Is a partscaster a good idea?

Ben_McCarthy

designerseye88 said:

I like the idea of partscaster but I've seen US made strats go as low as £500 second hand. Stick in a decent of pickups and maybe a few minor changes and you'll have a great guitar plus it'll hold it's resell value. 

Solid idea the only thing is I’m aiming for a properly vintage spec instrument. American standard necks always lack something for me. I am a fan of a 7.25 radius which you only get on the AVRI stuff or custom shop, though I’m sure some Japanese stuff has it.

menamestom

designerseye88 said:

I like the idea of partscaster but I've seen US made strats go as low as £500 second hand. Stick in a decent of pickups and maybe a few minor changes and you'll have a great guitar plus it'll hold it's resell value. 

True, but my partscater Tele is a far better guitar than my US Strat.  I ended up swapping the neck on the Strat and refinishing in Nitro, adding a steel block and changing the pickups, in hindsight I should have just left it as is and make a partscaster just hw I wanted.   The US guitars are probably better now though, mine is a 90's and the quality isn't great - multiple peices of wood glued together then dipped in plastic would be a good description. 

Ben_McCarthy said:

I think a call to @GoldenEraGuitars might be in order! 

That's what I'd do.  I've just Nitro finished a Tele body and it was a bit of a faf, for what I saved I'd go with a pro.

The final result is good, but waiting for humidity to drop, buying a respirator and generally making a mess I'd not be in a rush to do another!

Jalapeno

boogieman said:

Jalapeno said:

Roland said:

You also have to learn, with the cost of re-working if when you get something wrong.

FTFY

not an aspertion on Roland's skils, but inevitably unless you're a very experienced fettler one will make a mistake or two

Really the only tricky bit is if you need to drill a new body and/or neck for the bridge and neck fixing screws. They do need to be done accurately and a drill press makes it 10 times easier, but even then I managed to put together my other bitsacaster on the kitchen worktop with a cordless drill (and a lot of patience). Otherwise it shouldn’t be a problem, Strats were always designed to be simple to work on and have bits replaced. Anyone with a modicum of diy skills should be able to do it. You could always pass it on to a luthier to do a finish and set up job if not. 

I end up buy the wrong bits - 3 hole bridge that's drilled for 4 holes, wrong diameter tuning pegs for pre-drilled holes etc, etc

the 3 or 4 hole bridge  for a Tele is v.important as the drilled through body holes for stringss are in different places as I discovered to my cost (new Tele body ....)

stimpsonslostson

Jalapeno said:

boogieman said:

Jalapeno said:

Roland said:

You also have to learn, with the cost of re-working if when you get something wrong.

FTFY

not an aspertion on Roland's skils, but inevitably unless you're a very experienced fettler one will make a mistake or two

Really the only tricky bit is if you need to drill a new body and/or neck for the bridge and neck fixing screws. They do need to be done accurately and a drill press makes it 10 times easier, but even then I managed to put together my other bitsacaster on the kitchen worktop with a cordless drill (and a lot of patience). Otherwise it shouldn’t be a problem, Strats were always designed to be simple to work on and have bits replaced. Anyone with a modicum of diy skills should be able to do it. You could always pass it on to a luthier to do a finish and set up job if not. 

I end up buy the wrong bits - 3 hole bridge that's drilled for 4 holes, wrong diameter tuning pegs for pre-drilled holes etc, etc

the 3 or 4 hole bridge  for a Tele is v.important as the drilled through body holes for stringss are in different places as I discovered to my cost (new Tele body ....)

With me it's the ferrules for the back of the body on a Tele. I
know there are two sizes, I ALWAYS order the wrong ones! 

drpbier

meltedbuzzbox said:

They are a good learning experience but a loss leader.
The only thing with a parts guitar is that you can never be certain on the end result until you've paid your money and taken your chances. 

This. I thought very hard about the spec of mine. Had absolutely top spec parts and refinishing, many from suppliers here. No complaints about their quality or service whatsoever. Then had Feline build it all. And the result gave me hand cramps, I didn't get on with the sound or how the controls worked. A proper dogs dinner. Made decide never to do that again!

Grangousier

I have a couple of partscasters that happened because I bought the pickups (both @Alegree, one set of HB-sized WRHB with a strat pickup in the middle, the other a set of Filtertrons) on a whim from the classifieds here - GuitarBuild bodies (one finished by @lamf68 to second that recommendation), one @GSPBASSES neck, another second hand from here. And all the putting together by @FelineGuitars. The results - though you couldn't actually buy a pre-made guitar anything like either of them - are two of my favourite instruments ever. 

On the other hand, my strat was a beater partscaster I got on here that I ended up upgrading completely (I was able to reassemble the original guitar from parts that had been discarded in the upgrade process). I decided to go for a proper Fender Classic Player, gave the partscaster away and am now in the process of getting it back so that it can have a proper TLC session - I much prefer it to the real Fender. There really is no accounting for what you'll bond with. The nice thing about partscasters, though, is that as they have no or little intrinsic resale value except as parts I feel a lot less precious about upgrading them, so you can tweak it until it fits. 

I'm also having a GSPBASSES body and neck finished and assembled by @rexter at the moment, so hopefully that will emerge in the next couple of months. 

The 'casters feel different from production line guitars, though, in a way that I feel is more comfortable but might not be to your taste. 

Ben_McCarthy

drpbier said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

They are a good learning experience but a loss leader.
The only thing with a parts guitar is that you can never be certain on the end result until you've paid your money and taken your chances. 

This. I thought very hard about the spec of mine. Had absolutely top spec parts and refinishing, many from suppliers here. No complaints about their quality or service whatsoever. Then had Feline build it all. And the result gave me hand cramps, I didn't get on with the sound or how the controls worked. A proper dogs dinner. Made decide never to do that again!

Thanks for your comment. It supports the idea of playing anything before you buy it doesn’t it really. Nothing in the build process that would suggest it’ll be a bad guitar especially the final construction! But still didn’t work for you.

this is one my main concerns!

Roland

Jalapeno said:

boogieman said:

Jalapeno said:

Roland said:

You also have to learn, with the cost of re-working if when you get something wrong.

FTFY

not an aspertion on Roland's skils, but inevitably unless you're a very experienced fettler one will make a mistake or two

I end up buy the wrong bits - 3 hole bridge that's drilled for 4 holes, wrong diameter tuning pegs for pre-drilled holes etc, etc

the 3 or 4 hole bridge  for a Tele is v.important as the drilled through body holes for stringss are in different places as I discovered to my cost (new Tele body ....)

Misfits are par for the course. You remember the last forum build challenge? The kit guitar I bought from China didn’t actually fit together. That’s part of the fun. As for getting things wrong, an expert woodworker has been described as someone who’s good at covering his mistakes. 

Ben, your budget will get you a decent quality Strat, and there are plenty of people on this forum who can help you select parts which fit together.