[BL] Custom Stratocaster
- Thread starter Feronix
- Start date
Feronix
New member
Thanks!
Perfection has been achieved
Apologies for the slightly out-of-focus photos, but it's still swinging as I've left it to dry. I'll do one last coat of primer tonight as it's very thin in some areas. Then, in the morning I will sand her down just a tad and finally start giving her colour! 
Excalabur50
Well-known member
It's coming together nicely!!
Feronix
New member
That satin white is lush! I might spray mine now.
Well, it's grey primer but yeah
Thanks guys!
Update
Today I painted the guitar body! Excuse the poor lighting photo's (colour) but this was in the garage. You'll get proper pictures later!
First coat:
Last coat:
Is that what I think it is? Yep....
orange peel :|
Luckily for me, my neighbour the painter was just over and he gave me what he called a 'sanding tampon'. What a shit name, but it prevented me from having to wetsand and the surface was smooth within minutes! Only downside is that now it is matte, but I'll get some clear coat later.
While waiting for it to dry I did some... 'cable management'. Ah, what doesn't Duct tape do?
Feronix
New member
Wet sanded her a bit this afternoon, less loss of shine out of the box, so hopefully I'll need less clear coat that would probably get the same orange peel effect.
Accidentally sanded a tad off the side, revealing the primer underneath. Quickly ghetto modded a precision spray tip to fix that!
Smooth as a baby's arse
It's very difficult to actually get the colour on pictures correctly, but that's something to figure out for final product pics!
Accidentally sanded a tad off the side, revealing the primer underneath. Quickly ghetto modded a precision spray tip to fix that!
Smooth as a baby's arse
It's very difficult to actually get the colour on pictures correctly, but that's something to figure out for final product pics!
voodoografix
New member
Looking good fella I wish ya well on your build .
I'm sure you will do it justice.
I'm sure you will do it justice.
Last edited:
Feronix
New member
Updaaaaaate!
The body is finally all done!
But first, the pre-drilled screw holes for bolting the neck onto the body are awkwardly not in the right place. I'm thinking I should just fill them up and then drill new holes as I'm afraid its strength won't be great when the holes are much wider than they have to be.
I also did not enjoy that the plastic protection plate under the chrome bit was black, while all the other bits are mainly white, so I fixed that.
Took the masking tape off the back, did its job, even if it'll be covered by a white plate later anyway.
Then took it off the front:
I'll start installing and wiring the hardware tomorrow, stay tuned
The body is finally all done!
But first, the pre-drilled screw holes for bolting the neck onto the body are awkwardly not in the right place. I'm thinking I should just fill them up and then drill new holes as I'm afraid its strength won't be great when the holes are much wider than they have to be.
I also did not enjoy that the plastic protection plate under the chrome bit was black, while all the other bits are mainly white, so I fixed that.
Took the masking tape off the back, did its job, even if it'll be covered by a white plate later anyway.
Then took it off the front:
I'll start installing and wiring the hardware tomorrow, stay tuned
Feronix
New member
Aye, I was afraid I'd have to :lol: I'm by no means good at playing but I'll play some simple riffs across the fretboard to let you guys know how she sounds!
Update
Assembly has been a breeze so far. Well, except some pre-drilled screwholes that didn't exactly line up as well as I'd have wanted them to, but all in all it didn't even take an hour. Which is fast considering I spent the last week on just paint!
I started by screwing in the bridge. Screwed in, but not too tight. Allowing for some slight wiggling.
Then you screw in the spring claw a bit from the rear, hook the springs from the bridge to the claw, and screw the claw in further so it's all nice and tight. If you don't want to use the tremolo, you might as well screw the claw in all the way into the wood and the strings might stay in tune better.
Flipping her over again, it was time to install the pickguard. It went in quite easily because of the 'cable management' earlier. I would 100% recommend taping the cable to the inside of the pickguard, otherwise you're going to have a shit time guaranteed.
Also attached to it was this black wire, which is a grounding wire for the strings that must be connected to the spring claw on the back.
The 6.3mm (quarter inch) jack simply plugs in using a 2 pin header in this case.
Screwed in using 2 screws. I was a little concerned that the jack might not go in all the way as the inside seemed to touch the wood, but I've done a test fit and it seems fine. Wood won't be a problem for electronics (well, unless it's on fire or something, but then you'll have bigger problems).
Installed the backplate. The white and chrome parts go together with this colour so damn perfectly.
Strap button number 1 on the bottom
Strap button # 2 on the top horn
I could actually finish her this weekend (or today even), but I really want to get the chrome plate engraved so that's it for now
Highlander89
New member
Looks smashing mate. You did a great job on her. Kudos!
chrismjurd
New member
yeah man, its awesome colouring.
Did you purchase the tension strings separately or did they come with the gear?
I found a torrid nightmare trying to get mine setup smoothly as my OCD wanted my Floyd Rose trem to sit flush with the body. I had to switch out my springs for higher tension ones and have them setup in a straight parallel formation as opposed to V.
Good luck with them. Looks outstanding so far, so lets hope the tuning goes smooth for you. If all goes well, you don't need to readjust the springs should you want to swap tuning from Standard to eb or Drop D at any time.
I found a torrid nightmare trying to get mine setup smoothly as my OCD wanted my Floyd Rose trem to sit flush with the body. I had to switch out my springs for higher tension ones and have them setup in a straight parallel formation as opposed to V.
Good luck with them. Looks outstanding so far, so lets hope the tuning goes smooth for you. If all goes well, you don't need to readjust the springs should you want to swap tuning from Standard to eb or Drop D at any time.
AverageNinja
Average Penis Too
Coming along very nicely mate, can't wait to see the end-result. Lovely colour you chose too, I love surf green-ish strats.
Feronix
New member
Thanks guys!
I'm using .009-.042 nickle roundwound strings!
They did come with the gear, but during intonation the high E string snapped. I'm still not exactly sure how that happened, but it gave me a good excuse to order a pack of Fenders
The tuning is alright, it stays in tune fairly okay, but I don't think any strat will ever do that as well as my acoustic due to the floating bridge design.
I started off with the bridge flat on the body, but found there to be a lot of string buzz when the low E and G strings got picked hard. I resolved this by loosening the spring claw on the back a little, using the bridge saddle adjustments to 'individually' set the strings higher by the bridge.
I then used the truss rod in the neck to make it slightly bendy and have now found the sweet spot. The low E still buzzes a little, but only when you pick it unnecessarily hard, even during some intensive strumming it's fine. The action is ever so slightly higher than on my acoustic, but it plays really well for me.
The tremolo won't be used. I know how to bend strings on the fretboard and I don't think any tremolo has ever worked flawlessly on any guitar. They tend to pull the strings out of tune faster, and the whole thing adds nothing for me personally anyway
Yeah, I really wanted to get her finished but at the same time refrained myself from rushing it. It was worth it! The holes on the body did line up so I just bolted them in and it was fine really. One screw went in at a little bit of an angle, but I made sure it was all very, very secure!
Update
Fender nicely colour codes the strings. Cause they are so thin already, I did have some trouble distinguishing the G from the B on the stock pack.
Got them on, and loosened the spring claw a little. Then started intonation. This means that when you tune the E string in E, then hold your finger on the string above the 12th fret and pick it, it should also be a perfect E. If not, you have to make saddle adjustments.
Intonation went pretty well! I was a little weirded out when I put the high E string on, tuned it up and noticed it was already intonated perfectly :lol:
Well then...
I'll post some nicer photos when the weather is better and I can get some shots in the sun!
