Not all ILF Builds are Effects!!

[elbandito]

I've been wanting to do this for a long time now... I love Mustangs and Jaguars but I've been over the 24" thing for a very long time. My Jag was modded to accept a 25.5" scale a few years ago and I've had a Mustang body kicking around for a while now, so it had to be done.

THE PLAN:
1) Take a pre-fab Fender Mustang body and make it compatible for a 25.5" or 24" Conversion neck.
2) Refinish in black with requisite kickass competition stripes.

THE PARTS:
stripped '66 Fender Mustang body
'65 Fender Mustang pickguard w/orig. switches
JagStang trem, control plate & pots
'05 AVRI Mustang Bridge
25.5" B&B Maple neck from Ebay

THE PICS:
The original idea was to paint the guitar a metallic blue and just use an unbound maple neck. As usual, the original idea was not the one that was used. Instead, I went with this:

This is the final design for the guitar... the gf hates the comp stripes but I'm gonna do 'em anyway. :P


The back of the body, before it was primed. I still wonder whether or not it needed to be primed in the first place but I guess I'll see what happens as we go along. Does that look like Poplar to you guys?


Primed and ready to go!

The body sat in this state for a few months and I just never got around to painting it... the room where it was being stored fluctuated in temperature quite a bit, with it being winter time and it being in the basement and the primer started cracking. I didn't get any good pics to show you guys, as I didn't notice until after the first coat was sprayed.

[elbandito]

The body was shipped to me from Georgia and suffered some pretty bad damage at the hands of those heinous bastards at USPS & Canada Post... Check this out:




I repaired the damage by thinning out some epoxy with alcohol and injecting the glue as far down into the crack as I could until it was oozing out from every part of the crack, then clamped it and left it alone for a couple of days. Sorry, no pics of that process.

While I was waiting on that, I went and blocked off the vibrato system by removing the posts and using screws and nuts to make it a stop tail. I thought about routing new trem cavities but decided that since I never use the vibrato, I didn't need to bother with new cavities.



All of this was months ago... Today, the sun and warmth inspired me to get outside and get some stuff done, which included FINALLY spraying this body. I decided that I'd airbrush it, as I Deft seems to be gone and I couldn't find Mowhawk brand paint. Since these are the only things I've used, I decided to try something completely different. I called up a friend that owns a gun and compressor, and he came over and showed me how to use them:


Today we sprayed the first coat and it's drying as we speak. Tomorrow, I'm gonna try to put down two more coats down. The gun sprays such a thin film that I think I might have to put on as many as 6 coats to get a nice, thick-looking finish. Also, the cracking of the primer underneath is quite visible... It sort of gives it a relic'd look, I think. If I can't manage to bury it under the paint, I don't think it'll be too bad. Then again, I may just strip it again and start anew. We'll see how it goes after the next couple of coats.

[sevenSHARPnine]

I can't wait to see how this thing pans out. A Mustang with a 25.5 neck is gonna be

[stanimal]

nice work Ricardo!! i always wanted to build guitars from scratch but i just don't have the patience (or the gentle touch required to handle wood that's not my own.....)

[sevenSHARPnine]

(or the gentle touch required to handle wood that's not my own.....)

[elbandito]

nice work Ricardo!! i always wanted to build guitars from scratch but i just don't have the patience (or the gentle touch required to handle wood that's not my own.....)

I'll do your guitar work if you'll build my pedals!


UPDATE!
I sprayed a second coat today and I can no longer see the cracks from the primer!
I decided to convert an unused closet into a drying room by moving a portable radiator and a small fan in and rigging up a couple of coat hangers to safely hang the guitar from. This should reduce my drying time significantly and it'll be temperature-controlled, since the radiator has an automatic shut-off when it reaches a certain temperature.

I feel like I'm in a groove, so I'm going to try to finish off a few other projects that I had started a while back as well... resuscitating a beat-to-crap Squier Strat, putting together a Partscaster with all the bits I have kicking around (using a Strat copy body), maybe refinishing my Tele again (this will be the third time!) and hopefully Jrmy will send me a tracing of his Rickenbacker bass and I'll get started on building a fretless Ricky bass. I have a feeling that this will be a very productive summer.

[elbandito]

Just finished putting on the third coat and she's starting to look like a finished guitar! Looks great in the morning sun. I'm gonna put on a fourth coat and take some pics for you guys this evening. For now, I'm off to work!