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.

Sunburst Strat Project (part 1)

I have never set up any of my guitars in case I damaged them. I have an old 1973 Antoria Les Paul which had developed a bowed neck but I was too scared to adjust the truss rod in case I broke the guitar. However, it seemed pretty daft just to leave it unplayable like that and as I had nothing to lose I stuck an Allen key in and was amazed that after just one quarter turn the neck was spot on!

I decided that I should learn how to adjust all my guitars with confidence, so I decided to buy a guitar to practice on. Not wishing to spend too much money, I bought a Fender Squier Affinity Stratocaster.

Although it felt much lighter than my Fender, the Squier actually played OK straight out of the box. There were a few minor niggles. The action was a wee bit highish, the intonation was out and some of the frets were a bit sharp at the edges, nicking my hand as I played. I didn't like the feel of the satin finish on the neck. Although the light maple blended in nicely with my floor, I prefer a gloss finish and so decided I would also strip the neck and lacquer it. It was at this point I decided to go the whole hog and try and make a 60's relic.