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New Project: Monterey Pop Strat


cratz2

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Well, not as involved as some members that build bodies and necks from the ground up, but still...

 

A replica/knock off of Jimi's Monterey Pop Festival strat that he famously made love to, kissed, burned and smashed after closing with Wild Thing. The younger members might think of this as being 'like the one John Mayer uses sometimes.'

 

:lol:

 

Japanese Fender right-handed body, Japanese Fender left-handed neck, pickups will be Fender CS69s, wiring will be Master Volume, Master Tone, Blender. Everything else will be pretty standard stuff.

 

Got the body from a guitar I bought on the forum a couple years ago. Neck was deeply scalloped so I traded it off for a Marshall cabinet. Kept the body, trem and other hardware.

 

Then I bought a lefty Fender from forum member lowbrow. I used the body and a Squier neck to build up a Christmas preset for a family member but I really liked the lefty Fender neck. Someone had taken a lighter or some sort of flame to it, I think, to try a Monterey Pop kinda jobbie. The body had been stripped and refinished in red stain and again, I think this was from a bumbled attempt at 'flaming' the finish on the body.

 

So, I had a local guy do the paint... nitro red and white, then hand-painted roughly a reproduction of the graphics. Just got the body back this evening so I'll put it together over the next couple days. I need to very slightly open up the neck route on the body as the neck is a very tight fit. I'll remove all the paint in the neck pocket while I'm at it.

 

Pics:

 

DSC_7852a1.jpg

 

DSC_5094a1.jpg

 

Video of the real thing:

 

[video=youtube;JVT8O7mXiIU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVT8O7mXiIU

 

And for the youngins:

 

[video=youtube;32GZ3suxRn4]

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I almost painted my Ibanez Tube King (the red one) like the Monterey strat ha ha.

 

I just wish I could get that "boiling" sound he was gettin that night. As the show went on, that effect got more pronounced. During Wild Thing, it was REALLY doing it (Listen to when he lets chords ring out). Germanium fuzz..bad cable..HOT running marshall in the cold night air.. speakers on the verge of blowing up..the dual showmans that the Marshall's daisy chained into..... I dont know what was causing it, but goddamn it sounded good (to my ears. Alot of guys HATE that sound lol)

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Thanks for the comments.

 

Got the pickguard wired up and just set in place. Worked on the neck pocket, but it needs a bit more work and I think I'm going to have to dowel two of the neck screw holes.

 

It'll need a new nut and I'll shield the cavities in the body as well.

 

A little progress though:

 

DSC_7865a1.jpg

 

DSC_7864a1.jpg

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Very cool!

 

All of the Monterey Pop Strats that I have seen online (never witnessed one first hand) are red and white, but the one on the film looks almost pink and white. Is there an actual pre-concert photograph that shows the colors without impact of the stage lights?

 

[edit] Yep, it's red.

 

2004382879.jpg

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Yep... it was fiesta red.... sort of the tomato soup type red. Then he spray painted the white and did the hand work, likely with fingernail polish.

 

I was sorta hoping CSM might drop in and imbue us with his wisdom on the topic.

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Wow, that's turning out nice!

 

That neck was pretty fine and almost a keeper. I just don't normally get along with strats...but then to flip one around, well it was too much!:D

 

For reference sake this is the absolute best way to plug neck holes:

 

http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~ihsahn/guitar/neckPlug.html

 

But, it's not absolutely necessary to get that involved. Another option is to go to the Rockler up by Guitar Center in Castleton and get some maple dowel rod. 3/8th inch is probably best. Use Titebond original formula wood glue to glue them in. A drill press makes all this relatively fool proof as long as you don't drill too deep. Measure and mark the drill bit with some masking tape! Both for the plugs and for the new screw holes. I've been able to do all this successfully with a hand drill that had a built in bubble level and a second set of eyes offset to mine....but it's a little bit of a crap shoot.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Finally got the neck doweled up, drilled out. Took quite a bit of hand work to get the neck to fully seat in the neck pocket and in the pickguard route. The heel of this neck was slightly bigger than 2 3/16 so I hand sanded the route on the body and pickguard to allow for it. Need to get a set of matching knobs though.

 

But, got her all bolt up, strung up and set up a couple days ago and just processed the pics. Pretty sweet player. Now I can be a total Hendrix and Mayer fanboy all in one. :lol:

 

DSC_7901a1.jpg

 

DSC_7881a1.jpg

 

DSC_7899a1.jpg

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