Been AGES, hasn't it?

I have been out of the guitar buying game for some time, just busy with life and busy with taking care of my sick wife that I disappeared from blogging. 

I had (have still) some guitars in Japan that I delayed shipping for 2 years...yeah ridiculous but I just forgot about them and I suppose was avoiding the heart attack the shipping fees would amount to. 

Well a couple of week ago I bit the bullet and had the higher end models shipped as they were too important to have go missing. 

So $900 later in shipping fees they arrived at my doorstep (5 of em). 

They are as follows:

1981 Argus AA ES-335

One of the coolest of the rare brands of MIJ, short lived high end & made under Mr Shiino.

It seems they used various builders depending on the model of guitar made.

They all came with classic braided pickups that had no markings on the underside but honestly sound as good as DRY Z's (perhaps they are?).

All lacquer, flamed maple sandwich with awesome details such as flamed maple inside the cavities.

Fret edge binding which has yellowed beautifully along with a super dark rosewood board that almost looks ebony. Possibly Brazilian, who knows.

I have a few 335s and this might be my new fave, taking the place of my 76 Heerby.

1981 Vint*** Les Paul

Next up is another rare brand, I bought this on a buy it now for so ridiculously cheap as the owner had no idea what it was and most likely figured it to be junk.

The 3 photos were old webcam quality but I could see what looked like aniline dye fading and fret binding.

I am so happy I hit that double digit BIN.

I am almost positive that this LP was made at the same factory the Argus LPs were, same knob placement, bridge/tail, same brown back plastics, same inlays, and same pup rings tight against the fretboard.

Will update the others later...this takes too damn long haha. 

Also the refinished and now complete 2002 JM66 Jazzmaster with a home made neck.

Been SO SO long since I have updated the blog!
A few projects I worked on:

This Deviser Riverhead 52 Tele was a limited run and made to be a relic when new and while I hate ruining an original finish it was lacquer over top of a nasty thick poly sanding sealer with a terrible lame relic job so this had to be done right, IMO.

Was not a fan of the aged finish I had originally done.
I have always loved the heavily ambered & played Telecasters from the 50s and 60s that must have spent most of their lives in smokey homes and bars.
I decided to do this one up similar and managed to get the lacquer to have that nice dull but still reflective aged patina to it.

Original finish:

Initial Refinish:

Final Product:

Almost 2 months have past once again!
Been so busy getting everything ready for the hot sauce season along with having another spontaneous pneumothorax on Feb 28th has put a damper on the guitars but still managing to get some work done!
Redid my SE-800/1000 from the trans white into an aged trans blonde.
Turned out OK I suppose...added a NOS SE1000 birdseye neck to it that I have owned for 6 years but never used...even coated from the factory with lacquer as it had checking in various spots.
Decided to age that a little too to match the guitar.

Original:

Trans white:

And Currently:

That's it for now, hope everyone is safe and well!

I am slipping again, aren't I?
OK...been trying to get the hot sauce all ready to go so haven't had a ton of time for refinishing but have done some.
Here they are!

This 2002 JM66 was Kurt Cobained so I stripped it, glued all the cracks with hide glue, and refinished it in a creamy blonde with a tint of green to it.
Turned out pretty...pretty...pretty...pretty good!
Building a new flamed maple neck for it from scratch with a Brazilian Rosewood board, should look awesome!

1978 Greco SE800 Strat Partscaster Refinish

1979 Greco SE600 Seafoam Refinish

Finally done this bugger!!
Started off as a 2010 ESP Edwards E-LP-108LTS Lemon Drop but then the original owner tried to refinish it and sanded through the veneer between the pickups.
Thus he did the best next choice (lol) and painted it all black with spray bombs followed by a really bad relic job.
Took me ages to get all the black paint off from everywhere but managed overall.
I then refinished it in a Fender Fiesta Red with some light relic wear.
No grain filler on the back, allowed the lacquer to seep, giving it that older aged appearance.

Been a while but thought I would post some progress on a few guitars I have been working on that are finally done.
1st up is this old 1982 Tokai TE-60 I refinished from a poorly done spray bombed red into a nice lightly aged shell pink.

Next up is a mid to late 80s Burny Les Paul Custom slim.

Bought it bare bones and the original black finish was a little messed so I was going to redo it in black lacquer but decided, after stripping it, that the mahogany was too damn nice to cover up so I instead put about 8 thin coats of tung oil on it followed by 2 light coats of nitro and a mild faded burst.