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NGD (full blown): The Rataecaster HAS LANDED!


csm

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Cheers, dearly beloved ...

 

After almost 24 hours, I am absolutely in AWE of this thing ... looks great, feels wonderful, sounds amazing ... just working on a coupla basic adjustments to the trem claw to get just the right downbend/upbend ratio ... and tweaking the claw has also raised the action just enough to cure a minimal amount of high-fret choke on some of the bendy stuff. If I can get enough upbend to pull the G string up a minor third, and enough downbend to take the low E down to a low B, i reckon I'll have nailed it ... just as long as I don't overdo it and undo any of Sean's expert, thorough set-up work ...

 

Sir? SIR!! Please stand away from the screwdriver ...

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Hey! Galway fella!

 

SWEET job, me bhoy! I'm in Strat Heaven!

 

*so is there owt I need to do to zone in that trem and action other than attacking the claw screws with a great big Philips screwdriver?*

 

Now get yer butt back on that beach wid yer lovely fambly and be glad I'm NOT there to be causin yeh all kinds eh trouble n stroife!

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I looked at the website where you got your neck and didn't see a 59? What's it like in thickness compared to a gibson and how is the quality? I am always on the lookout for a good neck maker.

 

 

I checked Edenhaus (http://www.edenhaus.com/Necks.htm) out also ... maybe this one was a special order (Sean DID say it was a CUSTOM 59) ... but any solid info concerning the provenance of any of the Rataecaster's bits will have to come from Sean himself when he returns from his hols.

 

Quality-wise it seems absolutely immaculate: very thick slab of luxurious-looking Brazilian rosewood (no veneer here!) over lightly figured maple tinted just right -- it neither looks like it was just attacked by a vampire, nor like it'd been on a spray-tan binge with a Z-list celeb.

 

Shape-wise, as I said earlier ... it's somewhere in between my '63 and the Jeff Beck. I'm insufficiently familiar with all the different Les Paul variant necks to answer in more detail with any authority. Apparently Edenhaus are 'licensed by Fender' to use the headstock shape and everything, which suggests that the Big F has considerable faith in their craftsmanship and QC. Hell, for all I know they supply necks to the Custom Shop ...

 

This one arrived with a Fender logo, though I'd actually been hoping for one of Sean's personalised 'Fecker Partsocaster' labels. After all, any {censored}er can have a Fender, but only a real fecker has a Fecker.

 

Or something.

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A guitarist friend came by yesterday, so naturally I showed my new pride and joy. He's primarily an acoustic player (though he recently bought himself a '72 Thinline Tele) and he went absolutely PINEAPPLES over it. He played it for about five minutes and then said, "I've never really been a Strat guy, but I love this ... I WANT ONE JUST LIKE IT!'

 

He now wants to commission Sean to build him a Strat like mine ... at Sean's standard commercial rate.

 

Plus I told another mate about it ... and he said, 'I want to see it ... if it's as nice as you say, I want him to build me a Tele ...' which would also be at Sean's commercial rate.

 

So it's at least one ka-CHING for Sean ... and maybe two.

 

Ratae Coritanorum ... improving the world's tone, one Partscaster at a time!

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Yep, it will be ... with the JB as backup.




I checked Edenhaus (
http://www.edenhaus.com/Necks.htm
) out also ... maybe this one was a special order (Sean DID say it was a CUSTOM 59) ... but any solid info concerning the provenance of any of the Rataecaster's bits will have to come from Sean himself when he returns from his hols.


Quality-wise it seems absolutely immaculate: very thick slab of luxurious-looking Brazilian rosewood (no veneer here!) over lightly figured maple tinted just right -- it neither looks like it was just attacked by a vampire, nor like it'd been on a spray-tan binge with a Z-list celeb.

 

 

 

Aaaaah back to the green green gras of home again:)

 

Just wanted to qualify some bits about this neck.

 

Edenhaus/Bernie Hefner are one of the number of Licenced by Fender makers and offer a wider range of options than practically all of the other LBF suppliers.

 

However............nobody but nobody can touch the quality and almost brutal precision of Warmoth....nobody, the only people who come close are Musikraft and USACG.

 

The neck on Chas's guitar was one that I'd had on my Ice Blue closet classic Strat which for financial considerations I'm having to part out, as with most of my stuff, but it did take some considerable work to get it where it is now, especially the fret ends and fretboard edges, the idea was to make a neck that felt like it had been around, and while I do love Warmoths work, their fretboard edges are sharp, precise and accurate and very modern feeling and they are a tad inflexible with mixing radii with their 3 basic designs, Vintage, Vintage Modern and Warmoth Pro, nevertheless they still remain in my book the most precise neck builder, I guess the analogy would be the BMW (ie clinical) of neck designers, whereas Hefner/Edenhaud would be TVR, ie, good stuff but needs fettling (are you you Statesiders aware of that word:idk:)

 

The gooder news is I'm having the whole roof replaced on me workshop over the coming months and it should hopefully then dry out at which point I'll then be able to fulfil the remainder of my orders, with my own built necks (lotta lovely pieces of well seasoned 1" QS maple blanks)

 

2 x 59 LPs

1 x 68RI LP Custom (for me)

6 Tele's

4 Strats

1 semi Gretsch/Duesenberg hybrid

 

and once these are all done, like young Atrox, I'm probably going to step back form making guitars, apart from the odd Caster, but at most maybe 2-3 a year and no setnecks as I find them too {censored}ing stressful (hate binding and {censored}:()

 

What started as a bitta fun has gotten a tad out of control, and I'm a {censored} businessman;)

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'Ey! Sean me bhoy! Welcome home!

 

(Home again, home again, jiggety-jig ...)

 

Hope you can squeeze in a couple more partsos ...

 

I have two punters absolutely GASPING for your services and willing to pay whatever you decide is your 'standard commercial rate' ...

 

I've emailed you the details ... and MY cheque's in the post!

 

Rotsa ruv to y'all and y'all'ses ...

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see what happens when you're really good at something?

 

 

Putting Casters together is a bit of a blast, but I'd love to have a full blown shop to turn out quality set necks, something akin to the setup that AJC has, then I'd try and knock IT {censored}e on the head and just suck mahogany dust all day:lol:

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