The Quarterly "When I finally fix/upgrade my strat" thread...

I like this. An interesting twist on the Gilmour's Black Strat theme. I've been eying a similar Mighty Mite body for a while now, only, with the input jack in its traditional place.
 

 
 
But then again... Maybe I should leave it as is and invest in something entirely different:
 

 
:P

I modified my 50th Anniv. (Co. not model) not long after I got it...years ago. Knew I wouldn't be
selling it. The 50th Strat Anniv. model is the only one I haven't modified...it's just sweet as is.
I guess I should get them gathered up and take a photo since I don't plan on buying anymore...to much
fun to build them now.
 
It has the original pups but I blacked it out - had white parts. Fun to change stuff up on some guitars.
One may want to check clearance between the pickguard and fretboard  if you change it out. To thick
a guard like this metal one is and it wouldn't be good if it didn't have the tilt screw.
I'll more than likely put it back as it was and put these parts on one I build.
 
 
 

Personally I don't really care about the condition of bodies. I do take care of my guitars but
wear from using is just part of it and adds character.
With the neck I have a different view. If dents or anything about it distract me it has to be corrected or replaced.
 
The problem is that all necks and bodies just don't fit correctly.
Many places state that their bodies are cut to fit their necks- something you may want to think about.
 
It's good you have a luthier friend...very weird things can take place when assembling guitars.
 
Thanks for the kudos Rain.
I don't have a HSS Strat.  but having one with a single HB and a volume (no tone) appeals to me. I think that'll
be my next build.

spacey
Personally I don't really care about the condition of bodies. I do take care of my guitars but
wear from using is just part of it and adds character.
With the neck I have a different view. If dents or anything about it distract me it has to be corrected or replaced.
 
The problem is that all necks and bodies just don't fit correctly.
Many places state that their bodies are cut to fit their necks- something you may want to think about.
 
It's good you have a luthier friend...very weird things can take place when assembling guitars.
 
Thanks for the kudos Rain.
I don't have a HSS Strat.  but having one with a single HB and a volume (no tone) appeals to me. I think that'll
be my next build.

The neck is in a relatively ok shape, despite a couple of little spots where it's dented. But there is one annoying spot on the back where there's a relatively big hole in the finish. The wood is okay, though...
 

 
 
 
I don't mind normal wear and scratches but the body has got some major ones. The guitar has been smashed a few times... Young and idiot I was.
 
Top side.
 

 
Bottom side.
 

 
Obviously, it also has the normal signs of use and wear.
 

ampfixer
 
Assembling an instrument can be very rewarding. You just have to know that some things require proper tools, or knowing when it's time to consult somebody with proper tools.

 
For me, that's the very first step - consulting someone w/ proper tools. I just don't trust myself doing anything but minor adjustment - like adjusting the bridge and saddles on my SGJ.
 
I can't tell you how many time I've tried to figure out that stuff, to evaluate if a neck needed to have the truss rod adjusted - I don't even see it, not with a ruler, not with anything. It's like my brain can't compute the visual information.
 
Anything I can do by ear I'm absolutely fine though. I hear even the tiniest difference in pitch. But visually, I'm hopeless.

 
(As shown before.)
This is Walter Trout's '59 (with me fixing a broken D string).  It used to be Artic White!

Make a clock out of it.

Retire it and make a clock out of it.
 
 

what i learned in my research on building a project guitar

yeah, i know, it's blahblahblahblah..
but i thought i'd share for anyone who is interested in building project guitars..
I THINK A LOT OF TIMES...
it's really the way a guitar FEELS to the player, more than the sound that everyone else is hearing.
and that is a very tangible thing, and is personal, and can make a HUGE difference to players who are very sensitive and affected by the physical side of sonics.
 

in my years of playing, and building the odd project here and there, the one thing that i consistently saw, was that if it sounded spanky without being plugged in, it'd sound spanky plugged in.
and if it sounded dead sitting in the shop, and if i plugged it in, dead.
(now, this is not to be confused with lots of gain, and radical tone shaping, and all that...
just the basic pure sound of the guitar amplified, versus acoustically playing it)
and i've switched out bridges and electronics, even nuts, and they all did do a little something....
but i think the magic comes from the 'tone' of the neck, and the 'tone' of the body.
and then the mojo is, marrying the two together.

when i researched and built my USACG project strat my luthier and i, had at our disposal, 5 strats in house, for sell or repairs or work....

3 fender strats of various vintage and country of origin (korean, MIM, MIJ)....
and 2 brand new american made strats.
we had my luthier's WARMOTH strat and neck....
 
plus, we had a few other strat wannabes-- Godin, Ibanez, the odd project guitar..
 
we did, at various points in the discovery process, take apart most of them.
one thing i noticed, was that certain 'necks' would not pass the 'tap test'.
what the tap test was, was simply hanging the neck (with all hardware off of it) from a hanger thru a machine head hole, and 'tapping' on the wood with the finger.
 
you could rap the back of the neck with your knuckle, and you could hear a distinct 'ring' or 'tone' in the wood.
every single neck was different.
some were solid maple, some maple with maple caps, some with rosewood caps....
all different.
as you would expect.
but some were dead sounding, and some were very lively.
needless to say, the 'lively' sounding necks, sounded the best on the bodies.
the bodies, a similar thing.

when i asked for my strat body, i decided on alder, and i specifically asked for the 'lightest 2-piece alder body' they had...
why 2 piece?

i don't know, i guess cuz the nicest body i found in the test, was a lightweight, 2 piece body that had a nitro finish on it, so that's what i patterned after.
 
i also had read a lot of articles on pros that had vintage strats, and that seemed to be a common thread.
when i got my alder body, while it was still raw, it had that 'tap tone'.
 
now when we experimented with various pieces at hand, you could hear the difference in the overall sound of the guitar (plugged in or not) when switching the necks out with different bodies.
also, the necks that had vintage style truss rods (one of the reasons i went with the USACG necks over the warmoth necks) was another big 'aha'.
it seems that, the way the wood is cut, and how the truss rod was installed, made the biggest difference of all, over wood types and fingerboard selection...
i took a maple/rosewood warmoth neck, with a gibson conversion scale, the double expanding truss rod thingy (which really makes the neck heavier and somewhat dead sounding) and a/b'd it against my freshly minted USACG neck with rock maple neck and pau ferro fretboard, basically the same neck as the usacg, except for the truss rod and the fret wood.
 
no contest.
my neck had the 'tap tone', and the warmoth did not.
plain and simple.....
 
i was absolutely convinced.
another difference BETWEEN my neck and the warmoth i compared to, in particular was the construction of the 'tiltback' headstock.
the usacg uses a volute construction...
the warmoth used scarf joint.
that seems to have some bearing as well.
moral of the story....
it's gotta be the wood.

MakeShift
The GC guys always think that I am nuts.  "Why don't you plug into this Line 6 Spider, it has a killer metal selection".  

Ok, that made me LMAO. 

Yup...unplugged is about 90% of what you need to know.

I can say Warmoth is better. 

batsbrew
what i learned in my research on building a project guitar
 
 
 
 
now when we experimented with various pieces at hand, you could hear the difference in the overall sound of the guitar (plugged in or not) when switching the necks out with different bodies.
also, the necks that had vintage style truss rods (one of the reasons i went with the USACG necks over the warmoth necks) was another big 'aha'.
it seems that, the way the wood is cut, and how the truss rod was installed, made the biggest difference of all, over wood types and fingerboard selection...
i took a maple/rosewood warmoth neck, with a gibson conversion scale, the double expanding truss rod thingy (which really makes the neck heavier and somewhat dead sounding) and a/b'd it against my freshly minted USACG neck with rock maple neck and pau ferro fretboard, basically the same neck as the usacg, except for the truss rod and the fret wood.
 
 

If you are saying that the single rod truss-rod makes a big tonal difference than a double...you sure went out on a limb.
Maybe there has been somebody that has taken a single action neck apart, installed a double and put it back together but to base the claim by using different necks? - same type woods or not.
Of course there are many things about guitars that players may think make theirs have a special mojo...and that's a good thing and not something I would try to change their mind about but it's nice to know when one is going to spend time building or assembling one, what is really going to make the big difference for the money, time and effort spent.
What's next? Graphite rods kill tone? (which I would have had installed with a neck as thin as yours)
Stability and transfer of energy from the neck are very good things with many factors involved but IMO the weight and difference of the wood removed for a double action truss-rod is...choice- with the advantage of having more control of any movement with the double action the best.  
 
Difference of opinion is a good thing. Not something to argue about. I know yours and you know mine. Enough said.