[amateur hour] Rescuing a Warmoth Strat

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

Good morning folks,

I'm a new guy around town and just wanted to contribute something I was working on. It isn't much but it is a start for me.

I recently picked up a Warmoth Strat from my local CL based on a series of fortunate trade-and-swaps I lucked into. The good news is the young guy I bought it from seemed to buy good components and set a great foundation for a killer. The bad news is it seemed like he was pretty inexperienced and just getting his feet wet in guitar maintenance and modifications (which may also explain why I got such a good deal!).

Long story short - the neck pocket was fubared, the finish was wack, and the electronics looked like a Jackson Pollock tribute.

NSFL Warning Ahead - Extreme Gore Sample:

All said and done, it was still a pretty cool guitar and I went on the journey to get it into good playing shape.

First order of business, in my opinion, was to get the neck pocket and neck sorted out. Because of the contoured heel requiring 2+2 screws, the neck and heel weren't prepared to be ambushed by 4 standard screws fromthe previous owner. Fortunately the full length screws didn't break through the fretboard but they did crack the top along the edge. I assume since the standard screws were also over-torqued he lightly damaged the scewholes in the pocket. I also assume he tried to sand this pocket damage out because the neck required a shim to sit right. Yikes. This stuff is out of my league so I had my local shop (Russos!) take care of it. I'm comfortable with setups but I didn't want to learn neck shims and fretboard repair on the fly. Fortunately Eric from Russos is the man and had me all sorted out and the neck is grand now.

Back from the shop:

Next order of business was the electronics. As you can see from the sample picture - good googly moogly. Despite the pictured chaos - the wiring actually *worked*. The only flaw was the coil split on the Hot Rail in the bridge. Oh - and the complete terrifying assault of bad-ground-buzz that would make even Kurt Cobain blush when plugged in. I didn't even try to salvage this - I ordered some second-hand Fralin '69 clones. new pots, and started a fresh wire job to a white pickguard with black accents. Also added the ground to the body cavity and to the trem claw. Now this bad bitch is in business, right?

Replaced Electronics:

Mmmm, nah. Somethings off. The guitar played like a dream, the guitar sounded like any Strat should hope for, but something was still wrong. Sure being heavy as hell is a minor detractor, but it wasn't a deal breaker. This thing was just ugly as sin. In fact - I tried to sell it. Cut my losses, move on, hope to break even, and try again. I actually had a few offers on it, but I had three separate people tell me [something to the effect of], "Uh, yeah man it looks like it could be killer, but it is hideous."

*sigh*

All right - F it. I'm refinishing this SOB. Off to the universities of YouTube and the Unofficial-Warmoth forums.

I decided I'm a complete amateur so I'm not going to be overzealous in my expectations. Yeah stripping the guitar and spraying it with a bright sea foam green and glossy finish would be beautiful, but I don't have the skills or patience yet to plan and execute this. Secondly, since this is arguably my 'nicest' guitar, I don't want to take a chance on butchering it worse than it already is. It seems like stripping the guitar and doing a more natural oil/poly finish is the most practical, inexpensive, and forgiving finish project to start with.

Ripping it apart:

So I took some advice from these very forums and started on my way. The existing finish was a very 'chalky'-feeling satin finish. It appears the previous owner tried to a achieve a faux-relic without actually banging the guitar up. Fortunately that left me with a decent piece of wood to work with. Rather than use power tools and risk damaging the wood (especially on the contours) I elected to hand sand it with 120/220/320. It took me about two hours to sand the whole thing into an acceptable condition. I was actually impressed with the beautiful piece of wood that was hiding under the previous finish.

After the body was ready, I started applying several coats of Walnut-ish Danish oil over the course of a day. The wood was very dry and I have a room that stays around ~75 degrees so the body soaked up the oil extremely quickly. I'd say so far I probably have 5-6 coats currently on the body. My intention is to hit the body one more time with 0000 wool tonight and begin applying a satin-poly wipe on.

Current Body Shots:

Any body have any opinions on Satin vs. High-Gloss Poly? I don't necessarily want a high gloss finish, but a decent sheen would be my desired finish. Satin sound like the best bet or go high gloss?

You can probably see some surface scratches on the back of the guitar. I think I may have done this by accident when I rubbed down the back, but I also think they may have been there before and I didn't notice/sand them out. Anything I can really do at this point to get them out (wool isn't helping)? Will the poly help minimize it?

I also ordered a black pickguard and cream accents, so I will help tone down the color of the guitar. I believe I'll replace the hardware with gold variants down the road, but I'm not in a rush to do it. I'll keep this thread updated as I finish it during the week!

Thanks for all your contributions even if they were indirect. You have a great community here!


[edit: Sorry, tried to embed the images but it didn't seem to work out]

 

[mayfly]

Hi and welcome!

I think you're doing a great job saving that ugly guitar.  If it were mind i'd be tempted to just oil it and leave it.  If you want to decide between satin and gloss, I'd get a piece of scrap and practice on that.

BTW - your photo inclusions didn't work.  you need to include a link to the raw .jpg file not a link to the photo host site.  I had to mess about to see them.

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

Hey Mayfly,

Thanks for the catch - I thought it was a hotlinking issue and didn't even realize the missing extension from the URL.

I thought about leaving it be with oil, but it seems like this will wear fairly easily? I don't mind an authentic 'relic' (you know, actual age!) but I don't want it to necessarily require yearly touch-ups either. Think the poly will negatively color the finish?

 

[mayfly]

Hi there,

dunno about changing the color of the finish - that's why you should try it on a piece of scrap before you commit  ccasion14:

 

[Logrinn]

I think you have a really beautiful guitar on your hands there. Mahogany I believe?
Really nice work you've done.
And judging by your post I think you'll fit right in here with the rest of us.
Welcome ccasion14:

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

Will do, cheers Mayfly.

Thank you Logrinn, I'm not sure to be honest. Based on its weight I think it definitely has to be Mahogany or Ash, but I'm not experienced enough to say that without a shadow of doubt. Allegedly the previous owner claimed it was Mahogany but *shrug* Cheers!

 

[rgand]

Welcome to the forum. I like the great job you're doing to resurrect your guitar. Very cool. Yes, it does look like mahogany. Personally, I'd go with a gloss finish but that's personal preference. Either way, it will look good.

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

Hey Rgand, thank you.

Yeah I'm torn - high-gloss is beautiful but I don't know if it will be distracting. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and twelve bucks and get a pint of high-gloss and test them both on scrap to see.

Anyone have any thoughts on number of coast with wipe on satin/gloss? Two coats? More?

 

[Cagey]

A satin finish is more forgiving of a less-than-perfect surface, since it's not very reflective. If you'd prefer gloss, you may want to get some grain filler and do an application or two of that before you start with the final finish coats. Surface prep is everything when it comes to a fine finish. Mahogany is a pretty open-grained wood, plus you have some visible scratching in the surface, and all that will get amplified and be highly visible under a gloss finish.

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

A satin finish is more forgiving of a less-than-perfect surface, since it's not very reflective. If you'd prefer gloss, you may want to get some grain filler and do an application or two of that before you start with the final finish coats. Surface prep is everything when it comes to a fine finish. Mahogany is a pretty open-grained wood, plus you have some visible scratching in the surface, and all that will get amplified and be highly visible under a gloss finish.

Thank you sir, good call. I think I'll make my final decision after testing on some scrap wood. I was worried about the surface scratches for that reason, so I may elect for the satin and a more 'rough/natural' finish.

 

[AirCap]

You said "extreme gore".... Not even close, bub.

Check out these pix for TRULY extreme gore.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/edeyn3u2isqt5g7/AAC1xEdG-x5GMOes3SFpF4T-a?dl=0

It won't be the EASY save you just had on the Strat.

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

You said "extreme gore".... Not even close, bub.

Check out these pix for TRULY extreme gore.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/edeyn3u2isqt5g7/AAC1xEdG-x5GMOes3SFpF4T-a?dl=0

It won't be the EASY save you just had on the Strat.

Agreed that the body was an easy fix, but the electronics were an abomination.

I believe the strategy was 'use enough solder to create your own ground'. If you look closely there are actually 5-6 wires that terminate on a free-hanging ball of solder (that was never attempted to attach to a piece of metal).

Your linked guitar definitely needed a miracle.

 

[Cagey]

I believe the strategy was 'use enough solder to create your own ground'. If you look closely there are actually 5-6 wires that terminate on a free-hanging ball of solder (that was never attempted to attach to a piece of metal).

That's "More's Law" in action. It states: Some is good, more's better, and too much is just right.

Almost guaranteed to plug up your solder sucker if you try to disassemble the connection, so that's discouraging to all but your most ambitious hardware hackers. It's sort of a hardware read/write protection. Helps secure intellectual property. Security through obscurity, and like that.

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

I believe the strategy was 'use enough solder to create your own ground'. If you look closely there are actually 5-6 wires that terminate on a free-hanging ball of solder (that was never attempted to attach to a piece of metal).

Exactly. I'd like to think the make-shift ground has actually become self-aware.
That's "More's Law" in action. It states: Some is good, more's better, and too much is just right.

Almost guaranteed to plug up your solder sucker if you try to disassemble the connection, so that's discouraging to all but your most ambitious hardware hackers. It's sort of a hardware read/write protection. Helps secure intellectual property. Security through obscurity, and like that.

:icon_biggrin:

Personally I thought the extra ground-ball added a certain characteristic to the tone wood that enhanced the high-dynamic range of the upper echelon of  graduated frequencies. In short - more tone.

 

[stratamania]

Apart from what has already been mentioned, I would be inclined to go back to the sandpaper and sort out the marks in the back.  They may not have been visible prior to you applying the oil. 

Some extra time now spent on preparation will pay off in the end results.

 

[weezingthejuicebodhi]

Apart from what has already been mentioned, I would be inclined to go back to the sandpaper and sort out the marks in the back.  They may not have been visible prior to you applying the oil. 

Some extra time now spent on preparation will pay off in the end results.

Thanks for the tip. I actually had a similar thought and hit the body with 320 after one of the coats. It didn't really seem to impact the surface scratches at all, and the scratches didn't bother me enough to warrant sanding more down. I don't mind since it is my first finish and it is on the back of the guitar.

I actually hit it with a couple passes of satin-poly last night and I should hopefully have some pictures tonight. I should have the replacement plastic later in the week (as long as the snow day didn't slow them down yesterday!).

 

[stratamania]

As long as it doesnt bother you thats what matters.  It would take probably starting with 120 again to get there.

 

[ghotiphry]

That's a really fine looking wood, I can't figure out why they would paint it.  Especially that weird salmon color.

 

[mayfly]

That's a really fine looking wood, I can't figure out why they would paint it.  Especially that weird salmon color.

I concur.  That's a pretty nice find under all that goop.

 

[ghotiphry]

That's a really fine looking wood, I can't figure out why they would paint it.  Especially that weird salmon color.

I concur.  That's a pretty nice find under all that goop.

Right.  I say don't paint it.  Keep the wood.  Go with a clear finish.