Originally Posted by: Slipin LizardBy all means, please continue....
Alright- Thanks... If we were bellied up at the bar this would be an hour long chat but I'm gonna shorten it up the bare bones. A) Do NOT buy strat copies. Easy to work on - tough to sell. B) Look for off-brand "Sears era" guitars. They have a lot of personality. (Kay, Tiesco, Kona, Crestwood, etc). Solid bodies seem to sell a little faster than the hollows. C) The NECK is EVERYTHING. Walk away from twisted or significantly bowed necks. Make sure there is enough fret material left for a level/re-crown. Broken/missing tuners are not a deal breaker - just know you'll be throwing another $25 at the project. Cracked/Hacked-up nuts are manageable - add $5 and an hour or so. D) Body: It is better to have a body that is beat up "evenly" - a body that is pristine "except for this one spot" is less desirable than one that has random bumps/scratches all around. (in the case of the former it is easier to add more scratches than do a laquer repair on "that one spot"). Moderate finish checking is no issue at all. Check neck pocket integrity.E) Try to make sure the pick-ups work especially if they are of an unusual design because, of course, there's no replacing them. F) Don't be distracted by dirt, dust, yellowing, pitted chrome, noisy pots, missing knobs,ground issues, jack issues, or intermittent switches ... you're going to be fixing all that. It's not hard and it's not expensive.
Now that I've got my "good bones" guitar I go after it as 3 projects: The Neck; Frets may need NO attention or maybe it needs partial/complete re-fret. Either way, don't rush the neck part of the project, it has to be right. The body; remove only as much hardware as necc to be able to go after the body with a good 3-step finishing system. (I use Mohawk brand, made for the furniture industry: Rubbing compound level 1 and 2 and then a polishing compound). Hardware/electronics: Use cotton wadding polish to minimize pitting on chrome parts. Examine/repair/replace each individual component in the wiring scheme. Finally (and most importantly) get the guitar set-up to play like butter. There are a lot of resources out there on this topic so I'll suffice it to say keep at it and don't stop till you get there. It HAS to play easy. Each project will have it's own peculiar needs and just be prepared to deal with whatever comes up.
I once bought a First Act "Volkswagen" guitar that had an interesting active distortion circuit built-in ($50). I put the elec into an old off-brand flying V ( also $50) and it came out amazing. Played/sounded really, really cool. I was in to it for about $110. I wasn't really anxious to sell it but when I was offered $400 ... I let it go. I find bringing old guitars back to life pretty enjoyable, and it's made me pretty proficient at setting up my own guitars, maybe try it sometime?
