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chris s (Ccs)
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2001 - 5:03 pm:   

There is nothing worse then learning the hard way when working on a guitar and we all have some tricks of the trade to share so I thought I'd start this for those in need.
First question:What is the best(safest)way to pull a stuborn bridge post bushing?
No.2:What is the best way to get scratches out of a clear coat?(you know,the ones you see when the light hits it just right.eg:'76 Destroyer finish)
Jörgen A (Jorgen)
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2001 - 7:16 pm:   

Regarding question No.2

The thick polyurethane coating that were primarily used on vintage Ibanez guitars are very durable and easier to work on then nitrocellulose laquer which is more fragile.

When I sometimes have made small finish repairs on guitars with the thick polycoating, such as filling up a tiny hole in the finish that goes down to the wood, I use Superglue that works wonders with this kind of finish. I then use a very fine grain sandpaper (1000) and wettens it thourogly to polish it before buffing the surface with common carwax.

So...a combination of very fine grain sandpaper used wet on the surface and then buffed up with carwax may work for you. Or perhaps just a buffing up with the carwax. All depending on the kind of job you want to do.

But the method described here are recommended for SMALL touching ups, and not for polishing up the entire back on a guitar for example!

I guess that if you want it as new again...buy a mint condition guitar :)

As with all this kind of work...take it SLOW and think things through before actually going at it. But some common sense usually goes a long way.

/Jörgen
~FLY~ (Guitarworkz)
Posted on Monday, April 09, 2001 - 8:12 am:   

Hi Chris. I did the super glue technique Jorg mentioned for awhile too. It helps on dings & small scratches, but in most cases they are still slightly noticeable. My Ibanez eventually got so dinged up that I stripped and refinished it. If you attempt to do this be ready to spend many,many hours stripping & refinishing. The original polyureathane coating is THICK. As for my guitar, it looks 100% better, but after considering all the time invested I would have been better off to leave things as they were. After all, cosmetics don't really affect how the guitar plays. Remember, once you dig into this guitar you are on a long ride to restoration.
Ccs (Ccs)
Posted on Friday, January 11, 2002 - 11:17 pm:   

A follow up to question 1:Removing a bridge bushing.
The reason was to correctly fix a broken ground wire on a '74 Rocket Roll V.The ground wire on these runs through a drilled hole in the cavity and down into the hole where the sleeve is pressed in over it.To get it out to put in a new ground you can drill a hole a little bigger than the top of the sleeve through a small block of wood.Then take the bridge post and match the threads up with some hex head bolts.In this case I needed metric size 8.Add a washer to keep it from going through the hole and get it finger tight.Grab a socket and slowly keep turning and it should come right up and out through the hole drilled in the block.Run a new ground through the hole and down into the sleeve pocket,tap it back in and crank it up.WARNING 1:You might want to use a small blade to trim around the sleeve if it seems some finish might be attached to avoid pulling it up with the sleeve.WARNING 2:Sometimes they were also glued during install so if it seems like it just wont go try heating it with a gun and then quickly give it a couple of turns to break it free to avoid striping the threads.Not something you may ever need to do but good to know just in case.

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