MY EL DEGAS GUITAR

[figital]

hello,

my name is derek and i live in hamilton, ontario, canada.

i am the proud owner of an EL DEGAS guitar! i have owned this axe since the 80s
and before me, my pal had it for a couple of years. he has no idea where he got it!



i am not sure what the model number is. there's no info on the guitar except the el degas logo on the headstock.

for me, this guitar has a crazy history! i am a lefty, so it was impossible to play. so it was the first guitar where
i popped the nut and flipped it around.

recently i decided to restore the guitar and when i went to take the neck off, it all came flooding back to me. there's a broken
screw stuck in there and in a flash i recalled why we never did anything with the guitar before...i had always thought it had
a warped neck but it was slightly askew from missing the one screw. older me knew how to fix that! it's also pretty dinged up
from being used in all sorts of gigs.

so if anyone knows anything about this model, i'd love to hear it. and a photo of it in it's original state would be great as well!
i am not sure what colours/stains i am going to use at this point, but knowing how it looked at the factory might be helpful.

this one had gotoh pickups on it and most of the innards were decent quality. so that could mean it was
made in japan. but who knows?

finally, if anyone has any ideas, thoughts or knowledge on refinishing the fretboard, i'd love to hear it. i am not sure what
to do with this one. i am not sure if i should pop the frets and refinish and then install new frets, or if these frets just need a
redressing and the board needs a spot sand, scrape and polish. it has a couple of spots on it but most of it is still pretty good.
the worst ding is on the back of the neck and is in the lacquer only.

thanks!
derek...

[charles]

This is a strange one. Normally you would see that neck on a guitar like this:


The guitar body would be a sunburst or a solid color, not a translucent stain. Your guitar's body is also not the normal Strat shape - the upper body curve and the horns are very different and it's a dual humbucker design rather than a strat config. I could be wrong, but I suspect that the body of this guitar is from another guitar and was married up with the El Degas neck. However, perhaps it is a model I am not familiar with because it is not often-seen?

[figital]

thanks charles!

wow, so this guitar has an even crazier history than i thought.

[shakin]

Looks very similar to the Aria Pro 11 CS series...if made in Japan could it be another link to Matsumoku?

[Barry]

Looks very similar to the Aria Pro 11 CS series...if made in Japan could it be another link to Matsumoku?

Sorry, not even close to the Cardinal shape. The only similarity I see is the recessed bridge.

The current "finish" on the guitar is definitely not original, and certainly not Matsumoku. Hardware does appear to be good quality though, and Gotoh's are commonly found on many late 70's/early 80's MIJ builds. Mats guitars tended to have Maxon branded pups early on which were later spec'd differently and branded as MMK-xx. Grounding paint in the pickup cavities is a nice attention to detail.

Is there anything on the neck plate? ("Steel Adjustable Neck" would be a possible matsumoku indicator but not a definitive proof.) I think it's more likely to be one of the other many manufacturers of the day.

We'd need to see the condition of the frets to make a suggestion. Unless they are full of divets, most respond well to a light dressing. The board is easily cleaned with #0000 steel wool, preceeded if needed by a gentle scraping with a blade edge.

[figital]

the silver plate is blank, unfortunately, and the guitar has no markings on the pocket
or inside any of the cavities. i wonder if it was someone's project guitar and they snapped
the neck screw putting this neck on a new body in place of the one in charles' original photo?

regarding the frets, here's some close ups of the board and the frets...







i would love to get some advice if you guys have any ideas where to go with this fretboard.

i started to work on the rest of the neck but taped the fretboard off.

[Barry]

Sorry figital, disregard my earlier ramblings about fretboard refinishing. That only applies to rosewood or ebony boards. Maple is a whole 'nuther thing.

From what I see the frets seem to be in good shape except for a lot of "finger jam" up against the edge. That is easily removed with an old toothbrush and some warm soapy water. You can still use #0000 steel wool to buff up the metal but you must use a fret shield to avoid dulling the finish on the wood.

The chipping of the finish is a shame but it does happen on many older guitars which have seen a lot of action. If you're serious about repairing those, the usual method is to lightly sand the area to smooth it, wipe with something like naptha to remove dirt, then "drop fill" which involves using CA (cyanoacrylate) or "crazy glue". Follow up with systematic scraping, sanding and buffing. Google is your friend here, there's lots of information on the technique. It can be a bit tedious but if you're patient you can do a decent resto. I usually finish by applying a good quality guitar wax over the entire fret board for future protection against sweat, etc.

If you don't want to use glue you might get by with a clear nail polish but it won't last long.

[sambonee]

If I had to bet my last $5 I'd say that the body was a custom / home job and they used a Degas Strat neck. Sorry to disappoint but it's pretty cool but quite possibly only the neck is a Degas.

[charles]

If I had to bet my last $5 I'd say that the body was a custom / home job and they used a Degas Strat neck.

I agree. The body & neck were likely frankenstein'ed together.