Here's a couple of things I've been working on that aren't Charvels or Jacksons.
So, I built an H/S hardtail Strat a while back. The Bubinga neck wasn't as warm a tone as expected, and the Wolfgang profile is "weird thick" - it's assymetrical and huge on the bass side, I didn't care for it much. I shaved it down a bit and it's better, but that obviously did not a lot for the tone.
So anyway, without further rambling, here it is H/S Hardtail Part Deux and a Half:
Specs:
- Mahogany body
- Goncalo Alves neck (no finish), 1-piece, truss rod adjust at head, 1-5/8" nut width, 10 - 16" compound radius, 61GD frets
- Graph Tech nut
- Hipshot Hardtail Bridge with Graph Tech Saddles (the stock saddles are too short to use with the Warmoth "Narrow Strat hardtail" setup)
- TB-5 at the bridge
- Hot Stack at the neck, reverse polarity (out of phase w/bridge)
- 3-way blade
I did have to "help" the string-through holes line up with the Hip Shot bridge a little, and the outer bridge mounting screw holes are off by about .01", not enough that it actually matters once you screw them down (obviously it is centered by the center screw.)
The new neck really warmed up the tone, which was the goal of the re-vamp, plus the Hip Shot bridge is really nice and the saddles are held firmly in place, they don't squirm around like your typical Strat bridge.
And then, I finished this up last weekend. I've been playing it a lot:
Specs:
- Swamp Ash body in Seafoam Green, recessed Floyd route
- Korina neck with Ebony fingerboard, 61GD frets, Floyd prep with rear mount, clear gloss (poly) finish
- Dimarzio F-spaced Tone Zone bridge/Air Norton neck pickups, cream
- CTS 500K pot with treble bleed cap
This one sounds really good, too - just a little brighter acoustically than the single-hum with the Korina neck, but with the Tone Zone being a little darker, it sounds really good. Plus when you roll the volume off, it gets this "cocked wah" kind of tone that is really great for a moderately overdriven rhythm tone, and then when you crank the volume, it fattens up really nice for lead.
So, I built an H/S hardtail Strat a while back. The Bubinga neck wasn't as warm a tone as expected, and the Wolfgang profile is "weird thick" - it's assymetrical and huge on the bass side, I didn't care for it much. I shaved it down a bit and it's better, but that obviously did not a lot for the tone.
So anyway, without further rambling, here it is H/S Hardtail Part Deux and a Half:
Specs:
- Mahogany body
- Goncalo Alves neck (no finish), 1-piece, truss rod adjust at head, 1-5/8" nut width, 10 - 16" compound radius, 61GD frets
- Graph Tech nut
- Hipshot Hardtail Bridge with Graph Tech Saddles (the stock saddles are too short to use with the Warmoth "Narrow Strat hardtail" setup)
- TB-5 at the bridge
- Hot Stack at the neck, reverse polarity (out of phase w/bridge)
- 3-way blade
I did have to "help" the string-through holes line up with the Hip Shot bridge a little, and the outer bridge mounting screw holes are off by about .01", not enough that it actually matters once you screw them down (obviously it is centered by the center screw.)
The new neck really warmed up the tone, which was the goal of the re-vamp, plus the Hip Shot bridge is really nice and the saddles are held firmly in place, they don't squirm around like your typical Strat bridge.
And then, I finished this up last weekend. I've been playing it a lot:
Specs:
- Swamp Ash body in Seafoam Green, recessed Floyd route
- Korina neck with Ebony fingerboard, 61GD frets, Floyd prep with rear mount, clear gloss (poly) finish
- Dimarzio F-spaced Tone Zone bridge/Air Norton neck pickups, cream
- CTS 500K pot with treble bleed cap
This one sounds really good, too - just a little brighter acoustically than the single-hum with the Korina neck, but with the Tone Zone being a little darker, it sounds really good. Plus when you roll the volume off, it gets this "cocked wah" kind of tone that is really great for a moderately overdriven rhythm tone, and then when you crank the volume, it fattens up really nice for lead.
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