Strat Renovation - Beaten & Battered (Pics on page 2!)

[Moose]

So I've been working on a strat on and off for a couple months now, and I figure it's about time I did a post about it.

I'll do a slightly abridged version, just because I've had lots of fuckups along the way. There is/will be more detailed stuff on my blog about it.

Apologies in advance for the shitty phone pics!

So yeah, I started out with a Peavey Raptor that's over 10 years old (maybe over 15 years old):



Stripped it and sanded all the paint off, revealing the guitar to be plywood:



Routed the neck cavity for a toaster, and recut the pickguard for HSS (with the neck being a toaster):



Painted the body satin green:


Then attacked it with a power sander:


Checked the pickups fit both the pickguard and the cavities (had to redo the neck cavity a bit for the toaster):



Started the long and arduous process of shielding the body with copper foil:


Applied vinyl to the pickguard, after testing on the backplate first, and drilled the necessary holes for the controls:



(yeah, I suck at applying vinyl but never mind it's only noticeable up close ).

So the next step is just to wire it all up, and fit everything together! I haven't got pictures of it, but I have also shielded the back of the pickguard.

In summary, I've taken a bog standard Peavey strat, and converted it to an HSS strat with a toaster in the neck, and a Seymour Duncan SH-14 in the bridge. The controls are just a volume (with a Mosrite style knob because fuckyea), and separate on/off switches for each pickup. The humbucker switch is to be wired as a three position on/off/on, which will be Humbucker --> Off --> South Coil. This way it'll be hum cancelling with the middle pickup.

Hopefully I haven't plastered so much copper foil that it ends up not giving any sound whatsoever If I have, fuck it I'll rip it out.

Also, I think if I did this again, I'd probably cut a new pickguard from black material. Applying vinyl to a pickguard is a friggin nightmare.


It won't be the prettiest guitar in the world, but I'm pleased with how it's going so far What do you guys think?

[skullservant]

This is awesome! Love the 3 switches for the pickups on/off

[Moose]

This is awesome! Love the 3 switches for the pickups on/off

Thanks man! I friggin love toggle switches and hate blade switches with a passion haha.

I reckon with enough practice, I'll be able to get to a point where I can use the middle, ring, and pinky of my picking hand to change pickup configuration whilst playing which will be suweeeet.

Can't wait to get this finished, hopefully should be starting the soldering today!

Once It's all put together, I'm having it tuned to Open F (CFCFAC). That way it's not too tricky to put it into drop C when I want to.

[skullservant]

I've been thinking about doing the same switch type thing with a Telecaster that will be my next project!
And that sounds awesome about the tuning too. I really need to spend some time with alt tunings. Most of my guitars are in E Standard

[Moose]

I'll let you know how it goes and how practical it turns out to be

At some point I want to do a baritone telecaster project, with a varitone tone control on it. Just for ridiculousness. After this one, I've got a Squier Jagmaster II body (the one designed for 25.5" scale) to work on which should be fun, going to go with a humbucker bridge and P90 in the neck. It's going to be a bit more traditional though in terms of switching.

I know what you mean man, that's my main reason for completing this to be honest. I've only got two other guitars, ones in E standard, and the other Eb standard. I've been a little apprehensive about open tunings for a while, but then I had a go on one of my brother's guitars. It's a kind of SG styled guitar by Vintage, but it's tuned to CGCGCE. After half an hour on it with and without a slide, I realised how much fun open tunings are!

[skullservant]

That baritone telecaster sounds like it will be cool! Along with the Jagmaster!
This tele that I will be putting together will have two Teisco pickups in it, cut off bridge plate, shell pink, black guard, volume and two on/off switches with a maple neck. Stoked on it!

[Moose]

Yeah man, thinking of doing the telecaster in a traditional bluesboy style, with a humbucker in the neck and a single in the bridge (although I might opt for a rails single coil sized humbucker). Also considering having a go at binding it in black, with an obnoxious green coloured body, and a maple neck.

But I get ahead of myself, I haven't finished this strat or even started the jagmaster yet

But that tele plan sounds awesome man! I look forward to seeing it

Maybe do a third switch for whether the pickups run in series or parallel? I'd love to experiment with series/parallel, but I don't have a reason to yet haha. Same goes for doing phase switching.

[skullservant]

Just saw this band called The Pilgrim on Thursday who was using a Telecaster with a single coil in the bridge and humbucker in the neck through a Mesa stack playing some crazy vintagey rock type stuff. Sounded great!

And that sounds like it would be cool to do the series/parallel switch too, I'm all for more sound options!

[Moose]

Why did you have to mention Mesa?

Now I'm reminded the Mark V exists and that I'll never be able to afford one dammit

I think at some point I'll just have to go into a guitar shop and have a go on guitars that have phase switching and series/parallel. Then I'll know whether or not it's a mod I'd be interested in.


I seriously need to stop lurking about here and get on with this guitar. The scratchplate's been ready for soldering for a good 7 hours now, just sat there waiting on my workbench for me to get off my ass and do it

[skullservant]

Hahaha get to it man!

[KaosCill8r]

You could try pushing those bubbles out of that vinyl with a cork sanding block. Maybe pricking them first with a fine needle might help too.

[Moose]

I've tried pushing them out with little luck, but the fine needle idea is a good un. I'll give that a go once I've got all of the main bits and pieces sorted!

Thanks for the advice man

[spacelordmother]

I'm loving that green and looking forward to see her all together!

Any plans to tap into switching options in the humbuckers?

Did it really take that long to shield the cavity? I bought some copper tape for my build, but its really quiet right now so if it's that much headache I'll probably skip it.

[Decibill]

YEah, pop those bubbles with a needle and they will go right down...

[Moose]

I'm loving that green and looking forward to see her all together!

Any plans to tap into switching options in the humbuckers?

Did it really take that long to shield the cavity? I bought some copper tape for my build, but its really quiet right now so if it's that much headache I'll probably skip it.

Thanks man! The bridge humbucker is the only one that's 4 wire, and to be honest it's been a while since I've soldered anything. So I'm gonna keep it simple this time, and just wire it on a on/off/on switch for humbucker/off/single coil. Maybe if this goes well, I may come back to it later and do more fun switching stuff.

The shielding didn't take long, I was just being melodramatic It was a bit tricky because of the routing I did for the neck pickup, it was a really weird square ridge to do. Plus, the body has weird lumps and holes and stuff on the inside. I got the whole thing done in the space of an evening, and for the different that shielding makes, I'd say it definitely worth it! It depends on how loud your guitar is, if there's a shit ton of noticeable buzz/hum when you're not playing, then shield it. If it's super quiet and there's only the tiniest bit of hum/noise, then whilst it will improve things, it might not be as dramatic as on other guitars

YEah, pop those bubbles with a needle and they will go right down...

I managed to get some of them done last night whilst watching TV, but I've still go a bit of a ways to go yet!