Well, now I'm worried lol. My Squier has a pretty thick sealer on it, and it has those ridges. There's one on Ebay that says they think it's on Ash body. So I don't know.

The neck pocket on mine says 362, which I read means it's the same body they used on the 62 reissues from Japan. Anyone know what wood those were made of?

Well, here's some pics of my squier, looks like plywood lol.
The route for the tremolo block has straight ridges all the way down, but the route for the pickups go at an angle, so I don't know.

It's all good man. I'm as intrigued as anyone else is. I still have an open mind to the possibility of a full sized Squier having a ply body. I just can't for the life of me imagine why there would be a need for Squier to make em in a full sized model.

Hey, just out of curiosity, can those mini guitars be pimped and intonated and all that? The reason I'm asking is, we have a ukulele player in our band and he wants to try making a switch to a regular guitar. But he's not comfortable with the size of the necks. He has to sing too, and he can't play a regular sized guitar and do that. He'd probably never go below the 12th fret. That's my department.

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Ooooohh.. That's a close one..

I'm gonna have to say that the angled grain=Solid wood. But I can see where you might think it's a possibility.. You can't have angled ridges in plywood though. It doesn't make sense as to how plywood is made. I'd have to see it in person. Or you could possibly sand it in one spot inside one of the cavities to be able to see it more..

One question though... Do you really want to know? Or are you content in knowing that the angled ridges would mean it's 99.99999% that it's solid wood edge grain. What kind of Squier is it?

Edit: On closer inspection, it looks like solid grain. The ridges aren't 100% uniform like ply. I think you're safe man.

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Could be lines from the router. I have never noticed if they plunge the router to full depth then run it's pattern or do they do it in stages as to keep it from splintering, working the router down in stages Or just marks from a router blade well used wich could be the cause. Blade nicks dull spots.

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Well, I just want to know so I know if I was lied to when I bought it lol. I think it said it was poplar. It's was mad in Japan. Here's a link to one that's just like mine on Ebay. One pic has a big chip near the neck and you can see how much poly buildup it has, but the exposed wood, doesn't look like plywood.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MIJ-Fender-E-Series ... .m20.l1116

I've seen completed auctions where they sold for between $250-$350, and they usually have chips, mine doens't have any chips. A red one just sold for $317 the other day.

I think I paid $250 for it new, so at least it didn't go down in value.

Hi JasonSD - and everyone.

Been away for a couple of days and missed some action. I'm bumping this
thread because I'm curious about the timber under this black finish. For
certain it ain't ply because, as everyone has said, the grain angles in the
pickup slot. Additionally, if you look in the trem block cavity it not only
angles, it curves up and then down again. That's a cross section of tree
rings beyond doubt.

But what the heck timber is it? Obviously, the darker grain is much harder
than the pale bits (the pale section of each ring is the spring growth of the
tree). That variable hardness is what is making it look a bit like ply in
some parts.

But that's not like any "tonewood" I can think of (though I've never
worked with poplar). I don't even think it's pine.

Shredd6; cvilleira - anyone want to take a punt at what that timber is?
Mighty curious.

BTW Jason, which factory is that black Squier from, please? Chinese?

Cheers - C

Because of the over spray in the neck pocket picture makes it hard to get a good look but I am thinking its Poplar and the visible grains are a darkish gray.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I agree with Cv, it looks like poplar. The 'rings' on that do not look like plywood at all.

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Ha! Poplar it is then.

That's the one mainstream tonewood I don't know personally.
And today's useful lesson!

Thanks guys - C

I kind of want him to sand like suggested at first.

I look at his photos, and the neck pocket looks like poplar, but it's hard to see with the overspray..


As for Shred's post. I got the Mini at a garage sale. I had to buy a couple springs to fix the bridge (total under $1.) The finish was beat up, a kid did exactly what you talked about earlier I guess. So I fixed the bridge, tuned it up, set the intonation. I got it to standard pitch, but I'll say, I had a real fear that the string tension would be too high, I may tune it to an open G or something. The fear might just be in my mind, do any of you have experience with tuning short scale guitars? This had no stirngs on it when I bought it, I had no point of reference on what it's like at pitch. then Istripped the hardware and pulled the neck, and removed the finish.

I am hoping to paint it candy apple red (hopefully this week, weather permitting.) The polyester seal was damaged, with the rest of the finish. Now that it is gone, i have to say, I think I need to slather something on there to smooth the plywood edges. Solid wood i usually use a sanding sealer, ir a vinyl sealer, but I don't think either would work for this. You're an experienced woodworker, do you think wood filler, or grain filler could do the trick. For the Mini I don't really want to go shopping. I have a nice amount of either at home. For Ceri, I got a hold of some water based lacquer, which we discussed briefly before. I think the Mini is the one to try it out on.

Of the little bit I played with it, I was actually pleasantly surprised. It sounds pretty Strat like. way more than I expected. The saddles are as basic as it can get, but they actually can be intonated, and individually set for height. It's a hardtail.

For me the biggest surprise was the quality of the neck.

The fret board is gorgeous.



If I have too much trouble with the plywood, I might have to go to the lumber yard and get a piece of ash, and use the ply body as a template.

_________________
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Ha! Has the snow melted then? We've been waiting patiently: I
trust you're going to give us a thread on this refin? The ply edge problem
will add to the interest of that. You need something non-shrinking, don't
you? I can even see the join line through about an inch of polyester on my
old Squier body, so I guess something different is required...

Far as the waterbased finish is concerned, I'd be most curious to know
what type?

I just took delivery of some waterbased acrylic sanding sealer and lacquer
from these people:

http://www.chestnutproducts.co.uk/resul ... t=Lacquers

That can be tinted with waterbased pigments such as:

http://www.lionpic.co.uk/catalog/Concen ... rt=1&dir=0

I've an idea neither of those brands is available in North America, but
there are many equivilents. Or have you plumped for Stew-Mac's
waterbased finish? If so - what's in it?

Cheers - C

Ceri, I did post a thread on my ibanez refin a few months ago. Only Niki, Deadahead ans 63 Supro responded. Because of my pathological need for praise, the rest of you sent me into an all consuming depression, I had my belt looped over the shower rod, and it was only my innate laziness that allowed me to be here to type this out for you!!!

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... 931#261931


Yeah i sprung for the Stew Mac stuff. I think it's really rebranded target coatings stuff.

I think I'll head to good ole Canadian tire, and get some Bondo. use that to seal it.

_________________
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OH. MY. G...

How the heck did that slip past?

Well. Kindly step down from the edge of the tub, go back over to that
thread and resume the story, if you'd be so forgiving. It won't get away
from us again...

Cheers - C

It's a Japanese Squier.

I think I have more pics of the tremolo spings cavity, if it helps. I probably have some pics of the pickup cavitys also. Have to look.