I'm posting this in General because even though the body and neck are not Warmoth parts, all the hardware, including the pick guard, did come from Warmoth. The pickups and tremolo came from eBay.
Any way, this guitar started life red with a black pick guard. At least thats how it came to me. It is a mid to late 80s Made in Japan Squire Stratocaster.
My dad has done auto body work as a side job on and off for years, so some time around 95/96, I had him refinish the guitar. At the time we had just finished work on my 68 Mustang fast back which we painted a color called "Mulberry Wine". It was a 3 stage color with a copper metallic base, a trans purple mid coat and then clear. We had some of the purple left over, so the MIJ got a silver base, the purple mid, and clear.
Being ridiculously impatient (I was in high school at the time) I started sticking things back together way before the finish had set to a reasonable degree. The result was that I drug the paint in a few spots and the pick guard smooshed the finish (yes, thats a technical term) and stuck. The sticking would not have been so bad, but I had to remove the guard for some reason. It was a gaudy ass mirror finish pick guard, and some of the mirror foil stuck. Also, the screw holes didn't line up perfectly, and I managed to crack the guard in two places.
After that, I sorta just beat the hell out of it for the next few years. Stupid stickers, duck tape over strap buttons, you name it.
Recently I was inspired by tfarny's strat rebuild (http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2150.0) and decided to go ahead and rebuild the MIJ. I decided to go with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups because I want this to be more of a "Buddy Holly" strat. I used a Wilkinson VSVG tremolo as it was the only thing I could find with modern saddles and a 6 hole mount.
As for the color, I let my 5 year old son pick it
(Thats how I convinced the wife to green light the project). He said "sparkley blue", so thats what I used as my base point when selecting it. I ended up going with a 3 stage urethane product from PPG. The base is a metallic blue with a hint of purple to it, then the mid coat is a trans blue with a multi-color pearl in it, then a final clear coat.
Any way, enough yacking, here are the pictures!
I forgot to take some before starting, so the pickguard and such has already been removed in the first ones.
"Purple is not a boy color" - Jayson Rhoades age 5
Ripped off the old finish with 60 grit.
Sanded with 320 to clean up the 60 grit scratches
I was pretty happy with the wireing on this
Really like the pick guard. The aged covers dont look right, but I was able to replace them with white before the final build.
Here is the body after finishing. I love the color
And here it is after reassembly
This shot really catches the multi-color pearl in the mid coat.
Any way, this guitar started life red with a black pick guard. At least thats how it came to me. It is a mid to late 80s Made in Japan Squire Stratocaster.
My dad has done auto body work as a side job on and off for years, so some time around 95/96, I had him refinish the guitar. At the time we had just finished work on my 68 Mustang fast back which we painted a color called "Mulberry Wine". It was a 3 stage color with a copper metallic base, a trans purple mid coat and then clear. We had some of the purple left over, so the MIJ got a silver base, the purple mid, and clear.
Being ridiculously impatient (I was in high school at the time) I started sticking things back together way before the finish had set to a reasonable degree. The result was that I drug the paint in a few spots and the pick guard smooshed the finish (yes, thats a technical term) and stuck. The sticking would not have been so bad, but I had to remove the guard for some reason. It was a gaudy ass mirror finish pick guard, and some of the mirror foil stuck. Also, the screw holes didn't line up perfectly, and I managed to crack the guard in two places.
After that, I sorta just beat the hell out of it for the next few years. Stupid stickers, duck tape over strap buttons, you name it.
Recently I was inspired by tfarny's strat rebuild (http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2150.0) and decided to go ahead and rebuild the MIJ. I decided to go with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups because I want this to be more of a "Buddy Holly" strat. I used a Wilkinson VSVG tremolo as it was the only thing I could find with modern saddles and a 6 hole mount.
As for the color, I let my 5 year old son pick it

Any way, enough yacking, here are the pictures!
I forgot to take some before starting, so the pickguard and such has already been removed in the first ones.
"Purple is not a boy color" - Jayson Rhoades age 5


Ripped off the old finish with 60 grit.


Sanded with 320 to clean up the 60 grit scratches


I was pretty happy with the wireing on this


Really like the pick guard. The aged covers dont look right, but I was able to replace them with white before the final build.

Here is the body after finishing. I love the color

And here it is after reassembly


This shot really catches the multi-color pearl in the mid coat.
