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Thread: Red Ensign Stratocaster Build Diary

  1. #11
    Member CascadiaGuitarGeek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNomis_44 View Post
    Have you figured out what pickups you'll put in the guitar?
    Yes, I have the pickups already. I wanted to try the 64 Stagger Overwound Grey-Bottom set from Guitarfetish. I actually ordered the neck and middle pickups for another project, but they sent me the whole set my mistake, and I want more of a 60's strat sound from this guitar so I decided to use them here.

  2. #12
    GAStronomist wokkaboy's Avatar
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    nice score Cascadia, so you ordered 2 single pups and got a set of 3 ?

    they are overwound alright, hot resistance figures !
    Current Builds and status
    scratch end grain pine tele - first clear coat on !
    JBA-4 - assembled - final tweaks
    Telemonster double scale tele - finish tobacco burst on body and sand neck

    Completed builds
    scratch oak.rose gum Jazzmaster - assembled needs setup
    MK-2 Mosrite - assembled - play in
    Ash tele with Baritone neck - neck pup wiring tweaks and play in

  3. #13
    GAStronomist DrNomis_44's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CascadiaGuitarGeek View Post
    Yes, I have the pickups already. I wanted to try the 64 Stagger Overwound Grey-Bottom set from Guitarfetish. I actually ordered the neck and middle pickups for another project, but they sent me the whole set my mistake, and I want more of a 60's strat sound from this guitar so I decided to use them here.

    It'll be really interesting to hear what those pickups'll sound like, I'm going to keep following this thread.

  4. #14
    Member CascadiaGuitarGeek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wokkaboy View Post
    nice score Cascadia, so you ordered 2 single pups and got a set of 3 ?

    they are overwound alright, hot resistance figures !
    Yeah I have an old Ibanez HSS that I wanted to refurbish, hence the order of two single coils. But yes they sent me the full set. They have missed some details on quite a few of my orders, in this case in my favor. This whole project is based on improperly fulfilled Guitarfetish orders come to think of it.

    They do claim to be somewhat hotter pickups. I'm curious to see how they sound when this is all done. Hopefully I like it, but if not they are easy enough to swap out.

  5. #15
    GAStronomist Simon Barden's Avatar
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    The union flag will probably outdated very soon in the UK. As our mis-government seem determined to push for a hard Brexit, then I can see Scotland going independent very soon so that they can stay in the EU.

    I once had a used bitza Strat that came with staggered height Sperzels. If you are going for locking tuners then it makes sense. They were a bit of a luxury as I never use the trem on a Strat, but they did make string changing quicker. To some extent their effectiveness depends on the headstock. If there isn't much height difference between the fretboard and the headstock, then you may still benefit from a string tree on B and E strings.

  6. #16
    Member CascadiaGuitarGeek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon Barden View Post
    The union flag will probably outdated very soon in the UK. As our mis-government seem determined to push for a hard Brexit, then I can see Scotland going independent very soon so that they can stay in the EU.

    I once had a used bitza Strat that came with staggered height Sperzels. If you are going for locking tuners then it makes sense. They were a bit of a luxury as I never use the trem on a Strat, but they did make string changing quicker. To some extent their effectiveness depends on the headstock. If there isn't much height difference between the fretboard and the headstock, then you may still benefit from a string tree on B and E strings.
    These are strange times indeed. I guess if the Union Jack has to remove the Scottish portion of the flag then my guitar will be even more of a throwback. The design is kind of an homage to pre-1960's Canada when it felt more identified with the British Empire.

    The locking tuners might be slightly overkill as there is already the locking nut, but I do love how easy they make stringing. If I end up with any problems I'll just add in a string tree after the fact.

  7. #17
    Member CascadiaGuitarGeek's Avatar
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    Onto the body... So as I mentioned earlier I thought I was ordering a traditional strat body, but was sent one with Floyd Rose routing.
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    I did some searching around to try and figure out a way to add DIY graphics to the body and came across a few options (not to say that they are the only ones, I'd love to hear more for future):
    1. mod podge image transfer medium
    2. iron-on t-shirt paper
    3. waterslide decals
    4. stickers

    I actually did get the mod podge, but ended up deciding to go with the iron-on transfers. Dealing with the body contours was a bit tricky, and didn't come out perfectly. This aided in my decision to try and relic the body a bit to give a more consistent look. I also wanted to apply the graphic prior to painting the rest of the body so that the white areas would have more wood grain and because I was unsure how the iron-on would adhere to paint.
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    In the end I am happy with the result. Now I just have to make sure to not botch the transition from graphic to paint.

  8. #18
    GAStronomist Simon Barden's Avatar
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    All looking good so far.

    Locking tuners are definitely overkill if you've got a locking nut. You should try the Planet Waves locking tuners, they even cut the string end off for you!

  9. #19
    Member CascadiaGuitarGeek's Avatar
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    Time for an overdue update. Sadly no one is willing to pay me to build guitar kits yet so my real job impedes progress. Anyways I thought it was time to wire the pickguard (or scratchplate for my UK friends). I started by throwing my pickups and a pre-wired strat electronics into the pickguard, but had some little modifications to make. I decided to add in the Guitarfetish mid-boost circuit to see how well it could replicate the Clapton signature strat tones.

    This was my starting point.
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    And this was where I ended up with the mid-boost.
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    Hopefully if this long and dreary Canadian winter ends I can get back to putting a final coat of paint on the body so I can put it all together. I guess it's just more motivation to set up an indoor paint booth.

  10. #20
    GAStronomist wokkaboy's Avatar
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    wiring looks good Cascadia

    does it all fit ok in the control cavity ?
    Current Builds and status
    scratch end grain pine tele - first clear coat on !
    JBA-4 - assembled - final tweaks
    Telemonster double scale tele - finish tobacco burst on body and sand neck

    Completed builds
    scratch oak.rose gum Jazzmaster - assembled needs setup
    MK-2 Mosrite - assembled - play in
    Ash tele with Baritone neck - neck pup wiring tweaks and play in

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