When did 'partscasters' become a thing?

Stuckfast

Just bought a Strat which might have started life as a Tokai, but now has a Warmoth neck and replacement pickups and so on. But all of this was clearly done to it in the late 80s or early 90s. It got me wondering, when did this sort of thing start happening on a regular basis? I think of it as a modern fad but it's obviously been going on a while.

Richardj

Considering Clapton's 'Blackie' and 'Brownie' were both assembled from various other guitars and I'm sure David Gilmour's have had a few major bits changed too, it's been going on a while

TTBZ

Seems like it's been going on for ages, definitely as long as I've been on forums way back in the HC glory days and no doubt long before that.

The whole idea of it makes sense to me so long as you're not concerned about resale. To me all Fenders feel like something that's just been bolted together so might as well do it yourself to the exact specifications you want.

Jack_

EVH probably made the idea quite popular? Had been going on before him, but everyone knows the story of the Frankenstein.

WezV

Other than the rebuilt fenders (and Leo's intention that fender necks should be replaced when worn) it really started with the burst of aftermarket parts in the mid 70's.

You can trace it through companies such as Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, Schecter, Carvin which all helped give birth to a true partscaster ethos.  Warmoth and Mighty mite were in place by the 80's.

Then there was a second burst caused by the growth of forums

WezV

Jack_ said:

EVH probably made the idea quite popular? Had been going on before him, but everyone knows the story of the Frankenstein.

And Brian May's self build.  It may have been a log way from a partscaster, but it probably a lot of people down the partscaster route when they started to research how to build a guitar.  It certainly did with me

Maybe we should include the release of Melvyn Hiscock's "how to built your own electric guitar" as a turning point for many - again it covers full builds and partscasters as a way into it and was the best source of info for the pre/early-internet generation

richardhomer

Certainly before 'being a thing' became a thing....

octatonic

richardhomer said:

Certainly before 'being a thing' became a thing....

Lol, nice.

guitars4you

WezV said:

You can trace it through companies such as Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, Schecter, Carvin which all helped give birth to a true partscaster ethos.  Warmoth and Mighty mite were in place by the 80's.

I think prior to that it was either home build in the instance of Brian May and so forth - Or Blackie style - 

But the big growth was the likes of Schecter, Mighty Mite, DiMarzio - later fueled by the Far Eastern invasion

My personal preference is to hot rod say a Squier or Tokai, or anything similar with a godo chassis - Highway 1's are a good example -  As against buying a Warmouth/WD

ESBlonde

During the mid to late 70s the disillusion of many people with the then current production of the American Giants and the generally poor quality of the Japanese offerings of the day led to people hot rodding thier guitars. All sorts of things were happening like hollowing out strats to put in humbuckers or brass nuts and saddles. Additional circuits and switches (look at the John Birch trend filling modifications). When your mainstream options are limited the individual flare shows in other ways, remember the star shaped guitars used by ABBA or Slades Dave Hill and his unique custom jobs. The market sort of filled the void and DiMarzio, Schecter et el jumped on the chance.
What is really interesting is how many of these 'butchered' guitars have mirraculously vanished to re-emerge as pristine originals of a certain vintage.

impmann

ESBlonde said:

.
What is really interesting is how many of these 'butchered' guitars have mirraculously vanished to re-emerge as pristine originals of a certain vintage.

Amen!

There was a local musician to me when I was growing up, who had an early 60s Strat. This had been painted (using Holts Duplicolour paint from the local car accessory shop) in black, with a black headstock. It had a brass scratchplate containing a DiMarzio PAF neck pickup, a DiMarzio X2N bridge pickup and a DiMarzio Single coil (with hex head pole pieces), all controlled by mini toggle switches (including coil switching, phase and series/parallel). It had big frets (don't know about the radius. It had a Kahler trem (gold) and a gold/brass jack plate (engraved with his initials). It sounded like beast and he used it to play in local pubs in various covers bands.

He died about 12 years ago and the guitar was sold to a well-known local guitar dealer - and vanished. Although a while later he had a '62 that had a "older refinish" in aged Candy Red with a fresh refret with "vintage" frets - if you caught it in the right light, you could see the lines where a Kahler had been infilled... same guitar? Probably.

Point is, I guarantee it was a *better* guitar in modded form that it would ever be as a "restored" original guitar - by the time all the wood was 'put back' I'm sure it wouldn't resonate as nicely.

guitars4you

ESBlonde said:

During the mid to late 70s the disillusion of many people with the then current production of the American Giants and the generally poor quality of the Japanese offerings of the day led to people hot rodding thier guitars. All sorts of things were happening like hollowing out strats to put in humbuckers or brass nuts and saddles. Additional circuits and switches (look at the John Birch trend filling modifications). When your mainstream options are limited the individual flare shows in other ways, remember the star shaped guitars used by ABBA or Slades Dave Hill and his unique custom jobs. The market sort of filled the void and DiMarzio, Schecter et el jumped on the chance.
What is really interesting is how many of these 'butchered' guitars have mirraculously vanished to re-emerge as pristine originals of a certain vintage.

I have quoted that many many times - SD Dimarzio in the bridge was common on a Strat - brass top nut - natural stripped back finish - Mighty Mite brass saddles - And as you say they have become original again - When did you last see a pre-CBS Strat for sale with such mods I have detailed - Yet I recall when they were common in many stores 

JayGee

guitars4you said:

ESBlonde said:

During the mid to late 70s the disillusion of many people with the then current production of the American Giants and the generally poor quality of the Japanese offerings of the day led to people hot rodding thier guitars. All sorts of things were happening like hollowing out strats to put in humbuckers or brass nuts and saddles. Additional circuits and switches (look at the John Birch trend filling modifications). When your mainstream options are limited the individual flare shows in other ways, remember the star shaped guitars used by ABBA or Slades Dave Hill and his unique custom jobs. The market sort of filled the void and DiMarzio, Schecter et el jumped on the chance.
What is really interesting is how many of these 'butchered' guitars have mirraculously vanished to re-emerge as pristine originals of a certain vintage.

I have quoted that many many times - SD Dimarzio in the bridge was common on a Strat - brass top nut - natural stripped back finish - Mighty Mite brass saddles - And as you say they have become original again - When did you last see a pre-CBS Strat for sale with such mods I have detailed - Yet I recall when they were common in many stores 

For me this is actually a crying shame. 

Not only is it creating a whole bunch of guitars with (at best) dubious provenance but it's throwing away part of our heritage. Those "hot rod" guitars were an important part of the evolution of the electric guitar, a "missing link" between the original iconic designs and modern shred machines, often with an idiosnyncratic charm of their own. In their way they're just as irreplacable as the originals. 

Also I *like* guitars with a story to tell, if I wanted an immaculate, unmolested, original spec Stratocaster I'll buy something from the Custom Shop, if I'm buying vintage I damned well want it to look vintage, so, it's "player grade" with the odd mismatched part, extra screw holes, and (as long as the whole thing actually works as a guitar on some level) the odd period (or post-period) "upgrade" every time for me...

sawyer

Built one bout 2years ago. 12inch rad neck,Irongear pickups,Kluson vintage tuners,all CTS pots/input,blocked trem,lightly reliced.That's it in avatar. Tremendous fun and one of my faves. Get the spec you want and the joy of building it at a reasonable price..Currently building a single humbucker beast. Everyone should build one! Think they'll always exsist. It's human nature to want to build/create/improve (if you get it right)

Bridgehouse

JayGee said:

For me this is actually a crying shame. 

Not only is it creating a whole bunch of guitars with (at best) dubious provenance but it's throwing away part of our heritage. Those "hot rod" guitars were an important part of the evolution of the electric guitar, a "missing link" between the original iconic designs and modern shred machines, often with an idiosnyncratic charm of their own. In their way they're just as irreplacable as the originals. 

Also I *like* guitars with a story to tell, if I wanted an immaculate, unmolested, original spec Stratocaster I'll buy something from the Custom Shop, if I'm buying vintage I damned well want it to look vintage, so, it's "player grade" with the odd mismatched part, extra screw holes, and (as long as the whole thing actually works as a guitar on some level) the odd period (or post-period) "upgrade" every time for me...

Strangely, as a vintage owner, I actually totally agree with you.

Sadly, the market doesn't, because