27 replies to this topic

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

Nearly 3 months in the making, but it is now complete and it looks great, sounds great, and plays great, took me a couple of hours to set it up perfect, but worth every minute, to get it playing the way i like it.
I bought everything off eBay, mostly from a company in Hong Kong, apart from bridge, tuners, knobs and pots, which i found in America. I spent as little as i could, to find out if i could build a halfway decent guitar for as little money as possible. It's all turned out better than i hoped. Body was sprayed with a white undercoat, then silver, and then a metallic blue, and finished with a glass lacquer. That is what took all the time, the painting..... Anyways here are some pix for your perusal.

[CrazyCal]

Tele neck? Nice.
The body looks mahogany colour? Might just be the light.
Does the trem have a good heavy block? I think that makes a big difference.
How many strats do you have Rick. I have a Fender, 2 squires, a Westone, 2 Charvels, a set neck custom (soloist type) and a vox.

PS Good on yer showing that a decent geetah doesn't need to be big bucks.

[joelhike007]

That's gorgeous. How much work was it reshaping the tele neck joint to fit the strat pocket? I've been thinking about trying this myself sometime.

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

That's gorgeous. How much work was it reshaping the tele neck joint to fit the strat pocket? I've been thinking about trying this myself sometime.

It took me hours to get it right, i started out by using an electric sander, and finished it by hand.

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

Tele neck? Nice.
The body looks mahogany colour? Might just be the light.
Does the trem have a good heavy block? I think that makes a big difference.
How many strats do you have Rick. I have a Fender, 2 squires, a Westone, 2 Charvels, a set neck custom (soloist type) and a vox.

PS Good on yer showing that a decent geetah doesn't need to be big bucks.

It, must be the light, the body is Alder. The block is rather light compared to some i have used, but as i am not a big user of the trem i have put 5 springs in, and is barely movable. I i could find a reasonably priced hardtail body i would use that, but they seem to be as rare as pixie dust. I now have 6 Strats, 5 have been homebuilt(i'll take a pic of all the home built ones) and 1 Fender Strat. I also have the Fender Tele. My next project is already in the pipeline, i am building a 12 string Strat next, and the parts have been ordered. Should start on it sometime in June. That will be the last one for a while........Although, i am also considering building a Strat, but with a Tele setup. I will need a body blank for that so i can rout out the right shapes to fit Tele pickups and pickguard, ect.

[seanm18]

ooh i like the inlay on the neck plate

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

The home built collection. The Red Strat has a Mexican Fender neck and Basswood body that makes it heavier than a Les Paul. The hardware is all black and includes graphite nut and saddles, a heavy block trem, and Grover locking tuners. the pickups are neck - Fender Chrome Lace, middle - Seymour Duncan Duckbucker, and bridge - D'Marzio stacked humbucker.

The Cream one has an old SX Body, a Squier neck, a Maple pickguard and an HSS setup.

The blue Strat is my latest project, and features a Tele neck, mirrored pickguard, all black hardware.

The natural Strat started life as a Martin Stinger, it has a camphor like body similar to spalted maple, but not absolutely sure what the wood is. The neck is a strat style neck made in china, and hardware is aged nickel. The pickups are the original Stinger pickups.

The blue Strat started out as a Squier Bullet, but only the light body remains, the neck is maple, and with all gold hardware, and the pickup is a powerful 21K.

Although all guitars are Strats, every guitar has a completely different sound. The Strat is one of the most versatile guitars around, and is easy to work with, and accepts all kinds of pickups for the person who wants to play with their sound design. I love them.

[mistymountainhop]

The home built collection. The Red Strat has a Mexican Fender neck and Basswood body that makes it heavier than a Les Paul.

I'm sold!
I can't stand "light" guitars, I pick em up at the neck when I bend... weird I know, but true! its why I've never kept a Tele, even though I love em

[Matt B]

How do you like that Duckbucker? I've been thinking about getting the Duncan Everything Axe set for my Strat, which uses a duckbucker in the middle.

[joelhike007]

I just got a black Squire Bullet body from the eBay in today.. It's super light, and pretty thin, but it can't accommodate a big-block trem. A little disappointing as I was going to use the big-block to compensate for the loss of sustain on the thinner body. I could just cut out the back cover a bit.. Not sure if I want to do that.

[CrazyCal]

I'm not sure that you get less sustain with the thinner body. I think it's in the mind. I once built a custom body, 50mm thick. Didn't make it sustain any more. And I used a big Brass block.

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

How do you like that Duckbucker? I've been thinking about getting the Duncan Everything Axe set for my Strat, which uses a duckbucker in the middle.

I love the Duckbucker, one of my favourite pickups. A typical "vintage" strat single sound, but as it's a humbucker, i get no noise, or hum. It just sounds so warm and clean. I would recommend it as a middle pickup.

[Matt B]

Good to hear. I use my middle pickup a lot, so that's the one I'm most concerned with.

[tstrahle]

Beautiful. Really nice work man. I could never do that.

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

Beautiful. Really nice work man. I could never do that.

Thanks. Got a 12 string Strat project near completion.....watch this space

[dadfad]

Beautiful. Really nice work man. I could never do that.

Thanks. Got a 12 string Strat project near completion.....watch this space

Very interesting project, Rick. I'll be watching for that!

[Dave C]

It's in Discussions forum for some reason John.

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

It's in Discussions forum for some reason John.

yeah i accidently put it in discussion for some reason. I think i thought i was in Q&A when i posted it, and next day when i came to Q&A it was gone, and then i realised what i had done. Ah well i am going senile, and not before time

For you John.




http://www.guitarzon...oject-complete/

[dadfad]

Thanks, Rick. Great looking instrument! If it sounds as good as it looks you've really got something there.


Senile? Why, I think that... Ummmm... What were we talking about....?....

[Grandpa FrankyZ]

It sounds great John, the guys in the band were super impressed with it after a post rehearsal jam, and i broke into an extended solo on our MoonDog Boogie that we tend to do at the end of a gig (thats where we all swap instruments, and do a 10 min jam as an encore).

Edited by Grandpa FrankyZ, 10 August 2012 - 05:08 AM.