Project base

Choivert

I'd like to start a Stratocaster project. The plan is to buy a flame maple neck and paint white over sunburst with a bit of a light relic. My question is: should I buy a body and parts or am I better off buying a cheap strat and modifying it. I'm trying to be frugal so Im thinking of a HB strat in sunburst to start, buy a neck and refinish body then upgrade parts if and when I want to. Interested in thoughts?

paulnb57

What you need to do is start with something easily upgradeable, something Strat shaped may have parts specific to the brand, so it might be difficult to source upgraded parts.

So it would make sense to source either a Squier or Fender body, where Fender or Fender spec parts are likely to fit, the only downside is if you buy a complete guitar, youll end up ditching a lot of what you paid for..

Ive made upward of 20 partscasters and if I was starting out again I would invest in a Guitarbuild body and then source a Fender spec neck of choice…then hardware is a matter of preference/affordability..

Funkfingers

Choivert said:

should I buy a body and parts or am I better off buying a cheap strat and modifying it?

Buying a heap of parts to assemble yourself makes sense if you have unusual tastes in, say, pickups, vibrato systems or neck profiles.

Most of the time, it is wiser to purchase a pre-owned mid-price guitar and tweak those details that will personalise it to your requirements.

Relic finishes attempted on the cheap almost always look phoney and impossible to un-see - like a cheap toupée. 

paulnb57 said:

I would invest in a Guitarbuild body and then source a Fender spec neck of choice.

I have an unfinished project that is almost exactly the reverse. Allparts neck on a Fender MIM body, both factory cut for Floyd Rose. I really ought to get my finger out and wire the thing up. 

TTony

If you buy parts, don't assume that they'll all fit together perfectly without the intervention of some woodworking tools.

If you buy a functioning base guitar, at least you know it "works", and you can focus on the bits you want to do (the re-spray and whatever bits you want to upgrade).

Something like a s/h HB would a cheap and reliable place to start (it used to be a Yam Pacifica, but don't see those so often now)  Check the classifieds, or put up a WTB.

Choivert

This is really useful advice. My woodworking skills are okay, I've built a couple of electric guitars before (bought neck), with a couple of acoustic neck resets and have built one neck. I don't have the time at the moment to go out and build a guitar so am looking at modifying something as a smaller time investment project. I'm not too worried about getting the neck pocket to fit well etc...

I would like quite a bog standard Strat style guitar in olympic white. My plan was to buy a sunburst guitar, paint it with olympic white nitro (no clear coat) and kind of let it 'light relic' naturally. I don't want to dump loads of money into this guitar and buying parts individually adds up real quick. 

currently thinking: 

Stage 1:
Nice replacement maple neck 
HB strat in sunburst with white pickguard 
2 cans of Olympic white nitro from NW guitars

This totals about £180 at the moment 

Stage 2: if I like the guitar I will then improve/swap out:

Pickups 
Bridge 
Tuners

If I don't like the guitar I will probably be able to sell it for about £100 which isn't a huge loss. 

Choivert

Relic finishes attempted on the cheap almost always look phoney and impossible to un-see - like a cheap toupée. 

This is something I have less experience with, my plan was to artificially age the the hardware, and wait for the paint to wear over time. I'm aware that taking sandpaper to guitars and making it look genuine is pretty hard to get right. I'm trying to go for the respray over sunburst look that Fender used to do on custom model colours but am also quite happy to wait for this to happen. I'm not planning artificial lacquer checking. 

Do you have advice to make this kind of thing work better? Or where is best to spend money, I've had good results using NorthWest nitro before (although only clear coat on acoustics). 

guitargeek62

If it’s any help then I have an alder Alegree 3TSB body sat here with a satin nitro finish that could be a good base for an Oly. White overspray?

I’ve copper-shielded the cavities, and used it in place of my stock Vintera RW60s body for a little while before I sold that guitar, but otherwise it’s as-new. 

Choivert

That might be perfect gg72, I've sent you a message.