1974 Fender Stratocaster Restoration

​This cool 1974 Fender Stratocaster was recently in the workshop for a restoration!
It’s top lacquer layer had turned sticky and had had previous attempts to have it removed. The sticky layer of lacquer was carefully removed!
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The scratchplate and wiring had also been heavily modified so the wiring was rewired back to standard, along with fitting a new official scratchplate. The guitar was then setup to complete the work!

​We believe some sort of chemical or cleaner had been used on the lacquer in the past, which eventually broke down the bonds inside the lacquer, causing it to discolour and become sticky.
The lacquer was so tactile it made it unpleasant to play.
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Below photos show the body once the old lacquer was stripped, you can see the lacquer under the scratchplate remained unaffected so we left it for preservation.

Once the old lacquer was removed the attention was turned to the scratchplate and the wiring.
The selector switch had been replaced with 3 mini toggle switches sometime in it's past. The wiring and the plate was a state when we removed the scratchplate.

The wiring complete back to factory standard with a new CRL switch fitted. We even found matching wire were needed and stained to blend in with the existing wire.
With all the work done, the guitar was reassembled, and setup ready to play!

We left the headstock and neck alone as it had already been through enough trauma, you can see from the photos below where the previous owner had tried to remove all the sticky lacquer, removing the logo in the process!