Progress! Inspired by Wayne Kramer Strat from parts in stock

paulnb57

Partscaster from parts I have sitting around
INSPIRED by Wayne Kramers Stars and Stripes Strat
Korina Hard Tail Strat body and absolute bargain from BooBoo (£80j
Fender Mex Strat neck with Steinbergers (yes its maple board)
Single ply white Scratcjplate
Bare Knuckle Sinner at the bridge, Iron Gear Metal Machine HB in the middle, Iron Gear Hot Slag at the neck
Single volume, no tones e way switch
Fender Hard Tail Bridge

Waiting for bearings so I can rout for the middle humbucker

Not sure about body paint yet, Im not confident I can achieve the stripes around the body, Im going to have to think about that!….

Sesh

My initial thoughts were it needs the paint job to do justice to a Wayne Ramer strat. But, the stars and stripes, thanks to Trump et al, It doesn't have the same cool or kudos to me anymore. The inspiration could take the form of the flag on a guitar, but maybe not the American one. How about taking inspiration from the Isle of Wight flag. The body could be a rather lovely blue, and the pickguard white. I don't want to suggest incorporating the waves on the paintjob, but if you could I think it would look great. 

paulnb57

Sesh said:

My initial thoughts were it needs the paint job to do justice to a Wayne Ramer strat. But, the stars and stripes, thanks to Trump et al, It doesn't have the same cool or kudos to me anymore. The inspiration could take the form of the flag on a guitar, but maybe not the American one. How about taking inspiration from the Isle of Wight flag. The body could be a rather lovely blue, and the pickguard white. I don't want to suggest incorporating the waves on the paintjob, but if you could I think it would look great. 

Agreed Sesh and I had the exact same thoughts….theres a way to go before paint, so plenty of time to think about it….

ICBM

A variation on Stevie Van Zandt’s Ukrainian flag Strat?

paulnb57

ICBM said:

A variation on Stevie Van Zandt’s Ukrainian flag Strat?

Another good call

Decorativeed

I was thinking that the stars and Stripes were likely a bit of a faux pas in 2026, but then Wayne Kramer was hardly your traditional US patriot in the 60s and 70s either.

When the MC5 were around, that was during the time of Vietnam, Nixon and the Kent State University shootings, events not dissimilar to what's happening today. And he used that guitar to play songs critical of the US like American Ruse. 

The only downside of painting it the original colours is that you might have to explain who Wayne Kramer was to anyone suspicious of your intent.

paulnb57

Progress!
Router bearings turned up today so it got routed for the humbucker
Note the HiTec workbench!
And mocked up

DrBob

Gives me the fear just looking at that table that you routed it on. The wobble, the instability ! The End result looks pretty sick though. Still tinkering with my own hardtail project, am now wishing I'd kept that RW board JM neck for it ... Gahhh and so it begins again 

paulnb57

DrBob said:

Gives me the fear just looking at that table that you routed it on. The wobble, the instability ! The End result looks pretty sick though. Still tinkering with my own hardtail project, am now wishing I'd kept that RW board JM neck for it ... Gahhh and so it begins again 

I feel your pain Doc
Actually the “routing table” was surprisingly stable, there was an old towel folded under the body didnt didnt move around, Im not the most confident routererer, but I didnt feel any concerns while routererering…

In other news I cocked it up, despite measuring several times Ive got the middle pickup off the centre line by about 5mm, now I managed I dont know! Easy enough fix but the scratchplate is scrap….pickups are with the exception of the neck are all wrong
The bridge should have been a BK Sinner, but the leads were too short, so I replaced them and broke the ground winding, couldnt unwind a turn as its trapped under all the rest of the winding, so thats f*cked……theres an SC size Iron Gear HB there, but really it should be an SC. Middle is a hot ceramic jobby, far too powerful
I think I will not paint the body
However it has confirmed it is worth carrying on with….and easily reversed when (if) I ever find a real Fender jobby
Then, when out with the dog (great thinking time!) I realised I could have used the existing roit and popped a SC size humbucker in the middle position and created a 21st century interpretation…not quite so good visually, but as darn sight easier! Bit wheres the fun in that?

 Onwards!

ICBM

paulnb57 said:

In other news I cocked it up, despite measuring several times Ive got the middle pickup off the centre line by about 5mm, now I managed I dont know!

Glad you noticed that . I spotted that it was a bit crooked relative to the neck pickup as well, but I resisted posting as I didn’t want to sound too critical .

You can sometimes fix a broken pickup wire at the eyelet if there’s enough wire sticking out of the coil to very carefully scrape some of the coating off and solder a fine piece of wire to it - a piece of the shielding from a guitar cable is often good - then solder that to the eyelet. Not pretty, but it works! I usually cover it with some melted wax to stop it getting disturbed once I’m sure the pickup is working.