Project: Sparkle Strat

[Danley]

So far...

[mackerelmint]

yes, yes, do go on...

[PixMix]

Like!

[Danley]

My thoughts at this point:

(Mis)-match the headstock black, glue on some crossed flags instead of a decal, and go for a motif such as:

[Danley]

My Paypal account tells me there's progress. Some build notes so far:

-It's an Eden body, made of polonium... Paulownia. It's quite light, and finished very well. VERY glossy. No obvious defects; I did spend about fifteen minutes filing the pocket, which comes irregular/small. Better tight than the alternative.

-MJ-wound JB in the bridge, Jazz in the neck. I have an MJ Jazz bridge I could use but it's a bit close in sound to my Screamin Demon-loaded Strat, so maybe not. Strats are growing on me; this is my third in a year. The others are SSS and HS, so I'm fine going more rock on this one... Or I can rub some Dick all over it:



-The neck is Kmise; my first impression? GROSS. It was a matte finish, and the "aged tint" applied was bright, fifty years of cigarette smoke orange; it didn't mesh or look authentic, and I hate matte necks. Buffing compound fixed that, it's now very shiny and the aged tone looks much more authentic, about as orange as my 66 Mustang, minus the wear.

The frets are actually shiny and the tangs are cut well for this level of humidity anyway, which is alarming; the overall feel/shaping are good/standard, with the exception of the giant heel. We'll see how it plays, how much filing down they need... I hate myself already for saying this but... It's 100x better than the barely useable neck on my $50 Chinese Strat copy; it cost more than half as much as that entire guitar though, so I guess it would. I like this better than most Squier necks short of say a VM... So far. Seems straight, we'll see if it turns to a noodle or backflips.

-I have a Squier Trem with zinc block and steel saddles; wondering if I should just use it and replace the block, or buy something better/gold Thinking gold locking tuners, because I hate string trees.

[cmatthes]

I'm a sucker for a metalflake guitar - I'm running out of colors to do! Love what you've got going on here.

My main sparkle squeeze is this one:
Custom lightweight (3lbs, 9 oz) Musikraft Alder body, lefty with reverse (righty) trem route
Big-assed Chartreuse Metalflake finish - the Dick Dale Strat made me do it!
HUGE 1" profile "Fat C" Musikraft reverse Strat neck/rosewood board, satin back only
SuperVee Bladerunner Trem
Rio Grande something or other Strat set
Sperzel locking staggered tuners w/Pearloid buttons


This thing is acoustically loud as hell, and it rings for days. I got really lucky with the way everything came together on this one!

[BoringPostcards]

Or I can rub some Dick all over it

[Fiddy]

I'm a sucker

[Fiddy]

That Strat looks bad ass.

A Sparkle blue something is in my future now, thanks to this thread.

[cmatthes]

That Strat looks bad ass.

A Sparkle blue something is in my future now, thanks to this thread.

Can't argue with that!

[Danley]

Progress.

-The body arrived with neck holes drilled slightly different than Fender spec; a standard neck plate fits fine but no factory Fender necks I have would bolt right up without drilling new holes. Had to drill holes in the $30 ebay neck anyway; otherwise it fits well. The joint is pretty tight.

-Both the dual humbucker guards I possess are non-standard bolt pattern and I don't want to drill the body for that; mounting a stock loaded US Fender HSS guard in the meantime. I may just drill for the US guard and tack the HH on with whatever screw fits, for now; eager to try out some pickups without de-soldering the nicely wired HSS guard for mostly no reason considering it won't be permanent. US HH guard on order.

-All other holes in the body are drilled, bridge etc. mounted with success Seems stable and lined up at the moment anyway.

I could play it tonight if I care to fire up the drill and solder iron again. If it isn't by now evident, this was originally a semi-budget build and the developments with the body now cause it to stay in the budget mindset; I dislike needing to drill a 'nice' neck just to have it fit this body. I plan on the neck and body staying married, and hope it sounds/plays somewhat decent. I'll probably keep replacement in the back of my mind.

Also: it's been a while since my last project ten years ago, which was a pretty extensive cut-up of a Telecaster (Tele-gib sort of, routed neck/bridge for humbuckers, filled in portions of the remaining Telecaster routes and drilled for a Tune-o-Matic/tailpiece.) Part of me is more fine than ever with buying whole guitars, even after this meager amount of work, although the price of all the components make it right. Neck and body were about $100 altogether, everything else (bridge, pickups etc.) I had a spare on-hand except a bunch of random screws and things.

More cheap quality mock-up pics for now.