# Strat Build



## Gtrminator (Apr 3, 2007)

Here's my Strat I built a while back.

Mighty Mite birdseye maple neck; Ebony board, jumbo frets, abalone dots. Vintage staggered tuners(sans-string trees) and a graph tec trem nut.
Alder body finished in wimbledon white(60's ford colour), GFS overwound alnico strat pickups, Wilkinson trem, CTS pots, switchcraft switch and input, Sprague orange drops on the tone pots.

I sanded the back of the neck down to simulate the feel of the neck of a friends '57 esquire; almost a shallow V but gradiated from severe near the open position and tapering off towards the 12th fret.(simulated 50 years of playing in) It feels great in your hands. The jumbo frets are pretty tasty as well.(polished with a jeweller's cloth for some seriously slick and smooth bending.)

The neck; once the sanding/ shaping was complete was stained with a walnut stain, and then mostly sanded off to make the slight flame, and birdseye stand out. I then gave it the ambered effect by staining over that with a sesame coloured stain. Once it was sanded to my satisfaction(600 grit)
I hit it with 9 or 10 coats of niitrocellulose lacquer; which was wet sanded up to 2000 grit and then polished with meguiar's 3 step paint cleaner, polish, and wax that I use for my summer car. Excellent buffing results. 

I bought the body already finished. I'm pretty sure it's a poly finish, but if I ever decide to age the body(and I most likely will) I'll most likely nitro the body before I do that. 

Anyway it plays and sounds fantastic. Not bad for about 450 bucks and 6 months of part time fun doing it. I took my time, and now I'm reaping the benefits.





























The use of the staggered tuners and the graphtec nut are really a good functioning combination. I'm not a big trem user,but on the occasion that it does get used, it really settles back to proper pitch well. Worth the extra twelve bucks.
I suppose I could have put my last name on the headstock, but what the hell; I always wanted a custom shop strat...the wait time was the same...6 months. The only difference is that I built it and it didn't cost me 3 grand. It plays like it though.:smilie_flagge17:


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## GuitaristZ (Jan 26, 2007)

man that is nice!!!


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Gtrminator said:


> ...Sprague orange drops on the tone pots.


Nice job on the start! Looks fantastic. 

Do the orange drops make a difference? I am changing the pots on one of my guitars and don't like how the tone knobs just drops the highs. The tone knob ends up being more of a treble on/off switch rather than a gradual roll off.


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

My Nash has those staggered tuners as well. I love 'em.


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## Gtrminator (Apr 3, 2007)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Nice job on the start! Looks fantastic.
> 
> Do the orange drops make a difference? I am changing the pots on one of my guitars and don't like how the tone knobs just drops the highs. The tone knob ends up being more of a treble on/off switch rather than a gradual roll off.


Thanks.... I'm pretty happy with it! This link should answer your questions.

http://www.bothner.co.za/articles/hotrodstrat3.shtml


I'm no tech guru lol, but it sounds like you might have the .047 uf caps in your guitar presently. I've got .022uf in the strat. The Orange drops seem to have a better sound quality that some others, but they do the same job related to their rating. Good pots (and their rated resistance) make a difference too.

:food-smiley-004:


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Gtrminator said:


> Thanks.... I'm pretty happy with it! This link should answer your questions.
> 
> http://www.bothner.co.za/articles/hotrodstrat3.shtml
> 
> ...


If you can build a guitar from scratch, you are some kind of a guru!! I'd love to do that. I have tools and some woodworking skill but wow, what a project to take on. If you screw up one measurement...Arghh!!!

I think I'll stick to tinkering with what I have already. Very information website by the way. Got it bookmarked now. Off to the electronic supply store to pick up some high quality capacitors!!!:rockon2:


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