This one will take a while.  It’s obviously been tucked away for some time.  The biggest problem will be the corrosion.  Most of the screws are rusted and I’ll have to do quite a bit to clean up the tremolo.  The electrics may also present a problem, but at worst I’ll replace the Pots and pickup switch.

Corroded screws…

On close inspection the frets are a little uneven so, to make it play nicely, it will need a dress.

First thing then, strip down the tremolo..

I’ve run out of time for the day so I’ll leave these parts to soak overnight in some well-known light oil…

I’ve also tried getting the pick-guard off and at least 3 of the screws are stuck.

Got the body stripped down and cleaned.  Nothing too severe, just enough to remove the surface dirt.

I’ve also cleaned off the rust from all the tremolo screws.  They all move freely now so I’ll be able to set the bridge height and intonation easily.

I’ve stripped all the electrics from the pick-guard.  I’m going to replace the screws for the pickups so while the old ones are out I gave the pickups a good clean.  The poles were rather rusty.

The jack socket is very dirty and intermittent as is the selector switch so I’m going to replace them both.

The plastic parts have all come up quite nicely as well…

Once the new pickup screws arrive I can put that lot all back together.

Next I turned my attention to the neck.  The frets aren’t that worn but are a little uneven so I’ve given them a dress so it should play nicely now.

The one odd thing I came across is the nut.  The nut slot has a flat bottom…

But the bottom of the nut is rounded which means there was a gap, the nut would only have been supported at its ends and not in the middle.  Since it’s plastic it could lead to it bending and the string action dropping on the middle strings, strange?

It’s got the same radius as the fretboard, it leads me to think it’s been replaced at some time, with the wrong one.

To give the support it needs I’ve added a couple of fine shims…

With the fret dress complete the neck is ready to go back on the body…

Next step, re-wire the pickups.  I’ve cleaned the pots and they seem ok but the pickup switch and jack socket were both beyond recovery so I’ve wired in new ones.

The jack-plate is very flat, not enough depth to fit countersunk screws, so I’m going to use ones with much smaller heads.  The trouble is the shafts are thinner so I need to pack out the old holes to give the screws something to grip or they wont hold.

Once the glue dried it’s just a case of putting it all back together…

With the body complete, bolt the neck back on and set it up.

Since the whole guitar has been apart everything will need re-setting, starting with the truss-rod.

The rest of it was simple, Job done….

A word from the owner

“This Peavey is mine… and George has returned it back to great condition .
My thanks….  and strongest recommendation for his skills!”