So check it out guys, I'm 20 years old and my father has taught me everything I know about guitars and playing them. He's instilled a love of fender's in me from the time I can remember. So sitting around my appartment is THE VERY FIRST guitar he ever got me which is a 2000 (i believe going by the serial number, squier guitar). So alot of you after I tell you my plans are going to look at me like I'm crazy but you have to see the sentimental value going into this gift. My plan is to strip this thing down to bare wood and recreate by hand the very first guitar he ever had, which was a 60's (not sure exact year) Surf Green Strat. Plans are to give it a nice nitrocellulous finish, nitrocellulous lacqure finish on the neck. Replace all the electronics and internals including the pickups (going to put some vintage noiseless in ). Also replace the tremelo with a 62' reissue vintage tremelo, aged white parts. Vintage tunning heads, and sand off that nasty squier logo and replace it with a '62 fender decal. I'll keep this updated with photos as the project goes along. Sanding starts tomorrow. Tell me what you guys thing and I will greatly appriciate the support. I hope this will be one of the most memorable things for my father.

Well I would start by using a heat gun to get the finish off, it'll be a lot quicker than sanding.

yeah thats what one of my co-workers told me, but I was also told that if i was inexperienced with a heat gun or using heat to get the paint and finish off that I run the risk of screwing it up and causing damage to the guitar and yeah that would put a giant hinder in my plan hahah thanks though

That is a really thoughtful gift idea. I can see the sentimental value it has to yourself. But I can also imagine the predicament your father may be in upon receiving that guitar from you. Having started my guitar journey similarly to yourself, I would suggest keeping the first guitar your father bought you, as it was when it was purchased for you. Don't get me wrong, I understand how much it would mean to you, to be able to repay your father for that lifelong gift. But I think any father would rather see his son cherish that 1st axe then to hack it up and gift it back.
Maybe, he has every axe under the sun, in which case, sentimental value would be the only value of that gift, but to a seasoned player, who has held out on aquiring guitars for himself for the sake of his sons hobbies, would have no interest in a frankensquire. I personally can not afford to buy my father a guitar that he would play over his others. Until I could, I would hold off, Save up, and keep my own squire.

yeah i can see where your coming from

The thing is is that every time he comes over and he plays that guitar and his was recently stolen, by no means am i a millionaire haha i dont exactly have a grand to go drop on a 62 vintage reissue like i wish, he talks about his first strat ALL the time and as much sentimental value this guitar is to me, I know its that much more to him simply because it reminds him of his first (noooooot sure why hahaha) Ill take into consideration all the pros and cons but I still think I'm gonna go ahead with the project allthough what exactly would i use to get the finish and paint off, people are saying use a heat gun...wtf is a heat gun hahahaa

The heat gun looks similar to a hair dryer, but gets much hotter. I can see your reasoning for going through with the project. Good luck, and post some pics of the progress here for us.

Sounds like an AWSOME idea and a GREAT gift. Would it be possible to keep us up to date on how the project is coming along with some pictures ? Heck, I'm already hooked on Ceri's thread. Watching fix up Niki's strat body.

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"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

oh yeah for sure i definitely plan on keeping this thread undated with as many pics as possible im going to take some today of what it looks like now and then tomorrow im going to start sanding or....using a heat gun...any ideas of where i can get one of those and some tips on what to do as to not destroy the guitar itself with it haha. thanks guys for the support. promise to update as much as possible

Hi,

I used a Home Depot heat gun around $25 for the first time and it stripped the paint just fine of my Squier Classic vibe 50s. I had a few burn marks (nothing like ninininja's body; sorry nick ), but it all can be sanded away. The hard part for me was painting which I screwed up. It is not horrible but it is nothing to realy show off.

I used the nitro based stuff which due to my climate takes forever to dry properly. After the final sanding and painting I left the guitar body to hang in a dry and warm for two weeks and than leaned it on my guitar case.

Guess what hapened, the grained surface on my hardcase left the imprint all over the back of the body. Front of the body soaked some dust so it is pretty much going to become either "road worn" or refinished again. This is after two weeks of drying not a very happy ending.

great idea ! your dad will love it a lot!

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Jacob Thorne

hahah i hope so and i hope the paint wont get screwed up too bad like yours did, if you dont mind me asking where is it that you live because im in florida but i plan on keeping it inside in a dry warm place so maybe that will help the drying process along. and ill be sure to let it dry for awhile before leaning it up against any thing hahaha.

p.s so im trying to upload some pics of the guitar before tomorrow inital sanding or heat gunning? lol but i cant figure it out how the hell do you get this to work lol

UPDATE: all the hardware and neck is off the guitar, tomorrow the heat gunning begins (ok really...is heat gunning a word? hahah) I'm trying to get pics up but i cant figure it out for some reason so if you guys can tell me how to get those pics up you'll get to witness this project begin haha. Thanks for following guys

Honestly your best bet is to go to Reranch.com and follow the instructions exactly. This is how I started refinishing guitars. As you go on you learn some shortcuts and better ways to do it, but if you're only going to do it one time, follow the instructions it gives you. This is the best site I've found on finishing guitars. Good luck and post some pictures!