Have you noticed that modern Squier headstocks look slightly different to Fender ones? I first thought that they where smaller, but after some comparing it seems that they are rather identic, except for the tuner hole alignment. The Squier tuners are located a bit more to the front of the headstock, making it look smaller.
Now, you can't really do something to change this if you want a clearcoated headstock since it's impossible to plug the holes without any traces. But why not combine this mod with a matching headstock! I thought about it for a day or two, and then set to work. The bass is a Squier vintage modified P (white).
This is how it looked before. Notice that the tuners are not original, and they've been unsuccessfully reliced, showing the copper plating under the nickel. I'm gonna fix that later on.
Now the holes must be plugged in order to drill new ones. I used a broom!
Holes plugged.
And then the difficult part; to locate where the new holes should be to make it look "Fenderish". I used several pdf files on different Precision basses from the Fender website to get it right.
Checking the looks of the alignment with bushings. Looks good, check!
And then some hole drilling.
Checking that the bushings are in a straight line.
What now? Paint! Of course you should do this with spray paint, but I couldn't get any in the right color (slightly yellowed "olympic white"). The local shop got me some ordinary alkyd paint that they mixed to correct color.
I will then sand the paint down and apply one or two more coats. Finally I will spray it with clearcoat.
I'll post more pics as the work progresses. I need to find a nice logo too. I'd rather have a Squier logo, but I don't know where to find one.
Now, you can't really do something to change this if you want a clearcoated headstock since it's impossible to plug the holes without any traces. But why not combine this mod with a matching headstock! I thought about it for a day or two, and then set to work. The bass is a Squier vintage modified P (white).
This is how it looked before. Notice that the tuners are not original, and they've been unsuccessfully reliced, showing the copper plating under the nickel. I'm gonna fix that later on.
Now the holes must be plugged in order to drill new ones. I used a broom!
Holes plugged.
And then the difficult part; to locate where the new holes should be to make it look "Fenderish". I used several pdf files on different Precision basses from the Fender website to get it right.
Checking the looks of the alignment with bushings. Looks good, check!
And then some hole drilling.
Checking that the bushings are in a straight line.
What now? Paint! Of course you should do this with spray paint, but I couldn't get any in the right color (slightly yellowed "olympic white"). The local shop got me some ordinary alkyd paint that they mixed to correct color.
I will then sand the paint down and apply one or two more coats. Finally I will spray it with clearcoat.
I'll post more pics as the work progresses. I need to find a nice logo too. I'd rather have a Squier logo, but I don't know where to find one.
I don't mind working.
