Build numero three!

[Groovyman32]

I hate marketing - I always fall for it - It's a bank holiday weekend in the UK and the body supplier I used for my previous build is having a sale.

So I've got a two piece American ash SSS strat body on the way from guitarbuild.co.uk.

I wasn't so impressed with the tele neck from guitarbuild - for the money there were too many little niggles. So I'm trying a neck from guitaranatomy.com. It's a roasted maple two piece. It's feels like a bit of a risk going with a body and neck from two different companies - but let's see how we go.

At the moment my plan is to do a red/brown to amber fade - a bit like a Sienna sunburst. But I might change my mind and go for solid light blue nitro. As we're heading into autumn it seems unlikely there will be a weather window for attempting nitro - unless I can get creative with some heating in the shed.

I've got a Fender Elite Strat with the ebony board and noiseless v4s that I've not really bonded with. I've not really picked it up since I finished my PB deluxe tele build so it's going to go up for sale.

The proceeds from that will mean I have a fair bit of budget for a nice set of pickups. I'm not sure what though - I want something quite hot but vintage sounding. Perhaps something from the Fender Custom Shop. I liked the Texas Specials I had in an American Special Strat from a few years back. Or may be Bare Knuckle or Monty perhaps? I'm tempted to put an SD single coil sized humbucker in the bridge for a bit of Grrr - a JB Jr or lil' 59? If anyone has some suggestions?

[Simon Barden]

Andertons are doing the BK Boot Camp pickups at a reduced price at the moment. The True Grits are the standard overwound/medium hot sets. Had two of them in the Hexacaster. Very decent pickups.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/b...grit-white-set

(also with black covers) Their current price is £20 less than from BK direct.

[Simon Barden]

I had a Strat with a JB Jr, Duckbucker and a Lil 59. They were OK but if I was going for a humbucker sound, I'd go for a proper HSS arrangement.

It doesn't take much to rout out a SSS to a HSS body. I did it with the Hexacaster. Just watch the router depth though!

I decided not to spray today as it is a bit cool and very dull and overcast. Not the sunnier day it was forecast to be. But I've sprayed into October before when the weather's been good. But I do have the luxury of always being at home, so can spray mid-day
on any day when it's warm enough.

[Groovyman32]

Andertons are doing the BK Boot Camp pickups at a reduced price at the moment. The True Grits are the standard overwound/medium hot sets. Had two of them in the Hexacaster. Very decent pickups.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/b...grit-white-set

(also with black covers) Their current price is £20 less than from BK direct.

Thanks Simon - listening to some YT demos of the True Grits, they could be contender. Reasonably priced too.

[Simon Barden]

Same as any other BK, but they make them in batches to a set spec, rather than individually to order, so they save a lot of time in setting up the winding machines and not swapping over pickup wire types. And time is money, so they can make them cheaper. Plus I'd imagine that marketing plays a part as well.

[Groovyman32]

The bits have started to arrive:



The body is nicely finished - if a little heavy - but I guess that's ash for you. The neck fit is a little loose but I think once there's a few coats of finish on it it will be good.

I need to check the scale length and stuff and also want to make sure the height of fretboard is right. Compared to my Elite the total thickness of the neck + body at the heal is the same. But still need to run some strings and see how the string height looks.

The Gotoh bridge block looks to line up well.

I got two scratch plates as I can't decide what's going to look best with the body colour.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, ash is heavy unless it's 'swamp' ash, grown in very wet areas which affects the way it grows and leaves it about 30% lighter once it's fully seasoned. Swamp ash is any type of ash grown in those conditions, but is normally white or black ash.

Climate change means a lot of those swampy areas in the US where a lot came from have dried up, and add on ash die-back, and it has become too scarce (and therefore expensive) to use for major manufacturers.

You mentioned that it was a two-piece body, but it looks like a one-piece body to me from the grain lines. Looks nice, and a shame to put it under a solid colour. You might as well get some visual benefit from the weighty body.

I know the extra fret can be useful, but 22 frets with the overhang always mean you have to take the neck off if you want to remove the scratchplate. No easy way round that. Still, capo on, slacken strings, undo neck and away you go.

[Groovyman32]

Yes, ash is heavy unless it's 'swamp' ash, grown in very wet areas which affects the way it grows and leaves it about 30% lighter once it's fully seasoned. Swamp ash is any type of ash grown in those conditions, but is normally white or black ash.

Climate change means a lot of those swampy areas in the US where a lot came from have dried up, and add on ash die-back, and it has become too scarce (and therefore expensive) to use for major manufacturers.

You mentioned that it was a two-piece body, but it looks like a one-piece body to me from the grain lines. Looks nice, and a shame to put it under a solid colour. You might as well get some visual benefit from the weighty body.

I know the extra fret can be useful, but 22 frets with the overhang always mean you have to take the neck off if you want to remove the scratchplate. No easy way round that. Still, capo on, slacken strings, undo neck and away you go.

Yeah - swamp ash was about double the price. Rehearsals will be good work out!

Deffo two piece. As this view shows.



But I agree - the two pieces match up really well from the front. Yeah, it’s going to have to have to be a trans finish.

And there looks to be some good weather on the near horizon!


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[Simon Barden]

Today is a great outside spray day. Not too hot and pretty still.

[Groovyman32]

I finally got a few minutes to mock things to see where I’m at:



The string height and scale length all look good and the strings are running evenly down the neck.

Next step is start sanding and thinking about stain…


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