OffsetGuitars.com

Hi all,

new member here with a new project: I recently acquired a Domino Spartan knowing full well that it would likely need some work. I picked it up for the worst of reasons- I love the way this thing looks! The price wasn't gloatworthy but in range for what I thought reasonable given that I expected to have to put some sweat equity into it. Out of the box, it played, but it wasn't any fun. setup and intonation issues, wouldn't stay in tune, weak sound, and general fit and finish problems.





The piece of pickguard that holds the pots is not original, and its edges need some refinement. It's also too thick, so I'll have to address that somehow. No big issues here.



The neck has a repair that seems sound, there's a little ridge that you feel when playing but it might be more trouble than it's worth to feather it out and try to blend new finish into the repair.



evidently when the neck broke, a new nut was made. This will have to go- wrong radius, too much glue, looks like it was gnawed to shape.



The neck pocket holds some surprises. It's hard to tell but there was a bit of a gap:



Removing the decorative plate reveals the bolts. This is a new construction method for me- seems a little subpar. From what I have seen of other spartans on the internet, this is the standard way they were assembled.



Pulling the neck- first of all one of the bolts sheared off. Then I discover that there is a second set of bolt holes in the neck- they have evidence of bolts having been threaded in. The body does not have a second set of holes. These new holes are the same spacing as a strat neckplate I had laying around. It seems unlikely this neck was taken from another guitar- any guesses why the second set of holes would be there?





Because of the sheared bolt, and also because I think it will be stronger in the long run, I would like to fill the bolt holes in the body, and make new ones to match the other neck holes, the ones that are inline with my strat neckplate. It won't be original but this ain't a concours restoration- I want to play it. what do you all think?

Anyone read Kanji (at least that's what I think this is)?



I am sure there will be plenty of work to do on the electronics once I get the neck sorted out- there are some caps in weird places that I will probably eliminate, et cetera.

one last pic- the paint under the PG. it's faded to a lovely creamsicle color. Thanks for looking!

In Chinese that is the character for "Zhōng" which means middle/centre/within. It is also the first of the 2 characters for "Zhōng guó" which means "China".

After I posted it occurred to me that someone may have borrowed the neck and installed it on another body for a time. This would explain the extra holes. Just a theory though.

Looks like a really cool guitar. I think you might be right on the bolt holes, I'm not sure what benefit you'd personally gain from using the strat holes over the originals though. Surely by filling so much you'll make the wood weaker? Just a thought.

Ok- making slow progress on the repairs. I decided to use the original bolt locations.

It took a lot more messing around than I had hoped, to get the snapped off neck bolt out. I gripped the exposed part, but that snapped off flush with the wood. So I had to excavate.



I used a 1/2" end mill in a drill press to make a clean, flat bottomed hole out of the wreckage. This could have been a forstner bit too, but the end mill was handy.



cutting a plug out of some scrap maple:



and fitted, with the grain of the plug going the same way as the grain in the neck. plugging with a piece of dowel would have meant the bolt would be gripping end grain, which is weaker.



With the neck off, I decided to do a fret level and crown after all, I was hoping not to have to. Also working on a new nut.

Awesome looking Domino! I really like the UC-2's but this one seems just as cool. A little less...extreme...but a nice take on a classic shape. Even has the "floating" output jack too!

Please say you're keeping the orange You should get a chrome control plate made after you get the shape worked out on it.

May I ask how much you paid?

oh wow, wonderful and cool guitar!

and yes, i guess a strat with that neck/headstock would look killer!

its like the love child between a jazzmaster and a et-270

WonderCouncil wrote:Awesome looking Domino! I really like the UC-2's but this one seems just as cool. A little less...extreme...but a nice take on a classic shape. Even has the "floating" output jack too!

Please say you're keeping the orange You should get a chrome control plate made after you get the shape worked out on it.

May I ask how much you paid?

I am definitely keeping the orange. I have wanted one of these in this color ever since I happened upon a picture of one somewhere online. Most of them are sunburst.

I did think about making a chrome piece for the three knobs. It would definitely shift it into jag/mustang looks territory, and would probably look great. The piece that is there right now is not original, but it is faithful to the OEM part. All the others I have seen pictures of, have this same split guard arrangement where both pieces are 4 ply w/b/w/b. I am going to keep it, at least for now.

I paid around $350 US. Not a steal, but I was happy.

I'll post some more pictures soon, I made it through the fret job and am most of the way through making the new nut. After that I need to tackle the electronics...

Yay for keeping the orange Were those the only two colors these came in? Orange and Sunburst?

$350 isn't a bad price, especially if everything I've heard and read about these trems and general build quality on these particular style guitars is true.

I don't know if any of these are refins, but "http://powerstump.tripod.com/vintagedo ... tml">here< are some images that suggest they were available in SB, light blue, white, green, and light red (AKA orange)

Sound for Sandwiches wrote:I don't know if any of these are refins, but "http://powerstump.tripod.com/vintagedo ... tml">here< are some images that suggest they were available in SB, light blue, white, green, and light red (AKA orange)

Thanks! I saw the blue one the other night after looking through Google Images. on the bright side they it appears they have a green model, my favorite color. Also means I can't buy one of these until I find a green one. That should allow me time to finish my other projects lol.

Some more shots of work in progress. The Neck is almost done, I just have to glue in the nut, shoot a little nitro on the repair where I sanded out a little ridge, and that should be it.

Leveling frets- they were all over the place:



Frets dressed and nut being fine tuned:



another shot of nut in progress:



something else I tackled was the smaller PG plate that houses the knobs. It's a DIY replacement and it's close but no cigar. First off, the original PG is 4 ply W/B/W/B, and .125" thick. This replacement was made using a piece of 3-ply laminated to a piece of single ply black, so the overall thickness was off by .025". Doesn't sound like a lot but it made an ugly ridge when installed and just looked wrong.

Here's my setup to thin it out. I put two equal height battens on a piece of flat plywood and taped the PG down between them. Then it was a matter of dialing in the depth of cut on the router with a straight bit, and taking off a thin layer of the black. I just worked over most of it, then re-taped and did the rest. It turned out only a few thousandths off in thickness- I think I can live with that





I still need to clean up the beveled edges of the PG, as they're a little wobbly like someone cut it out freehand.

Also it's too white- the original, larger piece of PG has a nice yellowed patina to it, does anyone have a suggestion for quickly aging this little piece so it fits in better?

why don't you just make it chrome like a jaguar's? that would look awesome!

dehydrated88 wrote:why don't you just make it chrome like a jaguar's? that would look awesome!

Upthread I said I'd keep it because it is the way these guitars were originally made. Also I have the part, and if I wanted chrome I would have to get a piece of metal, cut it to shape, and have it chromed. Maybe someday... for now that's a lot of work and expense.