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Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
my journey into the blues #10½ - gu...
I spotted an interesting ad in the local online classifieds. A rather flamboyant flame veneer Strat in bits. When I enquired, the seller offered to include another quilted Strat for £50 more ($80). I added up the component costs retail and it came to around £800 for both ($1250) so I offered £200 ($311) plus £10 shipping and they arrived very well packed.
Last weekend I took at look at my assembly options. Here's what I found on one of the guitar sets. The other has hardly been touched, thank goodness:
Neck pocket bashed about
Neck too narrow for pocket
Neck pocket packed upwards with pick guard scraps
Neck truss rod unadjusted and therefore bowed
Gold Gotoh tremolo unit with incorrect vintage string spacing
Body routed/hacked and drilled for Gotoh tremolo (too wide for neck pocket and neck)
Neck drilled off-centre to try and align to Gotoh - no chance
Pick guard hacked to fit when 22 fret neck in place, rather than loosening neck and slipping it under extended last fret lip before attaching.
Pick guard screw holes therefore out of position
Shoddy cheap wiring
Great blobs of solder from an underpowered iron
Volume pot burnt out
Tone controls wired backwards
Wrong capacitor
Plastic nut with wrong string spacing and too low for playable action - hence packing up the neck pocket?
Tremelo fitted does not allow arm to pass over controls
The only things not messed up are the top quality, locking tuners which may have come with the necks (special order, because the decals bear his name!). I checked him out and this guy has published a book on Fender guitars and claims guitar restoration as one of his skills on LinkedIn.
I have managed to assemble one almost-playable guitar from the parts, with lots of clamps, drilling, desoldering, orange drop cap, vintage spec. wire, micrometer and bits from my parts bin. You want to talk about intonation!!
I have another tremolo on order to try to get the other one running. They both came with all the accessories, including genuine Fender screws, springs etc. and brand new ToneRider City Limits pups (very nice), though I have installed a hot custom bridge pup in the working guitar. The bodies are both routed for humbuckers, so I might get my pup guy to come up with some special HSS magic sauce.
Here's some photos of the flamed guitar in progress. When I have done a little more fettling of both guitars I will post a sound sample. I prefer the quilt but they are both very handsome and the working one shows a lot of promise in both playing and tone.
I reckon he bought everything all over again to make amends but lost heart. The moral of the story? Know your guitar tech. before ordering a bunch of bits from eBay and invest in some decent tools!!
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RE: my journey into the blues #10½ ... (in reply to Escribano)
I see a man becoming gripped with a fever to rebuild guitars.
It begins like this, a few innocent eBay purchases, some books, an amp or two. Then eventually whole sections of the house are stacked with tour worn guitar cases and pickguards and toggle switches get mixed into kitchen cupboards with the forks and plates.
It's not too late to get out while you still can.
__________________
So what you really did was buy two messed up Strats and then combined the parts to make one hot rodded Strat and you still have stuff left over to make another guitar?
I'm sure it will look better than this:
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RE: my journey into the blues #10½ ... (in reply to Escribano)
I hate GAS (gear acquiration syndrome), it's like pringles, once you pop you can't stop. It's like being a teenage girl buying clothes or a fatty in mcdonalds
Now if I would be in your situation I would use as much as I spent on the guitar for the parts.
I love flamenco, all you need is a good guitar. With electric guitars there's at least five more things you need and then tens of more you don't need but want to have.
But it's fun as hell, customizing a guitar. I've built a strat myself and have upgraded guitars for over 10 years
RE: my journey into the blues #10½ ... (in reply to tele)
quote:
I love flamenco, all you need is a good guitar. With electric guitars there's at least five more things you need and then tens of more you don't need but want to have
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