Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

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Voxshall
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Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Voxshall »

What started out as a simple exercise to build my ultimate partscaster and learn about guitar tone along the way, ended in me buying parts to complete projects only to find more left over parts that turn into more projects to complete.

I have four strats now, today a guy offered me his 63 strat for a price I couldn't say no to. I'm willing to admit now that I have serious issues.

On the plus side I have learned a lot about what makes an incredible strat incredible.

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by GrantB »

My name is Grant and I have a guitar parts purchasing problem.

So what are the secrets to making an incredible Strat?
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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Olderama »

GrantB wrote:My name is Grant and I have a guitar parts purchasing problem.

So what are the secrets to making an inedible Strat?
Marmite? :zomg:
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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by codedog »

Must... not... read... thread....nnngghhhh....

Ah... fuck it. Pretty sure I'm strong enough not to fall down this rabbit hole. What can possibly go wrong!

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Reg18 »

Got any Strat necks for sale? All I see in this thread is great opportunity’s for my next project!

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Lostininverness »

Why would you want to stop buying parts?? I see no problem here.

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Voxshall »

I guess the secret to building a great strat is having so many parts available to try on them until it sounds great. Like a neck might not sound great on one body but its awesome on another. Finished guitar is a tad dark put brighter pickups in there. It's all about balance but I was also surprised by the difference things like tuners and pots make.

I also have a love hate relationship to vintage pickguards look and feel awesome but such a pain in the ass.

I also have lots of fun measuring necks like what I feel is a thin neck ends up being thicker than what I think is a chunky neck. So strange, frets make a big difference obviously but also taper, a more extreme taper makes a neck feel more chunky at the bottom of the neck than it really is. Also realised I quite like narrow width necks at the nut on strats never ever thought I'd ever have that preference, because I love wide necks at the nut on my acoustics. Also realised even though I know my perfect neck specs doesn't mean I should use it for everything as I end up missing the variety.
Last edited by Voxshall on Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:36 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Molly »

I've done this with mixed results. Somehow all the seemingly right spec parts don't necessarily amount to a guitar you're inclined to play, or that you find inspiring. That aspect is personal and has little to do with how much you spend.

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Voxshall »

I think how much I want to play a guitar is mainly in the feel of the neck, I might have just got lucky, my 63 neck is so silky smooth I've never felt a better neck, made a well played Danocaster seem to have friction by comparison, I just smile every time I slide my hand on that bad boy. My new neck I got today another 63 has bad respray and feels awful so I'll strip that refinish off and try and get it feeling nice, has cool flame on it though.

Image

Image

My fav feeling neck

Image

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by GrantB »

Ohhhh - we need more of this 63!
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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by crowbgood1 »

Mhmm...building a guitar from parts...that's a good idea....
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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by AiRdAd »

WELCOME TO WORLD!!!!

I'm the same - I'm constantly picking up parts etc, and always swapping them around to see what works the best. THere's obviously a theory around whats things work best, but I don't know that, so I just change till it sounds good :-)

The main pitfall with having a lot of partscasters is that you will sometimes swap things around to make a guitar different to the other ones - which means instead of having one really nice strat - you've got two not so nice, but very different sounding ones - which can be a good or bad thing :-)

Another thing that can happen to me is that is that I'll end up with one that might need a bit of work to finish it off and make it feel really good. It's beyond my skill level, so I have to get it done professionally. Luckily we've got a fantastic local luthier with reasonable prices.

It's fun mucking around with them , and the results can sometimes be satisfying. And it's always easy to sell off unwanted parts.
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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Voxshall »

That's my other issue I don't want to sell any of them. I will have to come to terms with it at some stage and I plan to sell my fender customshop eventually because it's original and will get the most money. And I'm going to sell another partscaster to my cousin to keep it in the family so I can play it when ever I visit him. I'll keep one guitar all original pre cbs and keep one parts strat which is looking like it's going to end up being 50% pre cbs parts anyway.

Today I'm comparing a pre cbs bridge, wudtone bridge and fender customshop bridge. As well as raw vintage springs vs wudtone, pre cbs and customshop springs.

I got my mjt aged body today it's really impressive, as good as I've ever seen. I was worried as I thought 90% of their stuff looks really fake but then got roped in on that 10% of stuff they did that just nailed it.

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Re: Q. For partscaster builders how do I stop buying parts...

Post by Voxshall »

Grant asked me what I thought made an incredible strat, I'm no expert but from trying lots of parts etc this is my opinion as it stands today.

A good strat to me is one where all the options are very useable and enjoyable, on a strat thats not what I term incredible I find myself avoiding things, like I might not use the middle pickup or I might never use the tone control on the middle, or I don't bother to put the trem arm in, or I just use the volume as an on/off switch. An incredible strat just seems more usable, with killer tones on all the volume and tone knob positions, from tone control on the neck pickup all the way off you can just trust it's an going to sound great which leaves a good foundation for creative playing, I also like having a very usable bridge pickup without having to wire a tone control to it to tame the highs.

The last point is my number one starting point, the guitar has to have sweet high end even with lots of treble and no tone knob wired to the bridge pickup. I really like what the bridge pickup gives with no tone control, its an extra bit of punch, I want to enjoy my strat bridge pickup as much as I do a tele bridge pickup or a Les Paul and with strats that I don't class as incredible what happens is I always miss having more punch more mean or more scream in the bridge pickup. This starts with the neck and the body of the strat naturally having no harshness in the high end as this gives you the option of having a brighter lower wound bridge pickup. If the neck and body have harshness in the high end then I want to try and fix this by having a fatter sounding bridge pickup higher winds more mids and doing this presents side effects like losing that killer bridge/middle pickup combo for instance or losing some fun things using a vintage fuzz and the volume control on the bridge. Or I could fix the bridge pickup harshness with a tone control and I lose the punch and brightness when more compression comes on when pushing the tubes or speakers or increasing gain or using a compressor. My point is you start to lose usable options when covering the cracks by fixing problems in the guitar body and neck.

Another example is vintage pots, they retain the highend when you roll the volume down, if you use modern pots you either lose the high end as you roll down the vol knob or add a treble bleed which again adds some things that can make the guitar less usable to me. If the guitar doesn't have a snappy clear bass when you snap the low E string no pickup or clever electronic whatever can fix this issue without introducing less usable sounds somewhere else in the chain. So I guess an incredible strat is made up of many great aspects which all enhance each other to get an instrument that is usable in every setting, it's like playing a guitar that frets out vs one that doesn't fret out, with the one that frets out you have to remember the bends to avoid vs the one that doesn't fret out you can just forget about it and be more creative and inspired and lose yourself in whatever creation you are producing in the moment. Oh and last of all on a really incredible strat I play clean or low gain more, compared to a not so great strat where I tend to venture in the small windows of it's various sweet spots and avoid it's short comings and that often means playing with more effects or gain which completely levels the playing field at that point.

Sorry Grant can't show more picture of my new guitar as it's getting a refret (the frets were worn down as far as I've ever seen on any guitar).

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