New vintage S-500 owner (restoration necessary)

[caix]

Hi, I'm from Chicago. I picked up a 1985 S-500 in a recent trade. Not a bad trade, I must say, but the S-500 has a few issues. Hopefully you fine people here can help a clumsy guy like me restore it.

It's got a few knicks on the body and the paint has some cracks. Personally, I don't mind that at all. What I do mind is all the rust on the iron posts in the MFD pickups. $300 for a new set of pickups is a bit hefty. I talked with G&L directly and they suggested using CLR and 3in1 Oil to clean the rust off. I spent a few hours the other day cleaning the posts. They look much better, but unfortunately they will probably never be rust-free. Doesn't affect the sound, the guitar still screams.

A lot of the pick guard screws are rusty. I'm going to replace them, but one is stripped and can't be removed without drilling it out. I'd like to either get a new pickguard or have the pickguard re-crinkled. I've read around the net about people doing this. If you info on where I can get it recrinkled, I'd love to have it!

I had to seriously clean the bridge. Luckily, it wasn't rusty, but full of green oxidation goop. I had to complete take it apart and clean each piece individually. It's now sparkly and clean with one major issue: one of the bolts is rusted up and stripped. I can screw it in and out with some work using a wrench, but I'd rather just replace it. I have not found a replacement bolt online anywhere. If you have any suggestions or information on where I can find a new bold, I'd love to have that, too!

Here's some recent photos:












Rust on the pickups:






Bridge bolts:

[Katefan]

Heya Caix,

Sweet Axe! Welcome aboard -

I hear ya bout not digging the rust esp on the pu pole pieces and bridge posts.... not a lot you can do bout it tho - that stuff never sleeps

It appears the previous owner(s) had some pretty gnarly hand sweat and/or never bothered to wipe down the guitar after playing it.
SOme of it is just normal wear & tear that comes with age - I've owned a couple 80's G&L's with DF bridges and both had rust on the bass side bridge post bolts - but the majority of it is no doubt due to said acidic sweat...

I'm a fan of naturally weathered & knack'd axes so I'm most likely not gonna be alot of help... IMO, I would (for the most part) leave it alone. Replace the parts that don't function due to the rust and look into replacement part rather then refinish them - there is a guy on this site & Ebay who offers replacement Leo-era spec p/gs - and check Ebay for original issue parts. No disrepect to G&L but they're in the business of making new guitars - and being a small company, its not cost effective for them to keep up with manufacturing parts for old(er) models.

It may take awhile & alot of $, but conceivably you could get all the parts (including another set of early S-500 pu's) and have what you want but I think you have an uphiil battle ahead of you if you go this route.

I remember Dan Erewine had a column in GP that dealt with restoring vintage guitars and reviving old parts... I believe he's written a book as well...

One other thing to keep in mind, speaking of vintage guitars - Leo-era G&L's, esp early models are increasing in value and while it may not be apparent to alot of folks now, they are in essence, vintage guitars (made by the Man himself). So, in my eyes, they will continue to increase in value - good idea to keep the stock parts you replace in case (Ha) you decide to sell the guitar down the road.

I guess it comes down to that - if you can't live with the guitar as it sits, then perhaps sell it and look for a cleaner example...

Personally, I'd clean it up a bit and enjoy it.

My .02 -

Cheers,

Kf

[caix]

I'm definitely not going to change it, just the rusty parts that could use an update, like screws. It's in the shop now getting a proper set up. As for the pickguard, I'll probably keep it as is or refinish with the same crinkle down the road. I think the pickups are fine, much better than they were before I cleaned them.

[Ahryn]

Whew, after reading the title I half expected to scroll down and see some poor guitar rescued from the clutches of a overzealous router...

Good to see it just needs a little clean up

[Jesse]

I'm a fan of naturally weathered & knack'd axes so I'm most likely not gonna be alot of help... IMO, I would (for the most part) leave it alone. Replace the parts that don't function due to the rust and look into replacement part rather then refinish them - there is a guy on this site & Ebay who offers replacement Leo-era spec p/gs - and check Ebay for original issue parts. No disrepect to G&L but they're in the business of making new guitars - and being a small company, its not cost effective for them to keep up with manufacturing parts for old(er) models.

Is it possible to get an early 80s S-500 pickguard like the one on this guitar? I have one that unfortunately came into contact with a router and I need to replace the pickguard as a result.