NGD - cheap and cheerful (hardtail) strat (now with completed pictures)

[Telerocker]

Progress:

Some very neat routing work from Feline, and a replacement neck on the way!

I guess it's fun to upgrade, but is this guitar worth the investment?

[FELINEGUITARS]

The body was pretty ok on the Tom Delonge - was a nice bit of alder
It routed well and it should sound great

[Telerocker]

The body was pretty ok on the Tom Delonge - was a nice bit of alder
It routed well and it should sound great

Ah, so promising... and it kept you of the street too.  :)

[gwEm]

Progress:

Some very neat routing work from Feline, and a replacement neck on the way!

I guess it's fun to upgrade, but is this guitar worth the investment?

Yes.

It's a four piece alder hardtail strat body. Fender USA made worse in the 70s ;)

[Philly Q]

It's a four piece alder hardtail strat body. Fender USA made worse in the 70s ;)

And in the late '90s, just before the American Standard Series became the American Series - if I remember right, they were often using up to five pieces, veneered front and back to hide the joins.

[gwEm]

Nice! But we need to see some pics!  :D

Were did you get the neck?

You are clearly right!

I ebayed the neck ;)

[gwEm]

It's a four piece alder hardtail strat body. Fender USA made worse in the 70s ;)

And in the late '90s, just before the American Standard Series became the American Series - if I remember right, they were often using up to five pieces, veneered front and back to hide the joins.

Good knowledge Philly! From the 80s I've even seen "string through back of bridge" Fender USA hardtails

[Philly Q]

Like this one?  Never seen one "in the flesh", but what a misguided idea!  I bet most of them have been converted to string-throughs now.

[gwEm]

I've not seen a Strat like that, but I have played around with a Tele from the same period which has just the same bridge.

Apparently Jeff Buckley really likes that design(!)



edit: the bridge pickup on that guitar was very poorly made too - no baseplate!

[Philly Q]

Yeah, I've seen those Teles before.  I imagine the Strats are extremely rare.  I don't like the saddles on those early '80s Fenders, what were they thinking?

Apparently Jeff Buckley really likes that design(!)

Liked, presumably!  :?  :P

[gwEm]

Yeah, I've seen those Teles before.  I imagine the Strats are extremely rare.  I don't like the saddles on those early '80s Fenders, what were they thinking?

Apparently Jeff Buckley really likes that design(!)

Liked, presumably!  :?  :P

indeed(!) i was just about to edit it, but I'll leave it now

[dvorak]

Nice one! I'm kinda surprised that it has the HSS routing. I would take a guess at the swimming pool routing on the cheaper bodies.

The Gilbert pups, are they the hum canceling single coil ones?

[gwEm]

Nice one! I'm kinda surprised that it has the HSS routing. I would take a guess at the swimming pool routing on the cheaper bodies.

The Gilbert pups, are they the hum canceling single coil ones?

Almost all the routing you see is actually from Jonathan at Feline. Originally it came with a simple rectangular route for a humbucker and volume pot only. Looks pretty factory now though doesn't it? ;)

The PG Injector is a hum canceling single coil yes.

[dvorak]

Nice one! I'm kinda surprised that it has the HSS routing. I would take a guess at the swimming pool routing on the cheaper bodies.

The Gilbert pups, are they the hum canceling single coil ones?

Almost all the routing you see is actually from Jonathan at Feline. Originally it came with a simple rectangular route for a humbucker and volume pot only. Looks pretty factory now though doesn't it? ;)

The PG Injector is a hum canceling single coil yes.

Aha! Now the coin dropped. I remember reading about it Jonathan routing, I just didn't connect.

Looking forward to the finished result and I must say that I really like Gilberts tone with his Iceman.

Edit: Fixed the quote and reply

[Andrew W]

Yeah, I've seen those Teles before.  I imagine the Strats are extremely rare.  I don't like the saddles on those early '80s Fenders, what were they thinking?

Apparently Jeff Buckley really likes that design(!)

Liked, presumably!  :?  :P

Some of the early Mexican Fender Teles had that bridge, like this one I suped up a few years back. It's from 1996 so they were using the string through the back of the bridge design quite late on: