# Fender Showmaster - Modern overhaul!



## lewis (Jun 23, 2018)

So as per my Showmaster NGD in the Standard guitar sub forum.

This will be where i document my mods for this beast. Got alot to do to it before its done so lets kick this journey off.

First things first.
Planned mods:

- Ebonize the fretboard
- install blue luminlay side dots
- change the top to a matte finish by scotchbrite/matte clear coat
- Hipshot open gear lockers
- Hipshot contour bridge
- White tusq nut
- chrome string trees and strap pins
- Remove pickup rings and fill holes (will be done before changing the finish)
- Bareknuckle pickups with either nickel radiator or tyger covers depending on what pickups i opt for
- Sand back headstock to bare wood, stain and apply new decal and matte clear coat
- Tape off and sand back of neck

Done abit of the neck today



















In July im going to acquire plenty of stuff to progress this including scotchbrite, sand paper and the matte clear coat.
At that point i will tape up and go deeper on the back of the neck using the scotchbrite. Not that enamoured by the steel wool 0000 buff. But its defo faster than before.


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## JimF (Jul 1, 2018)

Oooh I like this! What colour are you planning for the refinish? If you're painting the neck then this step could have been done later, but if not then thats cool!


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## lewis (Jul 2, 2018)

JimF said:


> Oooh I like this! What colour are you planning for the refinish? If you're painting the neck then this step could have been done later, but if not then thats cool!


The guitar is staying black, i just want to make the top satin instead.

Front of headstock is getting sanded back to wood and staying natural looking.


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## lewis (Jul 2, 2018)

Some updates.
Sand paper and scotchbrite turned up so:















































And now taped up, sanded, drilled out the side dots and started staining the fretboard






2nd coat






Need to now lightly stain the headstock a light red/brown colour. Add a new Fender Decal and satin clear coat over it.

Im waiting for the luminlays to arrive.


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## lewis (Jul 2, 2018)

Got the tiniest bit of bleed around the truss rod access. Sanded it pretty strong with 400 grit and it wouldnt lift it.

Anyone got any idea on how to get the bleed out? (See last pic)
Or will a light brown stain hide that anyway?


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 2, 2018)

lewis said:


> Got the tiniest bit of bleed around the truss rod access. Sanded it pretty strong with 400 grit and it wouldnt lift it.
> 
> Anyone got any idea on how to get the bleed out? (See last pic)
> Or will a light brown stain hide that anyway?


Do a test stain over that area and see if it blends/hides that. otherwise try denatured alcohol or paint thinner.


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## lewis (Jul 2, 2018)

KnightBrolaire said:


> Do a test stain over that area and see if it blends/hides that. otherwise try denatured alcohol or paint thinner.


Ooh ok thanks. Ive got plenty of white spirit (thinner right?) In the house already.
Will get rubbing next time i do more on this project.


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## lewis (Jul 3, 2018)

Applied some lemon oil this morning and rubbed it in. The board has come out great.
Once its totally dry i can apply some polyx oil and seal the fretboard. Got to get those luminlays in and smooth first though.


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## Ivars V (Jul 3, 2018)

Dude, you're one of the reasons I keep revisiting this forum! Mods for days - keep it up!


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## lewis (Jul 3, 2018)

Ivars V said:


> Dude, you're one of the reasons I keep revisiting this forum! Mods for days - keep it up!


Haha thanks man!
I really appreciate it. I love doing it and since I started playing guitar to now, Ive never kept a guitar standard haha.

The difference is the last 2 years Ive really cranked up the work in an attempt to learn everything I hadnt tried yet.

This Fender already looks incredible compared to when we started haha. Long way to go but going to be worth it.

Sidenote, the luminlay order Im waiting for includes enough to finish my purple headless neck too so that should also get some updates as soon as this order from Japan turns up.


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## lewis (Jul 9, 2018)

Made a start installing the Luminlays. And sanding down everything on the side of the neck.
Waiting for the soft wood filler wax stick to turn up so I can hide the pickup ring holes. At that point all the hardware will come off and I will scotchbrite over the entire face of the body to make it Matte.(including over the filled holes to get a smooth finish) .

Need to slightly bleach the headstock of some blemishes before i stain that too. A few little ebonize touch ups afterwards and then I can buy some matte clear coat and give the face of the body, the fretboard, the headstock and the back of the neck a 1 coat of clear protection.

At that point I might get a new white tusq nut and use it for a bit with the EMGs and stock hardware until I can afford to buy a new Hipshot bridge replacement. 

Bareknuckles will be the last thing I do just because of how expensive a set is.


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## lewis (Jul 11, 2018)

Update:
Wood filler wax stick came in so lets try and hide those holes.










This is where im at with the luminlays. Still got a few left to install, sand, then get the side to be black like the rest. (Thinking trying to cover these in vaseline to help not absorb the stain)





No amount of sanding seems to want to lift this bleed so im going to try bleaching it out before staining it.






Now for the matte. This is a couple of rub downs with the red scotchbrite pad. Ready for the light sanding of the touch ups and the clear coat now when everything else is done.


















Just waiting for the touch ups to dry then im going to lightly buff with 000 wool.

Pretty decent tbh haha.


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## lewis (Jul 11, 2018)




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## lewis (Jul 11, 2018)




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## lewis (Jul 11, 2018)

Decided i want to do 1 thin coat of matte black on the body before doing matt clear coat, just to get a more consistent finish.

Also, going to get black hipshot open gear tuners but use these chrome UMP


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## Constructivist (Jul 12, 2018)

This gonna be good!


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## Albake21 (Jul 12, 2018)

Damn this is turning out great! The neck turned out great. What's the full process you use to remove the gloss? With the amount of guitars I pass up because of gloss necks is too much lol.


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## lewis (Jul 12, 2018)

Albake21 said:


> Damn this is turning out great! The neck turned out great. What's the full process you use to remove the gloss? With the amount of guitars I pass up because of gloss necks is too much lol.


yeah same as me buddy. 100% why i wanted to start doing this to my own necks. 
This one was super sticky too.

Basically tape up top and bottom where you want the matt part of the neck to be. Top part I just done in line with the nut. Bottom was abit more tricky because of the neck through carve. Just try and follow that shape.

Then its just a simple matter of going over it quite thoroughly with a red scotchbrite pad. Wipe it down and check it for micro scratches. If some are abit to obvious and it needs more. Go over it again etc. Rinse and repeat until you are happy with the amount of gloss removed and that there is so many micro scratches you then cant really see them.

remove the tape and job done. Super simple.
I was planning on sealing it still with a matt clear coat. Not sure if that will actually keep it feeling as it is now, or whether that will do undo the work Ive already done though haha.


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## Albake21 (Jul 12, 2018)

lewis said:


> yeah same as me buddy. 100% why i wanted to start doing this to my own necks.
> This one was super sticky too.
> 
> Basically tape up top and bottom where you want the matt part of the neck to be. Top part I just done in line with the nut. Bottom was abit more tricky because of the neck through carve. Just try and follow that shape.
> ...


Interesting.... what size grit did you use?


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## lewis (Jul 12, 2018)

Albake21 said:


> Interesting.... what size grit did you use?


i believe red scotch brite is only available in the one size dude so you shouldnt go wrong


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## lewis (Sep 20, 2018)

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.


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## Kaura (Sep 20, 2018)

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


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## Albake21 (Sep 20, 2018)

Kaura said:


> 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!


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## lewis (Sep 20, 2018)

Kaura said:


> 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


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## lewis (Sep 20, 2018)

Mockups:


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## lewis (Sep 23, 2018)

quick photoshop mockup plans -


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## lewis (Oct 2, 2018)

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


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## KnightBrolaire (Oct 2, 2018)

lewis said:


> 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.


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## lewis (Oct 2, 2018)

KnightBrolaire said:


> 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.


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## lewis (Oct 11, 2018)

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!.


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## lewis (Oct 12, 2018)

Front and headstock done.
Sides and back still left.

Plugged pickup ring holes










need to get that knob hole route flat too.


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## Omzig (Oct 12, 2018)

lewis said:


> 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


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## lewis (Oct 12, 2018)

Omzig said:


> 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?


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## Omzig (Oct 12, 2018)

lewis said:


> ?
> 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.


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## lewis (Oct 12, 2018)

Omzig said:


> 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


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## Matt08642 (Oct 12, 2018)

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


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## lewis (Oct 13, 2018)

Matt08642 said:


> 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.


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## lewis (Oct 17, 2018)

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.


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## Albake21 (Oct 17, 2018)

lewis said:


> 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.
> ...


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.


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## lewis (Oct 17, 2018)

Albake21 said:


> 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.


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## lewis (Oct 18, 2018)

Just the neck to sand.



























Got these picklup ring holes filled. I mean they feel perfectly smooth to the touch. The top has had a good 420grit going over since I used a heavier grit stripping everything off. Lets hope the stain hides them. Im happy with how they came out but the jury is out until the stain happens.


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## lewis (Oct 24, 2018)

Phew! Nearly all sanded now.

You dont realise how in depth this job is until you tackle it.


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## Omzig (Oct 24, 2018)

Nice work,Totally OT but where did you get that table? totally love the patten/colours ikea?


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## Albake21 (Oct 24, 2018)

Omzig said:


> Nice work,Totally OT but where did you get that table? totally love the patten/colours ikea?


Seriously, that table is cool as hell.


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## lewis (Oct 24, 2018)

Omzig said:


> Nice work,Totally OT but where did you get that table? totally love the patten/colours ikea?





Albake21 said:


> Seriously, that table is cool as hell.



Got it instore at a place called "The Range". Cost me £45 at the time but they are £19.99 now in clearance. Shame they dont appear to ship although i may be wrong. I ordered mine instore to be delivered (wouldnt fit in the car)

https://www.therange.co.uk/furnitur...tables/geometric-rainbow-coffee-table/#149143

EDIT: it DOES mention delivery prices so  there you go guys haha


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## Frostbite (Oct 31, 2018)

I'm liking the thread my dude. Been mulling over getting a project guitar to do basically the same thing


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## lewis (Oct 31, 2018)

Frostbite said:


> I'm liking the thread my dude. Been mulling over getting a project guitar to do basically the same thing


Hey dude.

Thank you  its good fun and incredibly rewarding. Progress has been slow lately as im suffering with a sickness bug i caught from my kids.

I hope to recover and crack on with it again soon.


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## lewis (Nov 20, 2018)

update:

All sanding is now done. And Im stocked up on white spirit ready to prep the guitar before staining.

Speaking of which, the order for that and the finishing oil has just been made.
Order consists of - 

Cherry Red - 






Orange - 






Pthalo Blue - 






Black - 






Finishing Oil - 






Fret Polishing Rubbers - 






I just need to get some 1200 wet/dry sand paper and some thin masking tape. Im going to attempt taping off a natural binding look between the transparent black top, and the dark cherry/brown back and sides.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 20, 2018)

I haven't tried this out yet, but I think the faux binding method I'm gonna use on my next build is this:

1. Tape everything but where the binding will be
2. Brush or spray a few coats of clear on the binding
3. Remove tape
4. Tape off the binding area
5. Dye the top and sides
6. Scrape off the binding area with a razer blade (because some dye will always leak under)

Step 2 is there so that if and when dye leaks under your tape later, it doesn't wick up into the end grain where you'll never be able to sand it out. 

I've left a few steps off because I'll also be scraping a tiny bevel in the top so the faux binding shows from the front as well, but this is the general idea. Just gotta be careful. Try it on test boards first.


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## lewis (Nov 20, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I haven't tried this out yet, but I think the faux binding method I'm gonna use on my next build is this:
> 
> 1. Tape everything but where the binding will be
> 2. Brush or spray a few coats of clear on the binding
> ...



Good thing about this stain is its water based. If it leaks, you could just tape up and wipe over with a wet cloth, and keep wiping until it disappears.

So im assuming I can just tape up where I want natural binding. Stain everywhere else. Take off tape, if some has leaked, tape up the opposite leaving the binding, wipe down until back to natural.

let dry for a whole 24 hours or whatever, then start the finishing oil coats


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## LiveOVErdrive (Nov 20, 2018)

Water based stuff can still get sucked into end grain though. It'll penetrate into the wood some distance and be really hard/impossible to get out.


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## lewis (Nov 20, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Water based stuff can still get sucked into end grain though. It'll penetrate into the wood some distance and be really hard/impossible to get out.


well if it does, I will abandon the idea and just go over it with the rest haha


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 25, 2018)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I haven't tried this out yet, but I think the faux binding method I'm gonna use on my next build is this:
> 
> 1. Tape everything but where the binding will be
> 2. Brush or spray a few coats of clear on the binding
> ...


I'd definitely coat the binding area in clear coat.  That's the only really surefire way I've found to minimize leakage from dyes/paints.
burnishing the tape really helps it adhere and minimizes leakage. also using frog tape and some vinyl pinstriping tape together gets some pretty clean results. getting clean scraped natural binding is a huge pain in the ass overall though.


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## lewis (Nov 27, 2018)

Im probably not going to do the natural binding now just because Im impatient and cant be bothered to go and get the tape I thought I had already to do it.

First coat is on. Dilemma now is proceed with my original plan of quite a dark and even black on the top, with a dark cherry red/brown for headstock, sides, back and neck?

or do I abandon that and literally keep everything natural except the black top?






Coat of White spirit to get rid of dust.
I allowed it to completely dry before starting the stain











Need a fair few coats to get it even.
The bleed sands off really easily


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## JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo (Nov 27, 2018)

Dude, this is insane!


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## lewis (Nov 27, 2018)

OliOliver said:


> Dude, this is insane!


thanks man!!!

Its getting there. Few more coats of that on the top and its onto the rest. Ive decided to stain the sides, back, neck and headstock with my original plan dark brown/red. Otherwise I bought loads of stain for no reason haha.










Stainless steel fishmans with the strat recharge kit for the back \m/


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## lewis (Nov 28, 2018)




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## lewis (Nov 29, 2018)

Another few coats of black and started the base coat of blue everywhere else before the coat of orange then cherry red goes over it.


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## lewis (Nov 29, 2018)

The orange + blue combo is not lightening up as much as I hoped. So Im probably going to have to lightly sand back where ive stained before the red goes on. Ah well. In hindsight I probably didnt need the blue but it came out well in the reference vid.

I followed this but it seems to have covered darker than what happens in this video

7mins in


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## MoonJelly (Nov 29, 2018)

You've gotta use a light touch with colors that are complementary. If you go too heavy with blue and orange it will neutralize, as well as lose saturation.

That's a color theorist's way of saying, it comes out muddy-lookin'.


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## lewis (Nov 29, 2018)

MoonJelly said:


> You've gotta use a light touch with colors that are complementary. If you go too heavy with blue and orange it will neutralize, as well as lose saturation.
> 
> That's a color theorist's way of saying, it comes out muddy-lookin'.


thats exactly what happened. 

Its ok. Guna sand back leaving the darker grain now, and just go in with the red. This stuff sands back quite well compared to other stains ive used before.


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## lewis (Dec 3, 2018)

quick teaser shot. Sanded the Blue back leaving just dark filled grain patterns and have done 1 coat of Cherry Red.

More pictures to follow

(also ordered Brushed Steel Fishman FLuences today - welp)


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## Lindmann (Dec 3, 2018)

Awesome!


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## lewis (Dec 3, 2018)

Lindmann said:


> Awesome!


It looks more orange than it does in person haha.

Its defo a dark red. Going to do 1 more coat maybe tomorrow and possibly the lightest coat over the top of orange to add some light brownish tones and I have some tiny black areas to touch up on the top.

Then its sit for a few days and start the Finishing oil. I have the wet dry 1200 needed to lightly sand it as you apply each layer too.

Then after xmas I can start accumulating the hardware (all hipshot)


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## lewis (Dec 3, 2018)

some cool striping /\

Got some touch ups and more black to do as I want it darker and more uniform on the top. Then I can ebonize the fretboard and sort out the Finishing Oil


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## LiveOVErdrive (Dec 3, 2018)

Oh man that is nice looking. Red pickups in that would be sweet.


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## lewis (Dec 4, 2018)

Already got its first battle dents haha.
Whoops. Fell of its hanger whilst drying. Ah well, its going to be played alot anyway when done so im not that bothered.

Its looking nice though





















when I have enough layers built up, I will sand/blend that decal back using 1500 wet/dry.






haha war wounds /\






Ebonizing was a success!


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## Lindmann (Dec 4, 2018)

lewis said:


> Whoops. Fell of its hanger whilst drying.


 Earth's rotation can be a bitch sometimes.


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## prlgmnr (Dec 6, 2018)

Love how the back of the neck has come out


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## lewis (Dec 6, 2018)

prlgmnr said:


> Love how the back of the neck has come out


thanks dude!

not guna lie. Im proper impressed with this Crimson Guitar stuff. The finishing oil is super easy to apply too.

This is going to be killer when the hardware is on it. So much more interesting and higher spec'd than how it came to me originally.


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