Help with Project Frankenstrat.

Jayhell

So I have a Squire Strat that I bought with the intention of moding into a Franken Strat with various tricks up its sleeve. I bought it in a pawn shop in a pretty bad shape. Someone tried making it ‘road worn’ with a screwdriver or something. I managed to get a more realistic look by sanding the damage he has done. It looks kinda neat, I might just give it a once over again when I remove the scratch plate again. I managed to source a left handed neck to make it a voodoo Strat and it looks sick! I also got some fret marker stickers from Yokomo stickers, so that solved that problem. I had to replace the nut, since it was left handed and I messed that up proper! So it looks cool, plays terrible and sounds even worse. Now I have decided that I am not allowed to buy any new gear until I finish this project. Money is a bit of a problem, but I got a bit here and there.

Things that need to be done:
- New Nut and proper set up.
- New pickups
- Rewire (with 3 way switch)
- A few cosmetic things (new screws, straplocks and whatnot)
- Better machine heads
- Custom scratch plate (I’ll tell you now why)

I came into a bit of cash and now I need to do something to it. Or replace the pickups then it will sound better or do the nut and setup, then it should play better but still sound sh!t.

What would you do first, pickups or setup?

I’m going to remove the middle pickup, in the bridge will be a covered chrome pickup and in the neck a single coil. The 5 way switch will give way to a three way Gibson type switch where the top volume pot is now. The bridge pickup will be free flow (bypassing the volume and tone pot) and the neck pup will go thru a volume and tone pot, so I can turn down the volume on the neck and use the three-way switch as a stutter switch. I’m going to need help with the wiring diagrams.
I’m thinking of getting a custom scratch plate from Warmoth so there are no random holes left after the 5 way switch and middle pickup is removed, but they have two options for the bridge pickup hole: Fat humbucker and humbucker, witch one will fit a covered Gibson type pickup (I know that pole spacing might be different but I really don’t care).
Why am I doing all of these ridiculous things to this guitar? Simple answer, because I want to. I want the slutiest Partscaster in town. It should really look like a Frankenstein of a Strat.

IceCreamMan

set up first ...but post the pics man 8)

V8

IceCreamMan wrote: set up first ...but post the pics man 8)

+1, I can live with poor sound, but not a poor setup.

Real keen on seeing the results of the relic'ing. I wonder if anyone locally is doing custom scratchplates? I saw one on a dbl neck guit/bass that a fellow was building, but I was underwhelmed by the finish.

Jacques_nasi

Ditto to the posts above. I would go for a good feel from the guitar first

warrenpridgeon

Make it a real frakenstrat and get the scratch plate cut out of checker plate (that metal with the crisscross pattern).

Jayhell

Not a very good pic, but this is what it looks like so far

The part above the scratch plate is where the privious owner seemed to have hacked it with a screwdriver or something so it does not look realistic at all, the rest I smoothed out with some sand paper.

deebee

Maybe that's plectrum damage, a-la- Pete Townsend. Why not leave the pups as is? add a 3 way switch, and fiddle and flop with the wiring and have a few extra tones available

Psean

Looks cool ?

I'd go for set-up first too. Are the pickups the standard Squire ones? Have you sourced replacements yet?

lapdawg

I have 2 half made thinline bodies. I made the pickguards for those & I've made the plates for my LP replicas.
Its quite easy:
- There is large range of pickguard materials available online, some cheap and some with free shipping.
- printable pickguard plans are available online

Print the plans. glue to fibreboard, cutout & shape, stick the template to plastic & cutout on a router table. I understand that most don't have the tools or inclination, but for those that do, its cheap and easy.

BTW - I wouldn't dream of paying Warmoth prices for a custom template.

Chocklit_Thunda

lapdawg wrote: I wouldn't dream of paying Warmoth prices for anything.

Fixed that for ya ?

Jayhell

The pickups are stock, but again the previous owner messed them up by putting on black pickup covers where the pole pieces don't match up so he simply bashed them in so that the covers fit over them, so now they sound really weak (I pushed them back into place though) the bridge pickups has no tone, but I suspect with a new nut, the overall tone of the axe will improve. I'm thinking of getting Rude Rock Pups to make me some custom pups.

I have tried making my own scratch plate before and it was a mess, I did not like the results. I should rather stay away from attempting things myself. Any volunteers? Ja Warmoth is expensive, but if I can't find someone locally, this will be the only solution.

I'm going to see what my budget is like I might just be able to do the pickups, nut and setup in one go.

AlanRatcliffe

Do everything but the nut or fretwork yourself - it can be easily learned and should be learned by every player. Save money (now and in future), letting you spend the budget on quality pickups and hardware, not labour. Also sets you in good stead for fiddling with other guitars and helps when choosing/valuing guitars as you soon learn which problems are due to simple setup issues and which are more serious.

Warmoth are super expensive... I also make my own pickguards. You can even do them by hand with saw, files and drill, it just takes time and patience. Still, even if you don't want to do it yourself, there are other manufacturers who will do it cheaper than Warmoth. Otherwise, Warmoth's normal humbucker route for a covered humbucker ("Fat" is for open 'buckers).

V8

lapdawg wrote: Print the plans. glue to fibreboard, cutout & shape, stick the template to plastic & cutout on a router table. I understand that most don't have the tools or inclination, but for those that do, its cheap and easy.

Wow, nice job lapdawg - hadn't been following your LP thread, read it for the first time last nite...incredible work!
Is there something in the water in Claremont? 3 talented guitar builder types in the area, heish. ?. Perhaps Wizard will let me have a go at some pickguards with his router - though I doubt he wants to see bit's of my fingers plastered to the ceiling :?

Jayhell wrote: I have tried making my own scratch plate before and it was a mess, I did not like the results. I should rather stay away from attempting things myself. Any volunteers? Ja Warmoth is expensive, but if I can't find someone locally, this will be the only solution.

I reckon I'll give this a go for my upcoming 2 stratish projects. Still deciding on the pickup layout though, so it'll be a few weeks.

More pics on the relic if you can - I've been very keen to try it out on a spare body or two I had lying around after Andre at tonerider showed me one of his and then pointed me towards this site : http://www.caraguitars.com/relic.htm - I reckon something like that greenwood tele would be sweet.

Jayhell

If I want to put a three way switch in the volume position I have to route the guitar, is it worth it? or should I rather drop a tele switch in the current selector position?

Alan I have done my own setups and wiring before, but this one needs the help of a pro, I have tried it time and time again on this strat, but never seem to get it right.

AlanRatcliffe

The low profile SG-style 3-way fits in shallower spaces, although is more limited in the direction you can mount it. However, rather replace your second tone control - the Strat volume is placed to be easily accessible while playing, but that makes it far too easy to hit a switch in the same position.

If you're getting the nut replaced by a pro, that usually includes an action setup (or with a minimal upcharge). Only other biggie to worry about is if the frets/neck are bad, but a luthier will be able to identify that in short order at the same time too.

Jayhell

So against everyone's advice I'm getting the pickups first. I went to see Neil of Rude Rock 'n Roll pickups last night and how cool was that? Man the guy sure knows his stuff, he explained the different effects of different materials on the pickups and showed me his modest but sufficient work shop. I played on a bunch of guitars with different pickups in them and got an idea of what I wanted, so he'll be making my pups soon. Hell of a nice guy, it's always great to meet people that can do stuff you know nothing about.

After taking other peoples thoughts into consideration and a serious jam on the Strat on Friday night, I have decided to not move the 5 way switch, but rather to just replace it with a 3 way. Neil is also going to attempt the nut for me and do a basic setup. He has built a lot of his own guitars so I presume he will probably nail it, but pickups is his thing, and they sound great.

For now, I'm going to leave the middle pickup slot empty and the rest like the controls will pretty much be stock. I can always at a later stage change my mind.

I can't wait for the result, hopefully the guitar will be gigable and you will see it around soon. I'll keep you posted, hopefully with some pics!

Jayhell

Got a quick pic of the guitar last night from Neil at Rude Rock 'n Roll Pups, Looks sick! He's just putting on some new strings and setting it up. Pics coming soon, it's going to be rude! ?

Psean

Jayhell wrote: Got a quick pic of the guitar last night from Neil at Rude Rock 'n Roll Pups, Looks sick! He's just putting on some new strings and setting it up. Pics coming soon, it's going to be rude! ?

:goodtimes:

Any details on the pickup specs?

Jayhell

Psean wrote:
Jayhell wrote: Got a quick pic of the guitar last night from Neil at Rude Rock 'n Roll Pups, Looks sick! He's just putting on some new strings and setting it up. Pics coming soon, it's going to be rude! ?
:goodtimes:

Any details on the pickup specs?

Um, Alnico II PAF type picup in the Bridge and a strat pickup in the front, so no, no real details. I just played on a bunch and said; Like this one, but more like that one with a bit of that one. I'll get the specs soon too. if I'm completely satisfied and don't make any changes. Here's a little taster:

guidothepimmp

Aw hellyeah

Love me some frankenstrat reverse head goodness..

And hs is my fav config too..

Id charvel socal this thing badly. Dont forget to post in the superstrat thread