24 Fret 5112 Sepctrum II - Refurb / Recolour

Hi all

It's been so many years since I posted, I'm glad to see this place is still going.

The 5112 Spectrum II I found all those years back had a bit of attention last year (finally!), a fret dress and a SD bridge pickup installed.

I gave it to my daughter who has alas lost interest, so I've had it back but I wont to do something with it. This won't be for the purists out there so please don't be upset with me. I've now joined a band and want to take it 'on the road'.

It is a light blue body with black binding (form the factory), and I want to change it to white with black binding - has anyone out there successfully repainted one of these before? Is the binding just a painted edge? It looks like it.

Also, the BM Deluxe Trem is still in a state - a previous owner painted it   I'm not sure how the knife edge is, but willing to bet it's not good, and all the FT screws are missing.
is there a replacement trem on the market that will fit without any mods?

Thanks

Re-painting should not be a difficult task, fairly straight forward assuming you prep things well, etc.

I can't help you very much with your binding question, but I would not think "binding" would be painted on. Especially on a name brand guitar.

It doesn't make much sense. Painting would be far too labour intensive compared with routing and gluing in a plastic strip, and it would require a near perfect mating of the top and sides.

As for the Bendmaster, I believe in doing the simple things first. 
I would not toss it without first cleaning it up. Paint can be removed with some stripper and a toothbrush, and the fine tuner screws can be replaced with something suitable.

Much cheaper than trying to find and fit a replacement which may not be satisfactory in the end. And you'll have the satisfaction of having restored your guitar to the beast that you remember. That said, perhaps one of our members can offer a recommendation for a replacement.

Thanks for the response Barry.

I would love to do the whole job myself but I lack facilities, but I'm researching this to see just how much I can do.

Binding should be a plastic material… should be! When you mask the binding off, you will end up with a noticeable step where the paint finishes against the binding, so be aware of that.

Bendmaster bridge should be salvageable… if the knife edges are dull, it doesn’t take a lot to dress them with a good, sharp file, bearing in mind that they will need to be re-annealed after said sharpening!!

Paint stripper and a toothbrush will work wonders, as will an ultrasonic cleaner for the final cleanup. Bear in mind that it may well have been painted black originally, or parkerised…

Fine tuners; I’ve just bought some 4mm Allen head bolts about 20-25mm long from a hardware shop and had a model maker friend cast some caps in pewter with my initials on them… easy peasy!

As for not having suitable space to work… I repaired my Aria Pro II U60 which had been snapped in two across the body on a kitchen table when we lived on Jersey, and I had no facilities at all!! So it can be done, with a little thought and an understanding wife!

I hasten to add that I painted it when we moved to Australia, but I had a plan to paint it in Jersey!!