Udonitron
Well-known member
So I just received this Burny yesterday and got it for DIRT cheap on a private deal from Japan. The photos of it initially were good enough to see that there were no breaks or cracks anywhere but that was as far as the details went. Well when it arrived I was partially bummed and stunned to see the original owner had painted the ENTIRE top chocolate gloss brown with a spray bomb!? WTF?
The top had been cleared of the paint but with what seems to have been a Brillo pad or something harsh as it is pretty scratched up. The fool also left the pups intact and just sprayed over the entire top of EVERYTHING thus the bridge cavity was filled with brown paint, underneath and on top of the pointers and pots, on the top of the neck pup, and paint runs down the side of the guitar! Perhaps it was his kid who did it? I have cleaned out the cavities completely now (I will have to post updated pics) and most other areas, just the buffing is now needed.
Anyway I have dismantled everything and slowly cleaning it up. Last night as I started to clear away the bridge cavity (Seymour Duncan JB is in the bridge which is nice) I was pleasantly surprised to find a serial and model number in the cavity! Hand written in there is either RLG70 or 90 (Japanese normally cross their 7's so it could be a 9 but I think it's a 70) and a serial # of 72901. Jan 29, 1987 I suspect as the RLG70 run ended in 95/96 (and cherry burst was very rare during the 95/96 run on the RLG70's unless this creeped out in 1997 with a cherry top but it has fret edge binding so I stick to a 1987). Veneer top but it is about 2 mm thick which is decent. The neck on this one seems slightly more beefy than my other Burny. The back is ALMOST a 1 piece, just a sliver of the 2nd piece near the pot plate and it is all 1/4 sawn mahogany. Once it is up and running I will put her up for sale locally I suspect. Check out the photos, your input is welcomed
Japanese Guitars - a set on Flickr
UPDATE::
I just spent 6 hours last night redoing the top of this guitar (removing all the screws, posts, etc and gently rubbing the hell out of it...poly rocks for that!). It seriously looked like someone had taken 40-60 grit (or coarse steel wool) and sanded the whole top...very deep scratches! I thought I was doomed but I used 600 wet grit and took out all the scratches, then followed up with 2000 grit wet to remove the swirls from the 600, and finally polished/finished it with 3M 3000 grit rubbing compound/swirl remover (for cars) and it now looks killer! The top is back to its mint and super glossy original state.
The top had been cleared of the paint but with what seems to have been a Brillo pad or something harsh as it is pretty scratched up. The fool also left the pups intact and just sprayed over the entire top of EVERYTHING thus the bridge cavity was filled with brown paint, underneath and on top of the pointers and pots, on the top of the neck pup, and paint runs down the side of the guitar! Perhaps it was his kid who did it? I have cleaned out the cavities completely now (I will have to post updated pics) and most other areas, just the buffing is now needed.
Anyway I have dismantled everything and slowly cleaning it up. Last night as I started to clear away the bridge cavity (Seymour Duncan JB is in the bridge which is nice) I was pleasantly surprised to find a serial and model number in the cavity! Hand written in there is either RLG70 or 90 (Japanese normally cross their 7's so it could be a 9 but I think it's a 70) and a serial # of 72901. Jan 29, 1987 I suspect as the RLG70 run ended in 95/96 (and cherry burst was very rare during the 95/96 run on the RLG70's unless this creeped out in 1997 with a cherry top but it has fret edge binding so I stick to a 1987). Veneer top but it is about 2 mm thick which is decent. The neck on this one seems slightly more beefy than my other Burny. The back is ALMOST a 1 piece, just a sliver of the 2nd piece near the pot plate and it is all 1/4 sawn mahogany. Once it is up and running I will put her up for sale locally I suspect. Check out the photos, your input is welcomed
Japanese Guitars - a set on Flickr
UPDATE::
I just spent 6 hours last night redoing the top of this guitar (removing all the screws, posts, etc and gently rubbing the hell out of it...poly rocks for that!). It seriously looked like someone had taken 40-60 grit (or coarse steel wool) and sanded the whole top...very deep scratches! I thought I was doomed but I used 600 wet grit and took out all the scratches, then followed up with 2000 grit wet to remove the swirls from the 600, and finally polished/finished it with 3M 3000 grit rubbing compound/swirl remover (for cars) and it now looks killer! The top is back to its mint and super glossy original state.
