A project inspired by a guitar belonging to a friend and astounding guitarist /guitar teacher: Martin Mickels.He is something of a local legend, playing in a mix of high profile bands and a local covers band. He is also a very popular guitar teacher and an all round good guy. Some of you may have seen him on last years "Guitar Star" on Sky Arts.
I have looked after Martin's guitars for the best part of 20 years now , and his strat has had a fair bit of attention as he plays it so much and plays very hard. So last time we refretted it I took some more detailed notes with a thought to replicating it.
Martin has a mix of Lace Sensor pickups on his strat - may seem a little out-dated but they sound amazing in his hands so we have replicated those here on a similar black smoked mirror pick-guard.
The guitar also has a Gotoh 510 series bridge with a steel block and narrow spaced saddles
A nice candy apple finish on an alder body - with an all access neck joint using threaded inserts and machine bolts.
An Earvana nut and Sperzel locking tuners at the headstock end (colour matched)
Side markers are the glowin the dark "luminlay " variety whilst the front markers are Paua abaloneFrets are Dunlop 6155 like the ones on contemporary Fenders
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Comments
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Perhaps I should stop spending money on self builds, and just get a proper guitar built by a professional
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Lace Sensors are incredibly underrated pickups in my opinion. For my purposes, they cover all the useful ground from heavy rock (and even straying into metal) all the way down to bluesy and ambient stuff.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
you make a very valid point about pickups, Lace Sensors are not very popular these days with lots of people more worried about the pedigree of the wire, if it was hand wound etc etc.
listening to a really good player like Martin it all becomes rather moot.