What the hell is it..?

[Magicbisket]

Alrighty, was at my buddies, buddies house today. Handed me a guitar and asked me if I wanted it. I asked how much, he said 50 cents and the smallest I had was a dollar so it was a done deal. Smaller scale, looks around 24.25,  I cant tell if it was fretless or somebody ripped each fret out of it. Terrible shape, missing a nut, exposed wire that I assume is for grounding. A bridge I've never seen before. Nothing on the headstock and no visible serial numbers... What the hell is it?

Pics:

Oh, I plan to use it as a project/test guitar. Not expecting anything but I'll see what I can do. I like a challenge.

Thankya,

-D.T. Latty

 

[line6man]

Definitely a defret job. You can see the indentations in the slots from where the frets used to be, as well as some damage from whatever tool was used to pull them up.

So are you going to re-radius the board and do inlaid wooden lines for a fretless guitar project, or try your hand at fretting?

 

[Magicbisket]

I'm actually leaning towards fretless. Not sure why, but I just want to.

Oh wait, that is why, because I want to. It'll be a job and a half, but I don't think there is anything I could do to this guitar that would make it worth any less so no worries.

That bridge still confuses me though. I swear I've seen one somewhere, but no idea where.

 

[alterbridgefan]

I'm actually leaning towards fretless. Not sure why, but I just want to.

Oh wait, that is why, because I want to. It'll be a job and a half, but I don't think there is anything I could do to this guitar that would make it worth any less so no worries.

That bridge still confuses me though. I swear I've seen one somewhere, but no idea where.

Maybe on an upgraded dano? :laughing7:

 

[Magicbisket]

Yeah I know, the first thing I though it that it looks like they're using a damn lipstick pickup as a bridge.

 

[DustyCat]

Its a POS! Thats what is har har har!  :laughing11:

 

[swarfrat]

Looks like a "Who" special to me.

 

[Corey P.]

I had a plywood starter guitar Strat-style thing by a company called Abilene, and the headstock was the same shape, but it had a pretty normal 6-point trem for a bridge.  I actually still have it, but the headstock broke from indifference to whether it fell.

 

[Magicbisket]

Looks like a "Who" special to me.

What's a "'Who' special"?

Also yeah, I've seen that style of headstock on a ton of cheap strat copies. However, not only is the bridge very odd, It's very worn, the hardware actually looks pretty old. I'm taking her apart today, I expect removing the pickguard will be like opening the ark of the covenant so I'll post pics of the face melting. She also smells like a certain kind of herb due to my buddy's buddy being rather fond of that particular plant... which kinda sucks, cause to be honest, I can't stand the smell of it.

Anyways, I've got class from 12:30 - 2:00 ET and I'll be opening her up once I get home. Really hoping to find some kind of identifiable mark beyond the pickguard, but who knows.

Appreciate the input,

-D.T. Latty

P.S. She may be a POS but she's my POS.

 

[drewfx]

Looks like a "Who" special to me.

What's a "'Who' special"?

I'm thinking he meant this:

 

[Magicbisket]

Ah, and now the joke is ruined.

Thank ya. Knew about the who smashing the living piss out of their instruments, just didn't know they had a term for 'em.

Oh, btw, the electronics, at least the pickup to jack connection, is still intact. If i wiggle the instrument cable around enough, it picks up.

 

[Magicbisket]

Opened her up yesterday and wow... I'll post pictures tomorrow but I'll give a general description today. First of all, found a crack in the neck I'll fix with some wood glue, easy. Secondly, after checking inside and out, no evidence of any make, manufacturing place, serial number, nothing. No identifiable mark on the guitar. Also, I checked under the pickguard, those "cream" covers used to be white... hot... damn.

Two of the stop-tail screws and one of the bridge screws are stuck but everything else came out with relative easy. I'll try to get em out, if not, DRILL!

Bought some sandpaper and a respirator mask, time to go to town.

-D. T. Latty

 

[m4rk0]

looks like something made by kawai or teisco....

 

[Magicbisket]

Yeah actually, I was looking around for an exact match. Nothing exact but the pickguard style and the bridge style match. I'll have to keep on looking.

Thank you very much

-D.T. Latty

P.S. Started sanding the neck today... So... Much... Lacquer.

 

[bagman67]

If it's really lacquer, the stuff will dissolve if you wipe with acetone.

 

[Magicbisket]

It must not be lacquer then. I've been using acetone and a rag for cleaning off the sanding residue (which works wonders) and it hasn't effected the finish at all.

Most of the sanding is done on the neck. The body is ply, which isn't very good but I was expecting it anyways, so it's alright.

Took the neck into woodcraft looking to match a filler for the deep gouges, and had them check what wood it was.  They were actually a bit puzzled and their best guess was Beech Wood.

It appears to be a mini if I haven't already mentioned that, Scale is about 24 inches.

 

[Magicbisket]

Been a while since an update but this time I've actually been working. Guitar is completely disassembled, neck is stripped, turns out it's Japanese oak. Body is half striped. Planning on stripping the rest of the body very soon. Fretwire is ordered and should arrive Monday.

-D. T. Latty

 

[Magicbisket]

Been working on fretting it now. Having a bit of issues with buzz on the low e string but the rest play fine. Obviously more work to do on them but I have to say, for being a POS to start with, and having only some low end, endcutters, and an old rubber mallet, I'm pretty happy. I was surprised; with the tests I did after fretting, the intonation seems pretty damn good. I expected it to be an issue but it seems pretty damn well.

My stupid self thought it would be okay to test it out before filing down the sides... damn my finger hurts.

Also not sure if it's due to the pickup cavity acting as a sound hole or what, but it is very loud acoustically. Not a bad thing, just odd to me.

So I've got pictures and two finish ideas, but those will only be released if and when somebody replied on this.

-D. T. Latty

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

That's the starter of a cool clock for the shop wall, and a fine example of what not to do if you don't know what to do or how to do it!

 

[Magicbisket]

For all you nay-sayers, I'll have you know i plugged her in today to do a test. That buzz i heard before is not audible on the amp... but the guitar is! I have to say I am shocked that the wiring actually works... kinda. Grounding is a bit skewed up, and of course i'm going to redo it, but It's still pretty kool. And as I said, I played her up and down and no noisy frets, she actually plays better than my current guitar. Pickups sounded pretty nice too.

And by the way, I did weeks of research before attempting fretting, and I did the best I could for tools with my limited budget.

And it worked.

I'm not trying to over-credit myself. I'm just happy with the results.

And as Promised, picks.

For all you nay-sayers, I'll have you know i plugged her in today to do a test. That buzz i heard before is not audible on the amp... but the guitar is! I have to say I am shocked that the wiring actually works... kinda. Grounding is a bit skewed up, and of course i'm going to redo it, but It's still pretty kool. And as I said, I played her up and down and no noisy frets, she actually plays better than my current guitar. Pickups sounded pretty nice too.

And by the way, I did weeks of research before attempting fretting, and I did the best I could for tools with my limited budget.

And it worked.

I'm not trying to over-credit myself. I'm just happy with the results.

And as Promised, picks... on next post

Thank you,

-D.T. Latty