NGD Partscaster

soma1975 · August 2020

Been without a Strat for a couple of months for the first time in like 30 years waiting on the body but am super happy with it. Great job @GoldenEraGuitars .

Inside 10mins of starting the build I did a terrible job with drilling stuff and managed to strip 2 bridge screws so was ready to smash the whole thing to pieces. Chilled for new screws to arrive and I now have a working Strat that sounds great.

Because Scott's lovely work on this is quite subtle it doesn't photograph too well in a normal phone cam environment. Will get it into my product shooting table soon and light it properly but here you go for now.

Currently:

2006 Fender Classic Player 60s neck from my old guitar, really poorly fret dressed by me. Will get a new neck at some point.

Body commissioned from SC Relics - really light nitro checking/ageing so it will age along with me.

Mark Foley vintage repro Strat bridge

Mark Foley Pre-CBS 6os strat pickups with custom magnet stagger for a compound neck (when I get it)

CTS TVT pots - tone control on bridge pickup. No treble-bleed.

Other hardware from Art of Ageing and scratchplate from Charles Guitar. Nowhere near as read in real life as in the pics.

Just testing some ageing on some screws at the mo as I ran out of ones for the output jack and no point buying just two.

Tweaking the setup at the mo - Got it about 90% fret-buzz free for now. G string not perfect tuning wise which is odd as the nut and tuners were perfect on the old guitar so will look at that. Think it all needs to bed in few a little while before i do anything drastic.

Overall super super happy. Sexy pics to come soon.

gusman2x · August 2020

Oh man!

I have a candy green strat on order with the same level of ageing. Cannot wait. The lacquer cracking is gorgeous.

I have a Classic 60s neck to go on it. I simply cannot wait. Unsure whether I will put it together myself, or get my tech to do it.

Did you say earlier that you had to drill out the screw holes for the claw inside the trem cavity? I thought the only holes that didn't have pilots where the the pickguard and jack plate.

soma1975 · August 2020

Yes I drilled the trem claw holes.

Nice tip here on TGP for doing it - Obviously I ignored the imperial measurements and just wedge some card underneath.

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/for-luthiers-any-tips-on-drilling-strat-trem-claw-screw-holes.909610/#:~:text=A%20Fender%20spring%20claw%20is,and%20hold%20the%20drill%20bit.

The bridge holes aren't too deep (didn;t realise and stripped some screws) so needed making deeper - which is something I butchered by not measuring properly and well, I won't be showing closeups of the underside of the trem cavity...

Will take some proper pics of the cracking in a bit.

I bet candy green is going to look super sexy.

PC_Dave · August 2020

Beauty! Love the colour!

RaymondLin · August 2020

Love finish, i can see the cracks which looks great. Not sure on the pickguard choice

What does it weight?

soma1975 · August 2020

I promise the guard isn't so red in real life. Might deshine it a bit.

Not sure of weight will check. Definitely significantly lighter than my cp60s strat.

gusman2x · August 2020

Did you find that the pre drilled holes on your CP neck lined up OK with the neck?

I have a pre wired plate coming, so I might just have a go at putting it all together myself (that was my original plan anyway). Suppose if I'm not happy with the finished output, I can still give it to my local tech to sort out.

Getting very excited.

soma1975 · August 2020

gusman2x said:

Did you find that the pre drilled holes on your CP neck lined up OK with the neck?

I have a pre wired plate coming, so I might just have a go at putting it all together myself (that was my original plan anyway). Suppose if I'm not happy with the finished output, I can still give it to my local tech to sort out.

Getting very excited.

Was a far more perfect fit than the fender body!

munckee · August 2020

Apart from the major howler (strats have maple boards obvs) looks really nice. What does the art of ageing stuff look like up close?

I ordered an Ebay relic tele pickguard a while ago and it was meh for forty odd quid, the art of ageing stuff is pricey.

soma1975 · August 2020

Yep the Charles Guitar / Art of Ageing stuff is lovely. The guard is a Charles Guitar one - lovely but possibly a touch too shiny. Aside form that it's grand and not too expensive. https://www.charlesguitars.co.uk/aged-relic/Strat-fender-style-aged-and-relic/Aged-Pickguards-Backplates/Vintage-Relic-aged-62-red-tortoise-pickguard

Never owned a maple fretboard neck. Half tempted to get an Ed O' Brien Strat neck as it has the 10/56 profile. But then I'd look like some sort of Hank Marvin wanker.