Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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HNB
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Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by HNB » Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:42 pm

I saw this online randomly. No idea how really, but it just looked so cool and the price was low to me and then the seller dropped the price. Since I sold a couple things, I picked it up. It has graph tech saddles and nut. The pickups are Seymour Duncan. (Little '59, Duckbucker, and Jeff Beck Junior) The bridge tone pot is a TBX I am guessing based off of how it feels. I like the neck and bridge pickup quite a bit, but the Duckbucker is pretty quiet in comparison. I guess it gives another sound option from the other two pickups. It is super cool in person. No idea why it has all the extra screws in it yet. Because of all the extra screws and kind of weird looks it made me think of Leela from the Futurama episode where she gets a second eye and looks into adopting a kid. She ends up realizing that she was just fine how she was and didn't need to be changed to be normal. I kind of think this guitar looks good just the way it is. I am going to open it up because the bridge pickup has stuff pushing it up too high and I want it a bit lower. (Probably foam under it for some reason.) I don't have any other plans for it than strap locks. The neck is great and satin sanded. The poly has big finish cracks in it that look like broken glass. (I like that too.) It is pretty strange. Sometimes strange is cool.

Image20180910_191742 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20180910_191810 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20180910_191815 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20180910_191826 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by HNB » Mon Sep 10, 2018 7:05 pm

Ah duckbuckers are more like noiseless single coils. That is probably why there is a volume drop compared to the other two pickups. I will get to look at the guts later this week. Kind of curious what is up with all those screws.
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by HNB » Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:43 pm

So.... I opened her up today and found a bit of weird. I didn't notice it when it came in, but there was foam stuffed under the tremolo springs and in the tremolo cavity between the block and the body...

Image2018-09-12_07-38-52 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

I took the guard off to see what the deal was with all those screws. They all go into wood. I have no idea why someone added all those extra screws, but they all hold the guard down I guess? LOL Inside the body stuff got weird.... Someone used a vga to vga adapter to connect the jack to the volume pot. I have zero ideas why. I took it out and did the wires direct.

Image20180912_173946 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

I took the guard off originally because I couldn't get the bridge pickup as low as I needed to. I found out that the rubber spacers on the screws was falling apart so I put some springs on instead. Then the whole pickup fell out of the cover so I dabbed super glue on all four corners to get it reattached.

Image20180912_173855 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

I was right about there being a TBX tone pot on the bridge pickup. The other pots look normal and I used contact cleaner on them all and the selector switch. Got all the screws put back in the guard and it is ready for strings. Super weird. LOL
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by HNB » Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:47 pm

Oh and the only other "whaaat" moment was that someone chiseled the little bit of wood above the neck pickup where the truss rod screw is so you could use a screw driver to adjust the truss rod without taking the neck off. The guard covers it, but it was still weird to see. The pickguard is NOT custom. It is a WD one. It has the sticker under the guard. I am guessing someone added extra holes to the guard for whatever reason. They even countersunk them all. Super strange.
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by Gordon » Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:16 pm

The foam is for vibrations. Some players, especially when they want to deck their trem (the 5 springs are a good clue), tend to be nitpicky about a rattling in the trem cavity.

I guess the VGA plug was used as a quick connector to facilitate swaps and soldering (also my gripe when it comes to Strat wiring, since 99% of the electronic is on the pickguard).
Graphic designer (comics stuff, Doctor Who, Star Wars...): https://www.instagram.com/monsieurgordon/ \o/

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Re: Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by HNB » Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:02 pm

I guess I can imagine that, but I have found that there isn't any rattle noise when the bridge is floating even without tremolo use. Is it rattle coming from the bridge touching the body?
Christopher
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Re: Sunburst Japanese Stratocaster (Leela)

Post by HNB » Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:21 am

Got strings back on and all set up. Bridge now floating. No foam stuffed in it. No computer monitor parts in it..... LOL

Image20180915_113024 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20180915_113032 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
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