Does This Look Infected

[Ddbltrbl]

Some time ago I came into posession of a badly abused '78 Strat body. Some idiot used what might have been a dull straight-slot screwdriver to enlarge the bridge pick-up cavity to fit a humbucker.

Then, they broke thru into the trem cavity in one spot.

That made them really upset so they kicked the body, tearing a chunk out of it.

Then, they tried to force the remaining parts back into place with screws and nails.

You know, there really should be a special place in hell reserved for people this criminally ignorant!!

But, other than having the manditory 4 million chips and dings in the poly

and a place on the outside of the bottom horn that looks like they might have spilt Aircraft remover on it for a minute or so,

the rest of the body is in surprisingly good shape. :icon_biggrin:  Honestly, I see no other damage thru to the wood.

So what does everyone think? Is it worth the effort to repair? If I fix the missing chunk, I would just have to match the black in one spot on the bottom to make it look original, or do I just strip it down and go with a complete refinish? :icon_scratch:  And, should I try to fix the small break thru into the trem cavity and clean up the bridge pickup route, or just leave it alone?

I am thinking of putting a Warmoth neck on it if I do repair it, but I have the original neck. The poly is turning loose in spots and starting to flake, so it would have to be re-finished, but other than one small ding in the fret board at 17th fret low-E, the neck is in good shape. Anyway, I thought I might get a different perspective from the good folks here than I would from the Fender forum and would appreciate hearing what everyone thinks.

 

[Cagey]

I wouldn't mess with it, but that's just me. I've thrown away better looking bodies than that. Besides, you'd be stuck using a 6 point vibrato bridge, and unless you refinished it, you'd be stuck with that comical burst. Strat bodies are cheap, if you just want a run-of-the-mill Strat body to play with. Someplace like Guitar Fetish will sell you new bodies already finished for in the $50 range - there's a whole page of them here. May or may not have neck pocket issues, though. Often, those Pacific Rim suppliers have their own ideas about what those dimensions should be.

 

[Updown]

:laughing7: Love your description of how it became like that  :laughing3:

Strip it back & start again  (if your good at that) just for the hell of it  :icon_biggrin:

Or

Can do this if it gives you a real hard time 

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Once it's fixed, you'll still have a '78 body.  The 6 hole trem isn't a big deal for me, as I'm not a trem guy.  I'd tighten all the springs and use it as a hardtail.  The 3 bolt neck is the dealbreaker for me.  

But, all of the hands on time repairing something often endears you to that item and can fast track the mojo.  It's often times more about the journey than the destination, right?  Have you seen Jalane's thread with the Koa Tele?  That thing turned out great, and I wouldn't have even bothered.  If you've got the skills, go for it.

 

[ORCRiST]

Infected?

Nononononononono... you've got it all wrong. It's called Roadworn...

Fender taught me that their rejec...er, I mean, pre-distressed (yeah. yeah... that's the ticket) bodies are really because of toneworms!!1!  I'll give you $2000 for that body as-is!

:icon_tongue:

 

[line6man]

At this point, the most humane thing to do is have it put down. :sad1:

 

[Corey P.]

All of the hands on time repairing something often endears you to that item and can fast track the mojo.  It's often times more about the journey than the destination, right?  Have you seen Jalane's thread with the Koa Tele?  That thing turned out great, and I wouldn't have even bothered.  If you've got the skills, go for it.

That's really well said - if you have the time/energy/skill, you could land a pretty classy looking guitar with a repair/refinish (the burst on it now is kinda fugly) with some added mojo, and still be able to call it a legit 70's Strat.  Just decide for yourself what that potential mojo is worth in terms of your time.

 

[Tipperman]

I wouldn't mess with it, but that's just me. I've thrown away better looking bodies than that. Besides, you'd be stuck using a 6 point vibrato bridge, and unless you refinished it, you'd be stuck with that comical burst. Strat bodies are cheap, if you just want a run-of-the-mill Strat body to play with. Someplace like Guitar Fetish will sell you new bodies already finished for in the $50 range - there's a whole page of them here. May or may not have neck pocket issues, though. Often, those Pacific Rim suppliers have their own ideas about what those dimensions should be.

Hey... 6 point is nice.  :sad: I have a surprisingly stable setup for tuning, and I use my trem a lot. It's a 6 point Callaham. I'd at least fix up the body for more experience, but it's up to you.

 

[Cagey]

6 point is serviceable, but it's not an optimal design. The two-point knife-edge fulcrum is the current state of the art, mechanically speaking. It's more accurate, repeatable, physically and acoustically unobtrusive, and requires less setup and maintenance. It's why everybody copies the Floyd Rose and Wilkinson designs, more so the Wilkies as the Floyd Rose design has its own idiosyncrasies. Nobody copies the 6 point, other than to satisfy the vintage-faithful market.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Fire wood.

 

[nexrex]

I wouldn't mess with it, but that's just me. I've thrown away better looking bodies than that. Besides, you'd be stuck using a 6 point vibrato bridge, and unless you refinished it, you'd be stuck with that comical burst. Strat bodies are cheap, if you just want a run-of-the-mill Strat body to play with. Someplace like Guitar Fetish will sell you new bodies already finished for in the $50 range - there's a whole page of them here. May or may not have neck pocket issues, though. Often, those Pacific Rim suppliers have their own ideas about what those dimensions should be.

Agree, the thing look like a nightmare of a project.  For the time and labor you would pour into it you could get a far superior body for a cheaper price. Unless setup properly, the 6 point trem can be problematic. It really is an obsolete legacy design.

My recommendation. Stay away from it like the plague.

 

[ORCRiST]

Fire wood.

Agreed.

However... I have seen worse damage resurrected into functional instruments...

From:

TO...

Never would have believed it if I didn't see it myself...

 

[Nando Vallart]

If it's the post I've seen, was easy to build a new body than try to save this blue one... Actually the guy only did it to say he could...

 

[Ddbltrbl]

Infected?

Nononononononono... you've got it all wrong. It's called Roadworn...

Fender taught me that their rejec...er, I mean, pre-distressed (yeah. yeah... that's the ticket) bodies are really because of toneworms!!1!  I'll give you $2000 for that body as-is!

:icon_tongue:

LOL Yeah, Orcrist that is exactly the reason I posted this here instead of on the Fender forum! I'm sure that Blue thing should have sold for $20,000! It was definitely a lot more "pre-distressed" than this one! :laughing7: I don't think I would have even considered rebuilding that one.Turned out really nice though!

Thanks for all the good advice and opinions everybody. I guess the point for me is the challenge and I could use the practice refinishing it. There is no wood damage beyond the broken section, which should be fairly easy to fix. Stripping the poly maybe a bit of a challenge. LOL But, I believe I will go for it.

I need to research it more, but I believe that with an opaque refinish I could also easily change out the 6 point for a Wilkinson VS-100. I believe they are the same route, just different stud placements, right?  But, perhaps legit 70's would hold more resale value?

As far as the 3-bolt neck, I have never had a single bit of trouble from a 3 bolt and I currently own 3 of them. I've found that if you get a good guitar from that era the 3-bolt system will not be a problem, and in fact I find the additional adjustment to be useful.

Either way, I don't find a lot of time to work on these projects, so it may take me a while!

Thanks again for the warm welcome!

 

[line6man]

6 point is serviceable, but it's not an optimal design. The two-point knife-edge fulcrum is the current state of the art, mechanically speaking. It's more accurate, repeatable, physically and acoustically unobtrusive, and requires less setup and maintenance. It's why everybody copies the Floyd Rose and Wilkinson designs, more so the Wilkies as the Floyd Rose design has its own idiosyncrasies. Nobody copies the 6 point, other than to satisfy the vintage-faithful market.

+1.

Six-points are only used because people cannot get past doing things the way Leo did them. My MiM Fender has one, and I hate it. The two stud setup common to almost all modern tremolos is a much better design.

 

[AutoBat]

To be fair, if I had a black/red/yellow strat, I'd consider attacking it with a screwdriver too.
Hate your 6 point? Stick a boogie rail on it!

 

[Strat Avenger]

6 point is serviceable, but it's not an optimal design. The two-point knife-edge fulcrum is the current state of the art, mechanically speaking. It's more accurate, repeatable, physically and acoustically unobtrusive, and requires less setup and maintenance. It's why everybody copies the Floyd Rose and Wilkinson designs, more so the Wilkies as the Floyd Rose design has its own idiosyncrasies. Nobody copies the 6 point, other than to satisfy the vintage-faithful market.

+1.

Six-points are only used because people cannot get past doing things the way Leo did them. My MiM Fender has one, and I hate it. The two stud setup common to almost all modern tremolos is a much better design.

I agree, which is why I can't understand why artists like Eric Johnson have signature guitars with the old vintage Kluson tuners, 6-screw bridge, pickups that hum, and no contoured heel. I mean, lots of people play vintage Strats, a signature model should be special and innovative. The only real innovations on his that I see is the way they angled the headstock for more string pressure over the nut (not really angled, but you know what I mean) so as to eliminate string trees, and a 12-inch radius. Oh, and they left the spring cover off the back. 

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Infected?

Nononononononono... you've got it all wrong. It's called Roadworn...

Fender taught me that their rejec...er, I mean, pre-distressed (yeah. yeah... that's the ticket) bodies are really because of toneworms!!1!  I'll give you $2000 for that body as-is!

:icon_tongue:

I'll give him $2000.01!  :laughing3:

 

[dudesweet157]

6 point is serviceable, but it's not an optimal design. The two-point knife-edge fulcrum is the current state of the art, mechanically speaking. It's more accurate, repeatable, physically and acoustically unobtrusive, and requires less setup and maintenance. It's why everybody copies the Floyd Rose and Wilkinson designs, more so the Wilkies as the Floyd Rose design has its own idiosyncrasies. Nobody copies the 6 point, other than to satisfy the vintage-faithful market.

+1.

Six-points are only used because people cannot get past doing things the way Leo did them. My MiM Fender has one, and I hate it. The two stud setup common to almost all modern tremolos is a much better design.

I agree, which is why I can't understand why artists like Eric Johnson have signature guitars with the old vintage Kluson tuners, 6-screw bridge, pickups that hum, and no contoured heel. I mean, lots of people play vintage Strats, a signature model should be special and innovative. The only real innovations on his that I see is the way they angled the headstock for more string pressure over the nut (not really angled, but you know what I mean) so as to eliminate string trees, and a 12-inch radius. Oh, and they left the spring cover off the back.   

Hey, I like the split post tuners and pickups that hum (dey haz teh moejoe)...  But seriously, I know what you mean. 

 

[stubhead]

Will there be an accompanying dance video? Without the video, it's a washout.
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