Trem -> Hardtail Strat Complete

[asdfjkl semi]

Finished this a week or two ago and I finally got a camera to show it off. The guitar started as a Fender mexistrat. It looked like this before this project started:

 

The frets were all worn out, the saddles were {censored}ty, the electronics were falling apart, I was sick of the vibrating trem springs, and the whole thing started looking just plain ugly to me.

 

Skip forward four months later, next thing I knew I had sanded all the paint off, cut blocks to fill the trem cavity, got some new saddles, bought a new neck from Warmoth, drilled string-through holes, re-wired, replaced the knobs, painted the pup covers, and repainted the body. The body is surf green with a laquer clear coat. The neck is American black walnut with an ebony fretboard, ss fret wire, and pearl inlays. It has a gloss polyurethane finish.

 

I did something different and decided to re-use the bridge I already had when I did the hardtail coversion. I threw the sustain block out and bolted the bridge plate directly to the body. The hole where the trem arm would normally go now has wood underneath.

 

Making the Fender Schaller locking tuners fit was a challenge. They have two pegs on the bottom so that they don't rotate. I had to drill holes to make them fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end result:

 

 

[metalheadUK]

Nice job.

How do you like her now?

[JModius]

Wow. That looks the secks. Very nice job! And great color choice.

[asdfjkl semi]

Nice job. How do you like her now?

Thanks, man. There were a few mistakes here and there, but she turned out pretty alright. She is definitely way more articulate now. The ebony board is way nice and smooth to play on and there is way more definition and clarity to the notes. Also, the body seems to be a lot more resonant because there are no losses through the trem block.

[asdfjkl semi]

Wow. That looks the secks. Very nice job! And great color choice.

Thanks dude. There are a few marks and stuff in the finish, and on the back you can kinda tell where the wood blocks went, but they didn't really show in the pictures.