OffsetGuitars.com

After A LOT of troubleshooting and realizing that one of the saddles on the Gotoh bridge was wrecked, I finally got it all set up and going.

HOLY COW, this guitar is awesome and I don't even really miss having a bridge pickup.

Now, for the trouble that this thing caused me...

I had a hard time getting the strings to clear the pickguard-mounted pickup, but I did it by doing the following. I put a neck plate in the neck pocket to act as a shim, then I added another thin wood shim that is the same size as the bridge plate, and then another tiny wood shim that acts as a tilt for the neck a la an offset. Then I had to have the saddles as high as possible, which was tricky but I was able to get to a good height that also allowed for my preferred action height. Then I tucked all the wires under the pickguard and put some small squares of electrical tape over the mounting screws for the pickup so as to not make contact with the strings (if anyone has a better solution, let me know). And voila! A wonderful instrument!

Yes! Cool you went hershey for the neck only.

Interested in a full report when you've had more time with it.

It just sounds really good! This guitar has a really wonderful compression to it where notes kind of bloom and pop and they seem to sustain forever. I've never really found Strats to do that, but this one is kind of blowing my mind.

Honeymoon period and all, sure, but I'm happy right now! I might add a volume knob to it, but that can wait.

Thats just really cool. Period.

Love how minimalist it is. Almost makes me want to see a 1-ply guard or even a 1-ply black bakelite. I didn't even notice the lack of tone knob when I saw it on my phone at first. I'd want a volume at least. SUPER curious how adding it in the circuit will affect the sound and feel. If you did add it you could always get a pull knob to disengage the volume. Just a thought.

Could you even go without a guard!? Routes exposed and all, ala the Simon-caster you showed me? Maybe thats too lo-fi?

Kinda crazy having to shim that much but i get it. Strats' strings ae pretty close to the body and it looks like you're top-mounting. Could you potentially route a bit to get that PU lowered enough to go without shims? Or even so you could tweak the height a bit?

Just some ideas obviously. Maybe it doesn't really fit the spirit of this guitar. I kinda love that it is what it is, even though you've got some connections to make and all.

Really cool you've made it into something totally different and usable for you in the end!

kosmonautmayhem wrote: ↑

Sat May 11, 2019 6:13 pm

I'd want a volume at least.

Team Steven. A one pickup guitar without any know or switch is actually very close to my dream guitar. (though not Strats, pickguard's too big, but a Tele, hmmm...)

i dig it!
i have a couple 1-pickup guitars, they're the best.

i spend too much time pissing around with switches otherwise.
plug it in, accept what it does, go!

It's a tad overcast today, but I decided to take a few pictures anyhow to show my handiwork. A shop was going to charge me $350 (estimate) to do essentially this, but with the Silverfoil in the bridge and a couple of pots... Yikes. This cost me about $13 and a Saturday morning. I even brewed my own coffee...

I took pictures of the one oddball Fender-branded saddle that I had to use for the G string because the one from the factory arrived seized (someone at the factory must have wrecked the thread on either the saddle or the screw, but it's completely stuck and unusable) as well as what I used for shims and the lack of neck plate on the back of the guitar. It's funky and I love it.

Some of the pics really showcase that light pink-ish hue that is in the white paint due to 22 years of aging (I got this guitar in 1997). I dig it

GAH!
That looks SO great.
I love the simplicity of the 4 pickguard screws. And the simplicity of your neckplate-on-the-other-side shim solution.

I've had pretty decent luck a couple times making a janky shim out of post-it notes. It works great as a temporary semi-adjustable shim. I replaced the bridge on a Jaguar bass, and I'm not even planning to get a more permanent solution. Anyway, what's nice is that you can pick whatever thickness you like, cut the paper to the size of the neck pocket, and then make a staircase of pages of post-its to accommodate whatever degree of shim is needed.

I dig it too. I wish it were easier to find a blank single ply white guard for cheap and that doesn't have a beveled edge. I think it'd look nicer, but this will do for now.

Con-Tiki! wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2019 7:35 am

i dig it!
i have a couple 1-pickup guitars, they're the best.

i spend too much time pissing around with switches otherwise.
plug it in, accept what it does, go!

I hear you.

I thought I'd miss knobs and switches, but currently I haven't been. I really only touch the controls on my Tele and very rarely on other guitars, so I don't think I'll add them but time will tell. Right now I Ike the straightforward/no-nonsense look of it.

That's classy as hell Steven!! I really like it. You should record a little something so we can hear how the pickup sounds

Shadoweclipse13 wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2019 11:01 am

That's classy as hell Steven!! I really like it. You should record a little something so we can hear how the pickup sounds

yes!!!

Will do. Any suggestions? I'll do a cover if you want me to.

StevenO wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2019 11:34 am

Will do. Any suggestions? I'll do a cover if you want me to.

I've got no preferences. I'd just love to hear it clean and with a little gain. Maybe with some single notes and chords both...

Variety of tonz. You do you.