My Partscaster

Hurricane Bob · #1 02-27-2015, 11:35 AM

Put together a Strat with a Squire body and a nice Japanese neck. Its been a labor of love and hard work. Drilled the neck holes, machine head posts, and the string tree holes. Removed the stock nut with a tusk one and filed each groove down for perfect intonation. Bought a new wammy bar and added the Fender logo. The neck has a really nice gloss finish and is a joy to play. Soon to add Keystone pups, so far I have $180.00 into her. I have no intention of selling her, only for gigging and learning about guitar setups.

RedJoker · #2 02-27-2015, 11:37 AM

Beauty! I have a squier strat (maybe the same as yours) that I've done a lot of low $ work on. I get compliments on its playability all the time. Good stuff!

Dru Edwards · #3 02-27-2015, 03:28 PM

Bob, the best thing about assembling your own partscaster is that you learn so much, which you stated was one of your goals ("learning about guitar setups").

It looks great!

BTF · #4 02-27-2015, 04:02 PM

Sweet! You ought to throw the David Gilmour Magic Switch mod and tone circuit into that baby!

Kudos, Bill.

J Patrick · #5 02-27-2015, 04:05 PM

...this is how it starts....soon you'll need to do a tele...and then you're hooked...seriously...putting together partscasters is a blast and as you learn more about what you like you'll keep coming up with more projects...its the best way i know of to get a guitar thats totally dialed in to your specific preferences...and its really affordable too....your strat looks great...now lets get crackin on that tele....

guitararmy · #6 02-27-2015, 04:09 PM

That looks great! If you're interested in aging the white plastic pu covers, knobs and trem tip you can soak them in coffee I've been told ( never done it myself )

What pu's are in it now?

Rodger Knox · #7 02-27-2015, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hurricane Bob

Put together a Strat with a Squire body and a nice Japanese neck. Its been a labor of love and hard work. Drilled the neck holes, machine head posts, and the string tree holes. Removed the stock nut with a tusk one and filed each groove down for perfect intonation. Bought a new wammy bar and added the Fender logo. The neck has a really nice gloss finish and is a joy to play. Soon to add Keystone pups, so far I have $180.00 into her. I have no intention of selling her, only for gigging and learning about guitar setups.

Good start! The nut slots can effect intonation, but getting them right does not set the intonation, and it's never perfect. It's actually adjusted by moving the saddles on the bridge, and yours looks about right if that's an unwound 3rd string.

Hurricane Bob · #8 02-27-2015, 04:32 PM

Thanks for all the encouragement guys, its been a ton of work. What is the David Gilmour Magic Switch mod? At first I got a Mighty Mite neck that was mighty crap, then found this neck on ebay for $75 that is a beauty. Its an aftermarket Japanese neck. I fiddled with the bridge intonation and couldn't figure our why cowboy chords where so off. Turns out it was the nut slots and began filing away for days. She's not perfect but I left a little room for tweaking. Just put on the water slide decal this morning, still has the original squire pups that suck. Great idea about doing a Telecaster, never had one of them,

BTF · #9 02-28-2015, 06:39 PM

Bob, I'll try to get you a pic of the DG mod. It truly makes the Strat an even more versatile beast (what else from my Jedi Master, Gilmour?).

Give me a bit.

BTF · #10 02-28-2015, 07:13 PM

Here is Seymour Duncan's take on it:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...ic=switch_f_bp

It allows all three pickups ("super cluck") and the bridge/neck for a quasi-Tele sound.

sportrider24 · #11 03-01-2015, 07:28 AM

Love it Bob! Very nice. I'll have to snap some pics of my Stratocaster build I did not to long ago! I'll be back!!

Hurricane Bob · #12 03-01-2015, 09:08 AM

Glad you all like her, been a fun winter project while work is slow. The fret ends are sharp on the neck, need to do some more filing. Everyday I tweak a little more till it feels like butter. Not sure I understand the Gilmore mod, do you need another switch?

BTF · #13 03-01-2015, 03:51 PM

Since around the time of 'Wish You Were Here", Gilmour had a switch secreted beside his selector switch.

The simple switch allows the user to get two extra sounds. One is the bridge and neck (I find it a good blues selection) and all three pickups (it yields a very "clucky" sound).

The switch can be on the pickguard or on a push pull pot- David's is mounted to a small metal plate underneath the pickguard with only the very end of the switch protruding from the pickguard.