dean MAB2?

you clicky here

This may inspire you slightly even further, might spark another idea or something.

On your Vantage, the wood grain on the bottom half sort of looks like water. Would it appeal to you to cleverly stain that area to bring out the grain (to make it look like ocean)? Then you'd have water and sky, with the Cosair in flight over the water. Just a thought.

With all due respect, think your ruining a good guitar.

Blue board...naw, looks cheap:evil:

Blue board?! That would look cheap. Keep your natural board, looking aged and weathered, but smooth enough to be playable.

Blue burst body.
Blue fret board.
(Just don't think it'll be easy to get it "right")

Is that the color you are going with or primer? Was thinking ya might need a grain filler before the paint.

Alos the front and back have the grey, but will the back of the neck be painted? or will there just be a paint line behind the headstock where the paint ends?

I like the decal idea - keep it between the bridge and neck and not behind the bridge IMO

Right. The style icons have spoken!! I won't do the fretboard; it was probably an idea better thought of than attempted!!

Sarc; that's just a silver guide coat and I'm going to leave the grain alone as I like the swirl under the paint... I'm going to blueburst over a silver/blue pearl base coat and I think the Corsair behind the bridge, to be honest...
Neck will be untouched and yes; a paint line behind the headstock.

Chad; yes, I have seen it and I thought it was reasonably tasteful if a little busy... thanks for the link!

Rightio, my little shower of sh*t....

.... There is progress of a kind here: I've got the body back from the painter,



... and I'm well pleased.

I've done the headstock; this turned into a mission and I'm not done yet; I've all kinds of reactions with the clear coat over the decals, and I need to sort it out properly, but this is what I've got at the moment....



.... they're Pantera tuners, too, if you want a (tenuous) Westone link!

Now, just need to install the new bridge, wire it up and sort out the problem with the nut...



... some clown tried to stop the fret buzz by chamfering the end of the board!! I'm betting it didn't work as there was a very thick piece of aluminium u derneath the nut!

Anyone want to see more??

I really like it so far, very nice buddy.  Those clouds blend right in to your great looking burst!  Maple neck on blue is amazing. 

Can't wait see it done.  

Yeah, just terrific Johnny. The painter did a beautiful job. Dad would be thrilled I'm thinkin'.

What's the plan for the fret board, maple insert? Could be a right PITA. What a dumb ass...

Nice paint eh!

Very nice Job on this one. The burst paint brings out the Corsair perfect. Looks like the corsair is swooping down out of the clear pacific blue sky for the kill and the headstock decals look great as well. Salute

Thanks, gang...

Crackin' paint job John. I know that you are flagging a bit with your guitars, but it's only a passing thing.

You'll get that thing completed, set it up and have a blast!

If it's still not working for you then have a break - but you'll be back, keen as ever, within a month or two.

Hoax

Alrighty then... hell; 4 years since I started this and 3 since I finished it!! Anyway, I'm going to make a few changes to it: new machines, new nut, new string trees and pickup swap. The big change is going to be a side-mounted Electrosocket output and given that I don't want to damage the finish, the current output hole will be a switch, probably coil split but I'm open to suggestion?!
I may also sand the headstock back and have another go at it as it was never really 100%, and while I have the sandpaper out, the back of the neck is going back to bare wood!
Suggestions are more than welcome as to a suitable pickup for the hole; it has a 45 but I'm looking to change simply because I have lots of 45s in other guitars. Those Toneriders that Damian pointed up are looking pretty good...

So, come on, lads - well, anyone who's still in here!! - let's see what we reckon, eh!!

You're kinda limited with what you can do with a single pupper and you already have the coil split, eh.

There's always the Gretsch approach I suppose, a three position tone toggle. Might be a giggle, but then, you already have a tone control...

How about a varitone style switch then? I think you may need to stay with a 'bucker since that's your only pickup if you want any kind of variety.

As much as I love a P90/single coil sound, I don't think it would work well in this all by itself. Gold foil style might be nice? Or a Filtertron perchance?

Do you ever sleep?!   Yeah, thought about P90s briefly but you're right; not a particularly good fit. I've looked into the Gold Foils and Filtertrons and they don't seem different enough to my old, constantly ringing ears to justify installation, but I shall look into it again!
I was thinking of a lower output h/b, perhaps, or a really hot one; dunno, really, but I shall approach this with my usual speed and despatch.... so plenty of time, eh!!

Yep... varitone switch crossed my mind, too; have you seen the soldering you've got to do for one of those?!? The switch is primarily camouflage for the output hole as I am loathe to do anything that involves sharp tools on that finish! Perhaps just an indicator light of some sort?

I'm going to re-finish the headstock, too - it shall be body coloured.

Oh, and on a Westone note... I was fiddling about with the ST Telecaster last night and look; it really is quite different to anything else I've got tonally, so it stays!! In fact, I really like it; certainly much more comfortable to play on the strap that a Telecaster.... 

corsair wrote:Do you ever sleep?! 

Not much. Bloody ringing in my ears keeps me awake a lot. 

I like the idea of an indicator light, a nice small blue LED? Keeps things a lot simpler.
Hey if you want to go the vintage PAF route it could be interesting, Lots of Alnico choices out there. You'd go from a rocker to a crooner. 

You know, I was thinking along those lines! Those old PAFs were at about 6k but they were in a mahogany body which must make a difference. I've been doing a whole heap of reading about pickups and how they're made and how everything affects everything else - now my head is spinning! 
But yeah... low output h/b is right up there. 

Not too sure about how to make a working indicator; I'd need a power source, I guess, and an exciter circuit of some kind; more reading to be done!,

Just a thought! seeing as it's a single pup guitar.

I'd go with a Tonerider Generator pup. Plenty guts but splits nicely.
Could maybe have a series/parallel mini switch in the wee hole and a coil split on the volume. Plenty usefull sounds there.


Alternatively stick some flashing lights on it Christmas is coming....