Jim's Coke Guitar

The Donor

Good condition used Yamaha clone of a Fender from a Navy guy who got transferred...

The tear down

Notice that everything has been tagged & bagged...

Recontoured

Notice where Randy smoothed the ridge off and exposed the wood

Spot puttied

There were only a few paint chips to deal with

The neck has been painted

Things are starting to take shape now...

Scuffed & ready for the graphics

Scuffing helps the graphics & clear coats adhere to the paint better

The Logo

One of the most recognizable trademarks on Earth!

Here comes the clear coat!

Notice fret board is masked off to protect it from overspray...

Relections

Randy shot these pix in his garage during the build...

Reflections 2

I should probably mention that Randy did a heap of hand polishing to make everything so pretty...

Reflections 3

Randy used 2000 grit paper for the final sanding

The Pickguard

Masked off for the pinstripe around the edge

Whammy bar tip 2

Empty miniature plastic Coke bottle (version 1)

Whammy bar tip 3

Plain, with empty Coke bottle, with other Coke tip

There was a surprising amount of work and detail in the Mexican Coke bottle cap knobs.

Randy pointed out that the bottle caps would fit nicely on "speed knobs", one of several knob types available.

First, a couple of Coke bottle caps were masked off (to protect the paint on the outside).

Then Randy sandblasted away the sticky gum inside.

This texture would give the epoxy "tooth" to hold on when the bottle caps are glued to the speed knobs.

Randy then masked the insides and clear coated the cap's outsides with urethane...

Volume control knobs 2

Notice white speed knobs (above left).

The Coke bottle caps really "pop" against the refurbished pickguard and in the bright sunlight...

Randy tried to cut the ends off of 2 Coke bottles to use as knobs but it was unsuccessful.

Apparently the cutting disk put out a lot of heat and fractured the glass bottles.