So I saw this Custom Core 535 on TGP….

[brentrocks]

So I saw this Custom core 535 on the gear page….

The guy had gotten it in a trade and was told that it was “artisan aged” but the guy lied to him, someone had tried to age it themselves by taking 120 or 80 grit sandpaper to the finish!!!  

(I’m not joking)

So the guy I bought it from was very upset and really felt defeated.   And basically just wanted to get out from underneath it.  So we made a deal.  

It’s a 2023 CC 535 in Dark Cherry Sunburst 

After opening the case, and evaluating the damage done to the finish and how deep the scratches were, and the fact that the gloss was gone, I decided to take the bull by the horns and try to make lemonade with the lemons I was handed.  

If Pete Moreno were still alive, I would have taken it to him    I sure do miss Pete   

I thought about taking it to a professional luthier and seeing if could be buffed out, but that would have cost a lot of money and I’m sure there would have been no guarantee that he would have not burned through the finish.  

So the first thing I did was completely disassemble the guitar.  Took all the hardware off.  Pickups out.   Dropped all the electronics inside the body.  

Then I wet sanded the back of the body, front of the body and the front and back of the headstock with 2000 wet/dry sanding paper.  

I sanded and sanded and sanded and sanded 

The scratches were just too deep.   I was afraid I was going to go through the clear.  

After sanding, I put some liquid scratch remover on it, that I bought at the auto parts store and used my cordless drill with a small buffing wheel.   

I buffed and buffed and buffed… the gloss started to come back but 75% of the scratches remained.  

Then, to bring back some more of the gloss, I took some turtle wax and my drill and buffed on it with the car wax some more.   

I was really happy with the amount of gloss I was able to get back!!  It just looks like an old, scratched up Heritage now!!!

Then I pulled all the electronics back up, installed a different set of pickups (I’m not a big fan of the 225 classic pups), put the tuners and hardware back on, oiled the fretboard.   Then put new strings on it and did a complete setup!!!!

I’ll let you be the judge.   But I think it looks A LOT BETTER.   

Yes, it still has a lot of scratches in it, but at least it’s not all dull looking now.  

It’s always gonna be a player because of what some dumbass did to the finish.   But in reality, it just looks like a guitar that has been played A LOT 🤣

Anyway…the most important part is that this CC 535 PLAYS AND SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY STELLAR!!!  It’s a friggin TONE MACHINE!!!

 

BEFORE….

 

AFTER…..

 

 

[brentrocks]

MORE AFTERS…

 

[LK155]

NIce job, Brent.  It totally baffles me as to why someone would want to mark up a beautiful, new, expensive guitar like that.  I just don't get it. 

[brentrocks]

39 minutes ago, LK155 said:

NIce job, Brent.  It totally baffles me as to why someone would want to mark up a beautiful, new, expensive guitar like that.  I just don't get it. 

Thank you Lyle!!

I cannot imagine why someone would take a $4900 guitar and take sandpaper to it???

All I can say is….DONT DO DRUGS.   

LOL. 😆 

[brentrocks]

 

Edited 2 hours ago by brentrocks

[brentrocks]

This was so funny….well not at the time, but….

 

So it’s about 10:00 last night, I have the guitar all put back together, setup, playing great/sounding great….

 

And I flip the toggle to the neck pickup….and it sounds EXTREMELY BASSY!!!  Like funky out of phase or something???   

 

I turn the tone pot and it sounds like it’s getting brighter as I turn it down!!  Drastic change in tone. 

 

So I’m like, dammittt…got a bad pot or something it touching something it’s not supposed to….when I dropped the electronics earlier.   

 

So I unscrew the toggle and pots, fish it around to look at the neck tone pot….

 

THERES A GOB OF POLISHING COMPOUND ON THE MIDDLE POLE OF THE POT TOUCHING GROUND!!!! 

 

OMG.  I felt like such a dummy.   LOL 😆 

[TalismanRich]

No worries..  As you know, it's always so easy to work on the electrics of a semi hollow guitar.   😕

When I was working on my 535,   somehow the lead from a tone cap broke off.   Turn the knob and ... nothing changes.   So it's pull the harness out and do it all again.  

Edited 34 minutes ago by TalismanRich