# Butchered Squier Super-Sonic



## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

I realize I have a thing for messed up guitars. I think I just like restoring them to be playable and as aesthetically pleasing as possible. 

My next patient is a 1996 Squier Super-Sonic in blue flake. Here, we had an "artist" try to do some really funky things to it. The body was etched all over the place with random doodles. There's a Vai like logo chiseled on the front. The logo was hacked away and chiseled out. The pickguard and electronics are not original. 






































I figured a restoration to original condition probably will be too much of an undertaking, especially for the areas that had been chiseled out. After mulling it over for a few weeks, I got my brother to help me paint the body. Since we both grew up with Pokemon, he chose to paint them all over the body. This effectively covered up the ugly gash on the top as well as any etchings. 

















Next, we had the headstock.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

For the headstock, after much deliberation on how to approach it, I decided to give it a veneer as opposed to painting the headstock. Luckily, I had some leftover flame maple veneer, so that was put to use. Let me tell you - filing the edges of the veneer to be flush with the sides of the headstock was a PITA. But the results speak for themselves and I am quite happy with it. 






































I had to buy new waterslide decals for this. However, decal makers are pretty bad at making things accurate. I had a guy in the states do some decals for me. He's a cool guy and generous with his printings, but unfortunately, he didn't do gold foil. The original Squier logo had gold foil around the edges. The model name and the Series logo was correct, fortunately. 

Funny story on how I sourced my gold foil Squier logo - I believe it all started from the Kijiji WTF thread. There's a rather well known guy on Kijiji who purports himself to be a guitar expert and has been known to message you about stuff you sell with no intention of buying. I got curious and clicked on his profile. Lo and behold, he sells logos! While he did not sell a Super-Sonic decal, he sold a Squier Venus decal in gold foil - just what I needed! Anecdotally, his logos are just like his guitar knowledge: not quite right. The Squier logo was perfect, whereas the Venus and Vista logos were completely wrong. I have a Squier Venus, and they're not even close. After a few coats of clear to seal the veneer, the decals went on. 










I have to shoot a few more coats of clear over the decals and then polish it. As the parts are rolling in, I'm nearing completion of this month long project. Hopefully this will be complete within the next two weeks!


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

dmc69 said:


> I realize I have a thing for messed up guitars. I think I just like restoring them to be playable and as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
> 
> My next patient is a 1996 Squier Super-Sonic in blue flake. Here, we had an "artist" try to do some really funky things to it. The body was etched all over the place with random doodles. There's a Vai like logo chiseled on the front. The logo was hacked away and chiseled out. The pickguard and electronics are not original.
> 
> ...


Who does that to a guitar? What is wrong with them?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

It's rock and roll.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Extremely impressive work overall. Congrats!


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

dmc69 said:


> I realize I have a thing for messed up guitars. I think I just like restoring them to be playable and as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
> 
> My next patient is a 1996 Squier Super-Sonic in blue flake. Here, we had an "artist" try to do some really funky things to it. The body was etched all over the place with random doodles. There's a Vai like logo chiseled on the front. The logo was hacked away and chiseled out. The pickguard and electronics are not original.
> 
> ...


Charizard and Charmander but no Charmeleon?


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Your brother is a pro. Wonder if he’s do some other drawings. Been a while. Pm sent.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

MarkM said:


> Who does that to a guitar? What is wrong with them?


Who knows, but we were all teens once. I remember when I was 17, I took a broken Taylor 110 and made it "my own". I installed a new spruce top with a gaudy flame design as the rosette. I also ripped out the label, as I had no idea that Taylor guitars were not considered low end.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

vadsy said:


> Charizard and Charmander but no Charmeleon?


Charmeleon is just in the awkward middle. Not badass enough, but not cute enough.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

sambonee said:


> Your brother is a pro. Wonder if he’s do some other drawings. Been a while. Pm sent.


Check out this other one he did.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

dmc69 said:


> Charmeleon is just in the awkward middle. Not badass enough, but not cute enough.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

At least it's not as bad as bulbasaur... the starter no one chose.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

lol


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## Rick Hubka (Jan 9, 2014)

You can get a new pickguard here...


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Your brother has talent and skill. Really awesome. I’ve considered getting him to do a guitar since the first One you posted some years back.

does he have a portfolio online that could check out?


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## markxander (Oct 24, 2009)

sambonee said:


> Your brother has talent and skill. Really awesome. I’ve considered getting him to do a guitar since the first One you posted some years back.
> 
> does he have a portfolio online that could check out?


Looks like he signed the pickup cavity, found this: https://www.mathiaschau-art.com/


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## markxander (Oct 24, 2009)

damn double posted it


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

Meanwhile, a few shellac undercoats and a few clear coat later, we are ready for fine sanding and polishing.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

markxander said:


> Looks like he signed the pickup cavity, found this: https://www.mathiaschau-art.com/


Yup. He signs and titles every body he paints. And yeah that his site.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

Headstock all sanded down and polished.



















Pre-wiring and stringing. Guitar projects means a slightly neglected lawn.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Nice job on the guitar David, the pic on the last post didn;t take, on my end anyway.

Your brother is certainly talented, very cool stuff.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

sulphur said:


> Nice job on the guitar David, the pic on the last post didn;t take, on my end anyway.
> 
> Your brother is certainly talented, very cool stuff.


Thanks Jock! Hopefully the pics work now.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

dmc69 said:


> Thanks Jock! Hopefully the pics work now.


Yes, they're good to go now, looks great.


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