# The Official Partscaster Thread



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Lets see those builds as well as a little description of what you used to put it together


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Some old parts I had lying around.

Tele - Interesting combination of heavy neck, light body, heavy bridge, but it sounds pretty damned fine.

rosewood/rosewood Warmoth boatneck/Sperzel tuners
1-piece limba body, Peter Florance (ghost-built by Brian Monty)
Starz? Dimarzio? milled brass bridge from the wayback machine
Leonard-wound strat pickup. Lollar vintage bridge pickup, conventional wiring. Now sporting a Budz mini-humbucker.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

I call this one my old lady..

Based on mid to late 50's fender Strat...with a few modern twist. Everything from paint to aging process to final assembly and set-up by yours truely.

*Alder body with extra thin Nitro finish
Fender custom shop 62 reissue bridge aged
CTS pots with Swtichraft 5W switch and Jack.
Jon moore set of single coils
Mint Green aged Pickguard
Quarter Sawn Maple neck, nitro finish, medium C neck and 12 radius fretboard
Kluson Vintage style aged tuners
All nickel hardware.
Brass Block on the trem and the trem claw for increase substain.*


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

Nice-where did you source the knobs and pickup covers?


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

pretty much all warmoth parts, jon moore pickups.

birdseye maple neck, mary kay white swamp ash body, silver pearl guard.



















no headstock decal yet. I'll probably slap it on some time next week when I finally get around to a string change.

its a clone of this (with a few differences to suit personal taste/preference):


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## Built4Speed (Aug 31, 2009)

I really need a better pic, this was taken just before installing tuners and bridge saddles, and it's long since done. This was a pretty cheap build. SX double bound alder body, Mighty Mite satin neck, and a Fender 62 RI bridge pickup.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Here wasBody the Tele build last year. WD body with Musikraft neck. All Fender parts and Kluson tuners.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Strat build a few months prior to the Tele. WD Mary Kaye body with Musikraft neck. Fender parts and Kluson tuners.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

rollingdam said:


> Nice-where did you source the knobs and pickup covers?


if you're talking about mine....they are regular fender cover and knobs...but aged..


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

al3d said:


> if you're talking about mine....they are regular fender cover and knobs...but aged..


OK thanks-you did a good job


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

that strat looks great, scott.

almost ghost like.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Fender HS body (routed for the neck P90), Musikraft neck, Glendale bridge, 500k pots, Michael Reilander P90's (bridge and neck), 4 way switch










Fender Highway 1 body, Musikraft neck, Joe Barden bridge, SD Li'l '59, Eldred mod










Mighty Mite body, Musikraft neck (thanks Steviemac), Fender Hwy 1 bridge, SCN pick-ups, 4 way switch.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

This thread is killing me. I'm gassing for a new Strat and just received a reply from MJT about my custom build. :food-smiley-004:


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I don't know if these really count as partscasters, as they are Fender bodies and necks, but everything else has been changed out.

Blacktop Tele with JSMoore pups, changed out pots and switch, Sperzel locking tuners, graphtec saddles, I forget what the bridge is maybe bezdez. Bumps on finish are reflection of the ceiling above.


Squier CV 60's routed for humbucker (DiMarzio PAF Pro), Gotoh bridge, changed pots, aged knobs and pickguard. This one sounds really FAT.


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## dmc69 (Jan 20, 2011)

Mighty Mite quilted maple/ash body, Warmoth neck with ebony board, Floyd Rose Original bridge + R4 nut, and 2 Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbuckers. Weight: 11lbs!


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## noman (Jul 24, 2006)

I've got quite a few as well........

View attachment 3592


CV60's body (butchered by your's truly to cram the humbuckers in there!).....Burstbuckers installed, custom warmoth guard, allparts neck

View attachment 3593


Great playing relic. Body from a builder at TGP, Klein 65 pick-ups, Callaham bridge assembly, allparts HUGE neck. Neck was plekked (not by me) and really is stunningly easy to play. 

View attachment 3594


My 54 clone project. Custom shop body, Lollar Dirty Blondes, Callaham bridge assembly, Fender 54 RI neck, expensive plastic (crazy prices), pick-up covers done by me since the knobs took up my budget. Sounds great but needs some tweaking since the the action is a bit higher than I like. Still, love the look of a 1954!


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I like a man that can admit he butchered one.


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## noman (Jul 24, 2006)

GuitarsCanada said:


> I like a man that can admit he butchered one.


Yes, I didn't have access to a router at the time so I used a chisel!! Very unprofessional but it worked! It's kind of my Jimmy Herring tribute!!


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

I'll post pics later, but two of my favourite guitars ever are partscasters. 

My favourite guitar I've ever owned is a Strat-style guitar with these specs:



One-piece ash body with a two-tone nitro sunburst finish.
One-piece quarter-sawn Brazilian rosewood neck.
Callaham trem.
Bareknuckle Irish tour pickups for neck and middle.
Bareknuckle Nailbomb bridge pickup.
I think it just has locking Schaller tuners, but I don't remember. Gotta check when I take pics.

It's possibly the best-sounding, best-feeling guitar I've ever played. In any case, I really enjoy it and I don't intend to ever buy off-the-shelf again.

Another bitser guitar has these specs:



One-piece mahogany SG body, finished with red dye and nitro.
Padouk neck with ebony fretboard.
Some kinda hard-tail bridge, though I forget the model name. It's different to the common ones.
Lollar P90 in the neck
Bareknuckle Warpig humbucker in the bridge
Gotoh tuners.

That one is a very nice guitar, but not as lively sounding as the Strat. It's awesome for blues and heavier stuff. This was my first real build/assembly on my own and I made some mistakes, but I am really happy with how it all came together in the end.


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

Sketchy pics but they give you an idea of the quality of the wood used. This is was probably my all-time favourite build...and the only one I've hung onto. Nitro finished 1-piece MusiKraft ash body and vintage spec Warmoth birdseye neck that fit together _perfectly_. Bone nut, Callaham hardware, and Kent Armstrong pickups. I tried A LOT of pickups in this guitar, including some _very_ expensive boutique sets, and the KAs won out hands down in this particular application.
View attachment 3648
View attachment 3649


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Interesting on the Kent Armstrong. Very reasonably priced pick-ups


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## BEACHBUM (Sep 21, 2010)

2012 Amercian Standard body, bridge and hardware. EMG OC1 loaded guard. 83 Fullerton neck.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

BEACHBUM said:


> 2012 Amercian Standard body, bridge and hardware. EMG OC1 loaded guard. 83 Fullerton neck.



Very nice indeed


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Some nice looking guitars here. Nice work


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## julienpier (Aug 7, 2009)

This urge my craving to start my Jazzmaster!!!
Your guitars are amazing!


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

There are some great guitars here. I'm still working on my partscaster Esquire. It's going slowly.


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## Rudder Bug (Nov 21, 2011)

This was my first project, two and a half years ago. Found everything on Ebay. Fited her with a very nice MIM 2011 neck. The guitar played wondefully right out of the bench.







Then, I decided to try to build a case and this is what triggered my guitar building saga. 



The case structure was similar to an acoustic guitar body, with kerfings, etc., and that kind of turned me on. I realized I could build a guitar from that. I ended up building seven other guitars from scratch. I don't think I will ever stop. It is highly addictive, be warned.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Since a lot of old threads are getting resurrected, might as well. 

This Esquire partcaster started off with someone wanting to trade an MIM Tele body for an EHX B9 pedal. As soon as I got a deal going, I searched for a neck for it and found one for a price I couldn't pass on. So the day I was going to do the trade, the seller backed off the trade and said he had someone buying it cash. Bummer Anyways, now I have a neck with no body. LOL So before I could pick up the neck, I went to bid on an MJT tele body and at the same time ordered a new MIM Fender Tele body. When I got the neck, I realized it wont work with the MJT body otherwise I have to relic the neck as it is brand new. Good thing I didn't win the auction. It took over a week to get everything. Mostly online includiing the Fender body. So here it is. I'll probably have it put together in the next couple of days. I'll post a photo once it's done.

Fender MIM Tele Body with Alder Vintage Bridge Mount 
Fender MIM Standard Tele Neck w/ Fender Tuners 
Fender Telecaster Knobs - Knurled Chrome 
Fender '62 Reissue Tele Custom Bridge w/ Pickup 
Fender Telecaster Jack Ferrule - Nickel 
Fender Straplock W/Button 
Fender Vintage Style Telecaster String Ferrules 
Fender Compensated Brass Saddles 
Fender 4-Bolt Vintage-Style Neck Plate 
Carparelli Esquire Wiring Harness (Eldred Mod) 
Carparelli Pickguard


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Parts sourced from Kijiji, Ebay , Ali Express and parts I've saved over the years. All with onboard compression and rechargeable 9v batts.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Here it is!! Specs in the other post. All Fender parts except for the harness and pickguard which are from Carparelli. Body is a Fender MIM Alder and neck is a Fender MIM Standard Tele neck. I'm actually pretty happy with this.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Allparts body white pearl finish, Warmoth neck with Gotoh side adjust, Sperzel lockers, Seymour Duncan Hot Rails w/pp split coil.










'06 Hwy one neck, two piece ash body (unknown supplier), Lollar pups (vintage neck, special bridge).


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Thunderfucker Bass.

I wanted a fretted bass to back up the Godin fretless. Mighty Mite neck which wasn't final shaped/sanded and had been hanging in the store for years when I got it around '92/3, active EMG pickup and harness from Stew-Mac. Washburn bridge, Tele knobs, those cool Grover tuners with the comfortable S shaped buttons, and genuine Tremclad paint.

The body is local maple and walnut from my scrap wood pile. My kids developed the concept and paint scheme, the older helping me with the taping, but they painted it and used glitter nail polish for the stars. The body is slightly like the Fender Aerodyne shape and weighs a ton.

I don't use it much, but it still works as intended. It kind of reminds me of what a terrible scrounger I can be. The neck and pickup were the only items purchased for the build, I had the rest on hand. 

(The violin pictured here was my grandfather's, he was an immigrant Scotsman who bought the used German violin in Glasgow before leaving for Canada. He died before I was born, but I gather he was a decent fiddler.)


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

This one started life as a Korean Squier. I got it on trade for lessons but it was thoroughly trashed. The only original parts are the wood and the jack plate. Most of the parts came from either Stew-Mac or my scrounged collection. For a while it was my main gigging electric but I sold it to a worthy student.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Here's a 50's Strat partcaster which I got here in the forum around 8 years ago. I have changed the pickups to one that's used for 50's strats.

Fender MIM Alder body
AllParts Amber tinted one-piece maple neck. Medium 'V' carve with vintage specs (7.25" radius, 6230 frets, truss adjust at heel, etc.)
Fender Vintage Style tremolo assembly with stamped saddles & full-size Steel block
Fender vintage tuners, string tree & 50's spaghetti script logo
Aged white 3-ply guard with full-sized Fender pots and switch
Fender 57/62 pickups


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Ah, back from the mists of obscurity ... here's a question: Speaking of partscasters, what guard/plastics combination would you use on this strat (which will be for sale, since I have too many of these)? I didn't bother to mock up the black or the white guard w/black plastics, or the green guard w/white plastics, but that would be easy enough. The guitar may very well end up with a maple neck - we shall see:Ah, back from the mists of obscurity ... here's a question: What guard/plastics combination would you use on this partscaster (which will be for sale, since I have too many of these)? It may very well have a maple neck - we shall see:


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## Vally (Aug 18, 2016)

White on white, looks great with a maple fretboard also.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

@Hammertone 

Go green.


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

I think this is a go. Maple neck to come:


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Meet the BASTARD. This started with what I thought was a nice looking body on the local kijiji. I don't know who made it, but all of the routs were too small so I had to re-rout the pick up cavities and the control cavity. From there absolutely nothing went as planned. The reason I bought the body in the first place was that I had almost everything else I needed (except the tuners - shout out to Garner for his donation). The neck was an Ebay deal gone terribly bad that I abandoned about 10 years ago but I resurrected it for this project. Pick ups are Bare Knuckles that sound really good. True bakelite guard, CTS pots, orange drop, push-back cloth wiring. Probably going to gift this to a friend's son.


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