Build #14 - Frankenstrat v2

Seemed like a good idea after a few beers yesterday, now I'm not so sure. This won't be an exact replica but will be closer than the non-PB version I did a few years ago.

It all started with wondering how hard it would be to get a 1971 quarter on eBay which led to the Pit Bull purchase. I also bought the quarter but not sure if I'm going to use it. I ordered the GSH-1 kit (with maple fretboard) because I didn't feel like routing out the humbucker cavity myself and I was just going to stick with the F-style tremolo, but now I'm considering getting a Floyd setup and attempting to make that fit myself. Will sit on that one for a while.

Been eyeing off this to replace the kit humbucker - https://www.amazon.com/Fender-022213.../dp/B002IGT0VY

Really not sure how far I'll take this. This could be a long project or I could just give up. I really think I need one of those breathalyzer devices attached to my credit card.

Or perhaps a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop 78? Those things are quite pricey in Aus. And then do I get the trembucker or do I go for authenticity and get the humbucker and out it at an angle? So many options, so little bank balance...

Nice! On mine I used the 71 quarter
The Floyd is quite easy to set up, the problem is it sits flat on the body so to adjust the action you need to shim the neck. Apparently EVH used a fender heavy pick, I used that and a little foil to get it just right.
The Floyd rose special is a great trem to use, cheaper than the German one but much better than the licensed ones. All steel except the string locks on the bridge.
I filled the HSH body I had to get the correct profile of the holes, I also put 2 dummy screws in the back of the neck to look like the nut attachment
The pickup is an Artist Bullbucker, absolutely awesome hot wound for a steal.
They stock the correct oval reflectors at Bunnings, but not the round ones.
I really enjoyed the time taken to age it correctly (or best I could)
This is one of my most played guitars, I hope you enjoy yours
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It doesn’t have to be very expensive, the FR was about $100, the pickup $40 or so, did you request a black scratch plate from Pitbull? The eyelets are 25mm from Bunnings, about $4
I found the best paint to use was Dunlop dura max gloss white/black, and Hot Lips for the Schwin bike paint is very close, about $45
You will need a Floyd string retainer fir the headstock, eBay.
Use one of the kit pickups for the front and the annoying thing is buying a really nice 5 way switch and ruining it for the centre position! They are about $30
Apart from the white knob, your PB kit should have everything else you need, use their machine heads, socket, screws and so on.
I made a saltwater slurry to age non electric bits, and used acrylic paint to dirty stuff up too
Immense fun!

I didn't get a black scratch plate as it wasn't an option with that kit and I didn't think to ask. Can grab one on eBay for about $13 anyway. Thanks for the tip on the neck shim - that would probably have tripped me up and I would have taken many wrong options trying to work out how to fix it. I like the sound of the FR. The only options I'd seen in my limited search was genuine (quite expensive) and cheap eBay options (likely plain rubbish). I like the sound of a middle ground.

I'd already checked out your build diary a while back on this and you were already going to be my go-to guy with all my questions. As for the paint, my previous version of this I used SCA auto paints and was quite happy with the colours and how it turned out. Was probably the only good thing about the whole build given the cheapness of the kit and the lack of upgrades.

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That looks pretty good!
You could develop that one further… it’s close!
At least your kit will come with the white tone knob!!!
The neck needs to not fit in the pocket, it is a Tele style neck end in a strat body. I took the sander to the end of the neck to square it off
To be authentic you need a truss rod that adjusts from the heel, but I let that go
Here’s a special at an ok price
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Genuine-...154756-20017-0

It’s worth picking up a brass block to add to this if you can

Will the SCA paint go on the timber with no primer? It has to else you will see it through the wear

I had thought about going back to the original build and working on it but about the only thing worth keeping is the body and from memory, it's an alder body so even that isn't right. Given a new kit with the correct wood and fretboard was fairly cheap, I figured I'd just do that. In fact, even the FR special and the brass block nearly costs more than the kit. I think this will be one of those projects that takes quite some time and I just pick up parts when I can. If the wife complains I can always go back to the old "at least I'm not spending the money on meth" line.

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

Will the SCA paint go on the timber with no primer? It has to else you will see it through the wear

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I can't even remember if I primed the last one. I'll have to find my old progress photos. They must be somewhere.

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Originally Posted by m0j0

I can't even remember if I primed the last one. I'll have to find my old progress photos. They must be somewhere.

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Ok, doesn’t matter for that one. The duramax is self priming so it goes straight on, which is why I used it here

Hmmm... I found the progress photos but I didn't take any before the black coat so not sure. But I think I did prime it and I think it might be needed, so Duramax might be the go. Fortunately I already have a nearly full can of hot lips from the IB7 I recently re-worked.

Sounds like a score! The dura max is very hard wearing which is great so when you have it reliced it stays that way without deteriorating further easily

Christmas hath come early. Have checked all the parts are there but since I won't be using many of them, it wasn't are thorough check. Will leave this boxed for a while as I have a couple of "no going back" decisions to make about how I want to approach this.

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Quick inspection shows the body in pretty good condition.

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This knot in the body is a bit ugly, but given the solid colours it shouldn't be an issue as long as I prep correctly.

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This tiny ding on the horn should come out easily enough. That and a little nick around the edge of the humbucker route are the only bits of damage I could find so far.

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Back of the body looks good.

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Very thin bit of wood between the humbucker route and control cavity is probably normal but looks weird to me. Can't help but think it would be easier if it wasn't there at all. No such separation between a single coil version and the control cavity. It might get removed.

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Neck looks OK to me. Dots seem to be aligned. Not that my eyes are any good anyway.

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So the decision I have to make. I'm leaning more towards doing a Frankenstrat tribute rather than a Frankenstrat clone. I want to have something that looks pretty much the real deal on first glance to the untrained eye, but I also want to have something that's playable with less of the hacks. So, the differences I'm looking at compared to a clone:

1) I think I'll drop in a Floyd Special, but I feel like I want to route it out so it sits as designed rather than having to add a shim to the neck pocket to get a decent action.

2) Keep the design as close as I can get it, but forego the standard relicing. I'd be happy if it got worn down through use however.

3) Not put any reflectors on the back. I can imagine that wouldn't be overly comfortable when playing.

4) (this one I'm not too sure of) Wire up the neck single coil. I won't be using the kit pickup but I have no idea what I will put in there yet. Of course, this will mean having to install a selector switch. The more I think about this, the less I'm inclined to do it, but I'm leaving it here as a placeholder.

5) I've already got the Grover upgrade rather than going for the Schaller tuners. Even if I were going for a clone that would be good enough for me.

Hello! Here's some thoughts, feel free to ignore!

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Originally Posted by m0j0

So the decision I have to make. I'm leaning more towards doing a Frankenstrat tribute rather than a Frankenstrat clone. I want to have something that looks pretty much the real deal on first glance to the untrained eye, but I also want to have something that's playable with less of the hacks. So, the differences I'm looking at compared to a clone:

1) I think I'll drop in a Floyd Special, but I feel like I want to route it out so it sits as designed rather than having to add a shim to the neck pocket to get a decent action.
That works, and you can have it floating too. Probably a more difficult job than shimming, as it is straightforward to set up as the strings don't need to be removed, just loosened so the Floyd can be lifted from its pins

2) Keep the design as close as I can get it, but forego the standard relicing. I'd be happy if it got worn down through use however.
Fair enough, I like the relicing so i don't have to worry about a case :)

3) Not put any reflectors on the back. I can imagine that wouldn't be overly comfortable when playing.
You don't notice them, at least I don't

4) (this one I'm not too sure of) Wire up the neck single coil. I won't be using the kit pickup but I have no idea what I will put in there yet. Of course, this will mean having to install a selector switch. The more I think about this, the less I'm inclined to do it, but I'm leaving it here as a placeholder.
Yes great idea. I did that, with a micro switch in the place of one of the tone controls. I also coil-tapped the humbucker, with a push-pull on the volume. Gives loads of tonal variations. You could put a 3-way in the slot instead

5) I've already got the Grover upgrade rather than going for the Schaller tuners. Even if I were going for a clone that would be good enough for me.
You might want to hang on to them if the kit machine heads are OK (most are), as the kit ones are the correct shape, and as you will be reliant on the locking nut and violin style tuners on the Floyd for fine tuning the Grovers might not be best utilised there (assuming you have other projects they might work on, if not, great excuse to buy one!)

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

Hello! Here's some thoughts, feel free to ignore!

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If I was planning on ignoring thoughts, I wouldn't post here. The more input, the better because I always assume my ideas are flawed at best, if not completely idiotic. Like I said, I haven't made a decision on anything. I've got too many on the go at the moment to even think about starting on this one right now anyway.

I think I might have to just get the Floyd and see how it sits without routing. Not particularly concerned about having it floating, was just thinking of dive-only but sitting flush. Will just have to line everything up and see what's what. To be honest, I'm more of a hard-tail fan myself. I'm not good enough to be able to incorporate well timed and in tune trem work in my playing and I never will be.

As for the tuners, I was thinking the same about them being wasted behind a floyd nut. I am in the middle of another ST build which I didn't get Grovers for (I don't think I did - too many parts floating around). Might be better served there. And then I'll have two sets of kit tuners to pick the six least crappy from.

I prefer to mount the FR on the body. I'm a hack on guitar, and if I press down on the FR with the heel of my hand and it is floating the guitar is out of tune. It's way easier to mount flat on the body than to faff about trying to tidily rout out the hole to the correct depth, remember the hole would have to be PERFECTLY flat at the bottom and exactly the right depth or you will have to float the trem or shim the neck anyway (or possibly both). Just start with a heavy gauge pick hard up against the heel of the the neck pocket and you will be close! With the brass block I'd say the sustain would be similar to a hard tail, as the FR is very heavy and locked back against the body with serious spring action too.
At school I have been part of 50++ kit builds with the kids, and probably had 5 or so crappy tuners. When they are good they are better than fine, I'd say you should find enough there to do the job.

Btw the original guitar body was sold to EVH cheap as it had a flaw in it, an unsightly knot, so yours is perfect!

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Originally Posted by m0j0

Very thin bit of wood between the humbucker route and control cavity is probably normal but looks weird to me. Can't help but think it would be easier if it wasn't there at all. No such separation between a single coil version and the control cavity. It might get removed.

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They've done the general flat pickup rout and then done the extra rout for the humbucker pickup legs, without then tidying up the remaining wood. I'd definitely remove it as it serves no purpose and removing it helps with cable routing.

However you might want to fill those extra leg holes if you plan to direct mount the pickup to the body. There is very little depth of wood between the bottom of those routs and the trem cavity, and I wouldn't like to use really small screws to hold the pickup in place.

Not quite sure why they've also routed similar leg holes in the single coil routs. They don't look wide enough to fit Gibson-style mini-humbuckers in. The mini-humbuckers from my Firebird are 27mm across and the mounting legs are really short with about 2mm depth to them so wouldn't need the extra routs.

I don't think you'd need to do any particularly special routing for a Floyd Special. On the GST-1 Hexacaster, the 2-point trem had the same bottom of plate depth to top of saddle dimensions as the Floyd has (10mm according to the Floyd dimension pdf) and I got that floating without the need for a shim. I did fit a shim at first, but then removed it as unnecessary. The GSR-1 should have identical body/neck dimensions. I did file down the ends of the post inserts so they didn't stick through into the trem cavity, but that was about it.

You can always use a mini-toggle switch for pickup selection, which is less obtrusive than a full-sized toggle or lever switch. Or you could a rotary switch and have two knobs instead of one. If you didn't want a blower switch, you could use that as the pickup selector, or if you didn't want a mixed pickup position but just neck or bridge, then a mini-toggle with more poles could probably act as a bridge/neck/blower selector.

Or even fit a 3-way lever switch but don't put a toggle on the end, and round over the edges so it's more comfortable to use. That wouldn't be too obtrusive, especially from a distance.

And I agree that there's no need for locking tuners with a locking nut. The only real benefit of them on a non-trem guitar is in the quickness of changing strings, and as quick changing of strings isn't going to happen on a Floyd-equipped guitar, a few extra seconds to wrap the string around the post won't make much difference.

While I'm applying the never ending layers of Tru-oil on my thinline ST build and having just completed my AG (well, mostly - but are they ever really completed?), I figured it's about time to start trying to source all the bits for this one.

So, I looked into the FR Special eBay link that Andy sent and noticed that even though it says R3 nut, the description says 10" radius but the R3 is supposed to be 12" radius. I figured I'd just ask the seller to confirm that it was a typo and it is indeed an R3 (12") nut since they have a separate eBay item with an R2 nut. I was expecting a reply that confirmed this assuming a copy/paste error but their reply had me less than confident about making the purchase. Something along the lines of there not being much difference between 10" and 12" radius.
Headed on over to Stewmac where they sell the FR Special kits and they're cheaper than the eBay auction, even with shipping factored in. However, the kits are only sold with R2 and if I want an R3, I'll need to buy that on top. Still, it's cheaper than buying all the bits separately. They also list the item as having a brass sustain block, but the picture looks like zinc alloy. They said they'll check and confirm that so I know if I need to order that or not.

So, a very long-winded way of getting around to my question. The sustain blocks are sold in 32mm, 37mm and 42mm. The 42mm is listed as being for flush mounted, 37mm for recessed and 32mm for deeply recessed. I'm assuming 42mm since I'll be flush mounting but to be sure, I'd like to measure something. Problem is, I don't know what measurement I should take. The 42mm seems like it should be the right one but I hate guessing.

It partly depends on the thickness of the body. With a thin body, a 42mm flush mount may be too deep, especially if you have a trem cavity cover fitted (which may well be recessed on some guitars, reducing the available depth).

The trem claw springs fit on top of the block and so add a couple of mm to the depth. Also, as the trem is operated, the block angles and so may poke down a bit more, as you have the diagonal block dimension to consider. It’s far less a problem (maybe none at all) on a downward trem only set up as the trem plate is only moving away from the body, but certainly needs to be considered for upward bends. But to be safe, you’ll probably need to set the trem about a minimum of 1mm from the body to allow the trem to pivot cleanly, so you gain that distance back.

So to prevent the block/spring ends from ever poking out of the trem cavity or snagging on the trem cover, you probably need a minimum body depth of 42+2+1 = 45mm. Greater if there’s a recessed trem spring cover.

With routing to allow upward bends, the trem plate still sits at the same position at rest on the body, but the more the rear of the trem plate moves downwards as you pull up, pushing the end of the block down as well. When doing pull-ups, a longer block will contact the front edge of the trem cavity sooner than a shorter block, which is the main reason for the shorter blocks. No point having a 10mm recess when the rear end of the trem stops 6mm from the base of the recess because the trem block has hit the front on the trem block rout.


A shorter trem block means the springs have less leverage on the trem and also are stretched less for a given movement of the trem arm, so for a 32mm block, you may need 4 springs to get the same feel as 3 springs on a 42mm block. You’ll certainly need to screw in the trem claw a lot more as a bare minimum.

Thanks Simon. This will be set to dive only. I've got a D-tuna somewhere (haven't seen it for a while so I hope I can still find it) that I was thinking of putting on this so if it's not already blocked from upward bends due to surface mounting with no additional routing, then I was going to install a block if I had to.

Will take some measurements while I'm waiting for Stewmac to respond.

I’ll check out the Stewmac site myself, I need the brass block for my build and ideally another special for the Jem… thanks for the info!

Why not try a titanium block? https://www.fu-tone.com/product/42mm...sustain-block/

:cool:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Why not try a titanium block? https://www.fu-tone.com/product/42mm...sustain-block/

:cool:

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Haha. If my playing and my ears were good enough to be able to notice any difference then I might think about it. To be honest, I could probably make one out of scrap timber and it wouldn't sound any worse. Certainly wouldn't be the weakest part of my sound anyway.

After a long hiatus, I've decided now is the time to get started on this. I had some issues with a different build which gave me the shits and caused me to lose all interest in building for a year or so and it just sat there untouched for over a year. Anyway, I eventually got around to mostly finishing that build a few weeks back and will post that in my other thread when I get around to doing the filing of the nut slots, the neck adjustments and the intonation.

So, back to this one. This is the first time I've had a kit with a bolt on neck and the holes weren't drilled in the body. Not sure if this is how it's supposed to be supplied, but not a big deal. So, I carefully lined it all up and drilled out the holes and bolted on the neck. The first thing I noticed was the neck was not sitting evenly aligned with the body - in that the low E side sits a little higher than the high E side. I did notice that there was a slight gap between the neck and the body on that side which was caused by me not drilling big enough holes in the body so the screws were threading through the hole rather than sliding through. So, I resolved that and eliminated the gaps, but it still wasn't sitting straight. Took it all apart again and measured the pocket and some heel measurements. Pocket seemed nice and even depth throughout but I discovered the top of the fretboard to the bottom of the heel on the low E side is about 1mm more than the high E side. Knowing that, it's now quite obvious when I look at it.

So, I gather I'm going to need to sand this heel back to even it out. I don't have access to anything like a bench sander so I'm thinking at this point I'm looking at files and hard backed sandpaper. I'll measure it out and mark it all so I know where I need to be sanding to, stopping and checking frequently.

However, these are my thoughts and I tend to find the rest of you have better advice, so I'm going to leave this open to advice and not touch anything yet. I'm lacking the required equipment to do anything right now anyway. Last thing I want to do is make it worse.

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I have at least pulled off the kit nut, filed down the wood and installed the locking nut. Might need to go down a bit more but will leave it as is for now and worry about it later when I can measure it correctly.

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Ignoring the neck for now, I decided to move on to some painting. Will have plenty of time for neck work while I'm waiting for curing.

First up, some grain filling and sanding, followed by primer/sealer, followed by more sanding before a few coats of black

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Next, the taping. As I probably already mentioned I'm not attempting a replica, this is more of a tribute. So, I didn't pay too much attention to getting it exactly right, just went with something kinda close.
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And then, the white coats. Let it dry and remove the tape. It's starting to take shape. Going to let that sit over the weekend and dry properly before I gently knock down the few furry white edges where the tape was. Now I'm just waiting for some thinner masking tape to come in before I move on to the red.
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Happy days! This showed up today.
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Slowly filling in the routes for the pickup mount screws so I can surface mount my pickups.
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Taped up and ready for the red coat. Many differences from the original, but was never going for a replica, just a tribute.

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And now it's red. Let that sit for a bit.

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Tape removed. Some of the cheaper stuff has left a sticky residue. I've got some "De-Solv-it" which is used to remove that sort of stickiness but I'm hesitant to try it. It says it's safe to use on painted surface but I'm not confident and I don't really have a discreet spot to test it on. Might just be safe and go grab some isopropyl alcohol and try that first.

*Edit: That was a bad idea. Isopropyl alcohol ate through some of my whitepaint and exposed the black underneath. Fortunately, it looks like I did it on purpose as it's on an edge. Back to the drawing board...

Anyway, progress pics...
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Turns out that I do have a discrete area to test - behind the neck mount plate (I'm an idiot). Also turns out the "De-Solv-It" product is much safer (just don't rub too hard). Managed to remove all the sticky residue and wiped it over with a damp cloth.

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Now to decide what to do about the damaged paintwork. It would be fairly easy to mask around the section and give it a couple of light sprays with the white to patch it. Or, I could just keep it and pretend it's intentional. The beauty of one of these builds is the more mistakes you make, the more authentic it looks. Will sit on that decision over the next few days since I can't move on to the clear coats yet anyway.

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