This rosewood board Strat is a fine example of how NOT to take care of your guitar. From the looks of the sweat and grime-caked fretboard, I knew it'd seen a lot of action over the years. The stock electronics (except for the pickups) were shot, and every single piece of hardware was either seriously tarnished or rusty. To make matters worse, someone had broken off the tremolo arm right where it screwed into the block, leaving an unsightly stub; and most of the saddle height adjustment hex screws were frozen in place. On the plus side, a thoughtful soul had added aluminium foil shielding in the pickup and control cavities. Testing with a multimeter revealed that continuity was good. However, there was no grounding tab from any of the pot casings to the foil.
The tremolo arm stub refused to budge despite my best efforts, so I ended up filing it flat. This means that no one will be playing "Apache" on this Strat. As for the saddle height screws, I managed to remove them after breaking the rust bond via heat/cold treatment. As expected, these 12 tiny screws needed to be replaced. The still-functioning pickups were de-gunked; and wiring, pots, 5-way switch, output jack and tone cap replaced. Besides this, a grounding wire/tab was soldered to the 2nd tone pot casing and screwed into the foil in the humbucker pickup cavity. I also added a self-adhesive strip of copper foil to the pickup cavity shielding that would make contact with the foil shield on the underside of the pickguard.
De-griming and polishing the frets was a relatively painless task compared to reconditioning the rosewood fretboard, I must say. A naptha-soaked rag didn't do much, so out came the scrapers. It was only after removing loads of crud that one could see the beautiful wood hidden beneath. The rosewood board was so dry that the first couple of applications of lemon oil were soaked up in a matter of minutes. Talk about a thirsty board!
After stringing her with a set of 9s and carrying out the usual setup procedures, this Strat was once again ready for action.
The tremolo arm stub refused to budge despite my best efforts, so I ended up filing it flat. This means that no one will be playing "Apache" on this Strat. As for the saddle height screws, I managed to remove them after breaking the rust bond via heat/cold treatment. As expected, these 12 tiny screws needed to be replaced. The still-functioning pickups were de-gunked; and wiring, pots, 5-way switch, output jack and tone cap replaced. Besides this, a grounding wire/tab was soldered to the 2nd tone pot casing and screwed into the foil in the humbucker pickup cavity. I also added a self-adhesive strip of copper foil to the pickup cavity shielding that would make contact with the foil shield on the underside of the pickguard.
De-griming and polishing the frets was a relatively painless task compared to reconditioning the rosewood fretboard, I must say. A naptha-soaked rag didn't do much, so out came the scrapers. It was only after removing loads of crud that one could see the beautiful wood hidden beneath. The rosewood board was so dry that the first couple of applications of lemon oil were soaked up in a matter of minutes. Talk about a thirsty board!
After stringing her with a set of 9s and carrying out the usual setup procedures, this Strat was once again ready for action.
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