Now NGD: Vintera Road Worn 60’s strat LPB

dindude

So changed the strings, oiled the board, fettled the fret ends a bit, and put a spring in the trem hole to stop it flopping around. Took the opportunity to look under the hood and presently surprised, neat wiring, CTS pots, not sure what the switch is but it’s the proper open type. There’s not a lot of compromise with these guitars.

https://i.imgur.com/aeYNBen.jpg

guitargeek62

I did the same recently @dindude and was also pleased by the quality of the work. For what it’s worth, mine arrived with the trem-arm spring in place already but they’re so damned easy to lose! 

While I was under the guard I shielded the cavities, added an @Alegree baseplate to the bridge pickup, and moved the middle tone-pot over to the bridge as well. One other thing I noticed is that we do have a full-size painted steel block in these (at a healthy 235g). I took the liberty of removing it from the bridge-plate and sanding off the paint from the top surface - apparently this promotes ‘better’ tone but I sincerely doubt I’ll ever hear the difference! 

I’ve started adding a little more finessing into the relic treatment, using micro mesh on the neck and worn areas to improve the blending, and carefully picking at the edges of the worn-thru sections with a scalpel and other implements to remove some of the template vibe in places. I’ll get to work properly on the pickguard and plastics next, I’m just waiting for an alu shield to arrive for the rear of it first before I try aging them any further, though I have added a few more dings and chips that they’d normally have picked up by now, and de-glossed some of the surfaces a bit. 

All in all this really is a lovely guitar already, everything I’m doing is just because!

noisepolluter

I’ve put a treble bypass thingy on the volume control - I’ve done that on all my guitars to give more clarity as I clean up the sound with the volume control. It also seems to smooth out the taper.

noisepolluter

guitargeek62 said:

I did the same recently @dindude and was also pleased by the quality of the work. For what it’s worth, mine arrived with the trem-arm spring in place already but they’re so damned easy to lose! 

While I was under the guard I shielded the cavities, added an @Alegree baseplate to the bridge pickup, and moved the middle tone-pot over to the bridge as well. One other thing I noticed is that we do have a full-size painted steel block in these (at a healthy 235g). I took the liberty of removing it from the bridge-plate and sanding off the paint from the top surface - apparently this promotes ‘better’ tone but I sincerely doubt I’ll ever hear the difference! 

I’ve started adding a little more finessing into the relic treatment, using micro mesh on the neck and worn areas to improve the blending, and carefully picking at the edges of the worn-thru sections with a scalpel and other implements to remove some of the template vibe in places. I’ll get to work properly on the pickguard and plastics next, I’m just waiting for an alu shield to arrive for the rear of it first before I try aging them any further, though I have added a few more dings and chips that they’d normally have picked up by now, and de-glossed some of the surfaces a bit. 

All in all this really is a lovely guitar already, everything I’m doing is just because!

Pics of your relicing fine tuning please! 

guitargeek62

noisepolluter said:

Pics of your relicing fine tuning please! 

I’ll post some in making & modding once I’m happy with it. I’ve been taking progress pics and step-by-steps anyway but haven’t had the time to sit down and do it ‘properly’ yet. I’m going for less-is-more though

*edit* I'm largely following this type of thing:

https://guitar.com/guides/diy-workshop/relic-nitro-finish/