Latest guitar work project. Final Update this guitar in post 23

[lihpster]

Whenever bone blanks hit the grinder I donned a mask.

Make sure to wear eye pro too. A bit of antler dust in my eye sent me to the ER once.

 

[JohnRippert]

Whenever bone blanks hit the grinder I donned a mask.

I used a Dremel with a sanding barrel on the outer edges of the blank until I got close to the pencil outline. I had a fan blowing the dust away from me. The rest of the sanding was done with a large piece of 150grit on that glass platen I mentioned before. Used the vacuum cleaner to suck all the dust up after.

 

[JohnRippert]

Final update in this Squier. Spent a couple hours this morning and a couple more this evening finishing it up. A lot of that time was getting the setup just the way I want it. Here is a list of what all I did to it. I basically took the lowest level of guitar that Squier makes for Fender and turned it into a high mid level guitar.

Repaired the damage from the guitar being dropped on the strap button with hardwood plugs.
Fixed the improper radius of the fretboard by sanding to a 9.5inch radius.
Replaced all the frets.
Upgraded the plastic nut with a bone nut.
Upgraded the standard tuners with split shaft takeoffs from a Affinity level Squier.
Upgraded the string trees.
Modified the stock bridge to turn it into a Tele style 3-saddle(intonating) bridge
Upgraded all the electronics and wiring:
Wilkinson M Series Alnico V humbuckers
CTS potentiometers
Truetone output jack
Les Paul style Mojotone 3-way toggle switch
New black 3-ply pick guard to replace the single ply white one.

All the fret buzz is now gone. It was quite satisfying to run all the way through each strings frets and have them all ring out true and without buzzing. This experience gives me the confidence to move to the 2nd guitar I am going to try and restomod to playable condition.

I think I spent about $120 in parts on this one. I did also spend a couple hundred on tools and supplies but since I will be doing multiple other guitars, 2 on hand with another on the way, I do not count that in the cost. For those that have followed this, thanks for the support. See you in the next guitar's post.

 

[Rustyt1953]

John and I have shared several DMs about this and I am impressed with his attention to detail, his not cutting corners and the research and thought he put into replacement parts.

All this from a guy who doesn't play and has never done this before.

I doff my cap to you.

 

[JohnRippert]

John and I have shared several DMs about this and I am impressed with his attention to detail, his not cutting corners and the research and thought he put into replacement parts.

All this from a guy who doesn't play and has never done this before.

I doff my cap to you.

One thing that Dad taught me that I totally agreed with, "If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right." I try to do that as much as is within my abilities.

 

[mikerjf]

As someone who has worked on electric guitars for close to 60 years, looks to me like you are learning the right way with the right stuff. Thumbs up!

I have a Danelectro (Korean U2) that has been thoroughly reworked like your Squier, fun guitar. Latest change is putting plain strings on the bottom 3 (11, 14, and 10 iirc) for a fake-Nashville-strung effect. Amazing sound, so long as you stay clean and use a compressor.