"Relic Wallpaper" Squier '51

[abraxas]

Some of the older members may remember that I had been bitten by the "Buy a Squier 51 and Mod it to Death" bug, a while back.

My blonde Squier '51 was modded to the following standards:

• Pickups changed to GFS Dream 180 bridge and Tele Fatbody neck
• Bridge changed to the GFS one
• Frets leveled, crown and polished, then neck tinted and spayed in nitro
• Tusq nut
• GFS Kluson Style keys

The result was a highly playable and good sounding guitar, esp. for the money spent. But then another idea came on...

I've seen the work Shepard Fairey had done for Fender (for example, here: http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com/im...lic/index.html) and also other people's guitars with the same idea. I wanted something like that, in a "somewhat" reliced style.

For my "art", I selected some decoupage tissue papers from an ebay store. The main theme is old posters, I didn't care much for the historical continuity, just wanted something retro looking.

I decided to cover the entire guitar body and remove the pickguard altogether. I'm not sure this is the best choice; perhaps a smaller-cut pickguard would be appropriate and even desirable for protection of the body. But this can easily be added in the future.

The process of cutting the tissue paper and putting it on the body (using white woodworkers glue) was very tedious and slow. I had my daughter helping me from time to time and it took us several sessions to complete the task.

I must point out I did nothing to the body by way of removing the paint, etc. Just a good cleaning to be sure the tissue paper would adhere easily.

After that, came the equally slow process of spraying several coats of clear acrylic varnish. I usually sprayed 3 light coats, separated by 30 minutes time each, and, the next day or whenever I had the time, sand the surface with 600-1000 grit sandpaper, and repeat.

After about twenty or so of these sessions, I concluded that the body was as good as it was ever going to be. My only concern with clearcoating, after all, was to protect the tissue paper and create a uniform surface.

After several weeks that the body stayed waiting for me to find the time, I finally started assembling the whole thing. In the meantime, the headstock was painted black.

I had decided from the beginning to change the wiring of the guitar. So I opened another hole to the control plate, in order to use a Gibson 3-point switch. A Goeldo push/pull was used for the volume control and a "mini" pot for the tone control. I also used a Switchcraft jack.

The main problem here, was that the control cavity is rather small for this kind of wiring. Good for me I had the mini-pot on hand, because otherwise it wasn't going to fit at all. Even with this, things are tight.

Some months (!!) after I first started the project, the guitar was in a ready to play condition! Just as an experiment, I put on flatwound 11-50 strings, and tuned it one whole step down. I'm going to use this guitar for some low tuned or alternate tuning work in the future!

[abraxas]

[stingx]

I think that looks absolutely fantastic. Excellent job! : : :

[Robert****]

I agree - looks completely fantastic!

[Algonquin]

That is REALLY incredible looking. I don't think I've seen a better mod job in my life.

You deservedly must be very proud of this one! Top Notch! :

[marnold***]

That is really nice. I'm very impressed. How do you like the GFS bridge?

[SuperSwede]

Amazing! Looks stunning... but that bed cover has to go

[abraxas]

Thank you all guys for the kind words!

I like to fantasize about the looks in people's eyes, next time I get on stage, holding this one!

That is really nice. I'm very impressed. How do you like the GFS bridge?

I had this bridge when the guitar was still a blonde. Well, it's certainly an improvement over the stock one, more robust and easier to setup. And for less than 10 euro who cares anyway!

Amazing! Looks stunning... but that bed cover has to go

Dude. This was in my mother's house. I'm much more hardcore when it comes to bed covers.

[sunvalleylaw]

I agree as well. That is HOT looking!

[Bloozcat]

I never would have thought to do that, but I gotta admit....

That's pretty darn cool....:

[Big K]

great job on the imaginative re-finish

[duhvoodooman***]

Very fine work there, Abraxas. Looks great!! : :

[abraxas]

Thank you all guys!

Another thing I noticed is that the tone and resonance didn't seem to suffer from all that paperwork and clear coats.

Going against the common wisdom about thin finishes and tone? Naaah, I still believe there is some truth in that one. But, the 51 came from the factory with several mm of polyurethane finish (read, plastic). Hardly a millimeter more didn't seem to bother it.

Oh, and it's a very cheap method to radically alter a guitar's appearance. The tissues cost me less than $35 with s/h to Greece. The hours of work needed to complete the project, are another matter though.

[M29]

I have always like this kind of work and you have a gem there. Congrats:

M29

[robert43]

Sweet very good job

[JJ Gross]

Nice, I like it.
I would have traded you my black body for the blonde though. They only had black when I got mine and black guitars bore me to death.

Time to fire up the printer I guess. ;D

Cheers

[BluesHowler]

Your guitar has inspired me to do something similar with a Squire strat that I have. On line I've found some photos of my three favorite blues players, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughan that I want to put on my strat.

My question is if I just print the photos on standard printer paper with an ink jet printer will the photos work and not fade after clear coating?

Do I need some special paper or printing process to make the decoupage art work?

[abraxas]

Your guitar has inspired me to do something similar with a Squire strat that I have. On line I've found some photos of my three favorite blues players, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughan that I want to put on my strat.

My question is if I just print the photos on standard printer paper with an ink jet printer will the photos work and not fade after clear coating?

Do I need some special paper or printing process to make the decoupage art work?

Glad that my work on the '51 inspired you!

Yes the paper is a special type, used for decoupage and other paper arts. It is really very thin and I don't know if you could find something similar to print on.

[bigoldron]

Amazing! Looks stunning... but that bed cover has to go

Now THIS is a bed cover!



What do you think, SuperSwede? BTW, that guitfiddle looks pretty awesome too! :