We have lift off on a S type build! (Guitar not a car!)- Behold the Feeder Caketaster!

DrJazzTap

So....

As a few people may know, I kind of fell in love with an american 59 reissue about a month ago. After thinking long and hard about it, I came to the conclusion that I'd be uncomfortable spending that much money on a Strat....... I do like Strat's, I just don't want to drop that much money on one!

Work has been pretty dire lately. I have a new boss, who by all accounts seems to fill the criteria of a being a great boss.

• spends all day "looking busy"
• is entirely clueless
  
• and makes mistakes which defy all known logic

Anyway, I'm sure others have suffered the same. I know i have, and by all accounts it's time for me to move on.

So to alleviate the BS at work, and to scratch an itch. i've just bought these.

I've no intention of branding this with an F logo, I'll come up with something suitably squiggly. I was advised not to buy a cheap flamey neck from ebay. And this has pretty much everything i was after, chunky profile with a 9 1/2 radius.
Because the body has a nice grain, I'm not sure what to do colour wise. I was thinking wudtone, surfer girl. But then I did think sunburst. It would seem a shame to cover up that grain. The guitar will be vintage spec'd, so klusons, six point trem with low out put pickups in. I know that it won't be cheap. And if I were to sell it, it would be worth half what I'd invested. I just wanted to do something to occupy the time. At the moment I'm playing too many video games, and I imagine applying a wudtone finish could be kind of therapeutic?

Handsome_Chris

This is really cool.

I'm going to be in Bristol soon on course. Please may I come and see your guitar in progress?

DiscoStu

Go homebrew!

I've got a long overdue La Cab Tele half built in a cupboard because the custom shop version is ridiculous money.

Progress pics please!

mudslide73

I know this is my answer to everything... go blonde It'll be great.

xJonnysixstring

www.eternal-guitars.com, My business partners brand, we also do finishing in house if you get stuck, I have a lovely figured T body at the moment being done in transparent surf green, kind of a Mary Kay trans finish.

stonevibe

I built my own and thats why I am moving on my Fenders...

ThePrettyDamned

That's a nice looking guitar body!

DrJazzTap

Hi guys

thanks for all the input, my friend who builds relics also recommended a mary kaye style finish. The guitar which got away for me was my old Strat Plus (px'd for the SG).


So I was tempted to do a guitar in a the vein of a Plus. But then I'm no Jeff Beck! And a subtle warble is more than enough for me

I am thinking about cream/off white/blonde now. My old american special was a FSR honey blonde which I fitted a set of Tortoiseshell pickguards to.


Although I think from the looks of it, the body I'm getting has a more attractive grain pattern. I would like something slightly different though, in terms of pickguards what's the best combo? Anything considered apart from black
:-?

@handsomechris i'd love to say yes, but at this moment in time I'm living with the folks at the moment (saving for a mortgage, another reason I went against spending £1600 on a fender. I also spent a wad on a PRS just after Christmas) But......if it's a weekend, I could swing into Bristol for a pint and a chat. I'm not sure how fast I'm going to move this project on. i've got the Tokai and the PRS in the repair shop at the moment, so that will be a wad of cash this month. Most likely I will try and grab a loaded pickguard next month, and then the last bits of the hardware in May.

I will definitely be posting pics of the build though chaps, I love looking at these sort of things being assembled, so no doubt others will be interested

@Johnnysixstring thanks bud I have checked out your website. And again thanks for the offer.

Oh has anybody else used a wudtone kit? Some look really good, others hmm not so good.

matone

Looking at the guitars you`ve owned and the `59 CS you liked,I think you have to finish your own build in
nitro to get the vibe you`re after.
 Seen some wudtone finished stuff and it`s ok but not `right` if you know what I mean.
Hth.

DrJazzTap

matone said:

Looking at the guitars you`ve owned and the `59 CS you liked,I think you have to finish your own build in
nitro to get the vibe you`re after.
 Seen some wudtone finished stuff and it`s ok but not `right` if you know what I mean.
Hth.

I know what you mean, some of them look great. And some of them.....well they look a bit like encores. I dont really want to cover the guitar in a heavy finish, I think a transparent blonde finish subtly reliced would look sweet.

matone

That, or the body would look good in clear/tinted lacquer !

Megii

Really looking forward to following this build - you may not get the resale value the guitar deserves, but done right, you can still end up with a guitar that looks and plays way beyond what you will spend on parts. Re the finish, can I just say that swamp ash looks nice with a hand applied Tru Oil finish? And Tru Oil is fairly easy to use too. This is my own strat, which has a swamp ash Guitarbuild body, similar to yours, Tru Oil finish:

Megii

Should add - the Tru Oil does give the wood a bit darker and warmer tone.

matone

What method did you use with the Tru oil ?

Ash looks great with clear !

Megii

matone said:

What method did you use with the Tru oil ?

Ash looks great with clear !

Just applied by hand, using paper kitchen towels! Started with a reasonably generous application for the first coat - since the oil wants to soak into the wood somewhat. And then very thin coats, and smoothed down with 1200 grit sandpaper inbetween the first few coats, then 0000 Liberon wire wool between the later coats. I deliberately left the grain texture unfilled, although it doesn't show much in the above pic. Do agree ash looks great with clear though - really a beautiful wood to look at I think.

mudslide73

I know I wheel this out at any opportunity but trans blonde looks great on ash. (this is by MJT)

DrJazzTap

Thanks guys

@megli that clear finish does look rather nice. I do fancy something with a bit of colour, well I've got a few ideas bubbling away

@mudslide73 that also looks nice, as you can see i've had a honey blonde strat before. I do fancy a bit of change.

I have pretty much gone off of the idea of a wudtone finish. It's pretty much hit or miss.

I've decided Im going to ask nicely for my friend to finish the guitar for me.

Well so far the body and neck have turned up. They weren't lying about it being chunky! I would say its on a par with my SG! Little bigger than I was expecting, but bigger neck bigger tone in my book :P

I have a few items on order at the moment mu ha ha


Tweed case from Thomann - £35

I wanted to keep the guitar old school, but I kind of fell in love with the locking tuners on the PRS. I then found out about these!!



Kluson locking tuners!!


Graph Tech Nut

Oh and I won these on ebay as well, hand wound vintage spec'd 60s pickups



i've decided to go for a reliced vibe something along these lines


So I need to get a decent trem system (six point), jack socket, pickguard and knobs then fingers crossed off we go

Loobs

Is it so terrible to say 'Strat'...? 

DrJazzTap

Loobs said:

Is it so terrible to say 'Strat'...? 

Ha ha I don't have a problem with the S word, it's just you know how picky and precious people can get about these things. And the last thing I want to do is offend anyone. "this isn't a strat blah, blah, blah".

I dont want to put a Fender logo on the guitar as it's a partsacaster. To me it's kind of like a kit car project

DrJazzTap

So this is what i have so far guys. Frankly amazed by Thomann, ordered on wednesday and it turned up today! I just need to get a pickguard, trem, wiring sorted and decide on a colour combo

ThePrettyDamned

Regarding wudtone, it's fairly easy - the effort is in the prep work.

For the dye based kits, sand to 240 grit all over, for the solid colour type kits, 320 is fine. I did a tele body in t bird and, in essence, I didn't sand anywhere near enough and there were a few tooling marks. Sadly, I had to sell the body on but it still looked good.

My prs alike is in the making and it's turning out quite nice. Not a flawless finish, but it does look good.