Fender Showmaster - Modern overhaul!

[lewis]

Long over due Update:

Found out about Crimson Guitars and their stunning stains and Finishing Oil!!!! sooooo

This black is coming off all over (by hand)

Next up is the top and sides. Then i will do the neck.
Goig to do the neck, headstock, back and sides as a dark cherry red blend with a few of the other stains in with it (coats)

Then the top is going to be a dark monochrome/black style stain. The red should pop beautifully against the dark monochrome top.

I need to order 1 final stick of luminlay to finish these side dots.

Then im going to sand and restain the fretboard with their black and cover the entire thing in about 4-5 coats of their finishing oil.

Anyone got any idea about how i can apply the Fender waterdecal if im using finishing oil?.
Can i just add it to the headstock after 2 coats, then do more finishing oil coats over it?

target aesthetic is the chapman Ml3 Bea but this will have a darker top and the entire back and sides will be that dark red.

 

[Kaura]

Breaks my heart to see such a rare guitar being modified like that especially since it looked pretty rad to me originally.

 

[Albake21]

Breaks my heart to see such a rare guitar being modified like that especially since it looked pretty rad to me originally.

I wouldn't really call them rare, there's plenty of them for sale just on Reverb. Super cheap too.

@lewis Which color are you going to buy from Crimson Guitars?

EDIT: I'm an idiot, just read you are doing cherry red. That's going to look SO nice!

 

[lewis]

Breaks my heart to see such a rare guitar being modified like that especially since it looked pretty rad to me originally.

I know exactly what you mean. I wouldnt normally go this indepth with mods either.

However its an amazing guitar and i know in this instance, be much better for it. Gloss Black is pretty boring to me these days and because of it, it doesnt feel like the "Fender" it is.

Reserve judgement until its done

 

[lewis]

Mockups:

 

[lewis]

quick photoshop mockup plans -

 

[lewis]

There appears to be like a wood sealer type coat over the bare wood.
Do i have to sand through that too for stain to work?
Presume i do

 

[KnightBrolaire]

There appears to be like a wood sealer type coat over the bare wood.
Do i have to sand through that too for stain to work?
Presume i do

yes, if you want the stain to actually sit in the grain of the wood. depending on the stain you could try applying it over the sealer to see how it looks, but oftentimes that doesn't turn out as well as applying it to bare wood ime.

 

[lewis]

yes, if you want the stain to actually sit in the grain of the wood. depending on the stain you could try applying it over the sealer to see how it looks, but oftentimes that doesn't turn out as well as applying it to bare wood ime.

ok thanks for that!

Im going to buy an electric sander then. Took me all day and crazy amounts of sandpaper to get through the paint just on the back of the body, by hand.
If even that will require further sanding thanks to the sealer, then electric it is haha.

 

[lewis]

Bought a sander and got as far as this before the sun went down (relying on outdoor work)

Then ive got to fill the pickup ring holes properly and sand those back.

I cannot wait to get this all back to bare wood and can start ordering the crimson guitars stains!.

 

[lewis]

Front and headstock done.
Sides and back still left.

Plugged pickup ring holes

need to get that knob hole route flat too.

 

[Omzig]

need to get that knob hole route flat too.

Nice work,Just be careful yo don't break through the leveling veneer they vacuum over the back/top on these or you'll be in for another 0.6mm of sanding

 

[lewis]

Nice work,Just be careful yo don't break through the leveling veneer they vacuum over the back/top on these or you'll be in for another 0.6mm of sanding

?
This was gloss black when i started. Is there really a veener on this?

 

[Omzig]

?
This was gloss black when i started. Is there really a veener on this?

well unless they made it out of 1 piece of wood as a full thur neck then yes

they add them over the pieces so you don't get sink back as the paint cures,guitars that dont get this treatment can be spotted as after a few years as you can see the glue lines of the body wings.

 

[lewis]

well unless they made it out of 1 piece of wood as a full thur neck then yes

they add them over the pieces so you don't get sink back as the paint cures,guitars that dont get this treatment can be spotted as after a few years as you can see the glue lines of the body wings.

Ah yeah ive noticed that. My old Yamaha from the 80s you can see the body joins through the black gloss.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.
I will try to be careful.

Looking fresh though

 

[Matt08642]

This is really cool. I always wanted one of these Showmasters when I was younger, cool to see someone else actually giving a shit about one lmao

 

[lewis]

This is really cool. I always wanted one of these Showmasters when I was younger, cool to see someone else actually giving a shit about one lmao

100% dude.

24 fret neck through carved top fender strat?. I mean why wasnt everyone into them? Haha.

Thanks too. So far its been a fun project. Ive got my luminlays on order now too.

Going to go with full hipshot hardware on this.

 

[lewis]

Luminlays finally done!. Weather here is dreadful so sanding is on hold.
The Crimson guitar stains are water based so really easy to clean. Im not worried about stain issues over these luminlays.

Wish I had a garage or workshop space though.

Ah well.

 

[Albake21]

Luminlays finally done!. Weather here is dreadful so sanding is on hold.
The Crimson guitar stains are water based so really easy to clean. Im not worried about stain issues over these luminlays.

Wish I had a garage or workshop space though.

Ah well.

How did you add the luminlays? Or in other words, how did you remove the original side dots to install these ones?

I'm excited to see how this turns out.

 

[lewis]

How did you add the luminlays? Or in other words, how did you remove the original side dots to install these ones?

I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Hey dude.

Just took a drill bit the same size as the luminlays i ordered. Which i think in this case was 3mm, and drilled out the stock dots.
Then using gorilla wood glue, glued the luminlay stick in the hole and gently saw'd it off about 1mm away from the fretboard.

Then after enough hours for the glue to dry, using 220grit i sanded it smooth.

These ones are supposed to be for maple fretboards but i like them enough to use them on any fretboard wood type.