Customizing a guitar (from a non DIY-er)

I'd appreciate some help on this and I know I'm in the right place.

My nephew would love to build himself a guitar (with my help), but guitar kits are:

a) Expensive. and b) Difficult to find in the UK.

So my ideal compromise would be to:

1) Buy a cheap Strat copy on Ebay (50 GBP or so). 2) Take it apart. 3) Strip the varnish and paint off of the body. 4) Repaint (but not in a good way) and revarnish. 5) Rebuild the guitar taking care that there are less than four bits left-over.

I'm assuming that this is all reasonably easy apart from item 3.

Is it possible to strip the varnish and paint off a cheap bit of wood? If so, how would I go about it?

If I can get this project started, I will publish a walkthrough on my

Vince,

Go to www.projectguitar.com. The 'Tutorials' section has everything you're looking for. There are 3 articles alone on removing paint.

And once you take the guitar apart, look for parts you can upgrade. A good set of tuners is always a wise investment.

- Rich Johnson

'Steve L' wrote

Thanks for that.

I have looked at Ebay (obviously) but only the UK one.

Some of those are very cheap. In the UK they are more than three times the price (when they are available, which currently they are not).

I'll see if any of the vendors will ship here.

'Rich Johnson' wrote

Thanks. I will.

I wondered about locking tuners for my Variax 500.

Are they easy to fit?