# Squier Stage Master 7 Refinish



## dantejayg85 (Jul 13, 2011)

Just posting up a few pics of this project I'm working on,
Heres what It started as ( Sorry for the craptastic phone pics):
Laser Blue Stagemaster 7






I didn't take any pics of the disassembling sanding process but heres what I have so far:
Stripped with Burned finish 













Cut the Head Stock because I always hated that rounded part on Fenders lol
I cut that off and carved it out a little bit.













Neck attached and EMG's back in, I wanted a vintage weathered look so I painted them white and added the fake binding to the body and head stock then cleared everything with Polyurethane, since it has an ambering look to it it kinda makes everything look older which I think is kinda cool.

















I'll be using the strip of wood to make trim rings for the pickups, just deciding whether I want to paint them white or just stain them, but we had a tornado come through here a couple days ago and have been without out power ever since, so I'm staying with some family that has power but the project is on hold until I go back home so I'll update then.


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## sk3ks1s (Jul 13, 2011)

Very nice work, guy.
It's a completely different guitar.
Not too fussy on the straight lines of the headstock, but what you have done suits it much more than the reverse Strat.



EDIT: Good call on the white binding. What did you use?


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## jordanky (Jul 13, 2011)

That's gonna be sweeeeeeeet!


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 13, 2011)

Thanks! yeah I wanted to do something with the head stock like the black machines/parkers but I quickly realized my wood working skills/Lack of tools are not even close to good enough to under take that yet lol so i figured I'd play it safe and go with something simple.

The Binding is actually just 1/4" automotive pin stripping and I just used the polyurethane clear coat to seal it in.


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 13, 2011)

jordanky said:


> That's gonna be sweeeeeeeet!



Thank you sir!


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## ryantheyetti (Jul 13, 2011)

I really dig the finish man, looks rad. Considering doing this on one of my next builds now


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 13, 2011)

Thanks yeah me too, I found a few guitar bodies on ebay and I'm interested in trying this with "fresh" bodies that have no sealer or anything on them yet, I think the effect would be even better and after using this as kind of a trial I think it would look sweet to add a little color to a burnt finish!


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## Hyliannightmare (Jul 14, 2011)

holy shit, i have that same 7 and you have made it 100x better


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## Korngod (Jul 14, 2011)

Looks awesome! 2 things that you could do that I think might be cool; you could slice a small angle at the tip top of the headstock to give it a similar look to ESP or Jackson. Also I think it would look cool to covert it into a superstrat, like shave away the horns a little, it would give better upper fret access as well I would think.


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## guitarister7321 (Jul 14, 2011)

Sexy, sexy!


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## IntoEternity22 (Jul 14, 2011)

Looks sexy, especially with the white pickups and binding. The headstock looks much better after you reshaped it.


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## Kimling (Jul 14, 2011)

That finish is amazing. How did you do that? I have an old Warlock I'm planning to refinish, and this finish would look epic on it


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 14, 2011)

Korngod said:


> Looks awesome! 2 things that you could do that I think might be cool; you could slice a small angle at the tip top of the headstock to give it a similar look to ESP or Jackson. Also I think it would look cool to covert it into a superstrat, like shave away the horns a little, it would give better upper fret access as well I would think.


Thats not a bad idea! I may mess around with the head stock a little more, the horns I'll be leaving as I just don't have the tools to shape it properly, but i'm hoping to get more into woodworking and get more tools soon!


guitarister7321 said:


> Sexy, sexy!


Thanks!



IntoEternity22 said:


> Looks sexy, especially with the white pickups and binding. The headstock looks much better after you reshaped it.


Thanks a lot!



Kimling said:


> That finish is amazing. How did you do that? I have an old Warlock I'm planning to refinish, and this finish would look epic on it


Basically I sanded it down and then took a basic propane torch you can get at any hardware store and burned the wood, some parts still had some sealer where I apparently hadn't gotten all the way to bare wood and it would catch on fire lol I just let it burn for about 15/20 secs and it created some pretty interesting texture to it, much more interesting then the plain piece of alder they used lol


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## Korngod (Jul 15, 2011)

hows that for a quick idea?


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 15, 2011)

That looks sick! Yeah I think I might give that a try! I think I'm going to stain the fretboard while I'm at it I have some ebony stain so I'll prob go with that


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## PyramidSmasher (Jul 15, 2011)

what the fuck you made this thing SWEET


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## vansinn (Jul 15, 2011)

Say, those are some very cool burns you did there.. 

I have nothing against the stock lazer blue look; it's the Fender'ish headstock that ruins it all 
I too think leaving it fully pointy as it is now doesn't fully match the body's rounded shapes, but it's a heluva lot better!
Maybe some more visible bindings on the head will do the rest.


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 15, 2011)

PyramidSmasher said:


> what the fuck you made this thing SWEET


Thank ya!


vansinn said:


> Say, those are some very cool burns you did there..
> 
> I have nothing against the stock lazer blue look; it's the Fender'ish headstock that ruins it all
> I too think leaving it fully pointy as it is now doesn't fully match the body's rounded shapes, but it's a heluva lot better!
> Maybe some more visible bindings on the head will do the rest.



Lol I have a personal hatred for laser blue, EVERY guitar I've gotten has been laser blue or black haha and I'm soooo tired of it now, but yeah the fender head stock had to go I knew that the second I saw this thing in the store, I still may rework it a bit and figure something out for it!


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## IntoEternity22 (Jul 16, 2011)

Korngod said:


> hows that for a quick idea?



That looks great, similar to what I did to my WG587 neck awhile back. I would give this a shot, dantejayg85.


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 18, 2011)

Yeah I think i may try this evening after work I'm finally back home and have power again after a week! I'm hopping to get started on the head stock and staining the fret board!
I'm also considering making a pickguard but idk yet.


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## Daken1134 (Jul 18, 2011)

i love these guitars. this is the exact same guitar i converted into an 11 string, amazing quality instrument for the price


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## leandroab (Jul 18, 2011)

Way better than before! Fender/Squire headstocks look so retarded! haha


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jul 18, 2011)

Looks much better, excellent job!


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## 3amsleep (Jul 19, 2011)

it looks like a nasty dirty mess, and i love it!


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 19, 2011)

Daken1134 said:


> i love these guitars. this is the exact same guitar i converted into an 11 string, amazing quality instrument for the price


Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttt?????  PICS??????


leandroab said:


> Way better than before! Fender/Squire headstocks look so retarded! haha


Thanks and I couldn't agree more!



Stealthtastic said:


> Looks much better, excellent job!


Thanks!


3amsleep said:


> it looks like a nasty dirty mess, and i love it!


Agreed! lol


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 19, 2011)

Ok, so Maybe I can actually get some work done tonight, This weather has just been a nightmare lately, tornadoes and no power all last week, now a heat wave so it was like 107 with like 110% humidity  so we'll see what its like tonight after work, hopefully I can start staining the fretboard. or if its still a bazillion degrees I'm just going to the beach


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## Daken1134 (Jul 19, 2011)

heres the thread for what i did to the one i had


http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...tions/150217-7-11-string-mod.html#post2378649


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 19, 2011)

Wow thats awesome! I like what you did with the headstock and body!


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 20, 2011)

Well it was still blazing hot last night so I didn't really get anything done 
but I figured I'd post up a few more pics, heres a few of the back and the sides.

On the back I did a mix of burning and truck bedliner lol so theres texture all over the guitar but since its covered in clear coat its relatively smooth.
more crappy phone pics.......


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 20, 2011)

One question I had and maybe someone can answer is....I use a .70 bass string as the 7th and the ball at the end doesn't fit into the ferule, so can I leave the ferule out? or will this cause damage of some kind?


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## Daken1134 (Jul 20, 2011)

find a store that carries Daddario strings. they make single strings for guitar all the way up to an 80, thats what i use for my 8 strings


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## sk3ks1s (Jul 20, 2011)

I'd say put it back in. Alder or basswood or whatever the wood is is relatively soft. There's quite a bit of tension in that string. I'm not saying that it will tear right through, but I would assume it would slowly bite into the wood and cause some tuning issues.


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 20, 2011)

Daken1134 said:


> find a store that carries Daddario strings. they make single strings for guitar all the way up to an 80, thats what i use for my 8 strings



Thats what I use, but the stores around here are all anti 7/8 string lol the bigest string they carry for guitars is a 59 lol maybe I'll have to just order online.



sk3ks1s said:


> I'd say put it back in. Alder or basswood or whatever the wood is is relatively soft. There's quite a bit of tension in that string. I'm not saying that it will tear right through, but I would assume it would slowly bite into the wood and cause some tuning issues.


yeah thats what I figured too, thanks


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## skeels (Jul 21, 2011)

Dude that burnt stain finish is so cool! I went with a swirl - ironically blue, the same color as yours- and you've hot me thinking about stripping it and going at it with my jigsaw! hbang:: I better pick up another one!

PS drill out the hole for the ferrule and drop it in or get a bass one for the big string!


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## dantejayg85 (Jul 22, 2011)

That looks Great! I was actually thinking about swirling this one too lol!
Thats a great idea about using the bass ferule I'll probably try that.


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## Lukifer (Aug 7, 2011)

Your thread convinced me to pick up a SM 7! Thanks dude! Yours looks way better!


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## dantejayg85 (Aug 8, 2011)

No prob! and thanks post pics when you get yours!


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## Lukifer (Aug 8, 2011)

I made a NGD thread with a few crappy pics. I re strung and polished it all up Saturday so I need to put new pics of it up. Much better with new strings but its really wanting a Crunchlab!!!


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## dantejayg85 (Aug 8, 2011)

Cool I'll check it out


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## Pikka Bird (Aug 8, 2011)

You've got me interested in the SM7 now, it's a very nice look you've whipped up for it. But may I ask- what made you go so crazy with the EMG cavities?


dantejayg85 said:


> That looks Great! I was actually thinking about swirling this one too lol!


It's like you're each other's evil twin or something.


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## dantejayg85 (Aug 8, 2011)

^^ I don't have a router and was using a dremel to open the cavity, but I slipped, lol so i just kinda went crazy on them to make it look like an old piece of wood, my brother works at a shop so they might make some stainless trim rings for me tho.


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## Levi79 (Aug 9, 2011)

This is sweet man, I'm doing something similar with an RG7421 of mine.


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## dantejayg85 (Aug 9, 2011)

Awesome! Post pics!


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## tat2sbylolo (Sep 1, 2011)

Nice, thou I love the Fender headstock.
This is what I've done to mine just the other day.





Stained with a black burst, black sides and back. Took the paint off the headstick and placed a Fender Logo on it.
Reprofiled the back of the neck to 19mm 1st fret. 21mm 12th.
Dropping a ToneZone 7 in the bridge and a AirNorton 7 in the neck with a five way Fender super switch to handle coil taps.
You should see what I'm doing with my Fender Squier Stratocaster VII!


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## Hyliannightmares (Sep 1, 2011)

tat2sbylolo said:


> Nice, thou I love the Fender headstock.
> This is what I've done to mine just the other day.
> 
> 
> ...




more pics


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## tat2sbylolo (Sep 1, 2011)

lol, More pics are coming. I'm buffing her down today and will be putting her back together tomorrow nite. Then.......Photo shots! and a video!!!


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## tat2sbylolo (Sep 2, 2011)

coming together nice!


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## tat2sbylolo (Sep 2, 2011)

Here she is!!! 

Used to be a sparkly purple Fender Squier Stagemaster VII. Now renamed, Fender Showmaster VII.

















Everythings done as far as wood and paint. Still waiting for the Dimarzio ToneZone 7 bridge and AirNorton 7 neck to get here. They are zebra(cream and black) with black poles. It will look real sick!

I've seen some nice Stagemasters in here and yours is done a bit differently, but nice. Took me a minute, but I kinda like that burnt wood look you did.


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## Hyliannightmares (Sep 3, 2011)

both of those look so much better than the stock blue


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## dantejayg85 (Sep 11, 2011)

Man that looks great!!!!!!!! I'll post a new pic up tomorrow I started a new job and I'm on call 24-7 so its been crazy getting used to that but I got it strung and the pickups wired again finally


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## degge (Sep 12, 2011)

Looked like a freaking joke when it was blue but now it's a goddamn beast!

Great work there!


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## Konfyouzd (Sep 12, 2011)

So cool!


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## metalman_ltd (Sep 12, 2011)

Wow if I come across one of those now I'm getting it. That looks amazing. Great job.


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## thedarkoceans (Sep 12, 2011)

OMFG.


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## Lukifer (Sep 12, 2011)

metalman_ltd said:


> Wow if I come across one of those now I'm getting it. That looks amazing. Great job.



I have a Laser Blue one! Whats it worth to you haha!

I really wish I could commit to making mine badass but Im so hesitant to strip mu paint because I dont know what the hell Im doing!!


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## kerman (Dec 21, 2011)

Sorry doublepost


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## kerman (Dec 21, 2011)

Hey!!!

I recently bought that guitar, and thanks to this post I had the confidence to change also the headstock, here's what I've done.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/2791642-post3146.html


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## vampiregenocide (Dec 21, 2011)

Well this thread has made me want a 7 string stratocaster more.


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