NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

[LonePhantom]

So my belated birthday present arrived today.












So the body is in pretty good condition, the hardware is not. Tuners barely like to move. I have Ratios ready to install, and a spare jack plate. I'll clean up the neck plate and the trem baseplate. A parchment pickguard and cavity cover should arrive soon. I'll try and clean up the screws and trees too. The nut looks a little rough, and the neck, well, who knows exactly what happened to it. I'll try cleaning it up first, and see where I'm at.

The truss rod needs to be loosened a bit, but it should play amazing when I'm sorted. I also have a set of Duncan Hendrix pickups waiting to go in this.

[Blille]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

I had one like that and really liked it.

Congrats and happy birthday!

[jeremy]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

looks like a nice guitar! i find the tuners are typically a weak spot on cheaper guitars like this but thats easy to fix

[LonePhantom]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Thanks

Looking at the discolouration on the neck, it appears as though a previous owner has tried to "age" it (badly) with something. You can see yellow-y stuff on the nut, and signs of something overlaying the neck in one or two of the side dots. There appears to be build up on spots of the neck too.

I'm wondering if anyone can think of something at could be placed over the neck to try and give it a vintage look? Trying to gauge if I could potentially clean the neck with something to remove it, and retain the satin clear, or if I could even get away with using some 0000 steel wool to clean it up, and not lose the decals on the guitar.

I loosened off the truss rod, and adjust the bridge a little to get it floating, and even with the horrible dead strings it plays nicely. Once it's all cleaned up it should be a mean player. The stock pickups aren't bad, but I do have the Duncans ready to go.

The tuners feel worse than the trapezoids found on Bullets, the previous owner really messed them up. There's rust marks and everything. Thankfully I have replacements.

[LonePhantom]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

I spent the weekend cleaning up my Deluxe Strat, and wrote up a blog on my restoration. It's looking heaps better now. I think I am going to have to get a new nut, as it appears to be cut too deeply on the treble strings side. I'm thinking I'll go with the usual Graphtech nut, but I'm curious about trying something new too. I'm not under the impression that this guitar was not the victim of a bad relic job, but of water damage.

You can read up how I cleaned up all of the parts here: http://www.lonephantom.com/squier-de...r-restoration/

Before:


After:

[treedroppings]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

I really like what you did with the guitar!

[Cobra1957]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Nice! Happy NGD.

[ArtieToo]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Sweet. Nice project. Btw, those DD singles really aren't too bad.

[LonePhantom]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Sweet. Nice project. Btw, those DD singles really aren't too bad.

Thanks, yeah the DD SC-101s are quite nice. I wanted that vintage sound from this guitar though, and the Hendrix set are great for that.

[LonePhantom]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

So on top of the potential deeply cut nut, I've also got a neck that can't get enough relief. The truss rod is completely loose, and I can't get the strings to add a little bow to the neck, it seems completely flat. I'm concerned that the likely water damage to the guitar resulted in it being left with no strings for a very long time, resulting in the truss rod not doing much. It could come good over several weeks I'm guessing, but I'd rather get it in shape sooner rather than later. Any ideas on how to get the truss rod reset? I was thinking heavier strings for a period of time with it loosened, and then gradually tightening it over the course of several days, but I thought some members here may have some better (tried and tested) ideas.

[ehdwuld]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Dan Earlwhine (?)
Shows in his book
With the neck facing frets up, unmounted from the body
Small block at either end
Clamp in middle
Not much
Then tighten the truss rod to hold this position
Then release clamp

Sting it up and then loosen the truss to get the relief you want

[LonePhantom]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Is there a bit more info regarding this? I’m not quite following. Sit the neck on small blocks, and clamp gently between neck and a work bench perhaps?

[ehdwuld]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Yes of course on a bench or a saw horse
What ever it is resting on

I just remember the page from the book with pictures and stuff

You tube has tons of video on this type stuff

[LonePhantom]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

Great, thanks. I’ll look further in to this. I need to actually drill out and dowel the neck holes, since the skewers weren’t enough to do the job with this neck.

[ehdwuld]

Re: NGD: Squier Deluxe Stratocaster

OP...buy yourself a copy of Dan Erlewine's book, How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great. An excellent reference.

Bill

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