DARS S-Style Electric | Part 2

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Dear readers, having taken a good look at the video featured in Part 1, I'm sure you'll agree that quite a few issues need to be addressed. Let's start with replacement parts, then. These include a tuner bushing and washer for the high E, Alpha A250K pots, an Alpha 5P selector switch, assorted screws, a Japanese output jack, and a set of D'Addario EXL120s.

Replacement Parts

Folks, the next section is rather disgusting, methinks. While I do not take pleasure in sharing such pics, this is what could happen to any electric guitar left in a corner for years on end. For example, in the case of our DARS here, the mini pots, nuts and washers were rusted in place. As spanners would not work, I ended up using a pair of pincers to pry them off the pickguard.

Frozen Pots, Nuts and Washers

Pot Shafts and Lock Washers

Grimy Pickguard - Top

Grimy Pickguard - Underside

Disassembled Pickups and Electronics

Right then, time for a little cleaning. The grimy pickguard was given a good scrubbing with soap and water, and hung to dry. I'm glad to report that the scrubbing effectively removed all traces of icky stuff, leaving the pickguard a nice shade of yellowish-white.

Pickguard After Scrubbing - Top

Pickguard After Scrubbing - Underside

With the pickguard nice and clean, I laid down some fresh copper foil shielding, seeing as how the existing aluminum foil was worn down in far too many places. Then, just for the sake of it, I test fitted the replacement Alpha A250K pots and 5P selector switch.

Copper Foil Shielding Installed

Test Fitting the Pots and Switch

 

Today found me cleaning and servicing the pickups and hardware that would be reused. These included the tremolo bridge, bridge mounting screws, saddles, intonation screws and springs, output jack plate, and control knobs.  

Pickups After Servicing

Assorted Hardware After Servicing