1987 Clipper Restoration

by Forum member Corsair on October 09, 2008

Here’s the Clipper which is in the process of being (slowly!) brought back to life.

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The front is in pretty good nick, with a few graunches and this quite nasty one.
C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper scrape.png

And this in the trem spring cavity.
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None of that is terminal although the bout damage will be a bit tricky!

The guts of the thing.
All of the fine tuners are gone and it’s missing one neck screw but the actual bridge is OK (not shown). And, the humbucker doesn’t seem to work!
C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper electronics strip.png
Tuners. They’ll just need touching up with a gloss black paint.
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All of the microswitches for turning the p’ups on or off are pretty much munted but the pots seem OK; the quality of the workmanship is well up there; check out the way the white wire has been twisted around the ground connection to keep things tidy.

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The neck is in lovely condition but the nut is broken in two.

Some progress pics.
C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper bridge screw.png
The damage on the bout fixed and the spray bomb with its colour matched paint matched to the rear of the body!

C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper ding.png
A little graunch in the rear edge filled and ready for painting

C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper chip repair.png

The bridge ready for installation. I was lucky enough to acquire a whole BM Deluxe bridge as a spare; it’s in the box.
C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper bridge strip.png

Well, gang – it lives!! It is sitting on the guitar stand, all strung up, action and intonation set, bridge sorted and rocking out; gee, these things have a wonderful neck… fast fast fast!! I need to get a control cavity cover made and get a wang and job done!
C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper back compare.png

C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper front compare.png

C:\Users\Barry\Desktop\Westone Guitars for Resto Section of Website\Corsair\'87 Clipper pix\'87 clipper headstock compare.png

… the new one is on the ????? Laughing