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Reliable Fender and others has a ton of these hiway 1 bodies.
Its got that thin satin nitro finish. Can that finish be sanded lightly with steel wool and then a coat of clear gloss tung oil aplied over that for a sheen and a protective coat?
http://i22.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/27/84/74c8_1.JPG
Any other info on Hiway 1 bodies? Are the American Standard quality as far as wood grain and number of pieces?
Actually, it's possible to buff these bodies out "as is" to an acceptable sheen. It won't look as glossy as a new body in Polyester but it'll pass handily for a lightly aged standard Strat body.
HTH an' post pics as the build progresses.
right you can buff it out with fine auto polish.. and hand buff the do dah out of it - it will look nice - actually doesn't look bad right now
No, it doesn't......got a real nice vibe to it. It'll polish up real nice, I s'pect.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skip
I had a 2004 Red Transparent body of the same finish. It sanded down to the bare wood REAL nicely! :D
These ding pretty easily, in my experience, but don't look bad as a satin finish at all.
I've got a 2005 like that. The grain and color on mine is great. Polished up, it has a vintage vibe. It's a real dry feeling, lightweight piece of wood. In natural light it's one of my favorite Fender sunbursts ever.
Buffed!
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/IMG_2993.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...p/IMG_2989.jpg
I used a mixture of Dr Duck's Axe Wax, toothpaste an old T-Shirt rag.
For pretty much anything Nitro, you can't go wrong with the Virtuoso cleaner and polish. I haven't tried it on a Highway 1 body, but it shined up my old Gibsons to "like new" glossy condition, and completely un-VOS'd my R9 Les Paul.
I used a small 6 inch random orbital car buffer on the body's with all hardware removed, and did not apply any pressure other than the weight of the buffer itself. I used one bonnet for the cleaner, and another for the polish (on the R9, I skipped the polish step). It took longer to take the guitars apart and put them back together than it did to do the actual buffing, but I got a nice swirl free uniform gloss, without breaking a sweat.
You're there, Curt!
:applaudit
Looks outstanding!
:dude
Looks great! Better than mine. Is that a 2 or 3 piece body? Like Jerry's appears to be, mine is a 3 piece made of 3 wide boards.
Thanks Ph'man and Don! ::sun Don that's a 3 piece body - hard to tell unless I look closely. Once the pickguard is on the number of pieces is less obvious.
I don't have a problem with a 3 piece body. Fender has built them that way since the begining.
More than that many pieces and it starts looking like butcher block!
Wow, Curt, that Strat is beautiful. Outstanding.
Sometimes the factory does an exceptional job matching up the lumber......this is a fine example of that. The instrument is gorgeous IMO.
:appl:
Here's mine. The finish is a little thin and comes off pretty easilly. :biglaugh:
On the other hand, this is the most vibrant and alive guitar I've ever played. Even while playing it acoustically, it feels like there's a bee's hive on your lap!
http://http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...Silvertone.jpg
Check out my p-bass post in the bass section - I just did a wet sand and then polish and it has as glossy a finish as the white blonde AVRI I just picked up (just a lot thinner). Be careful of sand throughs.Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryjg
You could always shoot a clear coat of nitro on after the wetsand and then polish...
What about a topcoat of Tung oil after the wetsand? What grade paper do I use for a wetsand? It appears Reliable Fender may be looking at this. I dont see any bodies now, and the prices appear to have gone up.Im sure its just my imagination..Quote:
Originally Posted by sting7777
I would not use tung oil or poly on top of nitro. If you aren't into the whole wetsand (800,1000,1200,1500,2000) and clear nitro topcoat thing (use reranch.com) - you can get very good results just polishing the existing nitro finish - 3M Finesse It works well...
The bodies are American made and the one I have looks exactly like the '57 avri I just picked up - expect for the finish. Mine is a 2 piece and you can find 2 piece H1 bodies fairly easily on ebay. My P-Bass is a 3 piece ash body but it doesnt really phase me as Fender has used 2 and 3 pieces on American Standard bodies at times as well.
Hey Flint, iszat a Strat or Tele??? LOL
Yes.
Hey Pseudocat thanks mate! (and Phantomman) ....Flintpunk you mention the resonance that's my experience with these bodies too - nice bit of natural relicing there!
Uhhh, I wish it were natural! In all honesty, I bought it from a guy on ebay who was building a bunch of unique relics for a while. In the original pics it looked really good, but when I got it I was a bit disappointed because it was kind of over the top and the fretboard relic-ing didn't look so good.
I love the guitar though and I play it a LOT! My own wear is starting to cover the relic-ing and the guitar definitely has it's own personality. Someday I'd like to duplicate it with a nice Hwy 1 body and Tele neck. It would be funny to play the nice one on Friday night and then the relic on Saturday. People would wonder WTF happened to that dude's guitar! I always wonder if I replicated the guitar if it would sound/play as good as this one. I guess that'd be a roll of the dice! I think part of the reason this one works so well is that the neck is really tight in the pocket. It's a line to line fit for sure!
They have anymore?Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryjg