back in pandemia....

 Right then, been a while and a lot has happened...

..had to kick-start the blogger again and change the password as they didn't even realise I was still alive, and who would know nowadays with the covid pandemia changing the global living stats...stats, add an R and we're into strats...

whats coming up? Some of the new projects, old projects, guitars, gear, bikes, horses

leave it there...

24karats Schecter Iroko

Biggest Pedal ever.....Guyatone FR3000V

recent purchase...reckon if I was going to source reverb it would have to be a full reverb tank and not a tiny pedal emulating springs..
took a lot of reading up before going ahead and purchasing the beast that will come in from germany, which is handy. will use a 230/110 Volt converter.
Together using the Silver Jubilee Marshall head I'm expecting some great headroom without having to bother with a fender amp. This tank gets the thumbs up over the fender ri and more.

I actually never knew that Marshall actually built their own reverberation tank between the 60s-70s. makes the Guyatone dna look fairly obvious....costs wise your looking at five times the costs of a Guyatone...

The Blue Burst ver.1

the long wait was over. Been waiting an age for the body to arrive and things got rather frustrating when as opposed to 5 days it took 3 weeks to arrive..
...but it did. These bodies are not cheap. And with a weight of 2.15 lbs and the finish I can understand why. Coupled with a purchase I made back in 2009, a Warmoth modern C pro series with AAA Birdseye maple and Brazilian rosewood fret board , things were heating up. Now, some people scribble that these necks rob tone. An interesting point indeed and one to keep in mind. With a body weight of 2.15 the resonance is quite incredible.
I had enough lying around to stick it together just to get a version 1. The fact that the fullertons arrived at the same time had me deciding to try them out. Once I had the parts on the table I decided to go for another pick guard, which i also bought a while back. I had plans on using a different bridge with brass saddles, brass claw and silent springs, so that's happening possibly....meantime, here are some pics of the initial set up. the pickups are amazing. the hype is right!

so in the dark wee hours she came together. As I wrote, a few minor changes, color tones on knobs and pickup covers , bridge...maybe with brass saddles to go with brass nut and then as mentioned a brass claw and silent springs. Although, the sound is already there...

Lets see what all the fuss is about...

So, winter is the time to get stuck into projects and the past week has thrown up a few kick-starters.
The 5110 Marshall is getting an upgrade, with an Eminence texas heat speaker as well as some internals replaced; many years ago I read about a pedal made by Blackstone in the states. Came across the desk as it was apparently Billy Gibbons fav pedal. As the price was quite high I left it at that, but recently, in fact only a few days back, one came up on the UK flea bay and that saves in import taxes and costs. So that's on the way as well. So a few pots, stereo jacks and some fixing up on some of the guitars that needed a service, has had me busy.
With the Blue Burst body hopefully on the way...still..( was meant to be here on the 28th dec but some shady Italian people claim the swedish customs refused it entry..), I've been considering what to fit as pickups. I have a few choices if I want to cannibalise, and I've also been looking at just about set available, from hot noiseless Jeff beck to Bare knuckle sets. Just as the wallet was stopping smouldering from the purchases, a set of original red bobbin Fullertons from 82 came up on a more local website. sets of 82's usually hit the 1000 plus dollar mark. At the asking price I had to buy them, otherwise I'd kick myself. So things are gonna get busy!

First official day of winter and projekt X kicks off...Blue Burst !

it's late into the year for the official announcement that the five days of 0 degrees means we can officially kick off winter.

Cut a long story short, a while back i picked up an amazing modern C Warmoth pro series neck. Birdseye maple with a rosewood slab, and a brass nut fitted (Fender Malmsteen part number) and yet this neck had never really had a body that really fitted the neck.

Not sure why, but it suddenly dawned on me that maybe the best move would be to find a warmth body. And so the looking began on the bay. Didn't take long before I found exactly what I thought would do the trick....with the reasoning being the fact that this body was under 3 Lbs swamp ash and  looked different enough to start actually building a project that would be different to the rest of my others.

Liking the look of this blue burst and especially the weight, with a rear and sides that are black.

so, time to take apart another guitar that I wasn't 100% happy with which sources pretty much everything required: Warmoth pro series neck, hardware...and pretty much everything except pickups.

so then it would be down to the usual questions...pickguard...which one...

I have a 77 original black pick guard if required...but I went for a white solid three ply custom pick guard which i found on the bay. Single ply but same thickness as a three ply pick guard.

so as usual we shall see how that pans out as both black and white do the job on a blue burst...

so, we shall see once everything is setup on the work bench. However, this photograph that I found out there seems to be the way I will go...

next week should see the start of parts dropping through the door, although knowing the post at xmas it's probably gonna go together in 2017...

liking the set up between black, burst and ash piping..this isn't the same body as mine due to pickup cavities, but same burst and setup..

I'll update once she comes together...

MV front stand

One of those JV August '82 SQUIER Strats

This came up a week ago on the bay. export model with Japanese pick guard and pickups. Clean export model with a neck date from august 82. Did some research and apparently the dubious models came out in october, and later. Anything pre-october is meant to be high build. Apparently the first run and second run are the same guitar but with different decals on the neck, which of course means the collectors pay more for the first run.