NGD!

jedhemsley

So the day has finally arrived that my partscaster project has completed!

It's pretty much set up properly now, just need to fiddle with the pickup heights. First impressions are good, although i'm not completely sold on the wiring - the CTS pot i used for the volume rolls about 70% of the volume off just by rotating from 10 to 8. 

Specs are:

Swamp ash body, vintage white nitro finish

Vintage style neck (professionally aged ) with heel truss rod adjustment (super convenient)

Fralin Vintage Hot neck and mid

Bareknuckle Nailbomb bridge

CTS and Bourns potentiometers w/push pull coil split.

Here you go!

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/jedhemsley/P9162220.jpg

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/jedhemsley/P9162224.jpg

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/jedhemsley/P9162223.jpg

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/jedhemsley/P9162225.jpg

Dave_Mc

Ooh very nice.

I like the stealth bridge pickup as well, when I first looked at it I just thought it was an SSS strat, it's only when I read the spec I saw the nailbomb and thought "hang on, wut? I thought it was SSS?!?!". Have a "Wow!" for that

Megii

Congratulations Jed, that looks a million dollars - very well chosen parts and colour scheme - you must be pleased how that's come out. If you're finding the volume drop on the control a bit severe, could I suggest fitting a parallel cap and resistor treble bleed to the volume pot? I generally have this on my guitars, and not only does it keep the tone constant as you turn down, it also modifies the pot taper so the volume drop is not quite so quick. Lovely guitar though, bet those nice pickups sound great.

jedhemsley

Thanks for the kind words guys!

@Dave_Mc , haha yeah i guess it does blend in quite well in the photos! i just chose it because i really dig zebras, they've had a place in most guitars i have owned.

This is a guitar which i used as inspiration, i guess following John Cruz's work couldn't turn out that bad :

http://www.themusiczoo.com/images/12-15-08/60s_Stratocaster_Heavy_Relic_HSS_Vintage_White_Masterbuilt_by_John_Cruz_JC1191_a.jpg

@Megii , I'll look into that treble bleed option after i've settled in with the guitar, but it sounds like a useful solution. I'm glad it turned out to your taste!

Dave_Mc

^ Yeah I really like zebra too, though I don't have any guitars with zebra pickups for some reason... )

Chuffola

Gorgeous! Bravo. Have a wow.

jd0272

Nicccccce. Have a WOW. I must get round to a Strat partsa.

meltedbuzzbox

Good work sir, digging that guitar.

Good choice with the swamp ash too. I am guessing its real light?

ChrisMusic

That looks great, well worth the hard graft, and thanks for sharing that discussion and pics with us too.

I don't normally like zebras much, but that looks great on your guitar, nice one     enjoy

jedhemsley

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Unfortunately it is briefly back to partscaster form; the neck was sitting too high in the pocket so that the saddles were right at the top of their screw threads to get an action with no fret buzz - the high E was just propped up on the end of the set screw!

So we'll rout out the pocket a few mm deeper tomorrow and (fingers crossed) avoiding any routing disasters it should then be complete!

@meltedbuzzbox , it is indeed swamp ash; it was an unfinished guitarbuild body which i picked up on ebay pretty cheap. It's two piece with an offset join and VERY light. Especially compared to the previous body, which was 'ash' but made it weigh about the same as my Les Paul which wasnt exactly ideal. It's hard to compare how it sounds now compared to before, but the humbucker has shaken things up a bit! Can't get enough of nailbombs they are so versatile! I've had three of them now in three different guitars. I think they're pretty well suited to this type of guitar because the wood is naturally quite bright, so being a bit of a darker pickup fattens up the bridge sound. 

Incase anyone was wondering, this is a pic of it before:

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l524/jedhemsley/relic strat/IMG_20120626_212347.jpg

streethawk

Before routing out the body a few mm's...

Stick the neck on again, tighten the screws nearest the bridge end of the guitar first. Maybe it wasn't seated right?

If there's no change, consider shimming the neck. 

Could well be the neck pocket but the above would be less work and totally reversible.   

>-

GuitarMonkey

I agree. It's unlikely that the Guitarbuild body is wrong (pocket depth should be 5/8"). 

Megii

Don't think that one is a Guitarbuild body GM, but having had experience of Guitarbuild, I do agree their dimensions are generally spot on. Just looking at the pics above, it's a bit hard to tell, but it does look to me like the neck might be sitting a little high in the pocket.

raulduke

Thats a beauty.

The zebra humbucker really does give the illusion of a s-s-s strat too.

Top work!