My Old Broken Guitar

[castle]

Decided against painting this myself. I shipped it off today to Lee Garver at GMW guitarworks for a repaint.

Now trying to decide between Butala Custom Shop Guitars and Musikraft for the neck replacement. I'm pretty sure I have all the specs now. I'll post them all here shortly too for posterity.

I'm going to do this right

[CaptNasty]

I hear you, I'm the same way with car projects. I spend lots of $ bringing in correct parts from Germany for my Audis and Porsche. I'm just trying to be responsible as well. for example, the "skunk stripe" has zero impact on playability but costs and extra $50. I'm still likely to do that part, just unsure on the extra $300 for a slight variation in neck profile on a part of the neck.

The neck was a major thing with how that guitar was built. Fretboard thickness, neck shape, fret size, nut width, heel width, fretboard radius, neck thickness were all part of the mojo of the guitar. I personally would be looking to restore that mojo. To end up with a Holdsworth that played like a standard Strat or Charvel would be anti-climatic I think. Make no mistake, the Holdsworth is a very different guitar feel wise.

[castle]

If I were restoring my own personal guitar, it would not be a financial thing. I would want it restored as close to stock as possible.

I hear you, I'm the same way with car projects. I spend lots of $ bringing in correct parts from Germany for my Audis and Porsche. I'm just trying to be responsible as well. for example, the "skunk stripe" has zero impact on playability but costs and extra $50. I'm still likely to do that part, just unsure on the extra $300 for a slight variation in neck profile on a part of the neck.

[CaptNasty]

If I were restoring my own personal guitar, it would not be a financial thing. I would want it restored as close to stock as possible.

[castle]

Hi all,

I was able to get all the specs on the neck and can have one built which leads me to this: What would you all think this rebuilt project ends up worth? I don't want to spend $700 on a custom neck if the whole guitar ends up worth $500 at the end of the day.

The very custom part of this neck is that its profile should start as a D and end up a C - which is a custom programmed $300 extra charge.

what do you guys think?

[CaptNasty]

I think the most interesting thing in this article:

https://bylwrks.tumblr.com/post/6623...oldsworths-red

Is the part about the fretboard thickiness: 1/8” ebony. That coupled with the radius and neck shape if he can give any specifics should get you really close.

[castle]

So cool. It's threads like this that keep me checking back in to the JCF every once in a while after all these years.....

Thanks! I just made contact with Henry Boyle who helped design the necks with Holdsworth. I've asked a bunch of questions so I can get the right specs to Musikraft. I'm close. just trying to get the exact neck profile right.

[Bert]

So cool. It's threads like this that keep me checking back in to the JCF every once in a while after all these years.....

[castle]

A little more progress. I have the body sanded and the dents filled. the crack that was there is totally fixed as well.
Here before the bondo:


and after - as it sits now:




I have a kit on order from Stew Mac to get it painted in an off white as it was. I have sourced I think everything I was missing to make the bridge work right, new springs etc.

Lastly, I've been emailing with Musikraft about the neck. I think I have most of the specs cobbled together from a bunch of other sources. The exact neck profile is the last real question. The reverb listing that was linked above has a bunch of caliper measurements so that may suffice. we'll see!

thanks all, hopefully this will be a real guitar again soon.

[castle]

Oh, one more thing - I realized the tuners I have are correct. I saved them when I swapped necks out. so there's that.

[castle]

Glad I stripped it down. I was able to see that the crack I knew about was not fatal - and that the cracks in the paint finish were just that and nothing worse

got it all glued up and drying now.

the pics below are pulling it apart to get glue in there:

[castle]

A little bit of info and progress here.

I found some photos of the guitar circa 1991:




Shows the original neck and the lack of logo

Also, I decided in order to assess the damage to the body, I needed to strip it to bare wood. So I’ve started that too.
[~url=http://castledb.me/image/sezi][/url]


Need to figure out a correct neck (at least a neck made to correct specs) and I will get this thing painted and back together.

[Guitfiddlist]

https://reverb.com/item/3017477-char...-neck-1984-red

this might have some specs for you

[Guitfiddlist]

If you are interested in selling it, I love to bring guitars back from the dead

[Guitfiddlist]

I haven't done anything with it just yet. I'm curious about the Musikraft neck. You had one made to Holdsworth Specs?

not to Holdsworth specs, but to San Dimas specs. Minus the carbon fiber support rods. I actually ordered it without fretmarkers on the fretboard. The heel is 2-1/4” for the “left for dead” Charvel body I acquired. This thing was carved into by some kinda dremel or something. I wanted to build an HH San Dimas tribute. The body I added pics of on this forum will be another project all together. I’m thinking Prince Strat meets SC Relic kinda mash up