Scrybe's Little Mods of Horrors!

That is awesome.

And the guitar is cool too!

What body are you going to use with the neck you are buying from me???

Thanks Dali......that's actually the body your neck will be going on! For now, I'll be using the old pickguard n pups from my Am Std strat, but then I'll switch it up later. I wanna see how the Swamp Ash sounds and research pups a bit more first (and save some cash! lol). I can't decide whether to load that with your pups (and choose a third pup for that setup), or go with some vintagey SCs for that one, and use the rails in another strat.

The latter option does mean another strat. Making it incredibly persuasive. :wink:

Nice! Very much like my Lite Ash Tele. The rosewood f'board looks good on it. Will the actual be rosewood? Did you finish the body?

The FB will be rosewoo on the finished thing. I didn't finish it, and will be sanding down and refinishing at some later date (I'm also gonna shape it a little more, hence the work). But for now, I'm just gonna get it set up ready to play and check how it sounds. I'll also give some thought to how I'll finish it when I get around to all that.

Cool, never seen a naked guitar before!

Mini-Update....

I would have been a lot further along on finishing off these projects had I (a) not been horrendously ill last year, and (b) not blown the little fuse inside my soldering iron just as I was about to do a batch of soldering work (the little one inside the machine itself, not the easily available one inside the plug :cry: )

This is kinda what Swampy will look like when done. Swampy gets the JB Noiseless SCs, a Wilkinson bridge (set to float, the hole need drilling and this pic was taken while working out where to drill....massive props to Greg for technical assistance on that), and a mint green scratchplate (which II think goes quite absurdly well with the natural finish. Neck and locking tuners courtesy of The Dali, tho one tuner (the low E) seems permanently stuck in the locked position, so I gotta see if there's some kinda fix for that).

All that's left to do is fix the tuner, drill for the bridge, and wire the scratchplate, and it's ready to go! (I can't wait, heh heh).

And this is the body of Raif MkI (which may be renamed). I found some spray paint for 1/3 of the cost of what I was gonna use, so last year I gave a test spray. This is shoddy work because (a) I didn't try very much, (b) I sprayed outside and the wind affected the "burst" effect, (c) I sprayed with the body on the ground, as it was just to test paint quality, and (d) I was just doing this to test the paint quality.

Okay, disclaimer over. Turned out the paint is good quality, so I'll be going with that and saving 2/3 of my paint costs. They even have a clear laquer I'm gonna test and maybe use to finish it off! I have to sand it down a lot (there's major roughness from earlier sanding that I didn't bother fixing before the test spray) and repaint, but this gives you a little idea of what it will look like when done. I also have to clean the FB and respray the neck. Think I'll do the neck blue, with a black face on the headstock with blue vertical stripe (where the logo will be), and maybe a black fade into the blue at the heel of the neck. It gets gold hardware, all of which is sitting good to go. Then it's on with the DiMarzio Air Norton and Air Zone pups! Oh, and I gotta make sure the bridge ground is good, as I don't think it actually was grounded at the bridge when I got it new. It used to be a black Encore with cream and chrome hardware.

The updating of this thread is long overdue. Hopefully I'll get my soldering iron fuse replaced tomorrow and will have more updates in the next week or so. :D :D :D

If I don't get the fuse tomorrow, I'll start work on smoothing Raif MkI ready for paint. And do some FB cleaning and smoothing on a few of the guitars too.

Edit: I may take a little of the "spike" off that bottom horn on Raif MkI, give it more or a curve. Any thoughts?

That is a very handsome guitar.

Your "Swamp Strat" is coming along nicely... I like it! 8)

I'm with you on rounding off the horn a bit on the LP body too.

Thanks guys! The real spray burst effect on Raif MkI def needs to be a lot shallower around the bridge (more blue, black only at the edges). But I'm impressed with paint, having read lots of negative comments about cheaper paints in the past. This one isn't nitro, but future projects likely will be (I like that natural fade after some playing....)

Dan - I'm thinking of rounding it somewhat similar to how the axe looks in your Buckethead avatar.

Here's how I spent this evening...

The neck of Raif MkI. It had some really terrible ridges all over the FB, and the frets were heavily tarnished in places and dinted slightly near the (missing) nut from playing. So, I took some sandpaper and wet-or-dry paper to it, moving across the FB....

You gotta be careful not to hit the frets at this stage, else you could end up with wonky ones. Wrapping the paper around a file really helps with the higher frets.

Then I went over this with some 0000-grade wire wool, going both across the fret board and along it, going over the frets lightly too. I followed up with some T-Cut (which darkened the wood a little, and helped clean and polish it), and then some lemon oil. Now, it feels as soft and smooth and inviting as the kind of thing I can't possible type about on a family forum such as this...

I think the gold tuners are swish. The face of the headstock is three pieces, so the central piece will go blue, with the logo across, and the two outer strips will go black. Unless I change my mind before I paint.

I'm going to smooth down El Cheapo Acoustico too, and do a little restoration on my Epi and Strat, both of which need some TLC from playing grooves into the wood. I wont be using the sandpaper on those tho, just the wet-or-dry at 600 grade, then on to the wire wool.

Gotta get a nut for Raif MkI. I'm thinking Graphite. Anyone know where I can order one? Pref. one precut for 10s, but as it isn't an 'established brand' I'm not sure if it'll fit.

Looks like you've been busy! I got one of those Wilkinson trems I took off an old guitar I disassembeled. Thought about putting it in my SX project Strat but I don't wang so left well enough alone. I need to start work on my Explorer project. (Actually a Kramer Imperial Axe) When I do get around to it ... I will have pics. Keep up the good work Sara!

Wow Scrybe. You do good work. I love that swamp ash body. maybe I missed something but may I ask where you got the body from? looks beautiful natural, curious as to what it would look like with transparent sunset orange like Fender had on their basses a few years back. Any thoughts?

Thanks Fibaz! I got it around this time last year on Ebay from a seller named either DavianSales or DevianSales, will check and see if I still have a contact for you. Only bought that body from them so far, but it was cheap, arrived on time and as described, and matches Fender spec very well. There's a few slight differences in countouring spec between that and my c.2000 MIA Strat, but I only noticed it when deliberately eyeballing them for differences, I'd not noticed any difference when holding it or looking at it previously.

I think it would look great with the trans orange respray. I'll admit trans orange isn't my first choice in finishes, but this body is so pale and nicely lined that I think it would actually work very well. I was considering a light trans black nitro respray myself, but I'm liking the clear finish/mint green guard combination, so I'll probably leave it as is for now, and maybe respray next year or so if I get bored. (heh, modding guitars is bloody awesome, I can change colour scheme at will!)

There's also a German seller who I've had good experiences with, and who often has good bodies called Knochen (with the two dots above the o), but I haven't seen much from them recently apart from small parts. Shame.

Seems all the good and cheap bodies and neck on there are usually in the US, so I'm always on the lookout for more reputable local suppliers.

Oh, and a belated (but still very warm) welcome to GN! :D

I was checking out a Les Paul kit at Guitar Fetish. I think you may have given me gas Scrybe! Shame on you!

I was checking out a Les Paul kit at Guitar Fetish. I think you may have given me gas Scrybe! Shame on you!

Just the one kit, TR? Must be old age getting to you... :lol: (just kidding)

I say go for it! Purchase! Do it now! But don't forget you need a guitar to put that Wilkinson bridge on, too. :wink: