1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

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1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

One of our own asked me to bring a tired ‘68 Strat back to life. It had great tone but was barely playable and had the paint job from heck. I’ll outline a bit of the journey.

What was done - refret (without removing any wood), nut etc, strip and refinish in glass-hard nitro, set up.
Old paint removal and prepping the body took a HUGE amount of time. Then the weather was a challenge, and what should have been a 2 month finish job took maybe 4. During summer we had very few days of 55% or less humidity. And when we did, I wasn’t able to spray. I want nitro to be rock hard so it will age naturally, like the originals. Can’t do that with higher humidity.

Let’s start with the finished product. I’ll add more photos later.
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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by Jay »

great finish :clap: :clap:
When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by Lostininverness »

Very noice!

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by olegmcnoleg »

Oh yeah!

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by Molly »

That finish is mint. Great job, Grant.

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by codedog »

That's a very classy Strat! Great work! :clap: :thumbup:

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by Cdog »

Wow.. Gorgeous! Nice work

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by Bg »

Like a mirror, well done buddy!
Now relic it.... or nah let's not.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by robthemac »

Fantastic work. I'm battling the humidity with less success. Will let you know how the end result is regardless!
Jops wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:46 am Spring is the comic sans of reverbs anyway.

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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

Here what we started with
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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

Very very thick nitro clear, over 2 pack car Fiesta Red type colour, over remnants of Fullerplast.

The nitro burnt at the hint of the heat gun, the 2 pack was stocky n hard and almost impossible to move, and the Fullerplast...well, that along with cockroaches will survive our nuclear end.
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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

And underneath the wood was chipped, cracking and separating.
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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

Shoot - I'll resize these from now on...large photos.
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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

Note the S in the cavities? This was a sunburst.
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Re: 1968 Stratocaster - resurrection

Post by GrantB »

The fretboard has been worked over to around 6" radius. Which is strangely comfortable to play.
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