Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Ever since Chassy M brought his Ole Bastard down here and I dug into it with a screwdriver and heard it's untamed racousness, I knew I had to get me some 60s stylee action. I already own what I consider to be just about the best Strat I've ever "played", and indeed that will be donating it's pickups, which it's been looking after while this project managed to get off the ground, and indeed passed my alcoholism. Well it's managed to get there and it's already to go together, so lets build some Strat:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 I'm an oil and wax man, and my own guitars are slavered in various concoctions of bee {censored} and essential oils, but for this I knew nitro had to be involved if I was gonna take the 60s vibe seriously.Now I can prep stuff, but I {censored}in hate it and I don't really have the appropriate space at the moment as I haven't got round to sorting out the roof on my workshop, which at the moment is a great p[lace to grow mushrooms:(So I got round to thinking about using an existing sprayed body and just as I was ready to pull the trigger on an MIJ 60sRI body, the words "Highway" and "One" came into my head.As you know the Highway 1s are pretty true to the 60s thing, with a poly undercoat and a thin nitro finsih on top. Added to this the H1s are some light bodies, I've seen em down to 3lb 2oz, so I squeezed one out of Reliablefender and got to work removing as much of the blonde finish as I dare. Then with some solvent and tack rags got it nice n chemically clean and shot some nice Olympic white nitro on.I lost count of the amount of thin coats I put on it with two week gaps between sessions, up until the week before I went into rehab, when I shot two very wet coats on to build it up, and then it rested for the four weeks I was in there and a few since.Then with some 800 and 1200 paper I cut the orange peel back and the {censored}er has come up beautiful, and that's from a rattle can:)So today I shielded it, maybe didn't have to, but it's very therapeutic, and the neck pup is pretty raw on this, so here she is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 The pickups for this are a mixed bag.The bridge is an overwound BG V60 reading around 10kThe middle is a GFS Staggered 64 reading about 6.8kThe neck is a van Zandt Pure Blues reading about 6.7kCTS pots and the cap is one of the Russian Sprague work around thingys which I've found to be very nice in a few guitars, but this is the first time I've used them on a Strat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintage clubber Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChrisGansz Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 SUBSCRIBED!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Now for the vibrato, my instinct COUGH*CORKSNIFFER*COUGH;) was to splash out on a Callaham unit.The Callaham is top bollocks in two main ways.1 the block: Good material and with a delrin bush at the top to support the arm while in place2 The knife edge is placed along the axis of the six mounting screws as opposed to behind it the mount holes like cheap copies and yes even Fender:facepalm:Now I have a unit of an 80s ESP Strat and I reckon that Callaham based their unit on that design, but sadly I couldn't find another one, and that one is staying on the swamp ash Strat, so I had one of the "full sized" {censored} sauce poncho block ones from GFS, as made by Wilkinson's budget operation. So I thought I'd take the {censored} sauce poncho block and graft it on to another Gotoh unit I had aged slightly, but while disassembling the Wilko unit I coiuldn't help notice some very subtle details that go into making this one only slightly less than bot the ESP and Callaham units and at a very very delicious price, so I banged it all back together again and mounted it with Callahams non poncho, {censored} sauceless stainless steel screws:cool:Jackplate and jack tails in as well, and also the original screwed ground mount Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members newbuilder Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Awsome job, glad your back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Now I was brought up in a very traditional fundamentalist Catholic Irish village, and the priest there ws often heard to say at Mass on Sundays."Ye can go out wid yer penis danglin and yer arse hanging out yer trousers, but the Divil'l take ya if ya don't put a mint pickguard on a 60s Strat:confused:...or maybe I just dreamed that:idk:So anyway, sorry Fender, but oi loiked yer 60s Hot Rod so much oi thought I'd have on o me own:pI had to take this without flash to get all the contrasts good, I'll take some proper natural light pics tomorrow maybe, but for now this gives the flavour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Awsome job, glad your back. Ta like man:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members airwarrior Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Horrible, disgusting example of a Strat.:mad::mad:You should send it to me to...uh.... fix......yeah..... fix...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members go cat go Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Absolutely gorgeous so far! Are you going to use a Warmoth neck on this baby as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 I'll just do a bit on the neck and then go to bed. I love Warmoth necks, but I don't like dealing with them, you can just never get a good dialogue going like USACG, and they're very inflexible with specs and tweaks I spotted a new kid on the block, Hefners, a new addition to the "Licenced by Fender" posse, so I thought as they seemed to be offering some very good options, particularly in back profiles and thicknesses and materials I thought I'd give them a crack. Specs as follows then Late 50s early 60s heel truss rod adjust hard vee back profile tapering from 0.960" at fret 1 to 1.0" at the 13th fret before the heel Brazilian rosewood board, 9" radius, stainless high jumbos, and clay dots. When it arrived I was a tad peeved as the fret ends were a touch prominent, but I've worked them back and rolled the edges, and levelled and polished the frets. One nice bonus was that the maple was nicely but lightly figured. Now heer I had the dilemma. Normally I'd finish the neck with my own mix of beeswax from my own bees, which I don't sadly have anymore, but I still have a fair amount of wax, and my own blend of rare and essential oils (ask Frets99 what the neck on his Tele is like:cool:) However I can never sufficiently build it up round the decals to make it look as good as it could be, so again, I got a light tint nitro rattle can and took my time and got a good even tint that does good justice to the flame Oh, decal Nazis can shove glass up their arse:wave: I offer tribute to Fender where I feel necessary;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Absolutely gorgeous so far! Are you going to use a Warmoth neck on this baby as well? Hey Cat, as you can see, no, I used Hefners, but I wouldn't use them again, their work isn't as ruthlessly good as Warmoth, it needed some extra work, but as this was originally gonna be a relic style build I was ready for that anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 30, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted September 30, 2009 Just a closer for the evening, I'll finish this off tomorrow evening, and get it strung up.Night night Jon boy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AshboneWish Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Wow! That looks freakin awesome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Damn. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mazi Bee Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Dear Sir, I admire your quest to represent the best 60s strat as only a person of your immeasurable talent could, however, I am forced to be that guy, the turd in your garden, to point out the extra fret you've grown out the backside of your fretboard, which surely according to my generous amount of research, do not appear on 60s strats of any variety outside of the hot-rod type. Aside from this glaring defect and quite embarrassing mistake I'm sure you must be quite ashamed of, I applaud your effort and would be happy to take this defective and blemished eyesore off your hands for a discounted sum. Thank you.MB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 Fackin' awesome build, RC. Glad to have you back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesrock70's Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 The magic:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted October 1, 2009 Members Share Posted October 1, 2009 Excellent work. +1 on the Highway One body and Wilky unit. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted October 1, 2009 Members Share Posted October 1, 2009 That's a sweethart. Nice you didn't over do the tint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted October 1, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted October 1, 2009 That's a sweethart. Nice you didn't over do the tint. Neck finish and colour is something I spend a lot of time over and yes, even agonise over, as I believe the neck is what makes or breaks a guitar and the experience you get with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted October 1, 2009 Members Share Posted October 1, 2009 stunning ... the mint pickguard is perfect for that guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted October 1, 2009 Members Share Posted October 1, 2009 Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted October 1, 2009 Author Moderators Share Posted October 1, 2009 Dear Sir, I admire your quest to represent the best 60s strat as only a person of your immeasurable talent could, however, I am forced to be that guy, the turd in your garden, to point out the extra fret you've grown out the backside of your fretboard, which surely according to my generous amount of research, do not appear on 60s strats of any variety outside of the hot-rod type.Aside from this glaring defect and quite embarrassing mistake I'm sure you must be quite ashamed of, I applaud your effort and would be happy to take this defective and blemished eyesore off your hands for a discounted sum.Thank you.MB Dear Sir, thank you for your letter dated 30.09.2009.After your intervention I checked the aforementioned item and to my dismay found that you were indeed right, however it is germane to mention that I could give a {censored}. Indeed this {censored} that I give, or indeed even not give is only on a par with my absolute and utter disregard for the material and size of frets of this period. This was mainly a post war situation where the requirement for nickel impregnated steels was in the main required for the signal paths in out of atmosphere space vehicles and the allocation of this alloy for use in situations where "Rocking and Rolling" musical materials production was deemed somewhere between anal sex and Satanic worship.I decided therefore to right this iniquity with my choice and indeed number of these aforementioned frets and therefore respectfully request you turn around and get the {censored} outta here, alright? I remain yours faithfully S. Robert Duggan xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.