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Monterey Pop Festival strat replica

In this article, we describe a custom build of a Monterey Pop Festival Stratocaster replica. The process is documented in HD as much as possible, starting with the disassembly of a used Squier strat to the finished replica. This guitar is built strictly for personal use and is not for sale.

Before

After

In this video we filmed preparing the body for painting and spray painting the fiesta red and white.

All repair and setup articles on this website are provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind.. The entire risk as to the results and the performance of the information is assumed by the user, and in no event shall Bluesmannus be liable for any consequential, incidental or direct damages suffered in the course of using the information on this site. If you are not sure you can do this you are safer leaving the process to a professional. - Bluesmannus Team

Part 3 - Body prep and painting

Even though this Squier was supposely in Fiesta red, this shade of res looked nothing like fiesta red. The new fiesta red was custom mixed in a car painting shop into a spray can. Their stock pearl white looked almost exactly the shade seen on the Fender custom shop Monty strat.

Since the original red on this Squier is very thin, we decided to keep it as a primer, and not sand it down to bare wood and prime it again. If your guitar has one of the new thick poly finishes you might have to do that though. The first step was sanding the flat surfaces with a vibration power sander and 320 grit. After that the round surfaces such as the horns, sides and belly cut need to be sanded by hand.

After everything was nice and smooth and cleaned with lighter fluid, it was time for spraying on the fiesta red. Start with sides and paint the big surfaces last, that way it will be very even. The important thing with spray painting is to start off of the guitar and end off of the guitar. Never start spraying directly on the guitar because spray cans often spit when starting.

For the transition between the red and white, practice on a piece of scrap. We found the transition is easiest to make using a piece of cardboard about an inch away from the guitar. The overspray is just about right like that. If you mess up, dont try to fix it by wiping off, instead wait for the paint to dry and fix it by applying more white or red. Also make sure that the 2 paints are compatible and that the red is completely dry or it could melt under the white and you'll have to sand everything down and start over.

When painting any white parts, protect the red with cardboard because the overspray can ruin the parts you didn't intend to paint.

Below is a picture of the finished paintjob, we are satisfied with the results. It may not be perfect for some, but neither was Jimi's. :-)

P revious...Next

Below ar pictures of the fiesta red drying. We left it for 3 days before applying the white.

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