Other guitars 'n stuff...

Here are some pictures of other things I'm (was) working on.

For starters: my real first build, a black Esquire with a BG pickups T-90 in the bridge.

A refret for a friend of mine, note the Leatherman again.

A cigarboxguitar with a smokey amp.

A neckthrough SG with mahogany neck and flamemaple sides, 2 P-90's and gold hardware...

Supro Dual-Tone so far...

So here's where I'm at right now... Pretty good, considering what I started from. Don't you think?

 Back, all done with the correct covers for the screws!

 Mockup with everything except for the pickups!

 What I started from, remember?

Mine on the right, an all original '58 on the left.

Really cool dude that trusted me with this little gem (thanks S.)!

I'll keep you posted!

Cheers,

M.

Supro Dual-Tone hardware

The biggest problem with these guitars is finding the right parts, they are either rare or to expensive... So what do you do when you want a bridge or tailpiece? That's right: DIY FTW! Build it yourself.
I found out the bridges of these old Supro's were made out of rosewood, so I went to this luthiershop and got me some pieces of rosewood to get started with.
And by accident I got in contact with a really kind French craftsman... He made me these repro tuningbuttons! These are another detail that add to the character of this guitar.
The tailpiece is made out of a sheet of brass (0,8mm thick) and an aluminum bolt.

Repro tuningbuttons on a piece of rosewood.

 Removing the white buttons of the 3-on-a-plate Kluson tuningpeg.

 The new buttons installed! Looks great, doesn't it?

 Replica tailpiece, made to the exact specs of an original '58 D-T.

Bringing the rosewood to the correct thickness and size...

Checking the shape... Looks good to me!

Here's some bridges I made. The one up front is the one I used on my D-T, the others didn't turn out good enough...

Finished Supro bridge. Could be better, but good enough for now!

Next up: Winding pickups!!!

Supro Dual-Tone body refinish

The paint on the body I got was really horrible, so I sanded that off and ordered some spraycans of Olympic White nitrocellulose. Really nasty stuff, gotta watch out you don't inhale to much of it!
I went for nitro paint because it turns slightly yellow over time and the original plastic coat was too hard to track down, couldn't have gotten it right...

 Nasty red! Yikes...

Nitrocellulose primer

 I decided to paint the body like the old Fender's were done... Less drips and stuff. Much nicer result!

As you can see I used nails to prevent the top from sticking to the table when it was still wet. No worries! Used existing holes, didn't make new ones.

Next up: the hardware!

Supro Dual-Tone neck refret

So I got to work on the Supro. First up: the neck & frets.
Like I said, there was a crack on the bass-side of the fretboard. All the way through from the nut to the heel. So I got my 12" radiusblock out and leveled the fretboard again. Saved the wooddust and mixed it with some superglue. Used that stuff to fill up the crack, really glad it worked out that well.
Next, I widened the fretslots so the new frets would stay in place properly.
After that I pressed the frets in with a little bit of glue and the 12" radiusblock.

 Neck with the new 12" radius and no frets...

 Taking care of the frets (Note the Leatherman: it's my favorite tool!)

Masked the fretboard to level the frets and give em a nice crown again...

To be continued...

1958 Supro Dual-Tone restoration

My first restoration project: a '58 Supro Dual-Tone... After I finished my first home-made Esquire, the guitarbuildingbug got to me. Couldn't resist when I saw this beauty going by on eBay.
The ad said it was a Belmont, but the routing proved it to be a D-T.
Here's some pictures I took during the process.

 Picture of the stuff I got: Neck with a cracked fretboard, repro pickguard and a badly painted body...

 Battlescars on the fretboard, took care of that. Really sorry of that now...

 Close-up of the body, note the controlrouting.

Neckwear... Really cool if you ask me!