Souped up Strat ideas required

[kevincurtis]

Hi All - a quick warning, only read this if you have some time on your hands!

Following on from the theft of my custom strat I am now in a bit of a hole:

I'm just finishing off some recording and it's the one guitar that was my staple... irreplaceable, and now I have to replace it, and reasonably quickly :(

The basic requiremnts for my 'go to' guitar are:

22 medium jumbo frets, satin finish, 12" radius (give or take a little) comfortable but slick neck - ie not skinny!

Sonically it has to be a rock guitar - the custom had a crawler in it and a swamp ash body. Replacement wouldn't have to be quite that 'thick' sounding necessarily, or quite such high output now I have my Xotic booster. (Edwards LP is standing by for new pickup if I need to get a real thick sound - currently has SD Antiquities.)

The Custom also had the heel countored to allow easier upper fret access.

The custom was hardtail, but I wouldn't mind having a trem based guitar now - but non locking, can't be arsed with all that fiddling frankly!

So my choices are - get a new guitar that fullfills the above, or re-jig my other guitars to fill the gap.

Option 1...

The only 2 guitars I have found so far that are around the budget I can spend are the Pacifica 812 and a Framus Diablo (which even has an Ash body, but slightly higher price and i would want to BKP it after all!). Are there any others? I thought maybe Fender might have something these days (the reason I got the custom was because 19 years ago they didnt) but the only 12" radius neck is on the Player strat and that only has 21 frets and no humbucker, which for a company like that seems piss poor to me!

Option 2...

Pimp my Tokai Super Edition Strat - currently this has my Apache in it, but could go back to humbucker. Neck wise its about the right feel but needs a total refret if it's gonna be no1 and it's not a satin finish. Also the string spacing at bridge is 55mm which feels a bit too wide for me now. So would need a new bridge which will add complications. I could just slap a new neck on it, Mighty Mite seem to be reasonably well regarded (I'd like a new warmoth like on the custom, but that puts cost up around £250 which is probably too high, unless the guitar really does turn out good enough to be the 'go to guitar':) )

Option 3 - get one of our fine British Luthiers to Pimp the Tokai for me, higher cost (not sure how much!), but would then get the feel that I want for sure and a well sorted guitar.

So - I need some help sorting through these possibilities, any ideas, recommendations much appreciated!

K

[Twinfan]

What's the budget?  Can you go for a Warmoth build?

[Fikealox]

Those Framus guitars intrigue me, so I'd definitely go that route :)

[FELINEGUITARS]

Not sure what your budget is but we might be able to help

[Fikealox]

Those Framus guitars intrigue me, so I'd definitely go that route :)

Felines intrigue me more  :lol:

[MDV]

I'm sure feline are superb, but I havent tried one. I have to put a vote in for Legra. Bob could do what you want for, I'd guess, a bit over a grand. His work is flawless. I dont know what it would cost to pimp your tokai, but if you can use a screwdriver and a soldering iron, thats a home-job, I think (or tech at most).

On the pimping - it depends mostly, IMO, on the acoustic tone of your tokai, and whether

A: Its up to par sonically

B: You can choose the right pickup to get something like what you had with the ash, maple and crawler.

On the new guitar option, I vote the 812. Really Good guitars, capital-G. I havent played the framus though (so I kind of have to vote 812, but stress that its very hard to beat at its price).

[kevincurtis]

Basically I will be putting in for £1500 for the custom strat with insurance (currently they are really p*ssing me off, phoned a week ago, Ive had to chase twice, and only now have they booked in to discuss claim...which isn't for another 12 days...no rush eh?!  :twisted:  )

I am hopeful I will get it back so I want to get something that will be a good enough 'go to' but at around £400-500 ideally. Then in time if it doesn't come back I can get a new one custom built exactly how I want it...

[kevincurtis]

The Tokai is nice and resonant..and a bit of me would like to see it properly restored to glory as its my oldest guitar, got it new in '85 :)

[FELINEGUITARS]

Basically I will be putting in for £1500 for the custom strat with insurance (currently they are really p*ssing me off, phoned a week ago, Ive had to chase twice, and only now have they booked in to discuss claim...which isn't for another 12 days...no rush eh?!  :twisted:  )

I am hopeful I will get it back so I want to get something that will be a good enough 'go to' but at around £400-500 ideally. Then in time if it doesn't come back I can get a new one custom built exactly how I want it...

Good call!

[dave_mc]

pacifica 812 is a very nice guitar for the money, as mark says. Likewise, I haven't tried the framus, it's bound to be worth a try if you're near a dealer. Those new lodestone guitars are HSS and might be worth a try (again, haven't tried them). they're more like £800 though (so that means you aren't a million miles from a custom, especially if you plan to swap the pickups).

Custom would obviously be a good call too considering you know exactly what you want, but will cost a bit more than a pacifica 812.

i'm really struggling to think of anything else, which is quite annoying.  :lol: EDIT: dang i'm a retard. Second-hand early 90s patrick eggle! probably an LA (not sure if you can get them HSS, though- they do generally come with single coil-sized 'buckers though), or maybe a berlin? From looking at the catalogues, some berlins are available HSS... but they're mahogany-bodied (some are maple, i think?). Or a new york, again some of those were HSS (but not all that many). Again, mahogany-bodied, but pretty bright-sounding (at least if mine's anything to go by).

[Simon D]

As an 812 player of 9 years (I have the Mk1 version with the Wilkinson trem and the Duncan '59 in the bridge - they now fit a JB and their own trem, which is quite similar to a Wilkinson), I'd certainly recommend giving one a try. As I said, I've had mine for 9 years and I've never felt the need to modify it in any way - it's completely stock.

The fretboard radius on the Yam would also be fairly close to what you're are used to - it's a 13-and-a-bit, if i remember right. Hope this helps, and I hope whatever you eventually choose to do works out well.

[ToneMonkey]

i'm really struggling to think of anything else, which is quite annoying.  :lol: EDIT: dang i'm a retard. Second-hand early 90s patrick eggle! probably an LA (not sure if you can get them HSS, though- they do generally come with single coil-sized 'buckers though), or maybe a berlin? From looking at the catalogues, some berlins are available HSS... but they're mahogany-bodied (some are maple, i think?). Or a new york, again some of those were HSS (but not all that many). Again, mahogany-bodied, but pretty bright-sounding (at least if mine's anything to go by).

I'm with Dave on this one (having an Eggle), might not be exactly what you're after, but it's one hell of a guitar for the money.

[dave_mc]

yup... prs quality (and i'm talking high-end prs- in my opinion, anyway) for between about £300-£700, depending on model of course.

pickups are the weak link (some do have duncans though), but then again most people on the BKP forums would probably end up switching even "good" stock pickups...

[kevincurtis]

Thanks for the tips, will have to add S/H Eggle to the list :)  I'm hoping to go down to GAK at the weekend who have 812's and Framus (got to check if that's in stock mind!) so can get a better idea about them.

[indysmith]

I always like the look of that strat owned by the dude in Billy Idol...