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(Date Posted:08/12/2003 11:51:38)
OK you modders and DIYS people. I'll start the ball rolling here. I have a few things I can share with you that make doing stuff a little easier, better, faster? It can be useful for other stuff than guitar moddin', so feel free to addanythingyou like.Plastic cutting boards. Don't know why I only started using these 5 years ago...used to throw away the old funky blackened ones. You know, the opaque white plastic ones...we now have kool blue and green ones (green for cutting veggies and fruits only!) This stuff is the shit for drilling, punching holes and of course, cutting with Xacto or utility knifes. Never go hunting for a scrap piece of wood to drill on. It has a permanant place on my tool shelf. I used it to make my control plates. I drilled the 2 small mounting holes on the ends of the blank plates and screwed the plate to the board. Center punch and drill the bigger holes for the LP switch and pots...you know how the bit likes tobitejust before it breaks through the metal...no way if it's screwed down. Also screwed my Tele guard to it when I cut out the pup hole for the HB neck. Lots of uses for this board...throw it out when it's Swiss cheese, hopefully you'll have another board going bad...Sanding blocks. Get the 4" wide belt sander belts, slide 'em over a 3/4" plywood block that's cut to fit snugly inside. I've used these forever and it's great for leveling, smoothing...anything. At times it's better and faster than a file. I have 80, 100 & 120 grits, they last a real long time. Used 'em to shape and smooth the control plates as well as take 1/8" off the bottom of my Tele-Gib pup rings...just rub the bottom of the rings on 'em. I love these 'hand sanders'. Cheap too.Rubber grip mats. You'll find in at Costco in small rolls. Wood workers started using this as a 'no-clamp' skid pad to route, trim stuff while the pad holds the piece from moving. I think Costco calls it shelf liner...guess it's good for that too. I alway have a piece under the guitar/body I'm working on. Good stuff. I cut some round ones for my sons cymbals...crashing cymbals in the living room goes right through my brain cells! This stuff reduces the crash to aplink...hahaBronze wool. I learned this from doing Schwinn resto. Never use steel wool on chrome! Chrome is 'softer' than 'steel' soooo, it's gonna scratch...no matter how double ott fine it is. Bronze wool (fine) will remove thosepepperrust spots from chrome without scratching. You need to use Windex as a lube, so spray some on, and rub with the bronze wool. I found some at the Marine (boat) shop...sometimes Lowes has it.Magnfying head visor. My dad used this all the time working on electronics repair. I bought one for my touch-up biz...about 40 bucks for the good one. I'm getting old..glasses are'nt enough. Use 'em for soldering, lettering 'donut's', dressing fresh drilled/reamed holes with a utility knife. Makes things look real big so I can be more precise...and safer.Relic...my new foundreverse-resto...Kiwi brown shoe polish. Mandy told me about this, Rev Donzo (Lace) screamed about it's glory. I tell ya, it works. Here's my experience with it. When I read about relic'ing, it made sense to dull the paint before you put dents and ding in...shiney dents look wierd and too fresh. So I steel wooled the body (Tele-Gib). When I did the Kiwi, it got real dark, I guess the paint wasraw and 'open'being deglossed. I had to use a varnish remover to take the color off...I waited too long. Hint: if you don't like what you see, you have seconds to wipe off with alcohol..keeep a lot of clean rags ready. I was able to tone down areas with the alcohol and gave it real looking shading. Some plastic parts, knobs and pickup covers may not take...I used lacquer thinner to remove any wax and mold release from the plastic (be careful around painted numbers...work fast) and the color took...just had to do that for the Les Paul Standard truss plate...looks old now. It darkened a rich tone on my Strats (poly?) JV neck...I have a semi-bare baby butt whiteish neck for my Goldie...shoe shine tan for that one...soon.Ferrous Chloride. The relic-guru who did Roy's Nancy Tele clone used this stuff. Depending how long you soak or rub this stuff on, you can go from old, dull chrome to rusty POS! Be careful, wear gloves and eye gear. Water rinse stops the process...have a small container or wet rags handy. About 5 bucks for a bottle of instant age from Radio Shack.That's it for now...I'll add more if I can think of any...your turn, common' 'show and tell' your mod tips.
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Kustomized Tele"s rule! Thanks Big Daddy | 
