railfanespee
Member
- Messages
- 117
A bit of backstory- my parents have always been incredibly supportive of my music, including my dad allowing me to cannibalize his Squier tele to make a psychedelic parts-o-caster. I've always wanted to return the favor, and I got my chance last year when I found a Squier body and neck (with ridiculous flame) at a local music shop.
Here's the oldest pic I have, before I stripped it it was boring black poly, like seemingly every cheap strat in the world. I stripped with a heat gun and sanded away what was left, although the scraper left gouges I had to fill with wood putty.
I hand sanded the neck to preserve its shape. You can kind of see the flame in this pic, it really popped when I shot clear over it.
I did a mock-up before painting when my parts arrived. Basically everything is from GFS, I didn't want to spend too much on a Squier. The parchment guard came from my Highway One, once I saw it with the color I didn't like it very much so I found an alternative...
Here's my spraybooth with a piece of PVC screwed onto the side so I could apply finish to the horizontal body. It worked quite well but wind was an issue.
Body and neck after color and a bit of clear. I applied the clear too thick on the back, you can see how the color is uneven. I had to respray the color on the back to fix it. Also note the painted headstock, sadly I sanded through the color and had to strip it.
And of course, the finished product!
All in all, I'm quite happy with it. It plays and sounds pretty good, especially for a (former?) Squier. There were some headaches with the finishing process, but the end result was much closer to perfect than any of those I've done before. 10/10 would build again.
Here's the oldest pic I have, before I stripped it it was boring black poly, like seemingly every cheap strat in the world. I stripped with a heat gun and sanded away what was left, although the scraper left gouges I had to fill with wood putty.
I hand sanded the neck to preserve its shape. You can kind of see the flame in this pic, it really popped when I shot clear over it.
I did a mock-up before painting when my parts arrived. Basically everything is from GFS, I didn't want to spend too much on a Squier. The parchment guard came from my Highway One, once I saw it with the color I didn't like it very much so I found an alternative...
Here's my spraybooth with a piece of PVC screwed onto the side so I could apply finish to the horizontal body. It worked quite well but wind was an issue.
Body and neck after color and a bit of clear. I applied the clear too thick on the back, you can see how the color is uneven. I had to respray the color on the back to fix it. Also note the painted headstock, sadly I sanded through the color and had to strip it.
And of course, the finished product!
All in all, I'm quite happy with it. It plays and sounds pretty good, especially for a (former?) Squier. There were some headaches with the finishing process, but the end result was much closer to perfect than any of those I've done before. 10/10 would build again.
