m4xwellmurd3r Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 maybe soak it in vinigar, then set it out in the sun without doing more than shaking it off. it'll leave the vinigar mildly on, and the heat/oxygen will keep the process going. I etched my plastic cup accidentally with vinigar by not washing the cup after i dumped out the vinigar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 4, 2007 Author Share Posted November 4, 2007 maybe soak it in vinigar, then set it out in the sun without doing more than shaking it off. it'll leave the vinigar mildly on, and the heat/oxygen will keep the process going. I etched my plastic cup accidentally with vinigar by not washing the cup after i dumped out the vinigar. Good tip with the vinegar. I got my new 3 way switch in the mail, and since it is one of the parts of the guitar that looks nearly destryed by corrosion, I stuffed it in a Zip-Lok bag full of a mixture of vinegar and naval jelly. It seems to be working pretty well. It's been in for a few hours now, and the zinc and cad plating is nearly completely gone and it is etching the steel to a nice dull finish that hopefully will rust up nicely (The Z car owner in me is now questioning my sanity: "Promoting corrosion and rust? WTF?") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 No pics yet, since I'm still waiting on some parts to show up for the front pickup, but I did get a lot done over the last few days. The center switch is now rusty enough that it looks like a tetanus factory. I'm glad I have all my shots... I had to paint the fiberglass board material on it with some redish brown paint to simulate the phenolic resin laminate the original vintage switches were made from. Anal, I know. It could be worse though, I could have gutted the fiberglass parts and made replacements out of phenolic laminate instead... I've installed the switch into the center pickup cavity, and am just waiting to wire it up to the front pickup once I get it installed. While I had the bridge out to install the switch, I scuffed it up with some 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then coated it with liberal amounts of naval jelly (Pink acidic gooooooo!) to take some of the shine away from the chrome. It seems to have worked pretty well, athough I doubt the difference will be that noticable in pictures. I finally got some cheap cigarettes, "Basic" brand for making the burn marks on the headstock. The pack was labeled as the "Full Flavor" variety. In retrospect, I should have gone with the "Half Flavor" or "No Flavor" if they had stocked them. granted, I'm not a smoker, but these things stink like a burnt can of smashed buttholes, more even than most other cigarettes. I was able to get some decent burn marks out of them though, although now my guitar stinks like cigarette smoke. I've discovered that newspaper works really well for speading up the aging process on the neck. I crumpled up some black and white sections from the local paper and rubbed them along the fretboard and the back of the neck. Some of the black ink transfers onto the wood, as well as the paper itself acting as a kind of polishing cloth to add a little shine. Overall, the effect is much the same as years of built up mung and finger cheese. I also finished drilling all the extra holes in the body. I didn't bother to count them, but I know there are at least 15 to 20 holes in the body that have no real reason to be there. (weight savings, perhaps? ) I did some additional setup work on it over the weekend. Lowered the height of the locking nut slightly by shaving some more wood off of the neck where it is bolted on. Combined with some truss rod adjustment, and height adjustment of the bridge itself, the strings are now really low. They only buzz slightly when picked pretty hard, and they are low enough now that the guitar plays almost effortlessly. I'll get some more pics posted as soon as I get the neck pickup put together and installed, which is the only step left now before I'm considering it "finished". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Awesome! I'm glad my vinigar idea helped you out! i found out by MISTAKE what happend when you don't clean it off haha (soaked the wire for the water temp sensor and didn't do a good job cleaning it, corroded back to a full green in an hour) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antimanifesto09 Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 also one of the names of their albums and tours, no? FYI... from Wikipedia... "5150 is the seventh album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1986. This was the first album recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth. It was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code). The 5150 name has been used several times by Van Halen, including being the name of Edward's private studio, the name of a custom candy striped Kramer Pacer used by Van Halen throughout the 80s and a signature guitar amplifier endorsed by Edward for the Peavey Electronics. (see the Peavey article for information on the original amplifier series, which now is named the "6505" series.) In 2007, Edward released a third amplifier named "5150," see Edward Van Halen for details." Lovin it though... looks sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 I've been seriously eyeballing the new 5150 III amp, it sounds like a vast improvement over the Peavey 5150's whch were already great amps. Like nearly everything else with the EVH logo on it though, I just can't get over the sticker shock. Currently going for $3099 at Musicians Friend http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/EVH-5150-III-HD-and-4x12-Half-Stack?sku=481504 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 Well, the mail showed up today, and the phenolic laminate for the neck pickup wasn't in it. Looks like I'll have to wait another day or so to finish this thing up. here's a pic of the headstock though, which IS finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 I guess the backside could be considered complete to..... Changes since last pic: White duct tape added to trem spring cavity to keep ground wire from getting caught in the springs Extra holes all over the place, hard to see because many of them are pretty small. A few big ones in the upper horn, and near the broken amber reflector. I'm thinking the reflector on the original was probably broken like that on purpose in order to bolt on a folding platform that Ed used for a while. The platform held the guitar out flat, so it could be played more like a piano.... Removed chunk from red reflector in lower corner, along with adding some sky blue paint to the edges of the body and reflectors. Added small piece of black duct tape to the end of the body. Not sure what function this serves on the original guitar, probably covering up some kind of woodworking horror under it. Additional flogging performed on the rear of the trem spring cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 8, 2007 Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 OMFG.... http://www.google.com/patents?id=-QgyAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#PPP1,M1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antimanifesto09 Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 OMFG....http://www.google.com/patents?id=-QgyAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#PPP1,M1 hahaha I love the pic of the guy! DO you dig "Metal Skool?" I know they play down in SD weekly, as they do in Hollywood too. If you've never heard of them, search for them on youtube, you won't be disspointed! Their shows are super fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 8, 2007 Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 DO you dig "Metal Skool?" I know they play down in SD weekly, as they do in Hollywood too. If you've never heard of them, search for them on youtube, you won't be disspointed! Their shows are super fun! I haven't seen them as Metal Skool yet, they play on Wednesday nights down here at the Typhoon Saloon. If they played weekends, I'd be all over it. The same guys also have a Van Halen cover band called The Atomic Punks: http://www.theatomicpunks.com/ I try to see them whenever they are in town, they put on an awesome show and if anything sound even better than the original Van Halen. I'm thinking of taking the frankenstrat to one of their shows to have them sign it. I can't think of anything more appropriate than an imitation Van Halen band signing an imitation Van Halen guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 In the process of disecting the neck pickup to add the top layer of phenolic laminate, I managed to accidently slice into the 42 gauge windings of the pickup. Not a big deal, it's not even wired for sound anyway, but there was wire everywhere. I ended up removing all of the copper wire and rewinding by hand with copper colored thread..... The $25k Fender replica for comparison: I was "This close" to getting the $25,000 version..... Dodged that bullet Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 "I'm Veritech-Z, and I support this project." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 "I'm Veritech-Z, and I support this project." LOL You of all people should understand how tempting it is for me to paint one of the Z's like this. How cool would that be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar240z Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 pretty dang...imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 dude that would be nutts if you painted a Z like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 i also support that project... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Great job on the guitar! I know this is Hybridz but painting a Z like that to me is a bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 No, it's an awesome idea. and you could totally screw the 71 quarter to your shift knob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 Whoa.... VeritechZ, That looks bad ass! I pretty much have to do it now Thanks for the photoshop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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