Squier '62 Stratocaster (2/2) ~ Luthiery Laboratories

Squier '62 Stratocaster (2/2)

I saved some of the pictures from the eBay listing. They only hint at the rough shape it was in.

I think the wire between the tone pots was missing.
Not worth dying for.

Here is the Strat with its stablemate - a "Crafted in Japan" Precision that was given to me by a vintage dealer who was very pleased with some work I did. I wanted them to match.

From the early '80s, this guitar is verging on 'vintage' status, so I wanted to keep the modifications to a minimum, mostly hidden and reversible. The tremolo stabilizer required 3 small screw holes inside the body. I kept the old pickguard, just in case. I could always put the scratches back in the body too.

This is not the only factory wiring fault I have seen, although I am surprised that it came out of Japan. I have an old tube amp that had a non-functioning tremolo circuit for 50 years until I fixed it!

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Fret Slot Cleaning Tool

This is a fret slot cleaning tool that I made from my old favorite steel packing strap in about 5 minutes. Once again, the inspiration is the StewMac catalog, where their tool is much nicer, and about $15. I ground the strap to a hooked point on the bench grinder and made the handle from popsicle sticks and tape. My tool is double-ended, very similar to my binding scrapers. The material is nearly the right thickness, a few passes on a file and it was perfect. The edges are all square, so the tip is a tiny chisel.

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