The (hopefully Not To Embarrassing) Refurbish Thread Options

[Spock]

Win, Lose or go down in utter humiliation, I'm going to diary the progress of this $200 1996 or 1997 Jackson Dinky transformation.

I found out today the wood is Indian Mahogany. (Or that was the guys best guess).

1) So, this is what came out of the box:



2) Had to use a heat gun to loosen and chip up the thick poly finish and paint. Came to find out there was a very thin veneer covering the top of the body, I singed the veneer off with the heat gun and scraped it - at this point I thought all was lost:


3) I took a damp rag and wiped the saw dust off from a quick sanding. The scorch marks had me thinking of going in a relic direction.


4 & 5)The sides were not that difficult, except for the curves of the horns. The veneer was on the back too, but I realized I could use the heat gun for the finish, and sand the veneer off. It took some elbow grease, and the process to this point took about 6-8 hours. These next two pics are after the first round of sanding with a 50 grit sandpaper.




6 & 7) I worked on it for about 2 hours tonight. I used a Dremel Tool to sand inside the crevices, the horn arcs, as well I had to sharpen the body top edge angle to the sides and started round the edge angle to the back of the body. I went over the entire guitar again with a sander and was able to get most all of the scorch marks out. Also, on the front and a couple of places on the side, there was a gap where some of the wood came together. I filled those in with a wood putty and will let it cure for 24 hours then sand off the excess. I am also going to close up the neck pickup cavity - so I wood-glued a piece of wood in the hole. Once it is dried, I will build up the wood putty around the crevices and up over the top of the body, then sand off the excess to make it smooth. This has to be done in layers as it take a a while for wood putty to harden, and it tends to shrink when drying, so this process may take a few days. I am also going to cover the hole for the tone knob and the pick-up selector slit.

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8) I have purchased the wood sealer, stain and a satin clear coat. Once the front of the guitar has been filled and sanded smooth, I am going to stain the sides and back of the mahogany and to the front of the body add a light colored birch burl veneer. This will get a natural sealer/finish; sand the edges down smooth to the body and start apply the first coating of satin lacquer. When the first coat dries, I plan on putting a 1/4" accent line in between the 2 woods with vinyl tape, then start coating the lacquer up over that until I get a thick shell. The tape will give a nice accent in between the woods, since it's not possible to put a binding on the guitar and best of all IT'S CHEAP!!!



The birch veneer measures 16" x 60" so there will be plenty left over and I won't need to bookend two pieces down the middle.

So, at this point, that is the plan and the progress. I'm really just doing this, just to see if I can.

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