The bad:
- The guitar body had been stripped and coated with cheap hardwood floor poly.
- The back (NOT the fretboard) of the neck from the first fret area down to the heel had been similarly coated with floor shellac.
The good:
- Everything on the guitar, down to the last screw, is original. It even came in the original case and it has the ashtray cover as well. Everything is in very good "aged" shape. Pickups work fine, all the controls work, etc.
I spent several hours chemically stripping the floor finish off the body, and now have it down to virgin wood. It looks like it just came off the sanding line in Fullerton, 47 years ago. Even the little wood hairs coming off the worm route came out clean. The body checked out 100% against everything I could read about authenticating it -- the factory routings are correct, the body holes, etc. It is genuine.
I also stripped the back of the neck.
The pickguard was hidden under a coat of house latex paint (!) For weeks I thought it was a replacement guard and was about to throw it out. Good thing I didn't. I cleaned it with "Goo Gone", and I now have an absolutely beautiful mint-green pickguard. No scratches, no cracks.
However, the guard has shrunk since it was removed from the guitar. I can't get the screw holes to line up with the body any longer. I'd estimate about 1/8" variance at the longest distance.
So here are my questions:
1. Since this is obviously going to be a refinish job, do you think it is acceptable to plug the pickguard screw holes in the body and drill new holes for the now-shrunken pickguard to be reinstalled? Remember, it will be refinished according to the factory finish process (then lightly relic'd) -- so those filled holes will be buried under the new finish.
2. If you think that idea would destroy the value of the body, can you think of any other options? I couldn't...
I feel bad about that pickguard shrinking...but it needs to be dealt with or the guitar just parted out (which I'd rather not do).
Any suggestions, thoughts, answers to my questions would be very appreciated.
-ChrisStatistics: Posted by chrisV2 — Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:40 am
]]>