Charvel Model 3A Resto-Mod (Work in Progress - lots o'pics)

[Grandturk]

A few weeks ago I picked up a Charvel Model 3A that was in pretty rough shape for a pretty good deal. One of the things that made the deal for me was it had an old-school Floyd already installed - so I knew I'd at least get my moneys worth out of the Floyd.

Here's what it looked liked when I got it. Actually doesn't look that bad, but there were lots of gouges and scratches on the top of the body and lots of extra screw holes for "alternative" strap pin mounting. The Jackson Trem was replaced with a Floyd. The old Jackson string lock was pretty well grooved and not really holding tune perfectly. They had added two mini swtiches and rewired the super-5 way. Pretty silly switching options. The pickups turned out to be the J-80BC in the bridge and a J-50N in the neck.













Anyway - I started getting some ideas on what I'd like to do with the guitar. First thing was first, though, so I sent the neck down to John @ Doberman Guitars (ulijdavid on the forum) to work on the frets and the nut. Buying a new Kahler lock nut was going to run a few $$$ - so I figured - let's just do up a proper Floyd nut.

John (ulijdavid) sent up some pictures as he worked on the nut. There was some recent interest on what it takes to install a Floyd nut on a Model Series neck - so I hope John's picture's help out here:

In this first one, you can see a steel spacer that John added in front of the truss rod nut in order to get the nut out from under the Floyd locknut.


















And then I got the idea - well hell, since you've got the thing - hey why not paint the back of the neck black?

First thing - John fixed up the tip of the head stock:


Masked


Before


After




More to come!

[Grandturk]

So while John was doing all that work on the neck - I had to occupy my time on the body and the hardware.

First - the Floyd had 4 split string lock blocks which had to be pried out of the saddles. This was not fun. If anyone has a quick remedy for pulling out string lock blocks - please share!

I ordered up some new string lock blocks and bartered for a new Floyd block and trem arm assembly. The Floyd had a 34mm block on it which means it was too short and whoever installed it gouged out the trem spring cavity so the springs wouldn't rub. No way to fix that...

I had a spare Budman pickup ring for wide Jackson pickups that I was recruited to replace a hogged out aftermarket ring on the bridge pickup.

Then I set out to work on the body. I am not a guitar finish guy - and my results leave a lot to be desired (let's face it - I'll either suck it up and keep as is, replace the body with a Socal or San Dimas body or send this one off to have it refinished eventually). Anyway - I got some micro-mesh and some polishing compound and went to work on the body. I got a lot of scratches out - and it looks pretty good from 5 ft. Once you get close - ehhhhhhh.





Next step was to do something about the logo's on the pickups so people stop asking me if they're EMGs!!!

Here's the bridge pickup in its Budman ring - great stuff those Budman parts. Reminder - need to get a truss rod cover!!!


A little white paint and a not-so-steady hand:





And in the body to see how it looks:

[Grandturk]

More to come still:

- John's leveling and crowning the frets

- I've got to install the electronics. I picked up a Bourns EVH pot for the volume, some Model-series style flat blade mini-switches in black and a CTS 3-way switch and a CTS 500K pot for the tone. I'm going to wire it: Hum, Hum-Hum, Hum with the three way and use the mini switches - 1 to cut the tone pot out of the circuit and 1 as a kill switch - either to kill the neck pickup so I can use the three way to wakka wakka or to kill all output and then I use the mini switch to wakka wakka.

- Unfortunately it seems the Bourns pot shaft is pretty big and the only knobs I have that fit are the ProMod Meat Tenderizers - thus my classified ad looking for another black one.

Cutting room floor
- Some of the tuners have had their knobs changed to either Schaller stule or newer Gotoh - they match, but not upon close inspection. I'll probably leave for now untill I run into some cheap-o Model Series buttons

- JT6/Floyd Posts from Budman. The Floyd seemed to work pretty well on the original posts, so I'll probably leave this for now - but those posts Budman makes look pretty badass.

- Brushed Aluminum back plates - also from Budman - wish list item

- Proper J-80C Neck model - seem to be pretty tough to come by. The J-50 sounded pretty good - so I'll leave it for now

[thebigz]

Looks great! And ulijdavid does amazing work!

[jackson1]

Are those EMG's?

Thanks for posting! Nice work and interesting mods. You seem to enjoy it, which it is all about.

[DonP]

Awesome post GT!

I have so many questions, sorry.

1) How does the J80BC sound? I've been searching High and Low for one of these to finish my firecrackle.

2) How does the J50N sound?

3) Do you have pictures of the backs of these pickups? I'm curious what to look for because I want to find a USA J80C.

I probably have more but can't think at the moment.

For the floyd, I imagine you have the saddles out. Can you get the blocks from the underside? WD40? Propane Torch?

[Grandturk]

1) How does the J80BC sound? I've been searching High and Low for one of these to finish my firecrackle.

2) How does the J50N sound?

3) Do you have pictures of the backs of these pickups? I'm curious what to look for because I want to find a USA J80C.

For the floyd, I imagine you have the saddles out. Can you get the blocks from the underside? WD40? Propane Torch?

1&2 - The wiring was so wonky before - I'm sure I didn't get a great read on the pickups. I'll report/video an answer for you eventually. Actually, I have a bad video of this guitar in its stock film but my tone is severly lacking.

3 - I can take pics. The J-80 has the "Model 5" sticker and the J-50 just has the "J-50" sticker.

The underside of the floyd saddles have a little brass plate in there so you can't push from underneath.

[DonP]

The underside of the floyd saddles have a little brass plate in there so you can't push from underneath.

OK. I just got done rebuilding a Kahler Spyder (string locks like a JT6) and once the lock is gone, you can see daylight from underneath. Didn't know if Floyd saddles were the same or not. Because it was open underneath, the bonehead I bought it from didn't cut the ball ends, but strung the string from the underside through the lock hole and out, then locked it. Of course with the ball end stuck under the saddle, you couldn't use the fine tuners. No wonder I got this HM Strat for $100.

[Razor]

OK. I just got done rebuilding a Kahler Spyder (string locks like a JT6) and once the lock is gone, you can see daylight from underneath. Didn't know if Floyd saddles were the same or not. Because it was open underneath, the bonehead I bought it from didn't cut the ball ends, but strung the string from the underside through the lock hole and out, then locked it. Of course with the ball end stuck under the saddle, you couldn't use the fine tuners. No wonder I got this HM Strat for $100.

Holy shit a HM Strat for $100???!!! Very nice score!!! Sorry for the hijack, but damn that was a steal...

[DonP]

Holy shit a HM Strat for $100???!!! Very nice score!!! Sorry for the hijack, but damn that was a steal...

You'll really hate me when I tell you my other one was $120 with case. Both were in so-so shape. I've swapped necks (black body with maple, dark rosewood with pink). The black one needs one F knob, the pink needs re-wiring. I just got a new black toggle switch, so I will be doing that tonight/tomorow.

I don't know what it is with these, but I just love them. I can't stop think of trying to buy one of every color Seafoam green would be next..

[thedarkone101]

Very cool guitar! It has made its way around the hudson valley.. I was first offered it at the shop on broadway and then Ernie at Saker Guitars in uptown Kingston had it for a bit.. Went back for it the other day and it was gone..

[MetalMedal II]

Cool restore! Is that a crack in the wood going thru the lower (high E) Floyd bushing? If so, any thoughts on filling the crack with glue?

[Grandturk]

Its definately a crack. It's pretty deep but it doesn't seem to be moving. I was going to leave it as is for now. I don't have a hypo to shoot glue in there. It's not an "open" crack.