Peavey Guitar (before and after pics)
This guitar and amp, according to the
guy who sold it, has been locked away in a closet for years. It
really looked like it.
Here is the neat, 112 (one 12"
speaker), solid state, two channel Peavey amp with bright switch,
effects loop, tone shaping, 3-band EQ, Pre and Post level adjust (for
overdrive), and reverb.
There wasn't much required to put this baby back in shape. Just a
little Windex and a soft cloth then some tuner cleaner sprayed into
each of the pots. They still crackle a bit but that should clear
up with use.
BEFORE
Sorry. I have no "after" pic of the amp. The guitar case
was a more difficult problem. See the foam
padding? It was coming apart.
BEFORE
Here is the way it looked -- all over the place. It got worse if
you touched it. And it crumbled into powder leaving a sticky
residue all over the guitar wherever it touched the finish.
BEFORE
Ah, but that's what they make mineral spirits for, isn't it? Just
soak an old rag in the stuff and begin wiping. A small putty
knife helped remove the glue that was underneath. After removing
all the crumbling foam and glue, the residue of the mineral spirits had
to be removed (it will melt the guitar finish). Any good solvent
will do the trick. I used lacquer thinner to clean it right up.
AFTER
Next task was the guitar body which desparately needed cleaning.
And the frets were corroded a bit.
BEFORE
What better masking tape to use than green low adhesive tape. It
matched the green corrosion on the frets. I learned the trick of
using 4-aught (0000) steel wool and ammonia from my aunt. She was
an antique dealer who didn't want to waste time cleaning brass beds and
such. Don't ask me why it works so well. Abrasion I
guess. That's why you have to be VERY careful.
I soaked a very tiny piece of steel wool in ammonia then made 5
back-and-forth passes on the top of each fret using VERY light
pressure. I was barely touching the metal fret on each
pass. Then I made two passes on each flat side of each fret.
The masking tape prevents the steel wool from damaging the fret board's
finish. After removing it I lightly rubbed the whole fretboard
with soft felt purchased at the fabric counter then cleaned each fret
with naptha.
By holding my fingernail tightly against the cloth, I could scrape the
joint where the side of each fret contacts the fretboard. That's
where oil and dirt from your hand settle while playing. It's also
where remaining corrosion had to be removed. It left green marks
on the rag which I had to constantly turn to keep a clean patch facing
the frets.
Last but not least, the remaining corrosion had to be removed and new
strings were needed. I used the felt and naptha to remove all
remaining corrosion and flecks of foam padding. I sprayed the
hardtail tailpiece and adjustable bridge with WD-40 and cleaned it with
the soft cloth. When I got it inside, I checked the fretboard
radius with my to compare the bridge adjustment. It wasn't too
far off so I left it. Even the intonation was ok. No
adjustment needed.
BEFORE
I was worried that the neck had no relief in it. In fact, it had
a little bit of back bow. I took the truss rod cover off only to
discover I no longer had the right size hex wrench I needed to adjust
the rod. Bummer. I decided to chance that the strings would
pull the right amount of relief into the neck once they were
tightened. After oiling the tuning machines and installing the
new strings, she was a real beauty -- but how would it play?
Great news! It played like it was professionally setup. How
lucky could you be? Almost no fret buzz too! I was very
grateful.
What was most surprising were the pickups. I've never heard so
much natural compression from a stock instrument. It was
amazing. Somebody will be very happy with this vintage beauty.
AFTER
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