Here is an original 77 strat , natural with tremelo..
add some mojo (see previous pics..) and a hardtail bridge and your looking at pretty much what the next project will resemble without the glare...
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Coupling...
Two vintage sd-1's running at 8,52 and 8,9 will require 1 more pickup to finish the coupling.
The question is how much 60 cycle hum will come off these pups...and who cares? Not I, for one.
Just roll down the volume to 8 or similar.The real question is what to use in the middle.
The only pickup I have sitting around is an alnico 3 Eric Johnson, probably running around 6,5 at a guess.Possibly lower. So perhaps the hunt must begin for a more balanced single coil to sit inbetween these sds, or perhaps a complete overload of ceramic and overboard winding with a dimarzio dp110 in the bridge and the sd's running middle and neck. This would be very hot across the board and of course with the fs-1 running at 13,xx it would be around 25% hotter than your averable single coil.
I only wish I hadn't off loaded that pup to Brazil.
We shall see.
basically the body, scratchplate, pups (2 of 3), neck and machine heads, pots and various knobs including a 78 5 way switch are all awaiting the rebuild.Before I even start though I feel the top 4 frets will require redressing.
Perhaps even a refinish to black nitro....voted most wanted and best guitar of the last century, the black fender strat with maple neck...as I don't have a blackie, perhaps I should look into it..
The question is how much 60 cycle hum will come off these pups...and who cares? Not I, for one.
Just roll down the volume to 8 or similar.The real question is what to use in the middle.
The only pickup I have sitting around is an alnico 3 Eric Johnson, probably running around 6,5 at a guess.Possibly lower. So perhaps the hunt must begin for a more balanced single coil to sit inbetween these sds, or perhaps a complete overload of ceramic and overboard winding with a dimarzio dp110 in the bridge and the sd's running middle and neck. This would be very hot across the board and of course with the fs-1 running at 13,xx it would be around 25% hotter than your averable single coil.
I only wish I hadn't off loaded that pup to Brazil.
We shall see.
basically the body, scratchplate, pups (2 of 3), neck and machine heads, pots and various knobs including a 78 5 way switch are all awaiting the rebuild.Before I even start though I feel the top 4 frets will require redressing.
Perhaps even a refinish to black nitro....voted most wanted and best guitar of the last century, the black fender strat with maple neck...as I don't have a blackie, perhaps I should look into it..
Now theres a bit of luck....
stop! what goes there...
Advertised as two vintage dimarzio paf pickups...
By all accounts these are by the looks of things, two vintage dimarzio super distortion 1's...
With outputs of 8,5 and 8,9 they are indeed hot.One is a bridge and the other a neck, we shall see. They are very high pups due to the rather large magnet stuck on the base..
I reckon these will suit the heavy solid alder body of the hardtail and definitly remove some of the brightness of the maple neck.
With the tele with handwound scatterwounds and the ej/srv sami special I reckon its time to build a hot rodded 70's classic.
With a black scratchguard I'll probably use the cream covers anyway with cream knobs I sourced from another project.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Dimarzio,seymour duncan..all in the wood..
so now with a new project for 2009 around the corner and the real fun starts..
There are literally hundreds af different strat combination pups on the market...
I've already got a set of custom shop eric johnsons which are nice, but were replaced by hand scatterwounds..but the ejs wouldn't cut the mustard of the latest creation...and thats were you have to do your research and know what sound your after...
a 6,5 lb lump of hardtail alder, one peice running a maple neck and your talking bright before you plug the power in...
the reason the 70s pups by dimarzio et al started to become horrendously overwound was that people didn't have the same crunch gains in the amps and the pups were too weak...
original ear splitting 50's pups are fine, but in my 70's beast I want a fatter punch .
Enter two pups immediatly..the DM Dp110 fs-1 (fs stands for fat strat)..used by greats like Gilmour, knopfler, Ramone and even The edge, the history of this pup is greatly missed by the masses.Introduced in 74 it became used as either a bridge (J ramone, Gilmour) or the neck (MK), not sure where the edge had his...
I actually had one in my univox mosrite copy and it was awesome..but sold it with the pup to Brazil..haven't heard anything since then..
So, thats on the shopping list...then, I think another vintage classic...the Dimarzio SDS 1 super distortion pup , also from the 70s
These aren't pushing out as much juice and they are a lot taller to fit in, so its a bit of a gamble..
but I reckon an sds and an fs 1 with possibly a standard 75 in the middle, this would give around 13 in the tail, 7 in the middle and 9 in the neck..
just have to get out and find them, but thats the charm of building the guitars from every nut n bolt...
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
I wish.....
20 years ago, about 20 years, maybe not even that long, 16 years ago I had a friend who worked in a guitar shop in Inverness. A guy walked in one day and sold him a matching numbers 62 fiesta red strat...I brought that same guitar over to Sweden to try and get around 1500 quid for it...nobody wanted it...it was 100% original with a slight salmon pinking after all the years...My mate sold it on for under that...you know how it is..
So, the other day I'm in ebay and I come across a perfect 62 fiesta red strat...price? £57,000
Okay, this was a museum piece and in perfect nick...but anyway...
Then, I found this one...a refinish..a 62...and I'm tempted...the price is high, higher than I've ever paid for a G, but I still remember the last one I held...
x-mas round the corner..however...project 77 starts
well, I was looking at some rather expensive fender projects and then I found the fender hardtail that had been stripped from being a sunburst (thank god, looking at some of the 77's..)
What I was looking for was a heavy solid bodied fender hardtail and at 6lbs 5 this was the answer.
The decision making process of rosewood versus maple neck started straight away and despite nearly buying a rosewood (79 modified) the owner of the body mentioned he still had the neck.
I'm a bit strange here, as I'd rather a neck that was well worn in and played than lets say a fresh sprayed Eric Johnson finished neck (although they are nice but feel sticky)..So that was that...
As usual the question of originality comes to play, but for me its the playing of the guitars, not simply locking them away as an investment..By all accounts I will fit a set of Sliders scatterwounds alnico 2's...however, I'm also tempted to refit one of my favourite pups, the dimarzio fs-1. This was introduced in 74 and used by all types of players, from Johnny Ramone to Mark Knofler and Gilmour..Its a beast of a pup sticking out 13,4 dc resistence.
With a maple neck and that much weight it ay be the very thing to add some fatness...perhaps the eric johnson neck pup from the custom shop and finish off with a 71 in the middle...5 switch from a 78 telecaster and some new pots will do, the matching numbers thing doesn't phase me, as long as they work...
The natural finish may...may be refinned to a blackie...we shall see...can't wait though to see what can be found and of course to eventually plug n play...I reckon that neck may need a dressing though....
What I was looking for was a heavy solid bodied fender hardtail and at 6lbs 5 this was the answer.
The decision making process of rosewood versus maple neck started straight away and despite nearly buying a rosewood (79 modified) the owner of the body mentioned he still had the neck.
I'm a bit strange here, as I'd rather a neck that was well worn in and played than lets say a fresh sprayed Eric Johnson finished neck (although they are nice but feel sticky)..So that was that...
As usual the question of originality comes to play, but for me its the playing of the guitars, not simply locking them away as an investment..By all accounts I will fit a set of Sliders scatterwounds alnico 2's...however, I'm also tempted to refit one of my favourite pups, the dimarzio fs-1. This was introduced in 74 and used by all types of players, from Johnny Ramone to Mark Knofler and Gilmour..Its a beast of a pup sticking out 13,4 dc resistence.
With a maple neck and that much weight it ay be the very thing to add some fatness...perhaps the eric johnson neck pup from the custom shop and finish off with a 71 in the middle...5 switch from a 78 telecaster and some new pots will do, the matching numbers thing doesn't phase me, as long as they work...
The natural finish may...may be refinned to a blackie...we shall see...can't wait though to see what can be found and of course to eventually plug n play...I reckon that neck may need a dressing though....
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