Fun Project: Restoring 92 MIK Squier HSS Stratocaster (Warning: Big Pics)

[kspeed]

Firstly, yea, I know it's a Squier and those of you with higher end guitars may cast a dubious eye on this project, but hey - it's for a friend and it's for fun. Like many of you, I'm a guitar mechanic that loves working on them as much as playing them.

Specs:
1992 Squier Strat. Made in Korea. Sperzel locking tuners. Yamaha humbucker in the bridge (don't know what model #, at least not yet). Pickguard looks artificially routed for it, but I'm not certain since I've never owned a HSS Strat. Otherwise, it's completely stock. 21 Frets, one piece maple neck and board, and it looks to be a plywood body at first glance but I'll know for sure later.

My friend usually plays acoustic but I'm trying to get him to play his electric more and jam out

Before Pictures:
Body front and back. At this point all I've done is replace the trem springs with new ones and aligned them diagonally for better tuning stability. Yes, all of the stickers will be taken off

[losgatosrg350dx]

y did u pull that out of the dumpster
it belongs in a high school bonfire

[kspeed]

Here's the neck and headstock, front and back. Pretty safe bet the frets have never been dressed or leveled and the fingerboard has never been cleaned. From its grain and heft it actually feels like a quality piece of tree, though.

[CosmicDebris]

Originally Posted by losgatosrg350dx

y did u pull that out of the dumpster
it belongs in a high school bonfire

The answer to your question is within the first few lines of his post.

[losgatosrg350dx]

Originally Posted by CosmicDebris

The answer to your question is within the first few lines of his post.

i know i know

i hurled when i saw that strat, but its okay
give it a jem swirl!!!!!!

[kspeed]

Closeups of the worn out board and bars for posterity. He does a lot of chord playing, as you can see. The upper frets are in pretty good shape, but the neck itself is pure nastage. The sticker at fret 15 is history. I can't even tell what the **** it was.

[kspeed]

Originally Posted by CosmicDebris

The answer to your question is within the first few lines of his post.

Hahaha - that first reply is exactly what I expected, but no hard feelings

Yea, we were making fun of the stickers last night. I'll update this thread as I progress, which will be a long and drawn out process. I pray to the luthier gods that I maintain my sanity till the end.

[losgatosrg350dx]

take the guitar, re shape the horns with a orbital and belt sander

tke the head and give it a banana, and throw a couple of pickups u get from the used shop

and make it a frankie!!

[kspeed]

Addressing the hideous neck, board and frets:
First pic is prep'ing. Two layers of masking tape per fret with four strips down each side to prevent scuffing.

Second pic is post-sanding with 3000 grit wet sandpaper. Most of the grooves in the fretbars have been eliminated and I carefully rounded off the ends which, if you're familiar with Squiers and Mexican made Fenders, are notoriously rough.

No teasers, so no additional pictures till later I still need to do some leveling, polishing, and cleaning.

[losgatosrg350dx]

but whats kewl, is that ur not worried about the neck, give it a full scalop, all u really need is a rounded file, and a fine wire brush or even the fine atachment to a dremel, shape it, smooth it, polish it, nd then use a peice of 2x4 and sandpaper and dress out the frets pretty flat!!!! it will rock, i say now i see the beauty

[CityofBlindingLights]

Originally Posted by losgatosrg350dx

give it a jem swirl!!!!!!

now THAT would make me hurl.

You're doing an awesome job, Strats are sweet. My favorite axes by far. And I'd advise against scalloping the board, particularly if your friend does mostly chord work.

But GREAT job on the neck and frets man! It's a sweet deal. Keep up the good work.

I'd also suggest sanding the thing down and refinishing it, maybe even a nitrocellulose laquer, but that's up to you.

[kspeed]

Thanks for the advice I'd scallop it but that would probably be too foreign for him. I was going to take the dremel to it if my hand sanding didn't turn out as planned, but since it hasn't been played much (recently) I don't really need to take it beyond polishing at this point. The frets were flat rather than round to begin with, which made the job easier.

[kspeed]

Originally Posted by CityofBlindingLights

now THAT would make me hurl.

You're doing an awesome job, Strats are sweet. My favorite axes by far. And I'd advise against scalloping the board, particularly if your friend does mostly chord work.

But GREAT job on the neck and frets man! It's a sweet deal. Keep up the good work.

I'd also suggest sanding the thing down and refinishing it, maybe even a nitrocellulose laquer, but that's up to you.

Again, thanks for the positive vibes, everyone

No swirl I might end up sanding down the body and refinishing it. The stickers have been on there for so long they might be fused into (what's likely a) poly finish, but if I can avoid that I will.

[XR4]

I have already done a mod to mi MIK Squier exactly like your friendīs strat. Full scallop fretboard, brass nut, 3 way switch and Ferrari logo, something in the Malmsteenīs style...



regards...

Martin

[kspeed]

Originally Posted by XR4

I have already done a mod to mi MIK Squier exactly like your friendīs strat. Full scallop fretboard, brass nut, 3 way switch and Ferrari logo, something in the Malmsteenīs style...



regards...

Martin

Nice! I hope this one looks as good as yours once it's finished. What year is yours?

The nut looks alright on this one, but I have yet to play or restring it. I'm thinking of tossing on a Graph Tech nut and saddles *if* I replace the pickguard with a black one.

What say you, Jemmers? The original pickguard is white. It will be replaced with 1) white 2) black 3) pearloid.

My vote goes for black with Graph Tech nut and saddles, but I'll need to make sure that's alright.