Copper Firebird/Strat build.... "Coppercaster"? "Stratobird"?

stickyfiddle

The previously mooted build is go, so I’m putting the various stages of the build in on place. 

Key interesting stuff: 
Ash strat body, swimming pool route
copper leaf finish
3x Firebird pickups 
5-way blade superswitch
Neck is being pinched from my Jazzblaster, at least for now. 

I’m going for essentially Tele wiring hit with Strat 2&4 parallel positions. Master vol. & tone, no splits or taps unless I really see a good reason too. 

 The swimming pool route also means I can mess about with different pickups if the 3x FB layout doesn’t click for me. 

 I’ve never gilded anything before, let alone finished over the top of that….

Body arrived yesterday. Wish me luck!!!  

stickyfiddle

Concept via kisekae 



… and a bit of inspiration from Robbie Robertson’s bronze-dipped Strat

stickyfiddle

We are go…

stickyfiddle

Pickups also arrived today. I really hope I like them because it cost a small fortune to get 3 of the buggers!! 

stickyfiddle

And this evening was spent hunched over a folding Bosch workbench in our hallway in an attempt to not cover my whole flat in copper & glue...

First up was a little bit of sand and grain fill just to minimise sinkage. I'll actually be quite happy with a little bit of grain texture but this bit of ash is quite meaty so I'm hoping it will be just a little rather than intentional heavily-sunken finish.



I stared with the back because I had no clue how easy this would be or how well I would do at it. Turns out it's actually not that hard as long as you don't want a pristine flat finish (which I don't, thank god!). You just apply the size (gilding glue), wait about 15 mins till it squeaks when you run your knuckle across it, then carefully apply the leaf. I used tweezers and a brush for the most part, tearing each piece to minimise straight lines along the edges as that seems to be one thing that a lot of first-timers mention when talking about things they'd have done differently. This also makes handling the copper much easier as you're not worrying about keeping it pristine. 


 
Of course I had also gilded myself in the process... 




And the current status as of 11pm tonight. is below. Front & back are both done. Both will need a little bit of tidy-up work where I either hadn't applied the size consistently enough, or had let it dry too much before I got the copper on. So tomorrow once it's all fully dry I'll give it a little burnishing to smooth everything out and remove any more loose bits, then do any touchups needed. Again as I'm not going for a pristine finish I don't actually mind the odd bit of relicing, so I'll see how much I want to try and get it perfect, but for right now I'm very happy with it. 

FWIW I'm using Barnabas Metal Leaf Gilding Adhesive which didn't cost much, and this has taken 25x 14x14cm sheets of copper which between them total about £25 in materials, plus potentially a couple of cheap brushes that I guess I might not want to use for paint after this! 

Top coat will be a few layers of shellac and a lot of elbow grease, which the internet tells me should work just fine.... 

stickyfiddle

And in terms of vibe, I note Atkin have recently done a few guitars with gilded finishes, which is both great and annoying because I could've just bloody bought one. But anyway, this is a GREAT vibe and has me convinced I'm on the right track.

Obviously I don't have the black undercoat, but that's no issue. If in doubt a few dents and some dirt should do it  
 

WezV

The big issue when I was doing copper leaf was the finger prints, but I think it evened out reasonably well once I had some lacquer on it.

A light finish is best if you are happy with it wearing through.   I did some in rustins plastic coating, but it eventually cracked leaving razor sharp edges

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I think I'm print-free so far, though honestly I'm knackered and have an early start so haven't scrutinised yet. Will see how I feel about it after work tomorrow  

GavRichList

Needs one more nod to Firebird for me. Maybe a logo on the plate? 

stickyfiddle

GavRichList said:

Needs one more nod to Firebird for me. Maybe a logo on the plate? 

I have been thinking about it but not sure there's a way to add anything to guard without it looking crowded. 

Long term if I like it as much as I'm hoping then a two-tone Tele-over-Strat outline headstock could be super cool. But I'm guessing that might cost quite a chunk to commission as a one-off..!

GavRichList

Well I was going to say a Firebird headstock but agree, that’d be spenny! 

GavRichList

In the short term… gibson knobs maybe? 

stickyfiddle

Poss just a Trini/NR Firebird headstock shape could also work. Still feels like a major expense I probably don't need though. 

Let's wait and see if I even like the pickups. If not I'm gonna try a PFA in the bridge as the next stop

stickyfiddle

GavRichList said:

In the short term… gibson knobs maybe? 

Oh 100% - I'm going master vol & master tone with silver-top Gibson knobs  

I've never particularly liked Strat knobs on anything so they were never an option here. If the Gison ones don't feel right I'll go chunky Tele ones

GavRichList

stickyfiddle said:

GavRichList said:

In the short term… gibson knobs maybe? 

Oh 100% - I'm going master vol & master tone with silver-top Gibson knobs  

I've never particularly liked Strat knobs on anything so they were never an option here. If the Gison ones don't feel right I'll go chunky Tele ones

Splendid choice 

GavRichList

Could you get an ABR and stop tail on? 

stickyfiddle

GavRichList said:

Could you get an ABR and stop tail on? 

Haha certainly if I filled the trem hole. Looks a bit wrong though. Maybe a wraparound could be better 

What’s good about this build at least is I don’t give 2 shits about it being “vintage correct” or whatever, so I’m relatively free to hack it about a bit if I want to. 

GavRichList

stickyfiddle said:

GavRichList said:

Could you get an ABR and stop tail on? 

Haha certainly if I filled the trem hole. Looks a bit wrong though. Maybe a wraparound could be better 

What’s good about this build at least is I don’t give 2 shits about it being “vintage correct” or whatever, so I’m relatively free to hack it about a bit if I want to. 

Oh yeah, that does look shite. Suppose given it’s a 3 pickup, it should really be a maestro! 

WezV

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, I think I'm print-free so far, though honestly I'm knackered and have an early start so haven't scrutinised yet. Will see how I feel about it after work tomorrow  

You will probably find some appear as the copper starts to oxidise

richman6100

@stickyfiddle Really enjoying this thread already. Love how you're taking a ubiquitous model and putting your own twist on it. As a fan of Firebird pickups, I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts on how they work in a Strat. 

stickyfiddle

WezV said:

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, I think I'm print-free so far, though honestly I'm knackered and have an early start so haven't scrutinised yet. Will see how I feel about it after work tomorrow  

You will probably find some appear as the copper starts to oxidise

Now you tell me!!  

Then I may be buggered - we'll see. I have plenty of spare copper for another layer if needed. Will see what it looks like once I'm potentially ready to finish it