Happy Holibobs

No, I can't see it turning out that shiny either

Well, not a lot doing at the moment that doesn't involve tinsel and queues, but I have started on my little re-vamp of my old and generally battered Gordon Smith. Just to keep my hand in, like.

I know I've mentioned it before, but the bottom line is that it had a few wee cracks at the headstock around the tuners, and I figured that while I was gluing and clamping those I may as well give it a right royal seeing to, as it were.

So first things first, I stripped it down, and have used some Titebond  and a couple of clamps. This stuff did the business when I fixed the neck on the Busted Dot and these are less critical, so I'm sure it will be fine.

Once that had dried, I ordered some new tuners that will fit the original holes, which will hopefully stop any reoccurence...

The next job will be to refinish the body.

Now when I got it, one of the attractions for me was that it was 'naturally aged' in fact battered and scribbled over in parts being closer to the truth. At the time I de-gunked then Danish Oiled it and it improved no end. However, this time I'm going to go a step further and stain it a darker shade of walnut and properly finish it with Tru-Oil, conditioner and wax. This is basically the approach people take to protecting their Gun Stocks and should look the business without losing the original charm.

At least that is the plan, guess time will tell.

After that it is hardware. The tuners of course are new, and then I am replacing the wraparound bridge and posts with a Wilkinson one which will help on the intonation front. Must admit it isn't something that over worries me and I'm in two minds, so that is a maybe at the moment as I like the original tailpiece and the Wilko one looks a tad shiny and bulky by comparison. So I might just change the posts which are the bit that are broken after all, we'll see.

Pickup-wise, I've got a P90 - a SD Phat Cat - for the neck and will probably stick with the Gordon Smith pickup at the bridge. Though I have a SD '59 which might be sweeter. Apart from I am swapping that for a guitar body. Hmmm...maybe keep the Gordo then, or look for a nice PAF. Not sure.

What I do know for sure is that I'm going to take the chance to replace the pots and wiring while I am at it, as it is daft not to, let's face it. I've got some Ye Olde Worlde wire and a MojoTone cap, so that should work out OK.

As for the rest, the frets are low but good apart from a couple which are a bit flat, so I'm going to break out my lovely crowning file thing to sort that out. I've been practising on old necks and am feeling pretty good about it all now. The proper tools definitely help, I've come to accept.

After that, I'm going to Linseed oil the fretboard which should give it a lovely dark hue - I used to use Lemon Oil but read somewhere that Raw Linseed is better if you don't leave it on too long and it seems to do the biz - and there we are.

Basically then, this is meant to be my Christmas holibobs project, so I'll wang some fotos up as I go...once I've charged the camera back up anyway.

And of course, if this proves to be 'it' - Happy Xmas and cheers for reading along with the vaguely psychotic chaos that this Jooky bobbins is...

La la laaa