Strat Affinity Refirb (picture heavy)

hyperfish

I continued with the body today, sanding off the primer coat from last week and applying another today. I used a different brand today and it dried as rough as a xmas cake. It covered thick enough to cover all remaining blemishes but when I look close it has a bit of the orange peel effect. It's really smooth but I'm not going to risk this showing in the lacquer coats so I'll get another spay can from Halfords tomorrow which is much finer.

In between sanding I worked on the neck. First job was to mask off the frets with tape.
                                                                               

Next I took the tuners off, removed the backs and put a bit of Vaseline on the gears and shafts, then a quick buffing.
                                                                               

Using 1200 grit wet and dry I cleaned up the frets then gave them a light buffing with the Dremel. Then oiled the fretboard.
                                                                                 

Buffed the neck plate.
                                                                               

Job done.
                                                                               
                                                                       

KelvinS1965

Nice job on those frets. It's going to look and play great once you get it all back together. I might try 1200 grade on my Squier Tele frets next time I restring it; I always give them a quick polish while the strings are off, but they might benefit from a touch of 1200 grade.

Maybe it was the warmer weather effecting the primer finish today? If it doesn't have time to 'flow' before setting then the finish will be rougher. I know when I used to spray cars I'd add extra thinners in the summer compared to the winter for this reason (my last colour coats would have even more thinners added, but you had to be careful of runs of course).

hyperfish

The 1200 did a great job removing the gunk and tarnishing, then it was the Dremel that really got them shiny with a bit of buffing compound.

It could be the weather affecting the primer but it is also a thicker mix. That's not entirely a bad thing, I had everything silky smooth but I have just touched up a couple of areas with penny sized blobs.

The thing I have forgotten is to recess the cavity to accommodate the push/pull volume pot. It's going to need 7mm minimum but there's plenty of body thickness to go at.

I'm still on schedule to get some colour on it tomorrow.

edit: Drilled two 22mm holes, joined and cleaned with the Dremel to give the required depth for the push/pull volume pot.
                                                                       

hyperfish

Today I have got the colour coats completed. The lacquer is quite thin and despite my best effort I got a couple of runs during the first coat emanating from the back cavity. I flattened the run out and is no longer visible after building up the coats. A total of 5 coats applied at half hour intervals. There's a tiny bit left in the can should I need to touch up.

I'm pleased with the actual colour, more importantly my wife likes it too.
                                                                       

Christian 71

Looking really good, I remember doing my daughter's acoustic and you have a similar finish so should turn out really well. It's a real eye opener when you put the finish on how much the colour suddenly jumps out.

The real magic happens as you flat sand the finish down. Watching the ripples gradually turn to glass and then it's all worth while. The finish can be tricky so don't rush it, follow the instructions and leave plenty of time to gas before buffing. Read a few accounts where people ruined the finish by buffing too early the heat/friction moves the different layers of finish creating an orange peel effect. The coats need time to melt into one another with Nitro.

Buffing won't take any finish off so if you don't have a glass like finish keep working at it with sandpaper. If your worried about burn through then add another few coats of Nitro.

hyperfish

My plan is to give it a very light sanding next weekend to get rid of the roughness then apply clear lacquer coats. I'll then leave it for a month to allow proper drying. In that period I will load the electrics onto the pickguard and clean the bridge components.

hyperfish

There were a couple of areas in the paint that were bothering me. I wanted to address these in case I need to order more coloured lacquer so I gave the whole a light sanding with 1200. Way too fine really but I didn't have 600 to hand. I'm pleased that the areas of concern which were mainly runs have levelled out. That just leaves the pin holes and a dent in the top horn. Not sure what happened here, maybe I got something on it that contaminated the paint.

Anyway, I'll fill, sand then touch up with the bit of colour coat left in the can, then 600 wet and dry the whole body.
                                                                       

KelvinS1965

Looking good, it's worth the effort going back to fill these little holes as it'll look perfect once you're done I'm sure.

hyperfish

After some research it seems I may get away without filling and sanding. I came across the drop-filling technique. I sprayed some of the coloured lacquer into the lid, allowed the thicken slightly and then applied it to the pin holes on the top horn with a cocktail stick. After closely inspecting the rest of the body I did the same in a few more areas. A bit ugly right now but I think it should sand out after leaving it another week to harden first. It's a good thing that I don't have a dead line to meet.

                                                                       

hyperfish

Made a start on the electrics. I put the copper shielding on the new scratchplate with my wife's rolling pin. Awkward stuff the work with.
                                                                                 


I took the pickups off the old scratchplate, removed the covers and gave the pole pieces a cleaning with the Dremel.

Before.
                                                                                 


After
                                                                                 

I'm undecided what colour covers to put over them. Might keep them black?
                                                                                 

Armed with a diagram I made a start on the 7 way wiring.
                                                                                 

Then everything went T's up from there. I eventually got everything wired up with the ugliest soldering job ever and connected to my amp to test the pickup selection.

The switching did not operate as expected and I got nothing from the bridge pickup. I tested through with a meter and found the fault was at the 5 way switch. On closer inspection I could see that I had gotten solder on the printed circuit.

I need to start again with a new switch and I also need to test the pots with a meter in case my lack of soldering skills have fried them. It's also clear to me now that the wire I used was too thick.

Lesson learned.