NGD - Stratocaster (not quite finished)

[indysmith]

I just put a Strat together out of a few bits and pieces...

-   "Midnight Wine" (dark translucent red) Highway 1 Alder Body
-    Maple/Rosewood Mighty Mite Neck; 9.5" radius, old-skool V shaped, medium jumbo frets
-    Fender American Vintage Tremolo and block
-    Fender/Schaller American Standard tuners
-    Newtone 11-52 strings
-    Wilkinson pre-wired pickguard

It all went together BEAUTIFULLY. I literally just bolted on the neck (super snug fit - perfect) and strung it up - didn't need to adjust intonation, action, or truss rod. Insanely good luck there! It feels fantastic and has a really great lively acoustic tone (just like i like it).
The only thing letting this guitar down is the bloody Wilkinson pickguard. It doesn't fit - for some reason they've drilled the holes in the wrong places, the pickups aren't nice AT ALL, and it just seems a bit cheap (to be fair it was! :lol: )
What do yu guys think I should do with it? I was thinking Irish Tour set, and I was all ready to buy Steve's set, but then he sold it to somebody else :shock: Now I'm thinking about a humbucker in the bridge, but is that a good idea? I sort of wanted this to be a 'stratty' strat... but I do like something a bit fatter than a strat pup in the bridge position. Maybe a BKP90? or a VHII? Still feeling Irish Tours in the middle and neck though I think. Also help me decide on a colour for the pickguard and pickups... I was thinking about keeping it mint green with black pups and knobs (and an open coil humbucker), or parchment with black pups and knobs (and a P90), or black with black pups and knobs (and a nickel humbucker)....

I can't apologise enough for the picture - taken with my ancient Nokia's camera. You'll have to wait til my birthday for good pics (dreaming of a Canon G10).
The actual finish is really nice and it sucks that you can't really see what the hell's going on... Matte dark red with the grain shining through.
This is the actual colour http://www.fender.com/products//prod_images/guitars/addtl_images/0111160375v2_axl.jpg

[Jonny]

I would've got a pre-wired set from Tim instead of buying the Wilkinson.

I like the red, and the white/cream look to the pickguard/pickups/knobs. I'm guessing the neck is good on it, with the V shape contour?

And as for pickups maybe ask Tim to get you a wired up pickguard but with a slightly hotter IT? Instead of getting a humbucker. But up to you, a humbucker you could always split it and such.

[Philly Q]

Looks good!

Did you redrill the holes to fit the Wilko scratchplate, or just left it alone for now?  If you get a Fender, Allparts or WD plate they really should line up with the existing holes, they're very accurate.

[gwEm]

bridge baseplate!

[indysmith]

I've just thrown the Wilko pickguard on for now - It was just lying around the house from years ago, and is DEFINITELY not there to stay - just keeping it on til I decide on which BKPs to go for. At the moment it's held on by two screws that did line up and some blu-tac, :lol:

bridge baseplate!

What does this do? (You'll have to excuse me I don't know much about singlecoils!) Does this make it into a tele pup?

[Jonny]

Looks good!

Did you redrill the holes to fit the Wilko scratchplate, or just left it alone for now?  If you get a Fender, Allparts or WD plate they really should line up with the existing holes, they're very accurate.

It doesn't appear he has screwed the screws in.

I was thinking maybe some didn't match and some did. Like the 8-hole/12-hole pickguard conversions on Fenders.

Then again it could be the body altogether.

bridge baseplate!

What does this do? (You'll have to excuse me I don't know much about singlecoils!) Does this make it into a tele pup?

What are zinc plate steel baseplates? Zinc plated steel baseplates for Strat coils add more bottom end definition, clarity and power to the coil. They work on the same principle as a Tele bridge baseplate with tapped mounting holes so height adjustment screws thread directly into the baseplate ensuring it will never fall off. The baseplates are waxpotted with the coil to provent microphonic feedback. Whilst it is most common to fit one to the bridge coil only, the zinc plated steel baseplates work well on middle and neck coils too.

[gwEm]

bridge baseplate!

What does this do? (You'll have to excuse me I don't know much about singlecoils!) Does this make it into a tele pup?

no, the coil dimesions of the tele pickup are different from a strat, a baseplated strat bridge still sounds much more like a strat than a tele.

but actually a tele bridge pickup might be nice in it, with a custom guard - i like the tele bridge sound.

its hard to say what the baseplate does to the sound, but it does give it more body and balls... it sounds like a strat single coil, but with the structure of a p90. its no hotter with the baseplate really.

i would also wire it so the middle tone control also works on the bridge to remove some highs - an old-skool coiled cable removes the nasty highs too

on my strat i wired it like that, with a baseplated slowhand. no problem to play any sort of metal at all, handles lots of gain. its a very meaty, gutsy sound.

but on the other hand, at the bkp meeting, johnny mac showed off some tasty clean licks with it. its still pure strat - people are scared of baseplates and slowhands in case they change the strat vibe, but they don't really... IMO.

but maybe i would go with irish tours of some configuration - alder and rosewood combo after all

[indysmith]

Hmmm that sounds like an attractive option! Anyone else here rocking baseplates? What do yu think?

[dave_mc]

i have no idea about the technical questions, but that's a nice guitar, nice work. :)

[FernandoDuarte]

Nice guitar!

+1 on bridge pickup with plate!
I may be wrong, but I think Tim can wind a Tele pickup under strat size, would be cool (I'm thinking in ask this someday, when I get/build a strat)

[Philly Q]

but actually a tele bridge pickup might be nice in it, with a custom guard - i like the tele bridge sound.

Lowell George style!

I always thought that was a cool look (the guitar, not the shirt or hat...).  And since a large number of Fender players hate Strat bridge pickups and love Tele ones, I'm surprised Fender don't offer it on any production models.

[38thBeatle]

Nice job Indy. I don't know of baseplates as I have no first hand experience of them. I would say keep it traditional Strat in configuration but that is just my view. The Slowhands are definitely were Stratty.

[gwEm]

but actually a tele bridge pickup might be nice in it, with a custom guard - i like the tele bridge sound.

Lowell George style!

I always thought that was a cool look (the guitar, not the shirt or hat...).  And since a large number of Fender players hate Strat bridge pickups and love Tele ones, I'm surprised Fender don't offer it on any production models.

great image philly! i might fit a tele pickup to my cyclone, or build another jazzmaster with one. still debating that... my next BKP will probably be a tele one

[Elliot]

I reckon a VHII with Irish Tours would be ultimate - I personally like strat bridge pickups: but I like Chicago blues, country rock and Surf and the strat bridge has that tone (mother's milks especially).  But for versatility a HSS config Strat can't be beat.

[Philly Q]

I reckon a VHII with Irish Tours would be ultimate

Thats what I'm doing on my hardtail Warmoth.... but I have 6 or 7 different projects on the go and none of them ever seem to get finished.  :x