JB HB Mod - now a "marmite" (?) finish "JBS"

JohnB

Just ordered a £50 HB S type for a mod - what will happen ?  I intend to keep the final cost below £150 if I can.

JohnB

Donor guitar has arrived, much better than I had expected for £50. I was expecting lots of improvements I could make without spending much money but it plays remarkably well.  It only weighs just over 7 lb though - much lighter than I am used to. Almost seems a shame to take it to pieces :-)

 Start with pick ups I think.......the Artec hot classics on my homebuild JB005 aren't bad

JohnB

Ok, so relic-ing one of these isn't proving as simple as hoped, the finish seems to be thicker than the timber and there is a papery "grain" layer on top of the wood

JohnB

Plan A (partial strip and wood stain to a Rory Gallagher rep) totally scuppered by the HB finish, finally got the top surface off totally today (knife blade and chisel). The body is 2 or more very bland bits of basswood.  Could have built a new body in less time but this is a mod challenge so IMHO you have to keep the body and neck so I am now working on a plan B.

JohnB

Can't believe I missed a spiral twist on the neck when I unpacked the guitar   -  this mod gets worse and worse  ( . Perhaps I should just get a new neck and body - oh, I have already ordered new pickups and bridge and machines, hardly a mod if I do that

JohnB

Ok, the original finish is off - a bit of filling needed where I dug into the wood occasionally but at least it is only 2 pieces and will probably be a reasonable quality basis for a solid finish - I thought this modding lark would be easier than building from scratch 

JohnB

This body might come out well - I don't really do solid finishes though

I really should have spotted this ... it isn't subtle, probably 5 degrees of spiral. Only saw it when I was admiring the shine of an hour or so of fret work - toying with using an alternative Chinese Strat neck I have in the workshop, which is gunbarrel straight like the others I have used before

mart

I think it's worth phoning Thomann about that - the neck is arguably not fit for purpose. Even if they can't take it back because of you stripping the body, they may well offer some sort of recompense - vouchers or something. At least, you've got nothing to lose by asking.

JohnB

Good idea mart, I have emailed the photo to their Quality Control department

JohnB

No luck - they won't accept a claim because I have modded the body and their technical department can't see the spiral (or is it helical) twist in the neck photo. It was bit of a long shot

mart

Oh well. Nothing ventured ....

JohnB

Here is the original neck on the top with modded headstock shape and rattle can finish, next to the £25 Chinese neck that will replace it due to the twist issue with the original neck. Doesn't look like too much of a cheat to me.  Black spray job on the body is coming on but I am new to spray finishing

steamabacus

At least the neck appears to be twisted 'the right way'. All may not be lost - have a watch of this vid.... (2'55" on...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjo0Xvb6hRo

JohnB

Thanks for that vid, the neck is twisted "the right way" so perhaps I will give it a try, it seemed to play ok out of the box and it seems a shame to waste the time I spent rolling the edges and levelling and polishing the frets

 

JohnB

Well, I've modded it - learned a bit along the way.  I thought "I've built guitars from scratch, how hard can this be ?" but there are different skills. 

I suspect this is a bit of a Marmite finish - my wife's idea, my interpretation. I like it!

This is my first rattle can finish and it isn't perfect - some areas of the lacquer are too thickly coated and are a bit prone to marks. The lacquer is too thin on the headstock so you can see the edges of the waterslide (I will cut an accurate plectrum shape if I use this logo again and it will look deliberate :-) ).

Original parts retained are:-

The body - stripped, filled, primed, painted and lacquered

The neck (slight twist and all) and it plays fine. I have levelled, crowned and dressed the frets and lightly rolled the edges of the board. I have a maple fingerboard neck I might fit later.

Switch and volume and tone pots - will be replaced as they fail.

New parts:-

Machines - Wilkinson

Trem - Wilkinson - block is about 3 times the weight of the original, I have also inserted an 8mm thick rosewood block into the rather soft basswood body where the fulcrum bears (I had to redrill the bridge holes anyway).

Pickups - Artec Hot Classics

Gold anodised scratchplate, neck plate, jack plate and strap buttons.

Black screws, pickup covers and knobs.

Cost  - just shy of £200 I think

Donor  -  £55

Pickups £35

Machines £18

Scratchplate £20

Paint £40

Sundries £30

JohnB

A couple more pics

Sarge

Looks very nice indeed, good job that man!

Re: the visible decal edge, I've been cutting the decal big to trim it to the edge of the headstock and the other edge to finish inbetween the tuner holes so I've only a small amount to hide and means I can have a thinner/quicker finish.
Food for thought.

JudasVigilante

Thats a really nice looking strat @JohnB .Really nice work and good choice of components too I'd say.

Andyjr1515

Missed this final post @JohnB. It looks really really good. I actually like that raised decal in that shape - looks classy How is the neck playing in the end?

Andyjr1515

Also just spotted the detail of setting in a rosewood block under the trem - any pics?

JohnB

@Andyjr1515 - The neck actually plays really well - I think because I wasn;t too worried about it (as I have a spare which I might fit anyway) I got more aggressive than I usually do with the the fret levelling and dressing and got a better feel as a result.  I don't have a photo of the rosewood insert although I can take one next time I take the guitar to bits as it is unfinished.  The new bridge holes were going to be too close to the original ones, so I just cut out the timber under the bridge and inserted a piece of timber. I chose rosewood with the grain running the same way as the fingerboard because I figured that the trem might work better on a hard surface.  I think it does.