# What's on the bench.



## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Hey, feel free to jump in and post a pic of whatever you're working on.

This came in. It's been refinished. Polished the frets, cleaned it, new strings, set up.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

I'll snap some pictures of my various in progress projects when I get home.


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## Jamdog (Mar 9, 2016)

It's no longer on the bench but I've worked about a month on this










And I ended up with that 



















... 

Now I am tempted by a 10$ black Jay Turser strat body on kijiji. But have no need for another strat.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Chambered mahogany, Walnut top, tru oil finish in progress. neck is roasted maple with macassar ebony fretboard. 

lindy Fralin p90s, Callaham stainless bridge wtih brass compensated saddles, gotoh 510 locking tuners in black, blck string trees and custom black neck plate.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

The same Wayne's World Strat. I spend a lot of time on the frets, but it satisfies the OCD part of me when I can see the reflection of the strings in the frets. Hard on the fingers.


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## buyusfear (Nov 18, 2009)

Just getting ramped up for the fall and rouging out bodies. This one is a quarter sawn Western Red Cedar body experiment. Insanely light, however also insanely soft. 


























And, on my other bench, the photo bench, Sanford Magnetics just sent me my custom wound/built signature P90's, so I've been taking a bunch of photos and such of those.


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## buyusfear (Nov 18, 2009)

Doing some measuring


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

buyusfear said:


> Doing some measuring


That's a proper Les Paul!


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## Guest (Oct 3, 2016)

'75 MIJ Mann Tele.

All electronics were shot, except for the bridge pup.
I rebuilt the neck pup (swapped out the coils) and changed the pots.
Did a check using a tuning fork hovering over the pups.
The selector switch needs to be changed.
Also had to straighten the PG (hump in the middle).
Not quite flat, so I drilled two more holes.
Hope to have 'er together sometime today.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I don't know what elicits more envy: the guitars or the power tools.

My own "bench" (when I get around to cleaning up and can once again see it) has an old Kawai/Kingston, a Yamaha RGX, and a Matsumoko-made Vantage double-cut that needs some serious restoration. That's the stuff I'm fixing up for others. As for myself, there are several bodies and necks awaiting attention when I retire.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)




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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

No one doing much work on guitars lately?

I just got a 2003-2004 MIM strat in that is in almost not played condition. Putting in a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the treble position, making the tone control work with it, and getting it all set up and ready to rock. Of course, I couldn't let it go with the way the frets were, so I am polishing them. They still had original file marks in them from the factory. I mentioned this one in the "Kijiji" thread. The guy picked it up for $170 and bought the pick up he likes and is having me do the work. This is the 3rd guitar that he has brought me, so I guess he is happy with what I do.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Just a lot of restringing lately as I got behind trying to make them last. 2 Telecasters, Godin LG, Godin Progression, S&P folk, a Beneteau acoustic, a House acoustic. Next up a couple of banjos.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

OOPS....I think I cleaned up my Photobucket and dumped a bunch of stuff. There's gotta be a better way....

Although, I just tried to go to Photobucket and it said it was down for maintenance. So it could be that too. There's gotta be a better way....


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Mooh said:


> Just a lot of restringing lately as I got behind trying to make them last. 2 Telecasters, Godin LG, Godin Progression, S&P folk, a Beneteau acoustic, a House acoustic. Next up a couple of banjos.


Actually, that sounds like a good way to spend some time.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Jim DaddyO said:


> Actually, that sounds like a good way to spend some time.


Yes, I do enjoy it. Any time spent messing about with instruments is time well spent.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Jim DaddyO said:


> Actually, that sounds like a good way to spend some time.


Yes, I do enjoy it. Any time spent messing about with instruments is time well spent.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

This is the Kijiji Strat. I put the Hot Rails in, made the tone control work with it. Polished the frets, cleaned it up and a set up. He bought a cool Fender case for it too.

Seems PB is working again.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Well, I returned the black strat to it's owner and he brought me this to do for him. A 1964 Harmony Rocket. His first guitar that belonged to his grandfather. Doing a "gentle" restoration on it to get it in playable condition. It does not show well in the photo, but between the first 3 frets someone has put a coat of epoxy in there to "fix" the wear. That is going to be a challenge to fix. We will slowly get it done though. No time line on this one, I will just pick away at it here and there as the mood moves me. I believe those original gold foil pickups are quite pricey these days. Looks like the neck one has been moved back at some point in time and the pick guard cut too.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2016)

That's in nice condition otherwise.
The pups (should be dated on the underside) are in their proper place.
My guess would be that they were once positioned where the holes are.
The vibrato looks to be from a teisco or something similar.

Here's the '66 I restored and sold a few years back.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Cool, I will check that when I get it apart.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Have not started on the Harmony yet. It's a long term project to take my time on. This came in today though. Shades of 80's hair band, complete with tinsel town whammy and snake skin paint job. Just the regular routine on it. Clean it up, do a set up, make it happy and nice. I gotta get caught up on editing video of these jobs. I have been posting a coffee table build that I just finished and it's a lot of episodes to go yet.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Well, this BC Rich is needing a lot of work. I guess it has been put away for a while (dirty) and things got a bit stiff. I had to completely disassemble the Floyd and get all the parts working again. At least it has adjusters for the intonation and you don't have to cut off the ball ends.


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## Ayr Guitars (Oct 24, 2016)

Wet sanding this Thinline.....


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## buyusfear (Nov 18, 2009)

I've been spending some time with a pretty awesome '52 Les Paul








I also did some light repair to the guitars case


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Well, the Harmony is coming along slowly. Not done yet. Date on the pickups is 1963, the trem is a Hagstrom unit, the knobs are not original. Lots and lots of cleaning. The electronics seem to work OK so far except the bridge tone is a bit stiff, so I hope there is no need to muck with them. Next up is to build up the shelf for the nut a little bit and make the nut.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I got the video for the MIM Strat done tonight.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Well, the Harmony is done. There are a few issues with it still that I did not address to keep costs down. A couple of high frets but only affects the low E above the 12th fret. The strings/bridge don't have a ground wire. The nut could have come out better but it plays nice. I don't make many nuts so I don't get a lot of practice. I had to do the nut twice as I went about a stroke too many on the b string and it started to buzz. I don't think this one is going on tour or in the studio though. It was the guys first guitar it was given to him by his grandfather who played it before him. He just wanted it cleaned up and playable, which it is now. The action is pretty low on it and it sounds pretty good. Those pickups kick ass!


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2016)

Jim DaddyO said:


> Those pickups kick ass!


I'll second this on those 'pack of gum' sized Dearmonds.


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## buyusfear (Nov 18, 2009)

Working on the wraptail gold top build from the above photos.
I just wrapped up finishing last weekend.
I now need to distress/age/love the finish some more and do final fret dress and wiring harnesses.
This guitar kicks more ass by the minute.


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## buyusfear (Nov 18, 2009)

Wrapping this one up pretty soon.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I always thought those LP jrs were cool. Both the single and dual cutaways.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

A 2013 USA made American Special Strat in for a set up, polish frets, and cleaning. A bit of a tune up. There is no way a photo can show the colour. It's like a candy red over silver metallic and is just gorgeous.


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## bileshake (Aug 18, 2014)

Jim DaddyO said:


> Well, this BC Rich is needing a lot of work. I guess it has been put away for a while (dirty) and things got a bit stiff. I had to completely disassemble the Floyd and get all the parts working again. At least it has adjusters for the intonation and you don't have to cut off the ball ends.


 I remember those bridges... the beginning of floyd "licenced" bridges. Never returns to pitch.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Got the video edited of the gorgeous Epi ES 339 done today.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Here's that pretty strat.


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