Trash-o-caster

During a recent storm, this abused electric guitar was found on the curb, buried in snow. Minus all the electrics except the jack, I resolved to bring it back from the brink. I've always wanted a 'Strat,' or something similar. That sweet single-coil sound is something a 'Gibson man' can't get. But a Peavey 'Predator' will come close...

NOTE: There's a video on the last page, showin' the results...

Disclaimer:
By following this guide you will refurbish a junk instrument into something decent. But some choices (type of paint, etc.) are NOT choices a professional would make. I.E., don't use these techniques on a vintage collectors instrument.

'Strat' and 'Stratocaster' are trademarks of Fender. This Peavey is 'Strat-like,' although both Peavey and Fender might be insulted by the reference.

This newer video was added, as the one on the last page was recorded before the guitar was tweaked. This is clean (no F/X), through my little Kay tube amp...

Before & After pix:

Step 1 First, is it worth fixing?

Ask other musicians, check online:

Do people like the 'Predator?' General consensus is: Yes! Although definitely a 'starter' guitar, the 'playability' is high. (Ignore any 'psycho-audiotronics': when we hear something different if the name on the guitar changes...)

Other questions the modder should ask:
Is it modular? Can the neck, etc be removed easily?

One positive:
Despite the current fashion of locking tuners, the tuning machines on this guitar are solid, quality equipment.:

Comments

[tricker69]

I like how the frostbitten "Strat" turned out, nice job. And to all the naysaying guitar snobs, there is nothing wrong with so called "beginner" guitars that play well. They work just fine for real people with real budgets.

[tattoedvoodoo]

@pfred2 . I dont think you could buy ten of my strat pal. Do some research before saying such things. Mine probably cost more than yours or at least close to the same depending on which model you have. Mine was custom made for me from Fender's Custom Shop in Corona Cali. Meaning it was built for me. I had it built the way i wanted it from the ground up. Dont get me wrong i like les paul's in fact i have a nice one but to me nothing will beat a stratocaster, at least not mine.

[pfred2]

Oh come on now, if one of us "Gibson men" really wanted that single coil sound we could sell one of our Gibsons and be able to afford 10 Fenders. :) There are valid reasons why Jimi smashed all of them strats on stage you know?

[strat6911]

Gibson does have a P-90 single coil and Pete Townsend has busted up a few of those...

[reginaron]

Hi. You are right.
He played SG's as well.
Keep on Rockin

[ajleece]

=D

And, we could just get a P-90?

[gmoon]

Cool, a Ford vs. Chevy argument, I love those. I actually play my Les Paul very little these days. It's always seemed more of a balls-out rock guitar, not so great for more subtle things... But that may be more of an "amp thing" than a "guitar thing" (although few would admit it.)

[pfred2]

Who's arguing? Gibsons are typically more valuable than Fenders. That is a simple market fact. Like what you play matters. B. B. King seems to manage with his Gibson:

http://www.worldblues.com/bbking/prairie/lucille.html

I don't think Jimi Hendrix was ever driven to smash any of his Gibsons either ;) He used a Les Paul to play Little Wing among other things. I guess he just liked the Strats to smash.

But then again maybe you are onto something about Gibsons and rock:

http://www.guitarsite.com/news/images/artists/Jimmy_Page_metal.jpg

He is after all Mr. Rock and Roll.

He may have figured out your coil issues too:

http://www.higgs.com/images/guitars/page-schematic-sm.jpg

[strat6911]

"Blackie", a mongrel Strat built out of the best parts of 6 Strats Clapton bought in 1970, just sold last year for a shade under $1 million. Maybe you should fall off the Gibby high horse and open your eyes and ears. I'm starting to wonder if you even own a real Gibby. You really sound ignorant when it comes to instruments. I love my 81 LP Standard, but my 92 Strat is just as nice in other areas. PRS can be just as nice and lately the quality at Gibson hasn't been up to par with the price tags, just better than what Norlin was churning out in the 70s.

[pfred2]

Maybe it was who owned the parts of that Strat that made it worth anything? Maybe the quality of Gibson today has no effect on my vintage one? Maybe I don't care what you think?

[Irock148]

gibson'a are good but like the best company is paul reed smith

[pfred2]

Never heard of them. Best is highly subjective. Something tells me I wouldn't pick one of those over select Gibsons.

[Irock148]

if you've really never heard of them thaen go here

1.http://www.prsguitars.com/
2.http://www.guitarcenter.com/New-Gear.gc?internal=1&src=paul+reed+smith&Search.x=35&Search.y=13

[pfred2]

Why would I have ever heard of some rinky dink guitar making outfit? I'm sure more people want my guitar than any of theirs:

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9188/guitard.jpg

So I'm good.

[Irock148]

first of all thats probably an old model witch isprobably vintage, second of all PRS takes more time and effort in making their instruments and the quality of parts than gibson does.and third of allthey also setup their guitars at the factory, which Gibson and Fender don't do, which requires you to spend an extra $50 to have the guitar tech do it

[pfred2]

I suppose my guitar is a vintage model with upgraded components. I really like the DiMarzio Super Distortion Pickup I put in the lead position (no mods were done to the guitar itself though I did have to fabricate a custom bracket to mount it). Hot hot hot! I got it with the gold Grover tuners on it. Oh I made the head nut, I did that so long ago I almost forgot. I still have the originals kicking around someplace, I see them from time to time. Something tells me the mini bridge on it isn't the original either, but I'm not sure. Again it came with it when I bought the instrument used.

With my tool and skill set unless it involves human surgery I'm really not required to do much of anything today that I cannot do for myself. Guitar tech, don't make me laugh! I do all my own tech:

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7867/testout.jpg

[gmoon]

There's nothing I hate more than a "Macs are better than PC" or "PCs rule!" thread. I'm sure Fender fans could find just as many examples to show their love, too... I've owned my Les Paul Custom now for 35 years. I don't need to justify that by looking down on other perfectly decent guitars.

[pfred2]

Well then stop doing it then because I never said it is because they're better. Just that you can typically get several Fenders for what one Gibson is worth is all. I can agree with you with the Macs are better than PCs hating there. Macs suck! Oh yeah and if your Gibson is so lousy I bet you can pawn it today for a few bucks. I wish I'd have sold my SG now last year. I could probably buy 3 today for what I could have gotten for it then!

[gmoon]

Have a nice day.

[carpe_noctem]

man...dude is crazy...
macs are good at what they do. Fenders are similarly good at what they do. They tend to be more affordable than most Gibsons, with a different but (seemingly) equally preferred tone(different strokes for different folks). A fender fan could turn it around and say you got BS'd into paying 3 times as much for a similarly esteemed instrument. Personally i'm not a big fan of how gibsons tend to have bridges high off the body, compared to FEnders (and fender clones). A friend of mine has a nice explorer(the metallica version i think), and the tone is excellent for metal.Very high output HB's

[Steve Dallman]

I've fixed a number of two point trems that have been busted out. I will fashion a metal strip, route for the strip to fit, and drill holes through the metal to hold the studs. I usually used stainless steel and polished it with Mother's polish. It would come out nearly like chrome.

[gmoon]

More than one way to skin that cat.

Sounds like a good approach. Might even add something to the guitar's overall resonance; like a beefier tremolo block...

[Irock148]

where do you find stuff like that!?!?!?!?!

[gmoon]

Just lucky, I guess... :-)

[reginaron]

Hi.
You didn't mention much about the neck.
Was it still straight after being out in the snow?
Well done 'ible.

[gmoon]

Hey.
Yeah, the neck is good.
I like the guitar so much I bought an old Made-in-USA Predator last year.

Thanks!

[The Jamalam]

I have to say, that in this picture anyway, it has a much nicer finish than you can get with a shop-bought guitar.

[carpe_noctem]

i agree, but the durability probably isn't that great. Even if you mess it up, you can just repaint it though.
PS. I heard back in the day everyone used to paint their own guitars (Clapton and the like), before they started worrying about every minute tone affecting factor. Food for thought. I have a squire strat back home in america, but i moved to russia (learning the language, long story) and i think i'll paint it (stencil most likely), not to mention shield it.
Thanks for mentioning shielding GMoon, i hadn't seen it mentioned here before.

[Rick Camper]

Nice job !!! Best I've seen yet by an "amateur". Yeah, it really is the work you put into an axe, and the rush you get out of playing it that pays you back for the hard work.
Again, Great Instructable !

[ski4jesus]

that is true. mine is used but store bought and it def. does not have as much shine. i wonder, is it worth making it flat black? it would look pretty sick if it was. great job gmoon! wish i could find random guitars on my sidewalk! lol have fun playing

[boolaj]

i have the exact same damage on my guitar so i was very happy to find this instructable :) but i am a little confused, where should i drill the holes? and would superglue work instead of epoxy. thanks for a great tutorial btw

[gmoon]

I drilled a few holes right into the cracks, so the glue would flow into, and fully saturate the joint... Yes, I think superglue could work fine here. I've used it on some archtop guitar repairs. Use the "regular" thin stuff (not the gel); it flows nice. Thanks!

[The Jamalam]

That looks like a pacifica pickguard. Mine is a 012 model, but the series is all very similar. Did it specify a brand? The only thing is that on a standard strat, the bridge pickup is angled.

[gmoon]

Nope, no maker name on the unit. Could be anybody's. It has ceramic bar magnets (not alnico), so it's probably off an asian modern strat knockoff. They sound OK. Not bad; not spectacular. The bridge humbucker setup on a strat is called a "fat strat"; you see a lot of those around. Even some real Fender strats have this configuration...

[CapnTac]

My friend likes his Les Paul set up with a Humbucker in the bridge and a P90 in the neck.

[Hornpipe2]

Good call on the shielding.  I followed the Guitar Nuts tutorial three years ago on my extremely cheap Strat-like, and found I could play the guitar in front of my CRT monitor or under fluorescent lights without problems any more.  The difference is really night and day.

[old_bass_masta]

 once again, used your tips for refinishing another guitar
It is a minwax chestnut stain, and waxed over, the pic is before the 2nd coat of stain

[wazupwiop]

The coolest guitars to mod/refurbish are the old Kramers, especially the Aerostar series.  My dad has one and it is cool.

[bigredlevy]

i agree, i picked up a kramer neck on ebay really cheap, and made a body for it. it feels really good to play on.

[gmoon]

Mod up--all those 80's shredder guitars are really fun to play, and you can get 'em used for under 2 bills...

The Peavey in this project has since become my favorite guitar--love the sound of this thing! (and I own nearly 20 guitars, including a vintage Gibson LP.) The fretboard is wide, medium thickness (not too thin, not too fat.)

I just wish I knew how they sound with the original pickups...