I found this body on eBay and felt the need to restore it to its old glory:
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The solid Koa body was made by Schecter around 1979, when David Schecter produced replacement parts and custom guitars in his shop in Van Nuys, CA. It appears to have started out with a Fender tremolo; at some point, a Kahler tremolo was installed.
It's not clear when the STK-1 was installed, most likely in the mid-80s. As a builder I was primarily attracted to the beautiful piece of Koa, but I also wanted to see if I could bring this guitar back to life. So here's the end result:
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The journey was a long one, here are the snapshots along the way:
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The solid Koa body with STK and old pickguard removed. It was in remarkable shape for a 38-year old - only slight worming on the back
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The old black pickguard was scratched and drilled for three pickup selector switches. I traced it and had WD Music make me a new one with 5-way switch routing.
(https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.snapagogo.com%2Fuploads%2Fsource%2F852017%2F1490622943_1792280887_IMG_2091.jpg&hash=55c6e96304051e1c8f3176feb33f2a2f3d07d1f1)
Rather than filling in the hole, I decided to order a new Kahler tremolo, model 2315 brass with steel saddles. It has the same range of motion as a Floyd Rose.
(https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.snapagogo.com%2Fuploads%2Fsource%2F852017%2F1490622951_1398366328_IMG_2092.jpg&hash=3988aab75fc7a2b481eda307516bafcddeee0e4c)
The body with Kahler tremolo and new pickguard installed. Pickups are Fender Custom Shop Lineage Red, a limited run for the Pro Guitar Shop intended to replicate those made by Fender in the 50s.
(https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.snapagogo.com%2Fuploads%2Fsource%2F852017%2F1490622987_354826502_IMG_2097.jpg&hash=d89096666e01e2fdb699d7ed23dcc96eb1bad4f6)
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The neck is a Warmoth Roasted Maple neck with Macassar Ebony fingerboard; a Schaller locking nut was added to reduce stress on the tuners. No finish required! Schaller M6 locking tuners with pin posts were installed on the headstock. It's interesting to note the dark color of the roasted Maple.
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A closeup of the restored body!
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Check out the grain on this roasted Maple neck! Note the Warmoth side truss rod adjustment. All black hardware used throughout.
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The unused Fender tremolo cavity was covered with a custom black plate without string access opening.
And she came back to life with the GR-300! ;D ;D
Very nicely done
Oh that's so nice!
Just found this thread. Very nice hunk of Koa there! Looks like a great guitar. (Nice Rockman setup there too!)
--Tom