Done with the latest incarnation of my Squier '51 mod project - the "Bel Air" custom shop edition.
New paint, custom pickguard, new switches and wiring, new neck ... more fun!
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Woah, love it! Is that the original pickguard, just trimmed down? What are the extra toggle switches controlling?
Yes, I used the original pickguard, trimmed down, sealed with shellac, painted and lacquered. More or less the same process for the whole body. :)
The mini switches are just coil taps, but I wanted a separate control for each pickup (both are 4-wire humbuckers.) I used 3.3k-ohm resistors on the lugs that go to ground, so in effect they give only a partial split. I find this a bit fuller and better sounding than a plain old coil split, at least on these pickups.
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Did this have a camoflauge paint job one time? It looks awesome man, good job!
Vacate is the word...Vengance has no place on me or her...Cannot find a comfort in this world.
Yes, this was the "desert camo" mojocaster in a prior life. That was fun, but this look better captures the guitar's personality. ;) LOL!
It was sort of a "hey, let's see if I can do this" personal challenge. The finish isn't perfect as I couldn't keep all of the dust off, and I should have sanded more between coats, but overall I'm pleased with the result.
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Yes, this was the "desert camo" mojocaster in a prior life. That was fun, but this look better captures the guitar's personality. ;) LOL!
It was sort of a "hey, let's see if I can do this" personal challenge. The finish isn't perfect as I couldn't keep all of the dust off, and I should have sanded more between coats, but overall I'm pleased with the result.
It looks nice man, seems like you should play some surf music on it, I keep getting the Saved by the Bell theme song stuck in my head when I look at it.
Vacate is the word...Vengance has no place on me or her...Cannot find a comfort in this world.
The camo was awesome, too. Question - why not buy another 51 and have two modded 51's? You could probably sell 'em for some profit, cause it looks like you do an excellent job. Find out the cost of your labor and add it to the cost of the parts. Then, add a little bit of profit and ...
It is a small world for metal fanatics. I welcome you fellow musicians, especially the metalheads!
slejhamer that is AWESOME!!!! It truely is an original Squier '51! I wish I had the guts to take mine a part and repaint it.
Slej, I don't often reply to these mod threads but that is one cool looking guitar, very subtle and the colour is fantastic! Send me this one when you're done playing it!
Hamer, nice job. Really looks like you took some time with it. How did you do the logo? Did you make your own waterslide?
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
Re: surf music. LOL, yeah, it does have that vibe. However, these pickups seem to do best with mucho overdrive. The Lil Killer in the neck is better now with the coil tap, but I'm not sure yet about the Bigmouth in the bridge - that one still seems to really like high gain. But I'm actually setting this guitar up for slide and am really looking forward to Kirk Lorange's slide DVD.
Re: why not two 51's ... well, I thought about that. But first, I mucked up the original neck. That was definitely a learning experience. Fortunately I found someone looking for a project and I sold it to him. When I got the new neck, I was going to put on a Mojocaster decal ... but now it seems that "everyone" has a Mojocaster decal (I've received "thank you" emails from 30+ people) so I wanted something original. And I just happened to see an old Chevy Bel Air on the road in this beautiful aged sonic blue color ... and voila! Inspiration. Also, there are enough minor flaws that I wouldn't feel comfortable selling one. Most are "under the hood" like my sloppy routing job for the mini switch cavity, and my cramped wiring, but still...
If I'm ever really bored I'll make another camouflage '51 and mount a rifle scope on top, and a trigger in the lower horn area ... ha!
Re: the logo - yes, I made my own waterslide decal. I "borrowed" the basic Bel Air shape from an image I found on the web, then goosed it quite a bit in photoshop. And of course the '51 lightning bolt thingy is my own creation, from the prior decal.
To all: THANKS!
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
