El Toro's Official Guitarded Thread...

[Sleek]

I know. It's actually pretty nice, very classed-up for a melody maker.

I have one of their low-end Les Paul '70's Tributes from a couple years back, and it is VERY similar to that guitar as far as appointments and stuff. The body on the MM is a little narrower, but same tuners, headstock, etc.

I needed a P90 gold top for a Tom Petty tribute I am in. Mike Campbell mostly played an old Esquire and a P90 gold top with wraparound tailpiece. This thing is about perfect.

[ElToro]

Here are my Rivs:





Here is the Melody maker I goldtopped, with a manufacturer's pic of what it looked like before:



Sorry about the poor pic quality, it's just on my phone in questionable light...it looks really nice in person. It's the gold top paint from guitar ReRanch that is formulated with real bronze flakes just like the original '50's gold top paint , then it has several layers of Tru Oil for a nice not-too-glossy clear over the top.

I love Tru Oil for guitars. I use it for sealing wood on tops and necks...and anywhere I want a clear coat that looks naturally vintage.

There is no binding on these guitars, but there is a really light colored maple cap, so I just made a cutting jig-thingy and stripped it to the maple around the edge.

http://reranchstore.stores.yahoo.net/goldtopgold.html

https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Refinish ... inish.aspx

INSPIRING!

[ElToro]

did you carve that top a bit?

[Sleek]

Nope. Those MMs are just curvy.

[ElToro]

Black knobs and a black toggle would be cool on that!

[Sleek]

It had them! I changed to be more like the old goldtops.

[T.O.N. of green]

Sleek, what is the cure time on the Reranch paint? I know certain nitrocellulose finishes can be a bitch and take actual months before it is fully cured, as was my strat project. I also never heard of putting tru oil on top of nitro, but that's cool if it works.

[Sleek]

I dunno. I just did, like, one coat per day for about a week, then let it dry for a few days, then did the tru oil at about one coat a day for several days.

I find that if you read the directions, things are more difficult

Besides, it's supposed to be a vintagey look, so I figured any drying errors could work in my favor. Same with using tru oil instead of a real gloss. It's been about a month and it seems to all have dried/cured very well.

[T.O.N. of green]

Cool, it looks good in the pics.

[ElToro]

I bought a Jackson Scott Ian in Korina for myself this Xmas.. you guys get anything?

[T.O.N. of green]

I bought some noiseless single coils for one of my stratocasters, and also ordered an Eric Clapton mid boost kit from Amazon which ended up missing in action, never got delivered. Fuck Amazon, I should have just paid the extra three bucks and ordered from Musicians Friend. Lesson learned I guess. So now I'm gonna order that and maybe a soul food pedal to play around with.

[Mojo]

Got me one of these!

[Mojo]

Thanks! I'm already addicted. TV Jones Power'Tron pickups sound amazing, and the ebony fretboard feels sooo smooth!

[Triumph]

That's gorgeous.

[ElToro]

[exitflagger]

Here's a weird Christmas scenario:

My aunt and step-uncle broke up about two years ago (bear with me). He is a pro guitarist and has won a grammy. He hooked up with another woman out in California and when my aunt found out about it she jumped his shit and then he just never came back home. He owed her an assload of money, BUT he made the mistake of leaving all but one of his guitars and lots of amps behind. So he has pretty much (reluctantly) conceded these things to her so she can sell them and recoup the money. She doesn't know much about guitars and their value but she knows it's a lot of high dollar stuff. So she showed up on Christmas (she lives about an hour away) with four of the guitars to give to me and my brother ostensibly to see if we can find somebody to buy them. Here's a hint: I don't plan on selling them real soon.

I got a 1963 stratocaster and a 1960 P bass. My brother got a couple of strats from the 70s.

They're a couple of road dogs. The ones my brother got are in better condition but I like the vintage look. I guess there's a chance I might buy them myself depending on how much she's willing to take for them. I need to get them appraised. Really sweet guitars.

[ElToro]

^^^^ That's an awful lot of cash available to you.

At worst, get an appraisal for insurance purposes.

[exitflagger]

^^^^ That's an awful lot of cash available to you.

That's the rub. She wants to cut us in on a bit of it (middle man fee I guess) but the bulk of the money is gonna be hers. I'm not gonna fuck my aunt out of money. My step uncle left her in kind of a bad spot financially. But that's why I say I may hold on to them for a while just to play them. The other thing is, this is apparently just a sampling. There are more vintage guitars and a ton of old tube amps. Marshall, Fender… all old and babied. And out of my price range.

[Olds_71_442]

Nice score, EF! Maybe your aunt could cut you a deal on one or a couple of the amps.

[ElToro]

I used to deal vintage guitars. Where are you located? I may be able to get you hooked up.

[exitflagger]

I used to deal vintage guitars. Where are you located? I may be able to get you hooked up.

Maybe when I'm ready to sell but like I say I want to hold onto them for now. I just got through playing the '63 for a while. Goddamn. It kicks ass.

I'm gonna be real slow on the draw to let these things go.

[ElToro]

at least get 'em appraised/evauluated

[EddiesCancerTongue]

Hey Sleek, I'm considering doing a refinish to a Peavey USA Predator I have. Would the TruOil work on top of a stained finish?

[Sleek]

Hey Sleek, I'm considering doing a refinish to a Peavey USA Predator I have. Would the TruOil work on top of a stained finish?

Yah. It's good stuff...just imagine what a gunstock looks like. A not-too-shiny clear.

[EddiesCancerTongue]

That's awesome, thanks! That's exactly what I'd be looking for.

[Engine13]

Oh God damn.....I'm taking pictures this morning of an explorer I'm selling and come across this........




I will take it to a shop at some point, but does that look like a finish crack or wood?

I read that Gibson's nitrocellulose finish has been known to shrink and crack at the neck/body joint, but I can't tell. It isn't very deep.

[ElToro]

That's a finish issue.

I bought another Virgin yesterday.

[T.O.N. of green]

I installed a set of GFS vintage noiseless pickups in one of my stratocasters, along with a fender mid boost kit. I like the mid boost a lot but the GFS pickups are coming back out. The problem with those is that they are so tall that they are too close to the strings, even at the lowest setting. Instead of routing this guitar I will probably try them out in one of my others.

[ElToro]

I am selling two JB Player neck thru strat projects, a Modulus Graphite neck, a Les Paul (fake) project and an Epi Chet Atkins if anyone is interested.

[ElToro]

Did anyone get anything new?