NBD..... but what have I started?

[Philly Q]

I've been wittering on for years about one day getting a Relic Strat or Tele, but a couple of things have always put me off.... first and foremost, the price - not sure I'll ever be comforable about breaking the 2 grand barrier.  Also, there was the niggling fact that all relic Strats have tremolos, and deep down I'd really prefer a hardtail.

Anyway, just before setting off home from work this evening, I was on eBay and made a spur-of-the-moment bid on this body.  I got home to find I'd won it!  Pretty good price too!   :o  Completely unexpected.  

I don't know what the quality of the MJT bodies is like, hope they're precision-made with a tight neck pocket and the bridge in the right place!  I think it looks good, anyway.

Problem is...... now I need a relic neck, a relic scratchplate, some relic pickups, some relic hardware.....!

Are there any good specialist sites for relic parts?  I want decent Gotoh/Fender stuff, but it's certainly not money-no-object.  I don't want this to end up costing 2 grand!

And what look should I go for?  Random collection of parts or period-correct?  The 3-colour sunburst says mid-'60s to me, but it could be '70s too, with the right neck and parts.  What d'you think?

(Edit: the scratchplate, bridge and jackplate aren't included with the body, so I'm not necessarily using that colour)








  

[Brow]

Tim aged a set of Mothers Milks for me to match a 70s strat I have. Looks really good  :lol:

[Telerocker]

Body looks nicely reliced. I can't say anything about the quality.

If you're looking for reliced/ aged parts, take a look at rebelrelic.com, they have several things in stock like necks, pickguards, tuners, bridges etc.
Luke Whitfield is American, so contact is no problem.

www.rebelrelic.com

[Jonny]

IMO, I'd just use that bridge, etc.

But about the body, I like! It's looks very nice, hope everything goes well Philly and this better not pop up in Seconds Out!

[Frank]

If it was mine, I'd go insane and rout the body to take a tele bridge pickup and neck humbucker then cut a scratchplate to fit then bung a tele neck on it and forget the Pawnshop '51 entirely.

[Ian Price]

That's great Philly, really good look to it. If my opinion is worth anything I would go for a maple neck with the smaller headstock.

[MrBump]

I'm not a relic fan at all, but that looks cool.

Why not buy traditional parts new, then have a go relikkkking them yourself?  Might be fun.  There must be tips and tricks online on how to do it.

[Andrew W]

The body looks cool. The neck pocket on the MJT body I got for that recent Telemaster project was a liitle too small for the Warmoth neck I had but half an hour of careful sanding sorted that out, otherwise everything was good, a nice weight too. For relic parts there's a couple of sites I've used in addition to those already mentioned and they're www.fake58.co.uk and www.wdmusic.co.uk carry Montreux and other relic brands. The thing I had to get from the States for my build were the ferrules to go in the back of the body. Got those from eBay. I've also heard good things about http://www.fatboyguitars.co.uk but haven't got anything from them myself.

Good luck with the project and keep us posted with progress.

[horsehead]

Those guys at MJT seem to do cracking work, if I hadn't got my La cabronita body dirt cheap elsewhere I'd have got it from there. Is it the nitro finished one Philly?

[Transcend]

for your pickguard + pickups needs do bkp not do the pre wired aged strat sets in the aged pickguards anymore?

[Pete24v]

 I've had some Fatboy stuff before, a relic bridge, tuners, and full plastics. Good looking stuff. Slightly disappointed with the bridge, the relic rusting has left the G strings saddle screw unmovable, and the intonation is slightly off on that one!

[HTH AMPS]

I've dealt with these guys a few times and would recommend them... www.fake58.co.uk

That scratchplate you have on it looks great, I'd just use that.

Needs a big headstock though, maybe even reversed  :lol:

[WezV]

hardtail sunburst strat - makes me thing it should be converted to a jake e lee whitey

i would definitely go for a 70's vibe on this

[Telerocker]

A reversed headstock would be badass.

[Philly Q]

Thanks for all the comments!  :D

If you're looking for reliced/ aged parts, take a look at rebelrelic.com, they have several things in stock like necks, pickguards, tuners, bridges etc.
Luke Whitfield is American, so contact is no problem.

www.rebelrelic.com

The body looks cool. The neck pocket on the MJT body I got for that recent Telemaster project was a liitle too small for the Warmoth neck I had but half an hour of careful sanding sorted that out, otherwise everything was good, a nice weight too. For relic parts there's a couple of sites I've used in addition to those already mentioned and they're www.fake58.co.uk and www.wdmusic.co.uk carry Montreux and other relic brands. The thing I had to get from the States for my build were the ferrules to go in the back of the body. Got those from eBay. I've also heard good things about http://www.fatboyguitars.co.uk but haven't got anything from them myself.

I've had some Fatboy stuff before, a relic bridge, tuners, and full plastics. Good looking stuff. Slightly disappointed with the bridge, the relic rusting has left the G strings saddle screw unmovable, and the intonation is slightly off on that one!

I've dealt with these guys a few times and would recommend them... www.fake58.co.uk

Thanks gents, I will check out RebelRelic, Fake 58 and Fatboy - I've heard of them before but never really looked at their stuff.  And I use WD all the time, but had no idea they sell aged/relic stuff!  :lol:

If the neck pocket turns out to be a bit tight, that'll be fine - better than too big, and at least i won't have to worry about the paintwork if I need to sand it a bit!

Those guys at MJT seem to do cracking work, if I hadn't got my La cabronita body dirt cheap elsewhere I'd have got it from there. Is it the nitro finished one Philly?

Yep, according to the eBay ad it's nitro - pretty sure they only do nitro, from my occasional visits to their website.  I wouldn't really mind if it wasn't, though, so long as it looks the part.

Tim aged a set of Mothers Milks for me to match a 70s strat I have. Looks really good  :lol:

That scratchplate you have on it looks great, I'd just use that.

for your pickguard + pickups needs do bkp not do the pre wired aged strat sets in the aged pickguards anymore?

Well yes, I was considering going the pre-wired scratchplate route.  Slightly annoying when I have so many parts and pickups lying around, but none of it is relic stuff (that's why this is going to get expensive!  :lol: ).

They do still list the pre-wired, aged scratchplates in the BKP shop.  SSS only, though.  I wonder if I could supply my own Fender plate and get them to age it if I wanted to go HSS (sacrilege!)?
 

Needs a big headstock though, maybe even reversed  :lol:

A reversed headstock would be badass.

That's great Philly, really good look to it. If my opinion is worth anything I would go for a maple neck with the smaller headstock.

I'm quite keen on big headstocks - maple board for a '70s look, maybe rosewood for a late '60s look?  Probably NOT reverse, though  (but hmmmm.... maybe...?  :?    ).  On the other hand, small headstock would be good for a '60-'64 look, but then we're definitely talking rosewood. 

I'm a little bit tempted to go for a proper '64 look, with the small headstock and "transition" Fender logo (I always liked the transition logo, and '64 was the year I was born).  But I don't want to get hung up on period details.

Why not buy traditional parts new, then have a go relikkkking them yourself?  Might be fun.  There must be tips and tricks online on how to do it.

It's a possibility, and there's lots of info online, but I'm worried I would mess it up.  It'd be quite easy to get a Mexican Fender neck and try relicing that, but they're mostly poly/urethane finishes, which would make life a bit harder.  Maybe even a Road Worn, then half the work's done (but they're 7.25" radius).  We shall see....

If it was mine, I'd go insane and rout the body to take a tele bridge pickup and neck humbucker then cut a scratchplate to fit then bung a tele neck on it and forget the Pawnshop '51 entirely.

I don't know if that's a serious suggestion or not, Frank...... but it does have a certain appeal! 

I will almost certainly rout it for neck and bridge humbuckers, just to keep my options open and take a couple of ounces off the weight (it's 4lbs 3oz, fine really but I'd have preferred a few ounces less).

hardtail sunburst strat - makes me thing it should be converted to a jake e lee whitey

i would definitely go for a 70's vibe on this

Definitely not respraying it white!  :P   But HSS is a definite possibility.  I quite fancy a cream Crawler HSS set on a tortoise scratchplate, with rosewood ('60s), or maybe the same on a black scratchplate, with maple ('70s).  Too many options!