Happy 30th To Me

It was my 30th on Sat so Happy Birthday to me and a big thankyou to Rach, Mum&Dad for organising my party, Ma-in-law & Martin for blowing up all the balloons! Also thanks to all family and mates for coming and making it a cracking day.

Guitar Project-Day3

Not much time so just done a little bit, gotta keep the motivation or it will never get finished! Made a start on the front. Paint was coming off a bit easier or maybe just because I was expectin hard work this time it seemed it.

Guitar Project-Day 2

Ok made a start on the paint stripping. I used nitromors and started on the back just in case it didn't work too well but it seems to have done the job. I don't know why because I knew that the finish was hard wearing but it took a bit more elbow grease than I was hoping, I had this stupid idea that the stripper would go on and the paint would blister and peel straight off! (wishful thinkin). Now that the worst of it is off I will move onto the front and then the give the whole body a sand down. The wood is not lookin too great on the back an I imagine it will be the same all the way thru to the front so may need to start thinkin bout a paint finish.

Today is my daughter Layla's 1 month birthday.

Happy 1 month Baby L.

Love Mum & Dad

Guitar Project-Day 1

I have made a small start on the project. I have not decided yet what look or finish I am going to go for but I have a few ideas. I am going to strip the body of all its original paint so I can see what the wood is like underneath. I imagine that it will be shocking due to the price I paid for it but you never know(yeah rite). If its decent I may consider staining it but will wait and see. What I have done so far is strip the guitar of all its parts and separate the neck ready for paint stripping which I have a feeling is going to be a pain to get off. Not a great deal done but better than nothing.

Guitar Project - Before

Guitar Project - Intro

The title gives it away but I am finally getting round to start a project I've been thinking about for some time. About 15 years ago I bought my first guitar, (I had dreams of being the next James Hetfield) unfortunately as I was only about 14 I didn't have any money so the ESP Explorer I wanted was just gonna have to wait. It turned out that the only way I was gonna be able to get a guitar and set on my way to rock and roll stardom was to buy one out of my mums catalogue and pay monthly (very rock and roll!) so what I ended up with was a bright red Sunn Mustang which was a Fender Strat copy, but it was cool and I finally had a guitar and it wasn't long before me and my mates were thrashing it out in a band, well kind of but at that time none of us could actually play an just spent most of our time posing.

I eventually got myself some lessons and over the years gradually improved and saved up an bought myself a new guitar a black Gibson Explorer,still my favourite. I now have several guitars an although the dream of being the next Hetfield was never achieved I still enjoy playing.

Anyway the point of this blog is that I wanted to get a cheap guitar and try my hand at refurbishing it and I really wanted to do a Les Paul shape but so far have not found a suitable specimen for the price I wanted to pay. I still have my original Strat copy an over the years it has taken a bit of a battering and some cosmetic customizing so thought I would give it a spruce up and see what happens. I don't know how long it will take an whether I will even ever finish it but it seems a good idea and a bit of fun. I am gonna try and post pics and put down what I am doing as I do it. I have never done anything like this before so I will be learning as I go along.