Guitars for sale

I currently have these guitars for sale....

Arctic White Strat £85




Sunburst 70's relic Strat £125

Click on the images for larger views.
See all previous posts for full details of these guitars.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions... ukguitars@gmail.com

Alba black semi acoustic guitar

I bought this Alba semi acoustic earlier this year.


It arrived all glossy, shiny and new and looked fantastic. I was surprised how heavy the guitar was when I lifted it from the box. It weighed in at around 8lbs on my bathroom scales.


First impressions on playing are that the neck has a traditional C shape, thicker than modern "fast" necks but still comfortable to play. The neck is set into the body and unlike many Asian guitars, there are no cracks in the lacquer at this point, it all looks perfectly sound.



The action was high and the frets were very chunky. The volume and tone controls were loose as was the selector switch. These are typical faults on Asian guitars, all down to poor quality control. Fortunately these are not big issues and are easily fixed. After repairing the selector switch I eased off the tone knob and tightened the nut below.


The volume knob however was stuck fast and I had to jemmy it off. I had to use a lot of force to release it and unfortunately ended up chipping right through the lacquer.


On the plus side the damage hardly showed once the knob was back in place.


The only other mark on the guitar is a barely visible 1cm graze which doesn't even go through the lacquer on the back of the neck. I can't get it to show up in any photos regardless of lighting and only mention it here to be completely thorough in my description of the gutar.

I then set up the intonation and tried to lower the action but was only able to set a medium action, any lower resulted in string buzzes and rattles. While the modern jumbo frets are ideal for beginners and make playing chords a breeze, I find them difficult when playing solos as I am used to playing a Classic Strat with small vintage frets. I know big frets are the norm on semi acoustics like Epiphones but they're just not my cup of tea.

The machine heads work smoothly and seem to be good quality. They look similar to the Gibson "tulips".


With the guitar issues all sorted out it was now time to try it out. Once plugged in, the humbuckers give a classic warm creamy sound although to my ears the guitar does sound more like a Les Paul than a semi acoustic.


As I play my strat 90% of the time, I've never got comfortable with these jumbo frets (which look like they'll last a lifetime). This, combined with the fact that I have way too many guitars, means that I'm gonna sell this guitar. While there are plenty of these guitars available on Ebay covered with stupid skull logos, I don't think the black ones are available anymore and if nothing else this guitar certainly looks cool in the black.




Here's a video I made so you could hear how it sounds...

White Strat (part 2)

I spent a couple of days layering some fine misting coats of lacquer before gently sanding back in preparation for the application of the decal. I had a 1950s style decal which I carefully soaked in tepid water before applying to the headstock. There were a couple of creases on the decal which I gently pressed with a piece of kitchen roll. It was at this point it all went horribly wrong, the decal split then overlapped on itself and when I tried to correct it it curled and twisted before splitting up into shreds. I was fuming when I threw it in the bin... £12 down the drain.

I was unable to get another vintage decal but did eventually manage to get a Mexican one. So after some more lacquering and sanding and the new logo was applied.


Over the next few days I built up layer upon layer of varnish till the neck was glossy and slightly ambered. It's surprising how the "clear" lacquer adds a nice warm colour to the white satin maple.


I then spent ages rubbing down the lacquer with Safe Cut to give it that real smooth finish. Once all the work was done I removed the plastic protection from the scratch plate and attached the neck to the body.


I don't know if it's my imagination but I think the originally pure white body is already starting to get a bit of that aged cream look about it?


A new set of D'Addario strings and the makeover was complete. Whatever colour it is, she certainly is a beautiful looking guitar.


Although the neck is slim, the fingerboard feels flat and wide to me, more like a Gibson than a Fender. But that may be because I normally play a 50s V neck strat which has a slimmer profile. Measurements show that this guitar is about the same as an American Standard Strat which according to the Fender website is 42.8mm at the nut.


I'm not really sure what to do with this guitar. As I said, I'm not really comfortable with the neck but I could raise the action and use it for slide or perhaps display it as a wallhanger. Then again, maybe I'll sell it? Whatever, I'm really pleased with how it turned out, especially the Fender logo.

White Strat (part 1)

I bought this new, unbranded strat which I presume came from some part of Asia. First thoughts on opening the box were that it looked beautiful, white body with rosewood neck a la Jeff Beck. On picking up the guitar it felt about half the weight of my Fender Strat and I immediately thought that the online shop's claim of an alder body was bALDERdash. After removing the backplate and looking inside it was clear that there is no way this wood is alder. Nevertheless, it won't hang heavy on your shoulder and has a surprisingly nice tone. Played acoustically the guitar sounded loud, light and bright. Plugged in it had a good volume and bright/middley tone.



The action was surprisingly good and it had a slim modern neck albeit with a broad fretboard, good for big hands. In a couple of spots, the neck choked some notes on bending. This turned out to be due to a couple of frets sitting too proud. A gentle tap with a hammer and wooden block and they were soon properly bedded. I removed the neck from the guitar and gave the frets a light levelling file for good measure.


When removing the neck I noticed a couple of small hairline cracks in the laquer probably due to overtightening the neck screws when building. If you have trouble spotting them there is one on each side of the neck join. They are not a problem but it's a pity to have these minor blemishes on an otherwise beautiful and flawless guitar.


On the other hand the machine heads were a great surprise. Good quality metal machines with solid metal ferrules and nuts. Sooooo much better than the crap fitted to the Fender Squires. I might actually put these onto my Squier.


Once the neck was bare I gave it a gentle sanding to remove the thin coat of satin laquer.


Then carefully masked the fretboard in preparation for laquering.

Sunburst Strat Project (8)

Well I just couldn't seem to leave it alone. I've been back working on the sunburst strat again. I fitted a hot rails pick up to the bridge.

It's an unbranded pup rather than a Seymour Duncan but boy does it make a difference when playing through a valve amp. One minute you're in split coil mode playing clean then you push the switch and the volume goes up and you got a nice warm dirty humbucker sound.


I replaced the standard volume pot with a 500k push pull pot. So it still acts as a volume control but pulls out to coil tap and pushes in to activate dual coil/humbucker mode.


Unfortunately with this being an Squier Affinity strat it has a thinner body than an American Fender so when I drilled a hole to allow the larger pot to fit in, I drilled the guide right through the body. So there is a small hole on the back of the body. It just adds to the general trashiness of the guitar.


I have also now added a cigarette burn to the headstock in true classic rock style.

So although this baby started out life as a Fender Squier Affinty Strat, she is now something completely different.


From Squier to homemade relic.


I'm really pleased with how it turned out, thanks to a good neck it's a great guitar to play, well set up with nice comfortable action.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 7)

The plastic parts were probably the hardest to do. I tried what most folks do using coffee... no use. Two weeks soaking in tea... nope. Then someone told me you had to use steel wool to rub the gloss off the scratchplate first. I did this and voila things started to happen. I eventually ended up with a cocktail of tea, soil and turmeric. The plastics now looked grubby and aged.


It might seem crazy that I've spent all this time and energy basically destroying a new guitar and making it look old but I've really enjoyed it. Much to my surprise, this old Squier strat is now my favourite guitar. I love it more than my genuine Fender because of the hours I have put into it. And because it's set up exactly the way I want it.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 6)

I spent ages trying to age the hardware. First I tried vinegar, thinking the vinegar would rust the metal parts. After two weeks I noticed it changing but a quick rinse under the tap and it all washed away.


I tried immersing the metal parts in a strong saltwater solution but I didn't like the chalky white appearance, it looked like zinc.


A short soak in vinegar removed the oxidate and returned the shiny plating to normal.
Eventually I tried baking soda/sodium bicarbonate and this was ideal. A couple of weeks immersed in an utterly butterly tub and the parts looked like they'd came from a relic.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 5)

I buffed the gloss finish off the body with sandpaper.

To age the body I tried denting it with a spanner and gave it the odd scratch with a screwdriver but the quickest and most effective way to mark it was simply to drop it from the waist onto gravel. This gave it loads of random marks, dings and dents. I dropped it a few times to get it really grungy.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 4)

I used clear gloss Plastikote polyurethane varnish on the neck. Although it is marked clear, it does in fact add a hint of amber to the maple, making it look slightly aged. Ideal!


The next job was to get the Fender logo in place. The waterslide decal was soaked in water then slid into place on the headstock and left to dry. The next day I gave it hourly misting coats of varnish then left it overnight. Over the next few days increasingly wet coats of varnish were applied. I usually ended up applying too much and then leaving coarse sanding marks. I couldn't get a nice finish at all. Eventually I discovered rubbing compound and was able to use this along with a bit of elbow grease to make a real glossy finish.


I used the same plastikote varnish to slowly build up a light laquer on the back of the neck. Once again sanding back and rubbing down after it had dried for a couple of days.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 3)

Once the guitar was stripped down I filed down the rough edges on the frets. Being inexperienced, this also resulted in some rounding of the edges of the fretboard. Although this is a bit unconventional, it's certainly a lot more comfortable than having your fingers ripped off every time you slide up the neck.

I also took the nut out, merely to get some practice at doing this. Lean a small block of wood against the nut and gently tap the block with a hammer towards the headstock then towards the body. In this case the glue split easily and the nut was then tapped out sideways.

Sanding began in earnest, I used a flat sander to remove the Squier logo, this only took a couple of minutes. The rest of the maple surface just required brief and minimal sanding by hand to remove the thin satin coat and prepare the surface for laquering.


These were the only tools required for preparartion...


I glued the nut back in place with wood glue and then masked off the fretboard with duct tape in readiness for laquering.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 2)

First job was to strip the guitar down completely. All you really need to strip down a strat is a Phillips screwdriver. Apart from the 3 nuts securing the volume and tone controls and a couple of solder joints, the entire guitar is held together with Phillips screws. After only a few minutes the job is done...

...or so I thought. I forgot about the machine head ferrules. Hmmm, no problem I thought, I'll just slip a flathead screwdriver under the rim and just ease them out.


It was only later that I discovered they were not made of metal but thin shiny plastic and split incredibly easily...

After this disaster I used a drill bit with a similar diameter to the hole to tap out the ferrules, thus applying equal pressure around the edges and preventing splitting. These machine heads are the weakest point in the whole guitar and let down what is otherwise a fairly decent instrument.

So if you're removing ferrules from a squier I suggest you...

A) First gently work round the top of the ferrule with a screwdriver to loosen the ferrule.
B) Apply equal pressure from behind with a round piece of metal of similar size as the ferrule and tap it out.