First attempt at ruining a future classic!

I've had my Strat Elite for around 15 years or so. I'm sure some know of this particular model. Fender only made them for a year or so in the early Eighties. It's was quite a radical and bold departure from the norm. Some great features, and some 'what the?' design decisions. There's very little info out there on the web about this model. Maybe Fender were embarrassed about it . At least they were prepared to try something new in those days. Now it seems they're perfectly happy to just sit back and regurgitate their earlier success ad nauseum .

Personally the Elite is my favourite strat, though not without it's quirks. Certainly for live performance it's a bit of a nightmare. Push buttons instead of selector switches, active electronics which are very powerful but can radically alter the soundscape. I prefer it use it in the studio where it's easily controllable.

Anyway, enough waffling. The main reason I wanted to refinish this guitar is that

* it had a chunk of wood routed out behind the bridge. I think the previous owner was a Floyd Rose fan, and refitted the original bridge when he came to sell it. The headstock also indicates that all is not what it seems.




* The black finish was pitted in places. Not overly so, and of course it's all part of being a 25 year old guitar, but I do like my instruments to be in good condition, and I also have had enough of black guitars.

* Lots of people advised me against messing with a 'future classic'. That's enough reason for me to have a go .


I decided to go for an off-white finish, and selected 'Ford Ivory' car paint (from Halfords own range). I thought this would look nice with the white pickguard, pickups and buttons etc.

I stripped the original black paint using a heat gun. This turned out to be surprisingly easy to do. The wood revealed itself as a three piece under those layers of poly.



You can see the initial filling in of the gap behind the bridge. At that time I was using wood filler, but it never really hardened enough. I tried various methods and found the best solution was to cut a piece of wood that roughly filled in the gap and then surrounded it with car body filler. This provided a very solid and strong base.


After filling in, it was simply a case of a bit of sanding and spraying of the car paint. I then filled in the cut outs with some copper tape. Not really a pre-requisite, but as it was there and I had some tape left over...



A final coating of clear lacquer (again from the car store - just following in old Leo's tradition of using what's readily available ). I then hung the body in the wardrobe for a week to settle down. Once that was done, it was just a case of some fine sanding, then T-Cut to rub out any little scratches etc. finally, a nice car polish was applied to bring up the finish. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the final result. The body is pretty much frictionless and (dare I say it) flawless.







Lessons I've learned from my first attempt at refinishing:

* Take your time! Obvious really, but it's easy to rush and either make a mistake or ignore it and it comes back to bite you later

* Use the right tools. I had ordered a replacement pickguard and the holes where the pickup selector buttons poke through were too small. I tackled it with a small curved file but no matter how careful you are, it'll never look completely circular. I've since ordered a tapered reamer, which I will use to finish off the holes at a later date




* Car body filler is excellent . Easy to handle and rock hard.

* Car paint and T-cut is also very good. Just treat it like you are working on your vintage Maserati and it'll repay you with excellent finishing properties.

* A week is not long enough for the paint to fully cure. Even though the paint instructions say it's ok to wait a week, I'd double it in future as the paint was still a little flexible when mounting hardware.


By the way, if anyone knows where to get original Fender knobs for an Elite Strat I'd be very grateful! The nearest I've got are the ones you see. The originals have an 'F' stamped on them. As is usual in the weird world of 'older' guitars, I've seen originals go on ebay for $40 per knob. I'm not going to get sucked into that game .