James May and the Strat...

cacophony

morning all, don`t know if anyone else has seen this. a trailer for an upcoming show where JM re-builds iconic items from the bottom up. on one of the episodes he rebuilds a strat. only snatched a very brief glimpse of the trail as i was otherwise engaged in a relatives house and the sound was off on the tv. i THINK it starts this coming monday but on which channel and at what time i didn`t catch.and i don`t know which episode is the one with the strat.

not a lot of use i know!, but i`m sure it`s something most wouldn`t want to miss as no doubt he`ll do a little `history of` each item as he goes along.

cacophony

would you adam and eve it!. the ad has just been on sky again. the strat episode is on BBC4, 9pm this wednesday!.

not_the_dj

Nice one, looking forward to this.

paulnb57

Didn't notice the Strat on a previous trailer, wasn't really paying attention, but I like this sort of thing that James does, the digibox is already set to record the series

scrumhalf

Of course, by the end of the series you will be able to make your own digibox.

Looking forward to this, James May does top-notch bloke telly.

richardhomer

Love James May - I come from a family of engineers - he reminds me a lot of my late brother-in-law who had an innate understanding of how everything worked. Thanks for the heads-up.

GuyBoden

BBC Four. Wed 21:00

Electric Guitar
James May: The Reassembler Episode 3 of 3

"James concludes his quest to truly understand everyday objects by putting them back together piece by piece with an electric guitar.

147 pieces must be reassembled carefully and in the correct order, which will entail soldering, extensive use of James's precision Japanese screwdrivers and some fiddly electronics.

The electric guitar transformed the music industry and society itself and, channelling his namesake Brian, James will plug in his reassembled guitar and hope he put all the bits together correctly as he gets ready to perform one of most unexpected guitar solos of all time."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b076wgvx

TheOtherDennis

He's got a first class music degree, too, though he's a piano player mainly, so he should be able to get a decent tune out of it when he's done.

Wonder if he'll have a quick blast of Jessica?

thomasross20

James May + Strat - something just sounds very dull about the whole thing

GuyBoden

TheOtherDennis said:

He's got a first class music degree, too, though he's a piano player mainly, so he should be able to get a decent tune out of it when he's done.

Wonder if he'll have a quick blast of Jessica?

A piano player with a first in music, so he'll be a proficient piano player........................

BluesyDave

I'll be watching.

Philly_Q

GuyBoden said:

147 pieces must be reassembled carefully and in the correct order, which will entail soldering, extensive use of James's precision Japanese screwdrivers and some fiddly electronics.

On reading that I felt a sudden compulsion to start mentally totting up the number of pieces in a Strat, to see if they had it correct... but I resisted the urge.  Quite proud of myself. 

I hope it'll be on iPlayer, no way I'll remember to watch it live.

olafgarten

Philly_Q;1023949" said:

GuyBoden said:

147 pieces must be reassembled carefully and in the correct order, which will entail soldering, extensive use of James's precision Japanese screwdrivers and some fiddly electronics.












On reading that I felt a sudden compulsion to start mentally totting up the number of pieces in a Strat, to see if they had it correct... but I resisted the urge.  Quite proud of myself. 

I hope it'll be on iPlayer, no way I'll remember to watch it live.

I can't imagine it is 147 pieces unless they count all if the individual parts of the tuners etc...

Headphones

Fiddly electronics? Precison screwdrivers?

No Strat I've ever met there.


Maybe it's a a Firebird X...  Or even an XL5.

redrighthand

Let's do it - this is from memory (leaving out the decal): 

Body 

Neck 

Nut 

Six strings 

String tree 

String tree screw 

6 tuners 

6 tuner bushings 

7 tuner screws - assuming kluson style 

Neck plate 

4 neck screws 

Pickguard 

11 pickguard screws (depends on version obvs) 

3 pickups 

6 pickup screws 

6 pickup springs or rubbers 

3 pickup covers 

3 knobs 

3 nuts for knobs 

3 washers for knobs 

Selector switch 

Tip for switch 

2 switch screws 

Jack plate 

2 Jack plate screws 

Jack plug 

Nut for Jack plug 

Washer for Jack plug 

Bridge plate 

Trem block 

6 trem screws 

6 saddles 

6 saddle screws 

12 height screws 

6 saddle springs 

Trem arm 

Trem arm tip 

6 trem springs 

Trem claw 

2 trem claw screws 

Backplate 

6 backplate screws 

2 strap buttons 

2 strap button screws 

2 felts 

That makes 146 - can someone do the electronics?!

ICBM

There are 12 bridge saddle height screws, 6 intonation screws, 6 springs, 6 saddles, 6 pivot screws, 3 block screws, 3 springs, the bridgeplate, the block and the claw, 2 claw screws and the tremolo arm. That's 48 just for the bridge system - 49 if you count the trem arm tip separately.

Not even I can be bothered counting the rest .

What I'm more interested in is how well he'll put it together. There are a huge number of careful settings and tiny adjustments you need to do to get it really right, which if you've been working on guitars for a while become second nature without even thinking about them - but not if you've never done it before.

redrighthand

(Fuck you default paragraphless iPhone text entry mode!)

chrisj1602

thomasross20 said:

James May + Strat - something just sounds very dull about the whole thing

I quite like James May and Strats, and it's not often you get guitar building (or reassembling!) on TV so i'll give it a watch.

richardhomer

thomasross20;1023905" said:

James May + Strat - something just sounds very dull about the whole thing

The dullest part will be the back of the neck - I've heard he's taking the gloss off it - in the words of Kylie and Jason - especially for you....

Philly_Q

Ah, now I'm thinking.... modern or vintage tuners?  Modern or vintage bridge?  Five trem springs or three (...or two)?  It might even be a hardtail, don't forget the six ferrules... 11 scratchplate screws or 8?  And they don't always use washers under the nuts on the pots.... Four bolt neckplate or three?  And does it have a microtilt....?

Stop it Phil.  I'm going to do the shopping.

TheOtherDennis

GuyBoden said:

TheOtherDennis said:

He's got a first class music degree, too, though he's a piano player mainly, so he should be able to get a decent tune out of it when he's done.

Wonder if he'll have a quick blast of Jessica?

A piano player with a first in music, so he'll be a proficient piano player........................

Well yes, obviously, but all I meant was that as a very proficient musician. he'll have had a go at knowing where the notes are (iirc, he once did a version of Jessica using engine sounds) and thus will maybe give it a go and might sound as if he knows what he's doing. I didn't say he'd be good at it, just that he should be able to get a tune out of it.

He may not, but he might.