80s fernandes strat project

[johnnyb]

hello all,
here is another project im working on. a mid-late 80s fernandes strat copy. i bought this in 1988. it has a lot of miles on it. i have played this guitar more than all my others combined. a few years ago it just couldnt take any more abuse and was stripped of its stuff and left bare naked under the stairs. it came to either throwing it into the fire or re-build it. well i just couldn't torch my old friend. so here we go. a set of scn pickups, 70s "f" style tuners, 2002 vintage 60's re-issue bridge, all new high end pots, switch, orange caps, trebel bleed, bone nut, "f" style neckplate, fret level and crown. also a push/pull for a tone pot so i can turn on the neck bridge when i want. that way i can also get a tele sound. (n+b pup). nitro finish complete with aged yellow look. ill let the relicing happen naturally. i still have the original neckplate with the serial # on it if anybody knows if it means anything. the little research i did says it doesn't.??? anyway heres some pics.

john


before





sanded


color coat



pickguard mockup

[cheepaxes]

Looks good. What do you plan on doing for a neck?

-Scott

[johnnyb]

i still have the old neck, which was actually the best part of the guitar. ive already re-radiused, flattened and crowned the frets. there were some really deep grooves but i was able to get them out. probably the last time before a full refret. i always liked feeling the fretboard under my fingers anyway. ill post pics when its back on.

john

[VintAxe]

Love the color and the work so far John. You must have a nice paint booth to work with. Can't wait to see the finished product

[johnnyb]

well, the previous owner of my house used to do bodywork in the garage, mainly paint. so its set up with a large exhaust fan. as long as i keep the work between me and where the air is sucked out i can spray just about anything. the garage is pretty beat up so any overspray is an improvement.

[johnnyb]

well, still pluggin away at this one. the "subtle aging" process turned out to be a little more involved than i expected. after my first attempt, the guitar was basically yellow. (i think there may have been too much pigment in the lacquer). a little finesse, and some old airbrush techniques, i got it how i see surf green. now the next decision..... to go with a matte or gloss finish...hmmm.. ive still got some time to figure that one out.

[johnnyb]

she's all wired up and shiny. some final fret-work a little assembly and... oh yeah, i still have to clean up the 40 year old tuners, crap. one more week i guess.

[johnnyb]

well my old pal is finally finished. in the bright light outside it looks blue, indoors it takes on a green hue. i really like the way it turned out. it plays better than it ever has, very SRV sounding. i was able to fire it up last night, which coincidentally was the 20th anniversary of his death, and played a bunch of his riffs. the push pull pot for the bridge p.u. is great, has a tone very similar to a tele. all 3 pups on at once actually sounds good too. 2 things ive never been able to do on a strat before. zero feed back, unless you want it, and it bites like hell. i love it. cant wait to jam on it this week. i read mixed reviews about the scn pickups, but i think they are great, still sounds like a single coil to me.

[Spud1950]

Beautiful. Truely classic looking.