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Any Strat or Tele "partscaster" builders out there?
Posted on 1/16/16 at 8:53 pm
Posted on 1/16/16 at 8:53 pm
What kind of upgrades are you rocking?
Pickups?
Tremolo?
Tuners?
Pickups?
Tremolo?
Tuners?
7
Posted on 1/16/16 at 11:49 pm to Douglas Quaid
I like the vintage style tuners with the "F" on the back that Fender sells, the price is reasonable and they work well. I did a "retro" mod of a Mexican tele that was made around 2010. I put the "F" style tuners on, swapped out the bridge for a Fender "Patented" style with three brass string saddles. The pickups sounded pretty good so Left them stock. Stripped off the plastic looking finish and refinished in nitro cellulose lacquer. Wanted a more 50s vintage look, and it came out pretty good.
Posted on 1/17/16 at 8:34 am to Douglas Quaid
I'd love to build my own someday. Right now, I'm stripping/refinishing a Squier Strat to get some experience.
Posted on 1/17/16 at 9:39 am to Douglas Quaid
I bought various parts from Foster's Repair in NOLA years ago...25th Anniversary Strat body (heavy as fricker, but I dig the color, especially as it ages), Schecter neck, original tuners, pickguard assembly wired with some replacement pickups. Changed to Seymour Duncan HSS, then to Rio Grande Vintage Tallboys. Added a Floyd Rose tremendous as well. Thinking of switching back to a Fender bridge.
Posted on 1/17/16 at 10:34 am to BasilFawlty
What color?
Posted on 1/17/16 at 10:59 am to FightinTigersDammit
The bodies were originally produced with a silver gel-coat finish. Over time it begins to turn a combination of silver-green-gray that I find very interesting. Can't post a pic, but if you Google "25th Anniversary Stratocaster", you can see examples. I had a blast putting all the parts together, and I love knowing that I have a guitar that nobody else has. Oh, with regards to my previous post, obviously I meant to type "tremelo", not "tremendous". Fricking auto-spell 
Posted on 1/17/16 at 11:17 am to BasilFawlty
I've built several. I like MJT bodies and Klein pickups. Callaham bridges on Teles.
I built both of these. Still have the Strat.
I just remembered. My strat has the Callahan trem block in it as well.
I built both of these. Still have the Strat.
I just remembered. My strat has the Callahan trem block in it as well.
This post was edited on 1/17/16 at 11:26 am
Posted on 1/17/16 at 12:48 pm to PPL
I'm not a big 'antique' guy, but very nice. 
Posted on 1/17/16 at 2:18 pm to FightinTigersDammit
quote:
I'm not a big 'antique' guy, but very nice.
Thank you.
Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of the artificial relic fad either. But I am a fan of thin nitro finishes, which is getting rather hard to find. And I find MJT does classy work, and they've always been super easy to work with.
Having said all that, I must admit that when i set out to build the strat, my end goal was something inspired by, but not a direct copy of, John Frusciante's Fiesta Red strat.
This post was edited on 1/17/16 at 2:20 pm
Posted on 1/17/16 at 5:56 pm to Douglas Quaid
I got a new mother of pearl pickguard for my '63 Strat for Christmas. Kinda wanted to play the strings out before I have to cut them off. I'm kinda getting impatient though. May have to just go ahead and do it.
Posted on 1/17/16 at 7:54 pm to RockAndRollDetective
quote:
May have to just go ahead and do it.
It would be the right thing to do.
Posted on 1/17/16 at 9:08 pm to PPL
Good looking guitar.
I just bought a 2013 MIM strat for a steal of a price and first thing I want to do is change the trem/block (perhaps the entire bridge since I don't like the saddles either). I'm looking to see what is a really good drop in replacement for this body style. I've read that Callaham's are supposed to be very good.
Next will be pickups. I'm leaning towards the Seymour Duncan SSL5 in the bridge and undecided about the rest.
I just bought a 2013 MIM strat for a steal of a price and first thing I want to do is change the trem/block (perhaps the entire bridge since I don't like the saddles either). I'm looking to see what is a really good drop in replacement for this body style. I've read that Callaham's are supposed to be very good.
Next will be pickups. I'm leaning towards the Seymour Duncan SSL5 in the bridge and undecided about the rest.
Posted on 1/18/16 at 9:30 am to Douglas Quaid
I use controls from RS Guitarworks, by the way. I always just order the whole kit for whatever I'm building, because I always try to "one stop shop", but truth be told, you'd probably be just as well off if you just used their "super pots" or whatever they call them. They really do have the smoothest, most gradual taper of any pots I've found. It makes your controls waaaaaaaaay more useful.
Posted on 1/18/16 at 8:26 pm to FightinTigersDammit
Got 'er done. Went well, perfect fit and looks good. And I managed to salvage the strings which were only about 2 months old.
Posted on 1/21/16 at 8:10 am to RockAndRollDetective
I've built many hot-rod/upgrade strat and tele parts guitars for clients and myself over the years. Here's one of my personal ones. Neck is an ultra-rare mid- to late-80s lawsuit and factory-logoed ESP strathead. Musikraft body, custom ordered with too many special requests I made to list here. Circa 1985-86 "real" German Floyd Rose (note the wood fulcrum screws). Bridge pickup is MJ-wound lawsuit double-creme Duncan JB circa early 80s. Neck pickup is a custom order James Tyler Guitars "Hot Laura" with Alnico 2 magnets. And the paint is "Match Dorothy's Slippers" ruby red ultra metalflake, a one-off by my guitar repair shop's contract painter in North Carolina. I have never been able to do her paint justice with photographs - there are multiple sizes of metal flakes in the basecoat. She sounds and plays as good as she looks.
Posted on 1/21/16 at 8:41 am to TheFretShack
Thats a badass strat man. I bet that thing plays and sounds monstrous. I like ESP necks because the frets are so huge and give you alot of meat to vibrato on.
Posted on 1/21/16 at 8:52 am to Douglas Quaid
Here's a Warmoth Superstrat that I did about 4 years ago that I no longer own.
-Original Floyd (which I hated and ultimately sold because of)
-Bare Knuckle Miracle Man pup in the bridge
-Rio Grande Rail (the name escapes me) in neck
-Satin finish Warmoth neck with stainless jumbo frets
This one is a Warmoth/Fender American Deluxe Tele that I did about 10 years ago. Its a shitty picture as its in the background, but this is an amazing guitar and was my no.1 for a long time. The Les Paul is the same one in my sig pic.
-Warmoth double bound mahogany body with Tiger Eye stain on AAAAA flamed maple top
-Duncan JB bridge
-Duncan Jazz neck
-Fender American Deluxe Tele neck
-All Gotoh hardware
My Les Paul has hardware upgraded to Callaham ABR-1 Bridge, Stoptail and studs inserted. Jensen caps upgrade and the most important was a pair of Motor City Detroiter (slightly overwound for about 10.5k/7.5k resistance) PAF's. These are some amazing pickups.
-Original Floyd (which I hated and ultimately sold because of)
-Bare Knuckle Miracle Man pup in the bridge
-Rio Grande Rail (the name escapes me) in neck
-Satin finish Warmoth neck with stainless jumbo frets
This one is a Warmoth/Fender American Deluxe Tele that I did about 10 years ago. Its a shitty picture as its in the background, but this is an amazing guitar and was my no.1 for a long time. The Les Paul is the same one in my sig pic.
-Warmoth double bound mahogany body with Tiger Eye stain on AAAAA flamed maple top
-Duncan JB bridge
-Duncan Jazz neck
-Fender American Deluxe Tele neck
-All Gotoh hardware
My Les Paul has hardware upgraded to Callaham ABR-1 Bridge, Stoptail and studs inserted. Jensen caps upgrade and the most important was a pair of Motor City Detroiter (slightly overwound for about 10.5k/7.5k resistance) PAF's. These are some amazing pickups.
Posted on 1/21/16 at 2:34 pm to Douglas Quaid
I haven't built one from scratch but I took my '74 black strat and turned it sorta into a Gilmour black strat. Basically replaced everything but the body, neck and jack. Here's what I ended up with.
Tuners - If I remember right, I used Callaham vintage tuners.
String Trees - Graphtech
Nut - Graphtech
Pickups - Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (bridge), Seymour Duncan SSL-1 (neck), Fender Custom Shop '69 (middle)
Bridge - Callaham Vintage S bridge & sustain block with Graphtech saddles.
Trem Bar - Callaham Super Short Gilmour-style.
Pickguard - Solid black single layer.
Knobs & Switches - Callaham Vintage
I also wired it up so that the tone knob for the middle pickup now becomes a blend control adds in some bridge pickup in the neck position and vice versa.
Tuners - If I remember right, I used Callaham vintage tuners.
String Trees - Graphtech
Nut - Graphtech
Pickups - Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (bridge), Seymour Duncan SSL-1 (neck), Fender Custom Shop '69 (middle)
Bridge - Callaham Vintage S bridge & sustain block with Graphtech saddles.
Trem Bar - Callaham Super Short Gilmour-style.
Pickguard - Solid black single layer.
Knobs & Switches - Callaham Vintage
I also wired it up so that the tone knob for the middle pickup now becomes a blend control adds in some bridge pickup in the neck position and vice versa.
This post was edited on 1/22/16 at 11:25 am
Posted on 1/21/16 at 3:07 pm to Douglas Quaid
A guy gave me a slightly beat up Mexican telle body and neck the other day,it's got a sunburst finish on it that has just a hint of cherry color,looks pretty cool. It's gonna be my first time building one, don't know yet what I am gonna try to do.
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