Metal-ing up a Strat

[Grandturk]

I figure I might as well get this thread started since I've got some progress to report. I've been hankering for a Fender Strat with a Floyd for a while.

Actually, my first real guitar was a MIJ Fender Strat 62 with a recessed Kahler licensed Floyd. Cool guitar, black on white, HSS, 21 fret rosewood fretboard. Strange mixture of features. Anyway - I parted that one out to make way for something else a few years ago (I've got to dig up a pic of it eventually and scan it).

First of all - big ups to ulijdavid - he's done all of the heavy lifting on this one so far (I've just picked it and packed it) and his pictures are featured here.

The initiation of the project kind of fell into my lap with a really good deal on a Fender 60's Roadworn Strat neck. I didn't really get a great vibe from the Roadworn seires in general, but I really liked the 60's neck because its got a nice piece of rosewood and the relicing doesn't look stoopid. The neck arrived with a very flat sheen to the headstock - I hit it with some polishing compound followed by regular Dunlop guitar polish and it brought up the shine a bit. Then I sent it down to ulijdavid:











Next up was the body. Its a 68 RI MIJ body in vintage white - so its pretty creamy. If you've seen the Warmoth Vintage White color, its a bit darker than that - kind of between Warmoth Vintage White and Cream. Anyway - its a regular SSS 6-hole Strat body. Not terribly heavy, but no lightweight either. Here's how it looked when I bought it:



Obviously - I needed something with a little more oomph, so this went down to ulijdavid as well:







Humbucker routes and Floyd posts installed. Looking good so far.

While the body's winging its way back to me, I'll be working on the electronics. Originally, I wanted to do something really Frigged-the-Hell-Up - I was going to get a SSS mint guard, relic the hell out of it, including cutting out the bridge hum route by hand - messily - and filling in the Tone pot holes and the middle pickup hole with plastic cut from a trem cover guard, and then try like hell to make it look like some Strat-o-basterd 1982 creation.

Well, I lost enthusiasm for the "super-relic" since I don't really have the time or patience for that, so this is going to go more like a "closet classic" model. Anyway - I've got the wiring harness all ready for it - CTS pots, 3 ways blade switch, orange drop cap (yeah yeah yeah, I don't use tone controls yadda yadda yadda).

Pickups are going with "what's in the box" - a Gibson 57 Classic in the neck, a Dimarzio YJM in the middle and an old Kramer "California Pickup Co." humbucker in the bridge. I'm going to go with black knobs on the mint green guard in the above picture. Not sure about the mint green on the vintage white - I think it stands out too much. I'll probably order up a "parchment" guard at some point.

And of course, a chrome MIK Floyd left over from a ProMod to finish it off.

I'm thinking about stringing it up with 11's and tuning it to D for some Motley covers.

More to come!

[guitardudeluke]

wow nice dude
how did u fit the trem posts so neat

[Grandturk]

how did u fit the trem posts so neat

Like I said, ulijdavid has done the heavy lifting on this one so far. He's routed out the nut for the Floyd nut and the body for hums and Floyd.

[DonP]

When did Dave Murray switch from V-Trem to Floyd? Which albums?

[Grandturk]

Well... not really on topic here, Don, but...

I think it was Somewhere in Time when the Kossoff Strat was retired from live play and Dave started using Floyded ESPs and then Floyded Jacksons and then Floyded Fenders. He definately used a Kahler on his black strat with the rosewood fretboard circa Live After Death.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Looking good so far... I agree the mint pickguard is a little "too minty" but I think the parchment will look really nice.

[Grandturk]

Your new avatar is freaking me out, Jazzy!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

You don't like the "awesome" face?

[Grandturk]

That fugger looks way too happy!

[ulijdavid]

wow nice dude
how did u fit the trem posts so neat

Put masking tape over the area where you will drill. Also, use a BRAD point drill bit. Regular drill bits tend to tear out the hole and also want to pull the body up. I also take a chamfer bit (90 degree bit) and hand cut a small bit of relief. This stops the posts from "pulling" the finish into the hole and prevents chipping when inserting the bushings. Also, use an arbor press or drill press to insert the bushings - hammering can potentially cause all sorts of havoc.

If you paint a neck and need to remove paint from the tuner holes you can use a regular drill bit to remove the excess paint, BUT.....run the drill in reverse. This prevents chipping and pulling the headstock. Also, do this step somewhat quickly. Heat from the drill will cause the finish to soften and reflow. I usually just use a dremel tool with 3/16" sanding drums to remove paint nowadays.

Believe me I have had quite a few causalties before I found these methods.

[guitardudeluke]

thanx man

[shredmonster]

Now all ya gotta do is scallop that fretboard and u 2 can feel the fookin' fury!

[straycat]

Looks great so far good work.
For me the roadworn strats are too much alike and look cheezy.They really don't look old to me.

[Trussrod]

Body looks great. Maybe you can find a locking nut that fits the shelf a bit better--looks like the one pictured hangs off it. A friend routed a nut slot flat for me for a locking nut years ago. He did it free hand while I held the neck in the air--it turned out really well.

[Grandturk]

Looks great so far good work.
For me the roadworn strats are too much alike and look cheezy.They really don't look old to me.

Yeah, I mostly agree. I really like the 60's one thought, because being rosewood, there's not much you can do to "age" it, aside from wearing in fingernail grooves, which they didn't do.

Maybe you can find a locking nut that fits the shelf a bit better--looks like the one pictured hangs off it.

Nah, that's the way they're supposed to look when you retrofit a floyd nut on a Strat. Anything else and it would look too "factory."

Build Update (no pics yet):

I've got the strat mostly buttoned up now - more details to come, but here's a preview:

- I had to dremel a bit of the output jack cavity away on the inside to accomodate the hot pole bending out when you insert the jack. I'm thinking this part is supposed to be facing down in order to clear. Next time I'll think of that before I dremel.

- The mint green pickguard with black pickups and knobs really, really, really does not look good at all. Yikes, its horrid.

- Don't buy these made in China "American Indian" or somesuch strings. They're in a black pack and have a Native American head on them - they kind of look like the logo from American Spirit cigarettes. I bought a few packs over the summer because they were like 5 for $5. A. The guages were all wrong. B. They came out of pack pre-corroded. Needless to say, I need to swap them in order to intonate the thing. Yikes. Well, at least they were a good "throw-away" set.

- I need to trim down the Warmoth Floyd route pickguard around the trem. Its right up against it and rubs the trem when the Floyd is down on the body.

- Needed a bit of shim just to get acceptable string height with the floyd on the body (as was expected). I think I'll add a little bit more shim to get the Floyd up (clearing the pickguard problem) for a little pull back.

- Obviously I need to still intonate, but it sounded pretty good the little I was able to play with bad intonation and crap strings.