GS270 (3)

Body is ready for a re-finish. I did not remove the existing finish entirely. The idea here is to scratch the surface so that the new coat of paint would stick. That's it. That existing coat there prevents me from having to pore-fill the bare wood before a re-finish would take place. Of course, it's very unprofessional but very befitting for a novice like me. My objective had always been as long as it works. 

These are the trem post holes. I had stuffed them with foam, yes that one that came with the pickup packaging, very spongey. This prevents paint from entering the holes & mess up the screw threads. Also, the cavities in this body had been lined with paper. It's been scorching hot lately so it's a good time to be spray-painting .

To be continued...

Smashed fortune

This used to be a healthy 1964 Fender Strat. It was reduced to pieces in 1967 by Pete Townshend. Unbelievably, it's up for auction at an estimated opening price of USD20K. Geez... I bet if you can locate the pickguard screws on that fateful night in '67, it'd be USD5k each. Maybe the broken neck- USD10K, dilapidated input jack- USD8K, etc. The collectors' realm is beyond routine understanding. 

Project subtraction

Well this is an Ibanez S570 body. It was an Ibanez S570 body, now that it's stripped off its hardware & electronics, it's not one any more.

OK, you'd say it's still an S570 body due to its pickup cavities & stuff like that but hey, would there be the same number of cavities left once this make-over is done? :-)

Body of evidence

In a move to protect its intellectual property, Fender has recently attempted to register its Stratocaster & Telecaster body design but failed on account of its inability to indicate source. It's interesting to know that a 5-year litigation cited the following manufacturers contravening the iconic body designs:

• Spector
• ESP
• Sadowsky
• Lakland
• Peavey
• Warmoth
• Schecter
• Tobias
• Suhr

Adding insult to injury would be the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board of the USA's conclusion that the (Stratocaster) guitar' s design is so generic that it is depicted as a default design for a typical electric guitar in a dictionary.

Generic body

Was preparing my Highway1 Telecaster for a pickup swap today, saw this under the pickguard: There is a cavity above the neck pickup slot despite the neck not having truss rod access there (it's over at the headstock). It implies that Fender is using a generic body for their guitars.

Ibanez graphic RG

I played this new (for 2008) Ibanez RG320PGP1 recently. It seems the manufacturer is banking on the graphics to sell this guitar as it is a typical RG320 in terms of playability & tone. For those of you who think this one is a resurrection of the US Custom models of the '80s- not quite. The graphic body is satin finished so it's prone to tear if you aren't too careful. Not aware if there's a hot demand for such body finishes.