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Post by Bodaggit23 on Jan 29, 2010 19:47:10 GMT -5
So I picked this up today at a local pawn shop.
Tag said $499, I got it for $360 even. ;D
I don't care for the pickguard, but I couldn't let it get away. It plays as sweet as my first one. It looks blue, but it's actually a deep deep Purple.
The Stringlock Bolts on this guitar have slots to accept a flat head screwdriver, unlike my white Strat which takes allen heads.
I noticed there was a couple dings by the input, and looked closer, and it looks like Silver paint underneath.
So I took off the backplates and it looks like it's been painted many, many times. Looks like Black maybe the original color?          
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Post by nickwellings on Jan 30, 2010 8:17:34 GMT -5
Jebus!
Think you are right about the many paint coats. Looks like it was black, then red then blue and then final blue. That's a lot of paint.
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Post by heem6 on Jan 31, 2010 3:48:14 GMT -5
Cool score, though! Is she a good player?
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Jan 31, 2010 9:12:38 GMT -5
It plays like a dream, same as the white one.
This one seems to have a bit more high range tone to it for some reason. ? Maybe all that paint has become a really dense "sound reflector". ;D
I added a couple more zoomed in pics of the layers.
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Post by nickwellings on Jan 31, 2010 20:45:31 GMT -5
Heck of a heap of paint. Good closeups!
Fender never really use undercoat or primer, I reckon yours may have been the Blackstone type paint scheme, but more likely, given its thickness the later type of Pink/Red metallic they used. Not sure if the Tele type HMs had that paint scheme though> Can't recall.
Looks like the trem cavity has a big heap of paint gunk in it too.
Then someone sprayed baby blue either as a basecoat or a full coat. Last came the midnight blue type purple. Would love to take a scalpel to the paint and find out for sure!
Nice HM you have there on any level.
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Feb 1, 2010 1:04:54 GMT -5
Well, the "scalpel" comment got me curious. I did a bit of sanding with my Dremel to expose more of a cross section of the colors. I could have done a better job, and I gouged the wood a bit, but I just couldn't help myself. Looks to me like, Wood then Black (prime?) then Blue then Clear possibly. After that it gets crazy.  What's odd is I sanded a small bit of the Trem cavity also, directly behind the springs (towards the bottom of the guitar) and the paint doesn't seem anywhere near as thick. Could this have been just a "test" space?  |
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Feb 1, 2010 1:19:49 GMT -5
It's routed for HH!!  Does anyone know if this is odd or not? Regardless, the pickguard is staying off and another humbucker is going in the neck position...    Any tips on what to do with the pickguard holes? ;D Is it just me, or does this pickguard look modded? Only the neck slot looks like it's been tampered with, all the other edges looks stock.    |
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Post by heem6 on Feb 1, 2010 14:22:09 GMT -5
There is an HM Tele body on eBay right now, man. It's blackstone and routed for that pickguard you have.
It's out of a batch of HM's that were probably given away by Fender because of slight black overspray from the neck pockets getting onto the gloss finish. They were taken by a music store and screwed to the ceiling! I got first dibs on the batch and took a red chrome body and an off white body. He sold this one on eBay a month or two ago (probably for less than $90) apparently to Rich, who runs Strat-Central.com.
I can guarantee the overspray will come off with a little polishing using Macquires Scratch X. The screw holes on back are tiny, almost not worth bothering to fix. The two bodies I have from this batch were never used, had never had trem claw screws drilled into them, even.
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Feb 1, 2010 15:27:29 GMT -5
Is that one of the very first versions or something?
That's a cool paint job, but I find a few things odd about it.
That body looks meant to have a full Stratocaster pick guard.?
That body has a routed Trem Spring pocket, so the trem cover sits flush with the body.?
The Trem pocket is squared off, and not angled like my HM's.
The neck relief cuts are also missing from the back of the guitar.
The electronics pocket is smaller too, because of the full pickguard I'm assuming.
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Post by heem6 on Feb 1, 2010 16:39:17 GMT -5
You're right, that would take a Stratocaster pickguard. I didn't even notice but it is routed for a Floyd, the same as some of the later model HM's. The small pocket on the back is just for access to the output jack - it's exactly the same as on the Ibanez RG's - which used to be made in the same factory (the Prestige models still are).
On second thought, if it was my HM, I would strip down the body you have and plug the screw holes and repaint. It would be a fair amount of work to strip all that paint, though. A decent paint job would likely run you $300 - $400 (maybe they would strip it for you).
lbeast [/b]has shopped the HM's for years and feels the HH is one of the rarer models.
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Feb 1, 2010 21:30:50 GMT -5
Stripping this beast would certainly be an undertaking! I think I'll just leave it as it is. I'm much happier with it now. ;D A couple of the pickguard holes have duplicates, but it doesn't bother me as much as the pickguard itself.  |
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Post by heem6 on Feb 1, 2010 21:50:34 GMT -5
You know, I kind of like it that way, too. The exposed screws give it a "heavy metal" industrial sort of look.
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Post by lbeast on Feb 1, 2010 22:14:29 GMT -5
As many times as it looks like it has been painted, I would bet money that is a factory midnight blue paint job. The factory sometimes repaints bodies already painted to meet the demand of a certain order with another color. Bo, what you should do is go to Lowe's buy a sheet of acrylic, use your stock pick guard as a template, get out your coping saw, a dremel w/ a sanding drum, and make a clear pick guard for that baby. Let that midnight Blue shine through. Yeehah!  Check the gallery for my clear pick guard on my redstone HM formerly HS now HH. PAF Pros rock in the neck position and the clear pickguard allows that paint job through. Th black pick guard is just to plain.  Just took another look at one of your pictures up close in the cavity. It looks as if it had a redstone paint job originally then was possibly repainted midnight blue. I've never seen one like this. A true oddity. Lucky score. ;D |
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Feb 2, 2010 1:48:22 GMT -5
I locked the trem so I can practice to different songs, and man, I played it for like 2 hours! This thing plays sooo nice...I'm glad I snagged it! I like the clear pickguard idea better than the black pickguard, but I'm kinda partial to none. ;D If i did make an acrylic one, do you think I should put the Sensor back in the neck position? Wait, that would look goofy in the humbucker hole wouldn't it... I'll think about it, and I may just try it, and cut out for the humbucker, if for nothing else, to justify the holes.  |
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Post by Bodaggit23 on Feb 2, 2010 23:54:26 GMT -5
Ok, so here's first try at the clear pickguard. I snapped off a small piece by the neck/pickup due to laziness. Didn't quite cut it through so I tried to bend it out and it snapped off. This stuff is pretty thick and I got some thinner stuff too for the final version, if I decide I like it. So I'll use this one as a template after I clean it up some more. It's scratched pretty good, but I thought I'd post it anyway to get some thoughts.   |
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