Right guys, I mentioned this a few weeks ago and as of two days ago I removed my Facebook account to become more productive, and it has worked! So I started to restring my current guitar and I thought why not start taking my Affinity to bits and start work.

So I disassembled it all, I'm scrapping everything bar the body which I'm refinishing.




Now I didn't realise the way this body was routed, and the space in there for two humbuckers could make my pickup choice a little more complicated than I was originally expecting



Now its time, to let myself loose with the heat gun and strip this horrible plasticy finish off this thing, expect naked body photos tomorrow!



Oh also I'd hate to think that I was neglecting what was expected of me, so here is my feline companion...



You might get some choice photos of beverages in the later months of this build but for now I'm off the sauce! Also I'll have some higher quality images too, apologies but my blackberry was all thats available right now.

Good luck stripping the finish off the body. You might want to do a search for other posts about stripping the poly off a guitar body. There have been several here recently. It is not easy and can be quite a mess. Hopefully you have researched refinishing a guiter body.

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Bill

Indeed I've been reading across the internet and posts here for quite some time. I've dug through the cellar and have a heat gun which is so far doing a good job.

Going nice and slowly so I don't burn the wood underneath, its gonna take a while but I was expecting it to be harder!

The poly top is coming off nicely, just time consuming, there is also a metallic dusting kind of layer underneath which is going to be a sandpaper job after, but thats ok as it's going to need to be sanded down nicely anyway so all is well.

However electronic and part wise I'm gonna be asking many questions I'm sure But that will come when I have some spare cash for parts.

Rest assured I won't be jumping into anything, I like to take my time and make sure I'm doing OK
Cheers.

Are you gonna do the paint work yourself once it's ready?

I have a '78 Musicmaster bass that I wanted to refinish. It's already non original paint becuase it was a beat up and neglected mess when I got it. But that paint was done at an auto body shop and is VERY heavy, can't imagine tackling that clear coat alone! So I bought another body off of Evil-bay, no paint but had been stained so I'm sanding that off now.

If all goes well my plan is to sand it down, fill a couple dings, prime it/seal it and have my son airbrush it, than it will be clear coated again at an auto shop. No real figured top so a transparent sunburst is probably out of the question but something along those lines is what I was hoping for.

Yeah that plan is to refinish it myself, I'm undecided as to what so far, very much depends on the state of the wood I find underneath. But considering its from a cheap squier I'm not expecting anything worth of a sunburst or transparent finish

I'm probably going with something less ambitious, just in a colour you don't see too often.

Good luck on yours!

That's a lovely Firestorm finish you have on your calico. How old is he?

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Ah yes our Bengal, he's 8 now if I remember rightly. He also has probably the most annoying meow I've ever heard on an animal He also terrorises the neighbourhood, the local cats just can't hunt like he can!

Here is an update on the stripping...



The top coat isn't too bad, its the crap underneath which is the worst, some wood starting to peek through and tease though. Time for work now, got tomorrow off so I should be able to get it stripped in the morning before I go skating, weather permitting.

Oh and I'll wear better socks next time

Build thread! GET IN!!!



I was going to suggest to keep the black body and slap a salmon pickguard on it, just for fun. Would sure look properly mellow!

Looking forward to this build. Carry on!

Cheers

Nutter

Thanx, I'm gonna keep some photos on the stages of this thing, I'll share them if it comes out. My son has airbrushed a couple pickguards that came out cool so this will be the first guitar body. I've tried the clear coat thing and yeah, I suck at it. The auto clear coat on my '78's finish now has held up like a beast for 16 years and very inexpensive too.

I'll keep watching for updates on your progress.

Ha as usual with these things be prepared for a long drawn out painful affair, I only have limited cash from each pay cheque at my disposal so its gonna be a month by month thing. But I figure this is like paying for a guitar on finance, except I get in no debt and I end up with exactly what I want.

I get paid friday so I'm planning on sorting out the colours I need so I can get that process going and letting the paint dry properly whilst I plan the other parts. I feel thats the best way to go.

But of course that leads the question, which colour. I'm leaning towards a shell pink, but wouldn't a British Racing Green be fantastic? Also after a fantastic summer of british sport wouldn't BRG be a lovely tribute. Who knows, input by you folks would be fantastic as always.



Would love to see any photos of it, hoping it comes out well for you, what colour are you leaning towards? But I think these forums could always do with more guitar based threads for us all to rally around!

Looking good Snowjoe! You were able to use the heat gun. You have my respect Bro
Looking forward to your progress! To quote brother Nutter "carry on".

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Thanks for the kind words!

Slowly but surely the wood appears....



Day off tomorrow so should get a good crack at it, but for now I'm going to jam with some friends, hope everyone had a jammin' weekend.

Hey Snowjoe, I have tossed around a million ideas.....cherry sunburst....some take on the Clapton crashocaster/my own shapes and colors........a simple "meteor orange" with a black stripe......I have plenty of time to think while I do more sanding.

Thats the problem, too much time to think! I think I'm hedging with BRG or Shell Pink, but who knows in a weeks time something else could have caught my eye

Orange could be very striking for yours though! Crashocaster would be amazing if you did a good take on it!

Hey, somehow missed this thread till now. Way to go, Snowjoe, looking good!



Well, Racing Green is always cool, but given the thread title I think anything other than pink - er, sorry, "Salmon"... - would be against the Trade Descriptions Act, wouldn't it?

I don't remember seeing Man Salmon down at Halfords' paint department, but I expect they can mix you an aerosol of it if you ask them very nicely. And wear your hat at just the right angle.

A-a-a-a-anyway. Most important thing: what's the cat's name, please? A handsome fella, that's for sure!

Cheers - C

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