For The Want Of A Strat

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15-12-2015, 04:54 AM
tonyw

5 Attachment(s)

For The Want Of A Strat

In 2007 after many years of just playing my G&L ASAT Special and a Danelctro U2 i decided i wanted a vintage strat, but i had no money (muso's don't have money). I played a few different guitars but nothing had that feel i wanted, so i decided to put my own together, heres the build.

Rory Gallagher is my fav guitarist of all time and he didnt need any fancy frills just a strat and an amp pretty much and its the way i like to setup and play.This guitar is loosely modeled on Rory Gallaghers strat and being a blues blues/rock player myself i wanted the sound and looks to be vintage, hence a late 50's early 60's outlook. I did alot of homework and many late hours on the net looking for parts, not buying anything unless it was an absolute bargain. Netty as the project was called, and if i could make it work, would be constructed by only purchasing the parts over the internet and the cost had to be kept <$1000 aussie (which was achieved).The Aussie Dollar compared to the U.S at the time was .98c today its .72c

Body
NEW (AUG-2007) NITROCELLULOSE LACQUER 3-TONE SUNBURST SOLID ALDER GENUINE FENDER USA STRATOCASTER BODY,JUST UNDER 4lb IN WEIGHT,NEVER BEEN PLAYED,DRILLED FOR A USA SPACED VINTAGE STYLE BRIDGE

Pickups were probably the hardest choice for me, i wanted vintage with grunt but the prices or even the making of some of these pickups left alot be desired until i stumbled upon "Sliders Vintage Classics" an Aussie guy in Sydney making handwound vintage pickups so i lined up a set on Ebay and won the bidding. Heres what Slider has to say about his pickups. Slider's Classic Vintage 59's are a matched set of handmade "scatterwound" single coil pickups.

Next up

A NEW GENUINE FENDER 3 PLY 11 HOLE 62 STYLE MINT GREEN S/S/S PICKGUARD COMPLETE WITH SCREWS.

FENDER STRATOCASTER

ACCESSORY KIT - AGED WHITE

Genuine Fender Replacement Part No. 099-1368-000.

Kit includes :

3 knobs
3 pickup covers
Tremolo arm tip
5-switch tip
Backplate

Now for a Bridge

Type: Tremolo/Bridge with Full Steel Block

2008 American Fender Strat Tremolo (6 Screw Vintage) Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo w/ Fender Stamped Saddles & Full Steel Block- Mounting hole spacing 2 3/16", String hole spacing 2 1/16"- Genuine Fender.

Wiring and Pots

CTS 250k POTS matched pots

CRL 5 WAY SWITCH

ORANGE DROP 47uf CAPACITOR

cloth vintage lead wire

Switchcraft Jack

I spent quite some time wiring the pups, the Vintage wiring looks good the shielding takes out about 75% of the guitars hum and noise and although the vintage wiring looked great, no ones going to see it anyway.

Neck and Finished

Warmoth Vintage C shape replacement neck, headstock with Sperzel Lockers. Neck is Maple with rosewood finger board 1-5/8 at the nut Straight 7.25" Radius, Cream Face Dots frets are Vintage Jumbo. I found this neck on the Warmoth showcase.Neck is finished in Nitro clear Matt finish.

Tuners: Sperzel lockers.

I probably saved a couple of grand doing it this way, and it also taught me a bit about sourcing guitar parts and whats available via the net, today i am much much wiser.

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15-12-2015, 04:56 AM
tonyw

4 Attachment(s)

More parts
Attachment 7040 Attachment 7041 Attachment 7042 Attachment 7043
15-12-2015, 04:59 AM
tonyw

3 Attachment(s)

The finished project
Attachment 7044 Attachment 7045 Attachment 7046
15-12-2015, 06:10 AM
andrewdosborne

Looks good Tony. Does she play as expected? I notice no tremolo arm, is the block fixed? I would like to build a similar axe but with a hard tail (I'm not a fan of tremolo systems)

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk
15-12-2015, 06:17 AM
stan

nice work Tony, neat job on the wiring
15-12-2015, 06:25 AM
tonyw

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewdosborne

Looks good Tony. Does she play as expected? I notice no tremolo arm, is the block fixed? I would like to build a similar axe but with a hard tail (I'm not a fan of tremolo systems)

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

Yes Andrew its better than i expected, my second generation Luthier mate said he gets thousand of strats through and this is one of the best hes seen and heard, so i got it done right which was my main concern. I blocked the trem, also not a fan, Rory Gallaghers guitar was blocked as well ,so it was always going to be. It doesnt get played as much as it should, i am a tele kind of guy but i do love the sound of the strat.
15-12-2015, 06:26 AM
tonyw

Quote:

Originally Posted by stan

nice work Tony, neat job on the wiring

Cheers Stan i pride myself on my wiring even if no one can see it :(
15-12-2015, 07:57 AM
wokkaboy

looks good Tony, so the body and neck were pre-finished (stain and clear coats) when you purchased them ?

Keen to hear a sound demo of the pickups in all switch positions.
The only fault I can see is no headstock logo to say you assembled it
15-12-2015, 08:06 AM
stan

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyw

Cheers Stan i pride myself on my wiring even if no one can see it :(

Shows attention to details mate, reveals that you have taken care with this one
15-12-2015, 08:16 AM
tonyw

New body off a HWY1 strat, the neck was in the Warmoth showcase as a Screaming deal or something like that so i jumped on it. Being an on the road muso at the time i didnt have the time or the inclination to do any finishing, especially with Nitro seeing its the finish i wanted, to keep it sort of old school. Pretty much other than sourcing all the parts and doing the wiring i had nothing to do with the guitar other than putting it together and setting it up, and not being a fan of names on headstocks it is what it is :D Maybe oneday i will put a name on it if i could be bothered sourcing some decals

Heres a quick clip i did after the project was done and dusted, it took me about 3yrs to eventually upload it haha, i havent used this youtube site in ages, i might get back into again someday.

https://youtu.be/hGZT_nj5nzw
15-12-2015, 08:23 AM
tonyw

Quote:

Originally Posted by stan

Shows attention to details mate, reveals that you have taken care with this one

I seem to do it with all my wiring, but yeh this guitar was going to be special, i'd been meaning to put something together for ages but never did.

How ironic that i finished the guitar, had a few rehearsals with it, and came off the road in 2008. Trying to get back into some recording at the moment, better pull Netty (its name) back out the case soon.
15-12-2015, 08:32 AM
wokkaboy

sounds good Tony has the classic strat sound. Are you always a finger picker or just for that demo ?
15-12-2015, 08:42 AM
tonyw

Quote:

Originally Posted by wokkaboy

sounds good Tony has the classic strat sound. Are you always a finger picker or just for that demo ?

Thats my natural style, someone called it claw hammer or something but i always played that way naturally. I do play with a pick sometimes, depends if i want to drive Miss Daisy a little harder, get some more attack on the strings or get a bit of machine gun going if i am soloing or playing slide, having said that i am more a rhythm player than a soloist.
15-12-2015, 08:51 AM
wokkaboy

nice one Tony, I watched couple of your other youtube vids, you have had some interesting axes in your collection
15-12-2015, 09:03 AM
tonyw

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wokkaboy

nice one Tony, I watched couple of your other youtube vids, you have had some interesting axes in your collection

I think i have 27 guitars, electric and acoustic, a lap steel, a parlor resonator, a bucket load of bodies kicking about and a few necks, still very keen to build a 12 string electric, original idea was to pool route a tele body and add 3 Z coils that i have here.

This kind of idea, i had the pickguard made up for the G&L Z coils which i can use as a template on any guitar if i want.
Attachment 7051
15-12-2015, 09:24 AM
wokkaboy

Hi Tony, wow thats a healthy size collection. First I heard of Z coil pickups, so looking at the pickguard I take it they are 'Z' shaped, is there any advantage to this shape ?
15-12-2015, 09:46 AM
tonyw

Quote:

Originally Posted by wokkaboy

Hi Tony, wow thats a healthy size collection. First I heard of Z coil pickups, so looking at the pickguard I take it they are 'Z' shaped, is there any advantage to this shape ?

Designed by Leo Fender for his G&L guitars they are a true single coil Humbucker in the design of his Fender P Bass pickups.

Rather than having stacked or side by side Humbuckers he split the high and low magnets to form a Z shape to offset the coils, so in a tonal sense they remain a harmonically bright single coil, but with the hum cancelling of the Humbucker.

These are a G&L MFD pickup design with an approx 4.5k DC resistance, but the output is much hotter than the resistance would have many thinking. These pickups use ceramic magnets and wound polepieces, the MFD design pickups he designes for his G&L guitars really pump it out, my ASAT isnt called the Beasty for nothing haha.
15-12-2015, 09:50 AM
wokkaboy

nice one Tony, sure there is heaps of info you can reveal on pickup designs and how different parts/materials change the sound and output
15-12-2015, 10:04 AM
tonyw

Quote:

Originally Posted by wokkaboy

nice one Tony, sure there is heaps of info you can reveal on pickup designs and how different parts/materials change the sound and output

Haha i guess so, i pretty much go to sleep thinking about it :rolleyes:
15-12-2015, 10:09 AM
dave.king1

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyw

I think i have 27 guitars, electric and acoustic, a lap steel, a parlor resonator, a bucket load of bodies kicking about and a few necks, still very keen to build a 12 string electric, original idea was to pool route a tele body and add 3 Z coils that i have here.

This kind of idea, i had the pickguard made up for the G&L Z coils which i can use as a template on any guitar if i want.
Attachment 7051

Looks like Will Ray's tele, something I have though about doing one day
15-12-2015, 10:30 AM
tonyw

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave.king1

Looks like Will Ray's tele, something I have though about doing one day

Yeh very close, he uses the hotter over wound bridge pickup with extended length pole pieces for wider bobbin aperture also a B-Bender, i think his bridge pup is about 7.5k, i went for the lower resistance because i wanted them in a 12 string, original idea was to put them in a jazzmaster body but i have gone off that idea now.

heres a pic of a Z3 ASAT

Attachment 7052

Leo 1st got the idea of the split coil other than in a bass guitar when he did the 1965 Fender XII