Manchester Guitar Tech
Here’s another LSR roller nut rescue, this time on a rosewood board Stratocaster, the previous LSR roller nut repair being on a maple ‘board. This time the fitter had cut the slot too far back, and had removed the rosewood behind the existing nut, rather than just 3/32″ in front of it. They had also …
I had a request to make one of these so made a few whilst I was at it! These pickguards are made from “Bakelite” sheet and lacquered in clear gloss nitrocellulose . They’re made to fit replicas of Leo Fender’s 1949 “Snake head” prototype that he used to take around to clubs for artist to …
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, or so they say. The owner of this guitar fitted a Fender LSR roller nut himself and I have to say showed some skill in cutting the wood away. Unfortunately he misunderstood how the nut should be fitted and cut away far too much wood. I tidied the …
I made the Tortoiseshell pickguard for this Fender USA Deluxe Jazz Bass the other day. For some reason, Fender don’t make this bass with a torty ‘guard but I think that tortoiseshell over 3-tone sunburst is a classic look. The material is genuine 4-ply cellulose nitrate which smells great when it’s being cut. Making a …
Last week I refretted this maple board Stratocaster with huge wire – 0.057″ high. I removed the old frets, left the finish intact and laid the new frets onto the strips bare wood that were exposed. I used Sintoms fretwire which was an absolute pleasure to work with. It held the slot tightly and the …
I received an email from a customer who has used my lacquer create tributes to a couple of Van Halen style guitars. Here’s what he wrote: Hi Steve,I finally finished my Van Halen guitars, painted with Nitrocellulose lacquer that you supplied. I attach a couple of pictures, as I promised I would when they were …
Here is the Telecaster assembled. I’ve used the bridge from a Fender USA 62 Reissue, Fender jack cup, AllParts parchment ‘guard and some great sounding hot AlNiCo V pickups from The Creamery. I’m considering giving it the freezer treatment once the lacquer has hardened sufficiently.
Will experiment with a relic treatment on the body instead. Here is the distressed Telecaster body. Here’s how I distressed the lacquer. I’ll distress the ice blue metallic Telecaster next. I gifted the butterscotch Tele to Pete (him with the freezer). Hoping he’ll let me freeze more guitar parts soon…
Here’s how to get the ferrules into a Telecaster without chipping the lacquer. This only works for guitars finished in nitrocellulose. The heat of the soldering iron melts the lacquer which also acts as an adhesive holding the ferrule in place. You can probably see from my shaking hand that I’m exerting quite a bit …
I’m often asked how to spray a butterscotch guitar body so thought I’d put together a bit of a tutorial. Please note that I do not offer a refinishing service. The body I’m using is by Guitar Build who offer a range of CNC machined guitar bodies. I’m very impressed with the accuracy of the shape, which …