85 Invader Project Complete!

Just completed my first guitar restoration. I fell in love with this 1985 Invader at a local shop. I finally pulled the trigger and got it at a price that was fair for the condition. The guitar was really beat up, and had a bad refinish job in black metal flake and the headstock was painted around the logo, leaving the original yellow finish around the logo. I stripped the guitar down to the wood and repainted it red since it was one of the original color choices. I replaced the badly damaged locking nut with a new Kahler nut. I also stripped the neck of the poly finish, and sanded it smooth, then refinished it with tru-oil. I really missed the feel of the oiled neck on my old Ramage. Also, just as I finished putting on the Kahler nut, I was contacted by someone who found the original graph-tech locking nut that was originally on the guitar. So I will be installing that and removing the Kahler again! The guitar plays really nice, has low action. I'm also enjoying the tone of the single coil MFD's.

Thanks for looking,
Dave
[img][IMG]http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n556/GLrampage/GL001-1.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][IMG]http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n556/GLrampage/GL091.jpg[/img][/img]

http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n556/GLrampage/

For some reason the photo's aren't showing up! I'm trying to figure this picture posting thing out! Sorry! Anyways, here's a link to the album showing the progress of the guitar

Dave

Looks like new !!
Very well done,


...you'll get the hang of the picture thing, ( paste the "direct link" from photobucket between the "Img" tags that appear when you click on the "Img" button above the text box. ...then make sure you jump to the end of the line and hit return before adding the next pic ).

Dave, Sweet! I like the red and the red on the head is transparent enough to show the Gold Decals. This gets me fired up for spring to start on my projects. I happened to run into a 3 bolt S-500 in White Blond in very nice condition this week. I will bet that the neck had more that 1/8 of an inch of relief. I don't think that will adjust out so I passed on it.-- Darwin

Great job. Nice color too.

Thanks for the comments guys! I have really come to respect the high quality of G&L. I think I'm hooked on working on guitars now, and I am now on the lookout for another Leo era guitar to fix up! Darwin, too bad on that S-500. From reading through your old posts it looks like you also like having projects to work on, so I apologize in advance if I drive you crazy asking questions when I get myself in a bind! As far as the headstock logo, I have to be honest, it turned out that way by accident! I wanted the gold to stand out, but the ink on the waterslide was strong enough to block out the red. So when I put it on I liked it and just left it that way!

Dave

Nice work, looks great now.