Squier '51

Mitch,

I remember seeing the pics of your Mojocaster, and that was really cool, but your BelAir is a work of art! 8) 8) 8)

Maybe your should start offering your services, (for a fee of course!), to customize all of these new '51's that will be showing up shortly! :twisted: :wink:

Dan

LOL; thanks Dan. It was fun and I definitely learned a few things along the way. Enough to know that I don't want to spend any more time modding guitars! :lol:

Mitch

Yeah, that was a beautiful job you did. How many hours labor did that take you? How did you paint the body and headstock? What kind of pickup is that at the neck?

I also liked that pickguard made of wood by the other poster. Very nice.

Yeah, that was a beautiful job you did. How many hours labor did that take you? How did you paint the body and headstock? What kind of pickup is that at the neck?

Hi Wes, and thanks. Not as many labor hours as you might think, but many light coats with a bit of sanding in between, all spaced over three or four weeks. More or less just sanding, priming, spraying, sanding, spraying, sanding ... and then a dozen or so clear coats. And sanding. For the headstock I just masked it off and sprayed. The body was attached to some spare lumber at the neck joint so I could easily flip it around while spraying, and I hooked it to an exposed beam in my basement workroom to dry. Drying time was the biggest component, especially with the clear coats. Mistake-fixing time was next. :lol:

That neck pup is a 6k GFS Lil Killer, similar to a Duncan rail-type humbucker in a single coil size. Pretty beefy sounding; almost too much bottom end. it made me realize I like single coils more than humbuckers, so I swapped for an alnico staggered-pole strat pup.

Yeah, Banre's wood pg is very cool. If I bought another one I'd paint it surf green and make a light-stained wood pg, with a surfboard logo. The ultimate "Woody"! :D

All this talk of modding '51s has me thinking about doing a few upgrades to mine. Quick question, how difficult (or easy) is it to replace the stock pups with newer ones? Also which ones would you guys suggest for a good classic rock sound? Both for the neck and bridge. And if I do decide to do this, seeing as it would be my first time doing something like this, what tips/suggestions could you guys offer so I don't totally ruin my guitar or kill myself in some freak accident or burn down the house. :D

Edit: I'm actually looking for a more bluesy sound in the single coil. So classic rock with the humbucker and blues with the single coil. Something thhat would make the switch betweem pups really distinct.

on pickup choises, I would go with anything labeled as a PAF for classic rock, at least for your humbucker. GFS makes some nice pups, and for a lot cheaper than seymour.