Restoring a Legend Strat which was going to be trashed

[Jose EB5AGV]

Hi all. I am usually at the Keyboard Corner as I am a wannabe keyboardist, but I enjoy quite a lot to save instruments from being trashed, usually synths and audio gear but, on this case, is a guitar.

 

So when a friend offered me a free Legend Strat, I just couldn't refuse.

It has been abandoned for years, without any cover and close to the beach. The soft guitar case in the picture is mine, I used it to carry the Legend to my home.

 

This is a general view:

 

 

And these are some detailed pictures:

 

 

The look is really sad 😔

 

 

That poor guitar deserves some love. The bridge is missing parts:

 

 

The knobs look dirty. And imagine the electronics...

 

 

Curiously, the neck seems pretty decent:

 

 

And the head is fine. Of course the tuners are shot:

 

 

Here you have the serial number. No CH on it but I guess it is also Chinese:

 

 

So that is what I got!

 

I imagine most of you would have rejected that guitar as, well, it looks terrible and is already a low spec model. But I plan to get it playing again!. Is like finding an stranded puppy and caring it 😅

 

I have done already some cleaning work and it is now in pieces. I will update this thread as I work on it.

 

Jose

[surfergirl]

Looks like a cool project. A new bridge and tuners can be had for about $60. I see quite a bit of rust, to be expected if it was near the beach. I would definitely replace the strings🤣

[CEB]

Could be really cool guitar.  Do you have a hard budget limit and are you a player???

 

I guess my point is ... I would probably buy a decent set of bridge saddles.  Then clean the whole guitar up, especially the neck, fretboard and frets.  Change strings and intonate and set the action and see where you are.  I would hesitate to change out the whole bridge (especially at first) because you never know what you will run into with the lower budget Asian guitars.  You may be lucky if replacement bridge fits.  It's good if you have guitar experience so you can easily tell where you are at and what needs to be done and what will work.  

 

Be very careful when choosing replacement tuners.  Same problem,  replacement parts may not fit.  The holes may be too big for what you buy.  You can make holes bigger but making holes smaller is more difficult.

 

If you have no real budget limits and its a labour of love.  Then with enough time and money you can make practically anything eventually work well.   It will be a money pit and you won't get you money back out of it but if you are going to play it it doesn't matter.  My number one guitar for about 25 years was a early 90s Mexican Standard Tele with microphonic bridge pickup I paid $225 for.  Over the years I put well over $1000 in parts in it.  B and G benders, several different pickups, replacement hardware etc...  I will never get that money back.  I don't care.  That was my guitar.  If if wasn't so heavy it would still be my #1.

 

Be careful on tuner selection and do the work yourself, you are a very smart guy.   If you can repair digital electronics you can learn basic guitar repair.  It will be fun.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Keep the Volume and Tone knobs, and just as they are; they look nice, they look vintage, they look like relics (in the genuine sense of the word). Don't replace or even clean them!

There's a good chance that the pots and switch need to be replaced, though, what with the sea salt air and humidity exposure. At the very least, clean the existing pots and switch properly with CAIG DeoxIT Pot & Switch Cleaner.

[CEB]

Yes.  If the guitar will tune and is playable I would change the entire harness.   It's relatively inexpensive for someone with your electronics skills.   New pickups can get pricey depending on what you want.  But wire, a decent switch, CTS pots, and switchcraft jack will not break the bank.   

 

Strats offer some pretty cool wiring schemes.  Personally I'm a fan of either the standard 5-way scheme or the Memphis Wiring Scheme.

[Jose EB5AGV]

Thanks you all for your messages, it is really encouraging. I was afraid you would tell me that this guitar was not worth it and was best to get it into the trash ASAP 😭

 

So, well, when I published my first message, I had already done some work on it. Here you have some pictures of that. So far, the body and neck, including frets, seem in good shape and have cleaned to a good enough condition.

 

This is how it arrived to my workbench:

 

 

Internally, it was not better:

 

 

I stripped it completely:

 

 

And then polished it by hand to get this:

 

 

 

The head was also stripped (I will also get out the remaining metal parts)

 

 

And this is how it looks, with the pickguard also cleaned:

 

 

I have ordered a suitable bridge (it is a 52.5mm unit) and locking tuners.

 

I have worked on the electronics by using specific Caig cleaning and lubing products, and the switch is as perfect as possible contact-wise and mechanically smooth. The pots are 500K (log for VOL and lin for TONE) and there is only a capacitor (a 0.0033uF one). I have also cleaned them and seem to be OK

 

Here you have the electronics:

 

 

And the pickups:

 

 

I will work on the neck while wait for the new parts to arrive.

 

Keep tuned! 🤩

[Caevan O’Shite]

2 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

Thanks you all for your messages, it is really encouraging. I was afraid you would tell me that this guitar was not worth it and was best to get it into the trash ASAP 😭

Not at all. ESPECIALLY as restoration, repairs, and even modest upgrades can be done very cost effectively here.

It would be worth it to make it as playable as can be even if you intended to sell the guitar for a reasonable low price, or even give it to a beginner or intermediate player that had a tight budget to work with. Or, to keep for yourself. If it can be made decently playable, it's worth it.

I'm gonna say it again, plus more- keep those control-knobs, and also the pickup-covers, as they are. The way they've aged, slightly yellowed, even acquired some grungy dirt ("Mojo"!  ), and contrast with the pickguard, is generally DESIRABLE, it imparts a pseudo "vintage" appearance. If a similarly hued switch-tip were added, even better. 'S just cosmetics, but that does have its place and appeal!

Get a Tri-Flow Pin Point Lubricator from Stewart-MacDonald; GREAT stuff, a clear and penetrating lubricant which includes liquid Teflon. That applicator tube of it will last you the rest of your life, and someone else's.

Apply a tiny dab to each nut-slot and saddle-notch, from their back-sides so as to minimize the amount of the lubricant that might wick up into and under the winding on the wound-strings.

Also apply it to all points of contact for the strings, like under string trees the string-through holes, in the inertia-block (but NOT the tuner-posts); and mechanical contact/friction-points, such as the fulcrum-points for the trem-bridge, even the spring-claw and spring-holes in the block (but NOT any of the electronics).

This will aid tuning stability, especially if the trem is deployed at all.
 

 

2 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

The pots are 500K (log for VOL and lin for TONE) and there is only a capacitor (a 0.0033uF one).

500k seems to be an odd choice for single-coil pickups; if the guitar seems too bright and strident, swapping them for pots with a 250k value would make them sound warmer and more 'natural'. But if you like the way it sounds as-is, then by all means keep 'em!

As for the value of the capacitors on the tone-pots, you've got some room to play with to tailor the effect of the Tone controls, if you like- and inexpensively. Do NOT concern yourself with expensive, large, fancy capacitors here. Often people install huge caps that were really intended for the likes of the innards of a tube-amp; when any such were used in '50s vintage Fender guitars, it was only because that's what they had on hand at the time. ANYWAY, the lower that mfd value, the less of the upper-mids and mids will be removed as the Tone-knob is rolled back; the higher that value, the darker the Tone-control will sound as it is turned-down, removing a deeper, steeper cut of the upper-mids and mids. You could even use different value caps on the two Tone-controls if you so desired.

A .0015mfd cap will shave off only the treble, leaving the upper-mids and mids intact to the point of sounding like a mid-boost if used in conjunction with the Volume-knob going up and down to clean-up and dirty-up to "play the amp". Crank the amp a bit: guitar Vol-up, Tone-down, perceived "mid-boost"; guitar Vol-down, Tone-up, cleaner and brighter.

A .0022mfd tone-cap will be similar, but a little darker, with a little more of the upper-mids removed as the knob is rolled down.

.047mfd, .050mfd, darker and more 'standard', 'typical', 'normal'; 'classic', even.

Higher values get darker and woollier. Classic/Retro Jazz blanket over the amp? Step THIS way...

In any of these, when the Tone-control is all the way up, there should be no difference.


As for switches, wiring options, pickups- if you really decide to go down those rabbit holes and potential money pits- we're your Huckleberry...   

     

[Jose EB5AGV]

Thanks a lot @Caevan O’Shite for all the information. I will slowly digest it.

 

On a general note, I can say that I am a beginner guitar player. And I mean beginner, just know some basic chords and my only real play was about 35 years ago and on an Spanish guitar, and only chords. So, well, now that I am 6 years on piano playing, hope this guitar project helps me to finally get into this world.

 

I began my interest on guitar a year ago and got locally three cheap used guitars, a Yamaha C40, an Squier Affinity Stratocaster and an Epiphone Les Paul Special II. My aim was to use them as learning tools, both for playing and maintaining. They were useful for the second part, as they all needed some care and I got into lots of new things to make them look fine and be playable. But other things took all the time and finally I left the learning aside...

 

Now, with this project I am back to be interested on this matter and hope this time will be the definitive one!. I always am more motivated if the thing I want to learn has been more involved, as fixing this guitar is.

 

Hope all of this makes some sense! 😅

[Stokely]

Good luck, hope you stick with it.  I'm a bit ahead of you maybe (beginner moving into intermediate with certain skills, not with others), but if I'd stuck with guitar instead of doing it for a while and dropping it again, I'd be a monster by now!

 

[Larryz]

+1 on Caevan's idea of swapping out the 500k pots with 250k pots.  Usually a good idea with single coils and I would swap the cap with a .0022 orange drop cap...😎

[CEB]

It’s a plywood body. Is it heavy?  Some of those are pretty heavy.  Tremolo block looks thin.  If it becomes a good playing guitar many guys will install heavier tremolo blocks for better sustain but that will depend on how things fit together.  Looks like a great learning project guitar.  

[Jose EB5AGV]

6 minutes ago, CEB said:

It’s a plywood body. Is it heavy?  Some of those are pretty heavy.  Tremolo block looks thin.  If it becomes a good playing guitar many guys will install heavier tremolo blocks for better sustain but that will depend on how things fit together.  Looks like a great learning project guitar.  

 

Well, I can't tell you if it is heavy or not, as now is disassembled and can't compare with my other Strat (which, BTW, should be close to it, as is an Squier Affinity)

 

If you mean just the body, well, I would need also some comparison to check that, as it is the very first time I have a barebones Strat body on my hands. It was so dirty than I had not interest to put an strap on it when I got the guitar. And then in short time it was in parts!

 

All in all, as you say, it can be a good learning platform. I have invested so far just 47€ on parts for it (and for sure those parts are better than the original ones, go figure). If they make a playable guitar, I will probably get some better parts in the future. I will use my Affinity as a comparison unit, as they should be close in specs, I guess. All in all, quite an adventure for me!

[KuruPrionz]

I've modified, improved and built MANY "screwdriver" guitars from scratch. It is a great learning experience and often you end up with a fun player that you don't really have to worry about - great for club gigs. 

Read a few different posts online about leveling, crowning and polishing the frets. THAT'S where the rubber meets the road!!! You can have an ugly monstrosity of a guitar and if the neck plays great it's as good as anything. 

When leveling frets, I highly recommend loosening the truss rod, level the frets with a fine toothed file, and then get a smaller 3 corner file and carefully use a sander or grinder to smooth out all three corners. Polish the corners shiny and smooth, mask off the fretboard and you can easily "round up" the fretwork so there is just a thin strip of the center top of the fret that shows the scratch marks from leveling. Then start with 120 grit sandpaper and just use your finger to apply pressure. Remove all the file marks, switch to 220 then 320, 400, 600 grits. Finally take some 000 steel wool and polish the frets up all shiny. 

 

That is the most essential and important upgrade you can do yourself to all of your guitars. It will allow you to get lower action without buzzing and the polished frets will make stretching strings smoother and easier too. 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’m going to be slightly contrarian here: you could probably replace this Legend Strat for less than it will cost you in time and parts.

 

BUT…

 

You’re going to acquire or sharpen skills in guitar repair & maintenance that will serve you the entire time you’re involved with guitars.*

 

So I’m going to toast your willingness to take on this project! 🍻
 

 

 

 

 

 

* skills, I should point out, not everyone has, myself included.

[murphybridget]

On 5/5/2024 at 3:14 PM, Jose EB5AGV said:

Hi all. I am usually at the Keyboard Corner as I am a wannabe keyboardist, but I enjoy quite a lot to save instruments from being trashed, usually synths and audio gear but, on this case, is a guitar.

 

So when a friend offered me a free Legend Strat, I just couldn't refuse.

It has been abandoned for years, without any cover and close to the beach. The soft guitar case in the picture is mine, I used it to carry the Legend to my home.

 

This is a general view:

 

 

And these are some detailed pictures:

 

 

The look is really sad 😔

 

 

That poor guitar deserves some love. The bridge is missing parts:

 

 

The knobs look dirty. And imagine the electronics...

 

 

Curiously, the neck seems pretty decent:

 

 

And the head is fine. Of course the tuners are shot:

 

 

Here you have the serial number. No CH on it but I guess it is also Chinese:

 

 

So that is what I got!

 

I imagine most of you would have rejected that guitar as, well, it looks terrible and is already a low spec model. But I plan to get it playing again!. Is like finding an stranded puppy and caring it 😅

 

I have done already some cleaning work and it is now in pieces. I will update this thread as I work on it.

 

Jose

Who wouldn't want free guitar???

[Jose EB5AGV]

1 hour ago, murphybridget said:

Who wouldn't want free guitar???

 

Perhaps someone who doesn't want to put hours and money on it? 😉

 

Nowadays most people (in general, I am sure people here is the exception) prefer new items and trash things barely used because they have got a newer model or just because some fault which could be fixed for a lots less than the full item cost... if someone was available to do it.

 

My main work is fixing electronics and sometimes I work on items nobody else would do (incidentally that is the reason I have customers from all around Spain and even from other EU countries 😁)

[KuruPrionz]

2 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

 

Perhaps someone who doesn't want to put hours and money on it? 😉

 

Nowadays most people (in general, I am sure people here is the exception) prefer new items and trash things barely used because they have got a newer model or just because some fault which could be fixed for a lots less than the full item cost... if someone was available to do it.

 

My main work is fixing electronics and sometimes I work on items nobody else would do (incidentally that is the reason I have customers from all around Spain and even from other EU countries 😁)

And I am a guitar tech. I have al the parts needed to build another Strat and to upgrade a few. Since I already have enough guitars, it's a relatively slow work in progress to put another one together. This Legend would be cleaned up, set up and sold, I can see that the neck is too slim for me. Others will love it. My favorite necks by far are Warmoth fatback with a 1 7/8" width at the nut, their thickest, widest neck. I have one with a maple fretboard, scalloped and that is my favorite guitar to play. Once I got used to a scalloped board, I felt a freedom of expression that just came easily. I have another Warmoth fatback neck with a rosewood board and that one is up for the next keeper. I'll scallop that fretboard too, I have a light weight sunburst Strat body and all the other parts needed. Eventually I'll get around to it. 

[Winston Psmith]

2 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

 

Perhaps someone who doesn't want to put hours and money on it? 😉

 

Nowadays most people (in general, I am sure people here is the exception) prefer new items and trash things barely used because they have got a newer model or just because some fault which could be fixed for a lots less than the full item cost... if someone was available to do it.

 

My main work is fixing electronics and sometimes I work on items nobody else would do (incidentally that is the reason I have customers from all around Spain and even from other EU countries 😁)

@Jose EB5AGV - I've been on both sides of this question, and in the end, it's not simply cost versus value, it's about enjoyment.

 

Here's an odd little thought, as an odd example - no one ever looks at a Guitar they're thinking of buying, and worries about how much they're going to spend on strings over time. Likewise, no one really adds up how much they've spent on strings over time, when they're selling or trading a Guitar.

 

"Well, let's see, I spent $500 for the Guitar, $120 for the HSC, and over the last 10 years I've spent about $350 on strings, so I guess it's worth $970 . . ."

 

So, what's my point? If you enjoy working on it, and you're happy with the results, that's what matters. BTW, you might save yourself some time and effort, maybe even a little money, by looking for a pre-wired Pickguard from Dragonfire or GFS.

 

FWIW, I love good used gear. It's a form of recycling, or maybe pre-cycling, by keeping stuff out of the trash stream.

[Jose EB5AGV]

1 hour ago, Winston Psmith said:

FWIW, I love good used gear. It's a form of recycling, or maybe pre-cycling, by keeping stuff out of the trash stream.

 

That summs it up!. My motto, on my professional WEB, is: "The repair is the best recycling"

[murphybridget]

On 5/7/2024 at 5:24 AM, Jose EB5AGV said:

 

Perhaps someone who doesn't want to put hours and money on it? 😉

 

Nowadays most people (in general, I am sure people here is the exception) prefer new items and trash things barely used because they have got a newer model or just because some fault which could be fixed for a lots less than the full item cost... if someone was available to do it.

 

My main work is fixing electronics and sometimes I work on items nobody else would do (incidentally that is the reason I have customers from all around Spain and even from other EU countries 😁)

That's a sad conclusion. But I guess free stuff can really help someone start out in the journey of learning the guitar.

[Jose EB5AGV]

Well, after a couple weeks, I have some news on this restoration!

 

I got some new parts to replace the non-fixable ones:

 

 

 

Even if I cared to select a bridge with 52.5mm spacing, it had some troubles: first, the four inner support holes didn't align, only the two external ones. And then the metal block was too deep, so it would prevent to close the rear cover.

 

So I decided to use just the saddles, as the old ones were too oxidized and there was one missing.

 

Before installing those parts, I did some work on the neck, polishing frets and oiling the fretboard:

 

 

 

So I assembled all the body parts and checked the pickups with a metal screwdriver:

 

 

And then the most delicate step, enlarging the tuners holes:

 

 

 

And after some truggle and filling the small bits which had been cut on the holes, I got this:

 

 

As the holes for the crews did not align, I filled the old ones and drilled new ones. That meant the tuner would be somewhat slanted, but I like how they look;

 

 

 

And this is the result!

 

 

More on next post...

[Jose EB5AGV]

As I had already the neck and the body ready, it was time to put them back together!

 

 

 

Once the knobs were back, the body looked pretty nice:

 

 

If you compare with the first pictures on this thread, there is an small difference, right? 😅

 

At long last, it was time to add the strings!

 

 

And here you have the finished guitar!

 

 

After that I did some adjustments and got it tuned.

 

I still have to add the strap buttons, as the holes were too big and I have put some wood and glue on them so I can drill new ones.

 

But so far the result is pretty decent. It sounds nice for my untrained ears. I will take it to our next band rehearsal so the guitar player can check it.

 

For me this has been a very interesting project and I hope this guitar helps me to get into playing. I love to play instruments fixed by me, as I have done with some synths also.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Jose

[KuruPrionz]

Nice, currently working on a Tele I built from parts. Needs a bone nut, I've got the blank cut to size, next comes putting slots in. Then I can adjust the action and intonate.

I like that you used locking tuners, those are great. And some hardware stores sell drill bits that have multiple sized diameters and single cutting edges that do not grab the wood or lunge in and split it. I have one, perfect for enlarging tuner holds. I always use a drill press when possible, highly recommend that. Enjoy playing your guitar!!!!

[Jose EB5AGV]

7 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Nice, currently working on a Tele I built from parts. Needs a bone nut, I've got the blank cut to size, next comes putting slots in. Then I can adjust the action and intonate.

I like that you used locking tuners, those are great. And some hardware stores sell drill bits that have multiple sized diameters and single cutting edges that do not grab the wood or lunge in and split it. I have one, perfect for enlarging tuner holds. I always use a drill press when possible, highly recommend that. Enjoy playing your guitar!!!!

 

Thanks!. Yes, I knew it wasn't the perfect tool for that (I used two new good quality Bosch brand HSS drill bits, one 9.5mm and then the second 10mm). If I ever do that kind of job again, I will use other tools, lesson learned!

[murphybridget]

5 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

 

Thanks!. Yes, I knew it wasn't the perfect tool for that (I used two new good quality Bosch brand HSS drill bits, one 9.5mm and then the second 10mm). If I ever do that kind of job again, I will use other tools, lesson learned!

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! It's always a learning process with tools. Glad you found a solution, and good luck with your future projects!

[Jose EB5AGV]

I have done some more work on my Legend. I found that the fourth string buzzed if I did not use the string tree for strings 3rd and 4th, as I did on first test. But I had cut the strings short, because of the locking tuners. So, well, the 4th string broke when trying to re-route it. Besides a new string set (as all the strings from 1st to 4rd were compromissed, I decided to install barrel type string trees. Now, just in case, I have left some extra string looped on the tuners posts, even if that is not the standard way to do it on locking tuners:

 

 

 

I have also lubed with Tri-flow Superior all the string friction points, as the saddles. Here you have a close view of the bridge:

 

 

The action is decently low, at about 1.75mm:

 

 

I will do some playing tests tomorrow, as it is late now. But, so far, the guitar has IMO a lovely tone. Well, I am just a beginner, but love it! 🤩

 

Jose