The Fernandes Project

 

I know it’s a gamble stripping down a guitar with the sole intent of staining, and not painting… As we all know, when the chips are down on the assembly line; “Ugly Guitars Get Paint”. But, I figured if it was too ugly Well, there’s always … more paint. Obviously, like my workshop, this flea market find ( though an awesome playing little guitar ) definitely needs all the help it can get in the looks department. 

In my humble opinion, there are WAY too many black guitars out there, at least, in the Stratocaster style. Although, I wouldn’t likely change the color of a nice vintage Strat, or, Tele, regardless of the color. There are certainly a few Tele Custom and Deluxe models I’ve played out there that still look good in black. But, when it came to the Fergie, nothing has ever been cut and dried black and white. 

She’s been with me some time, and plays as good as she sounds… just didn’t have the same sex appeal to me in the looks department, so, I visited the old strip club…
She was a tough one to break, though. I had to use all three trusted methods (Chemical Solvent, Heat Gun, & Sand Paper) to cut through all the poly plastic, and paint before it was over.. and it’s actually not over yet, as I still have to dress her in a clear coat. And rewire, and mount the hardware, pickups and chrome of course. 

Luckily, underneath all that aged polymer ( in my opinion) was some pretty decent wood grain. 

 

I’m not settled on the pick guard yet either, but, had one I’d tried to paint up a while back; or actually tried to copper relic, ( which I learned doesn’t work so well on flat objects) But, who knows…

I’ll be replacing the POT knobs with a more antiqued, or, bronzed looking ones most likely, and I need to make some type of input jack grommet, But other than that … she’s about done.