MIM Fender HSH Super Strat Makeover

[Guitar Dude]

Okay. So I said I don't need any more guitars. And I don't.

Yeah...

But I've really, really, really wanted a purple stained (not painted) Strat for quite a while now. Preferably a Super Strat. But I only want one with a maple fingerboard. So I kinda sorta found a used HSH Strat on Reverb - in the exact configuration that I want. And I kinda sorta bought it. It'll be here sometime next week and I can start to strip the body.

I hate stripping guitar bodies, it's such a major PITA. The only thing I'll change (apart from staining the body) is to switch the black pickguard to a white pearloid one.

More to come when I get started in a week or two. In the meantime, here's a pic of the guitar from the Reverb listing.

And the pickguard I'll be using

 

[Guitar Dude]

Progress is slow on this one. The guitar won't be here for 2 more days. At least the pickguard came in today.

 

[Guitar Dude]

So she finally arrived today. It's a pretty great sounding guitar! But it also came with a ding that wasn't mentioned in the Reverb listing, nor shown in a pic. I messaged the seller to let him know. Maybe he'll offer a small discount? If not, then I won't pursue it any further. After all, I bought the guitar specifically to strip it so the ding doesn't really affect it for my purpose.

 

[Guitar Dude]

But it also came with a ding that wasn't mentioned in the Reverb listing, nor shown in a pic. I messaged the seller to let him know. Maybe he'll offer a small discount? If not, then I won't pursue it any further. After all, I bought the guitar specifically to strip it so the ding doesn't really affect it for my purpose.

It turns out that the seller had purchased Reverb Safe Shipping insurance just for this purpose. He told me to go ahead and open a claim with them, so I did. I don't think it's worth much, but hey - that's what insurance is for, right?

 

[Guitar Dude]

Ready to go!

A friend had me a bit concerned as to what the wood would be, saying that it might possibly be plywood because it's a MIM Strat. Well, it looks like it's solid wood. Probably 3-piece, but that's to be expected for a Mexican Fender product.

There's what looks like a ground wire (in addition to the one going to the trem claw)? But it's just attached to the wood of the body. Never seen anything like this before. Maybe for continuity with the conductive black paint?

The trem tailpiece studs have me a bit concerned though. Once I take off the finish, (about a mm thick) they'll have to be tightened down, and that'll effect the trem system a bit. Hopefully 1mm won't affect it too much though.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Got the new pickguard done.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Finally! A finish that will come off easily! All the others I've done have been a major PITA struggle to remove the poly. This one practically glides right off with a heat gun and scraper. The light undercoat is super thin and will come off very easily with the orbital sander.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Seriously - this is incredibly easier than any other body I've ever stripped before!

Here you can see the thickness of the topcoat:

Back side stripped, or at least stripped of its top coat

Here's the ding again. I was hoping it was just through the top coat, but apparently it went deeper.

Tried sanding the undercoat, which was relatively easy, but figured it would be better to use the heat gun scraper a second time instead. The reason being, I need to get rid of the grain filler layer and scraping, then sanding, will give a better result. Especially considering I'll be staining this. You can see the grain fill layer here - it's the darker area of the grain.

More grain filler to be removed

Gettin' there...

Why do I ALWAYS have a burn spot on every single body I strip?!?!?

I like the grain, even though it looks like a 3 piece body to me. There's a small knot in the lower left side of the body. I'll call it a "beauty mark".

I still have the sides to do, but I've had a couple libations and don't want to screw it up. I'll tackle those tomorrow, as well as the staining and hopefully the first coat of poly. I have it a spray of water to raise the grain for sanding, and of course, now I want to leave it natural. But I bought this specifically to dye purple, so that's what I'll do.

Still have to buff the burnt area off of the back. Figured I'd wait until after I raised the grain to do it.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Stripped, sanded up to 240 grit, and ready to be stained. I'll be using TransTint purple.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Definitely purple. I actually wanted a more violet shade, but didn't want to take a chance of it being too light of a color. Now to let it dry and start the poly coats. Gonna go with a satin/matte finish.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Well I screwed up. The end grain staining was MUCH darker than the face grain, so I decided to stain the sides (end grain) with a black aniline leather dye. Then try a bit of a burst effect on the front and back. As you can see, it didn't come out so well. So, live and learn I guess. I could try and sand it, but I'm pretty sure the dye went so deep into the grain that it'll just be pointless.

The first pic is stain only, and the 2nd pic is with a fresh coat of satin poly. It looks glossy only because it's wet.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Maybe I'll just say "Screw it" and paint it violet/purple. I really wanted the wood grain to show through, but this just sucks too much.

 

[Guitar Dude]

I like this color

 

[Guitar Dude]

Yeah, definitely not happy with this. Won't be able to paint it for a couple of days.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Closer look at my screw ups

 

[Guitar Dude]

Re-prepped and ready to be painted. At least the poly coats act as a grain filler, so there's that.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Definitely diggin' this color!

First coat

2nd coat, and sanded. Ready for the satin poly.

Decided to change up the look with some new pickup covers and black control knobs. The original cream/off-white colors just weren't doing it for me against the new white pearloid pickguard.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Me Likey

 

[Guitar Dude]

All strung up

 

[Guitar Dude]

Before & After