Guitar Project 2010

[EVP]

This is the first of three that I am building this year from parts. Black with white pickguard and
David Gilmour EMG set. She sounds and plays beautifully too. It still needs a new compensated nut
and a string tree to be installed very soon.  Next up will be a Candy Apple red with
Rosewood fingerboard and more traditional passive pickups,more of a take on a 60's strat.
The third is going to be VERY special as it will be a 12 string Telecaster. Stay tuned.

[Dave M]

Nice ... using Fender parts or other ?

[Pedro]

That's Fender guitar parts, not bits of car bumpers....right?  

[EVP]

It's actually all from after market parts but parts built to spec and licensed by Fender(bodies and necks)
The trem is the Gotoh and right to 56mm spacing spec for Fender vintage trems. It's got a steel block
and it works quite well.

Back around 1998 I bought a Deluxe strat plus and I wasn't too impressed considering the $1100
I paid at the time. It had that gawd awful swimming pool rout under the pickgaurd. The fancy
Floyd Rose/Fender hybrid trem(Fender owned Floyd Rose back then)was functional and worked well
but kinda sucked the tone out. To put it bluntly Fender was not making things up to great quality
they were known for years for.

It was then that I discovered the kind of sound I was after and realized after pricing out parts
I could actually build a much better guitar for at least the same amount of money, and afterwards
it actually cost me around $750 by the time I was done.  Since then I've never bought a real
Fender off the shelf. This is the 3rd one I've built. It takes some patience and time but in the end
it's worth it and very gratifying knowing that you can build your own great playing and sounding
instrument. It makes a good winter time hobby as well and fights the winter blues for me.
There is a certain kind of challenge and determination to make the different parts fit.

Now days Fender has completely turned around and they do produce some good quality
stuff right off the lines. Most of the time there is a certain combination of color and other
features that I just can't find anywhere for the right price so I just assume keep making
stuff customized to my taste. I have a few books and videos and have accumulated various
tools to do the job over the past 10 years or so. I need to find a house where I can set up my
own little work shop.

[Mouse]

Now days Fender has completely turned around and they do produce some good quality stuff right off the lines.

My new Fender Strat is definitely proof of this.    I'm thinking about fitting it with the (drool!) Gilmour EMG pickups, but I might save that for a time a little further down the line. Or for another Strat.

Your's is a fab looking axe, I should add too!  

[Dave M]

Strats are like Pringles .. impossible to have just one !

I have a custom shop 62 with a modern bridge and stainless block ... the neck is just gorgeous in the hand, I truely love it, but I lust after another ...

[drblowthingsup]

OOH, very interested to know how things go
I'm currently doing up an old SX GG2, but i wasnt brave enough to do it with anything expensive as its my first time lol

[Geetar]

I love Strats, and have a favourite '74 that's about to go off to the luthier for a major overhaul. But my real passion is superstrats (my main humbucker guitar right now is an original Kramer Baretta, with a newer JB pickup in it), and the idea of trying to beat the Tom Anderson and John Suhr guitars I've tried lately has been growing on me. I love HSS layouts, and the Baretta and '74 aren't about to undergo that kind of surgery.

I have two luthier friends whose work I think is brilliant; so I'm going to get each of them to build me a guitar carcass (just the woodwork, bridge installation and SS frets), and see what they can do. I've spent the last month on wood selection, design and drawings, and now it's time to hit the "go" button. One will be mahogany neck and body with a maple top, and the other alder and maple with a rosewood f/b.

EVP, I'd like to watch your progress, so keep us up-to-date on your guitars if you can.

Mouse, have you tried the Eric Johnston strat? I like it a lot, and that's the first time I've said that about a new Fender in decades.

Dave M- which bridge? I'm going with the Gotoh 510TS, the modern saddle version of EVP's.

How big a neck do you all like, and am I the only one who likes a very flat radius?

[Dave M]

The Strat has a Fender custom shop bridge unit, with chrome plated individual brass saddles and a stainless steel trem block .. its so well set up, keeps tune brilliantly. I got luck with this one, I've tried a few lately at the new Birmingham GuitarGuitar shop, and non felt as goods as mine. It has a standard 9.5 radius, however I do like a flatter radius.

2 years ago I got a custom made Martyn Booth Special ... I chose everything for it from the mahogany body and neck, the maple cap, the rose wood fret board, stainless jumbo frets, gotoh pigtail intonable bridge, custom wound Bare Knuckle pick ups etc .. it's a real beauty, so much natural ring and sustain in the guitar, for less that the price of PRS .. that has a flatter 10.5 inch radius and is a dream to play.

Load up some pics as you go, fascinated to see the progress  

[Mouse]

Mouse, have you tried the Eric Johnston strat? I like it a lot, and that's the first time I've said that about a new Fender in decades.

I'm afraid not. There are only two guitar shops that I know of in Hull, and both don't tend to get in many models outside of the standard range and the cheap copies, etc. What really gets to me is that there's not one decent keyboard retailer.  :evil:

Anyway, I've tried a few Strats - a 1970s model and a special edition with a V neck - and I found the latter to be wonderfully comfortable. The '70s one is just to big for my stubby little fingers. The Standard Mexican model that I've got suits me perfectly. The neck's not too thick and the fretboard's sort of flat and it just sings... I love it.  :mrgreen:

[EVP]

The guitar is pretty much finished. I broke down and decided to get a new set of tuners.
I had plain old Schaller's from an older guitar I've had for 12 years and realized they weren't
cutting it, so I got a brand new set of Schaller locking ones. They are staggered height
across the posts so the string breaks at a more correct angle over the nut. I replaced the standard
nut with an Earvana compensated nut as well which has improved the tone and it plays
in tune more accurately across the fingerboard now.

I HIGHLY recommend the Gilmour EMG system. It's a bit pricey($299 USD) but it is completely solder-less
and installs in minutes on any guitar. If you buy a lithium battery it should last a few years providing you
remember to unplug when your done playing It takes some getting used to if you are more familiar
with traditional strat tone controls but once you get the hang of it you can dial in a wide variety of tones
from glassy clean cutting rhythm to fat lead blues ones. I should also add that I swapped the standard
5 way switch out for a German made Mega-switch which allows both the bridge and neck p/u's in the
middle position. I can now have a telecaster kind of sound in there too. Great for rhythm stuff!

I brought the guitar over to a friends house and we plugged it into an amp. It was the first time actually
playing it and I was pleasantly surprised. The moment I attached the strap and put it on I knew it was
going to be a very special guitar. it's a different personality than any of the others I've had. I have no problem
with this being my main guitar. I'm debating what the next project will be. I think I'm going to jump
into making the 12 string next. I'll have more pics to post soon.

[rogerg]

sounds very schmecksy!!!