Put away your belt sander and emery cloth -- this is what "road worn"
actually looks like! This great Silverburst Strat has been a workhorse for one of the busiest players I know ~ and I don't mean his playing! When you're working all the time like this guitar does, it's either in the case or around your neck on a stage absorbing everything around you...
The initial concern was that the neck pickup was cutting in and out and the pickups seemed loose in their slots. Once I examined what was under the pickguard and attached to the headstock, it was obvious this guitar needed a little more to prepare it for future shows.
There's a reason why pickguards turn "mint green" or yellow over time ~ nicotine! The Strat
Plus of the era meant it came equipped with Lace Sensor pickups, locking tuners and a roller nut. The owner became frustrated with the locking mechanism on the back of these tuners and removed them some time ago. Of course, this didn't cause tuning problems at all considering locking tuners are completely unnecessary to begin with if the guitar is strung and the strings are stretched correctly. These were replaced with a set of OEM standard Strat tuners.
The roller nut was also replaced by the luthiers at PegHead here in Hamilton, who do great work. This involved a slight extension of the fretboard on either side of the bone nut that was added. This guitar is worked quite hard, but despite that it was perfectly tuned and intonated upon arrival.
Some players are extremely picky about the cleanliness and polish of their instruments, others are not, and some are simply too busy playing to care! This owner wasn't as concerned about polish as he was about it's overall functionality, and he still wanted it to feel like the Strat he's used to playing. The important part is that the inner workings of the guitar are maintained in good condition, and the rest as they say is the "mojo" ~ or just rock & roll!
Years of being a workhorse has crept underneath this pickguard. I'm sure a lab analysis would turn up a mixture of coffee, beer, sweat, nicotine and several
unknown substances!
Before and after cleaning of the wiring and pots. A mild solution of vinegar and water and some cotton swabs does the trick, but dry it off quickly and keep it off the pots to prevent any chance of corrosion. An aerosol electrical contact cleaner can be used for them. In this case, each of these pots had some scratchiness along some parts of their rotation. Contact cleaner can be sprayed liberally directly inside while working the knobs back & forth slowly until it dries.
The pickup selector switch seen here was the cause of the intermittent neck pickup. If rotated aggressively over time the small "fingers" that contact the disk to make the connection can bend outward, losing the connection all together. Being made of thin tin, repeated bending will eventually break them off so while they can be persuaded back into place a few times as this one was, it's usually best to just replace it. If you don't have one on hand, however, a neat trick if you're skilled with a soldering iron is to simply tin them once persuaded back in to place, making them a little stronger and prolonging their durability. Just be careful not to solder them to the contact disk though!
These pickups are held in place by a screw surrounded by a piece of surgical tubing, making a spring type resistance to keep them in place. Unfortunately the rubber surgical tubing breaks down over time and becomes brittle, making the pickups loose (see the space between the pickguard and tubing on the right). These pieces were replaced with pickup springs and the problem was solved, long term.
It's as much of a pleasure to see a well played, truly road weary vintage guitar as it is to see one in pristine condition. This one is ready for many more miles of road, and I'm sure it will be back in the shop for an oil, lube & filter in the future so it can keep on going!
