From the Home of Tone bench
Glen's Gibson scale Tele
I had the pleasure of carrying out the final assembly of a really cool project, a 24.75" scale Tele partscaster for Glen. He had sourced a body from Guitar Build (in the UK) and the 24.75" scale 'conversion' neck from Warmoth in the USA, some of the hardware such as a control plate with the angled switch slot, a nice modern 6 saddle Gotoh bridge, the Fender/Gotoh vintage tuners and a lovely matte black pickguard from friends at Armstrong Music. I was asked to carry out the final assembly, and whilst we had a bit of time on our hands whilst the neck was on order from the US, and Glen carrying out the painting work himself on the body, we chatted about some of the final details like pickups and wiring decisions. Which I'll of course share in this article.
A custom left handed Delonge spec Strat project
I was contacted last year, as to whether left handed versions of the Tom Delonge signature Stratocaster were readily available. Which of course the answer, was sadly, no. Fender haven't put out a lefty version of this popular pop punk signature guitar, which is a shame really. Although I'm sure the LH guitar playing community is well used to this exclusion from popular RH production models.
I suggested to the inquiring customer the various ways you could capture the idea, through a mod project, refinishing and customising an existing guitar, via a luthier brand for a custom build or a partscaster too. After a bit of discussion, the customer asked if I could quote on a quality, as close to spec partscaster version and we went ahead with the project. My brief essentially was to capture absolutely as many details from the modern production of the Fender instrument, but of course, left handed.
An awesome Ferrari Yellow Super Strat for Ryan!
This was a wicked project to be part of. A great Home of Tone supporter, Ryan, mentioned he had a project in mind quite some time ago, making use of an old Mighty Mite maple neck he had for years, along with a HH super strat body he picked up for a good deal from Guitar Build. After some discussion over time, specs were decided on and parts were compiled, body was painted and it was time for me to get stuck into assembly for him.
I won't go into lots of detail of each step of the assembly, as I've covered a lot of the same kinds of things a number of times on the blog via other partscaster builds. But I'll share the photos nonetheless.
Very much an EVH inspired build, featuring some wicked parts, some of which I was lucky enough to supply as well as install, such as numerous Gotoh hardware items, the Vega-Trem bridge, Tesi Switch kill switch button and all of the wiring.
I won't go into lots of detail of each step of the assembly, as I've covered a lot of the same kinds of things a number of times on the blog via other partscaster builds. But I'll share the photos nonetheless.
Very much an EVH inspired build, featuring some wicked parts, some of which I was lucky enough to supply as well as install, such as numerous Gotoh hardware items, the Vega-Trem bridge, Tesi Switch kill switch button and all of the wiring.
Nick's custom Telecaster Deluxe!
This was the first job on the bench after a brief summer break with the family last month, Nick’s lovely Telecaster Deluxe. It came in for a setup, rewire, installation of new pickguard and to smooth the back of the neck. Nick asked me to rewire it for two reasons, resolve some niggling faults but also make it more suitable for his playing preferences. After going over some options we decided to move the toggle switch out of the way of the strumming area down to the pots instead. He complained of accidentally knocking the toggle switch in it's standard position, and wanted to take that hassle out of his gigging! He plays long sets in bands as well as his own solo wedding work so his guitars need to be reliable. So in moving the toggle out of the way and down to the main pots area, we needed to change to a master tone whilst still keeping the two volume pots. This way you can still do the cool Tele Deluxe kill switch effect by rolling one off etc.
A unique mod to an already versatile PJ bass
This was an interesting project to be part of. Repeat customer, Will, had added this Fender Player Plus MIM PJ bass 2nd hand to his collection and had started to make it his own, flatwounds, thumb-rest etc, but had found an area he wanted to improve upon.
1988 Fender Strat Plus for some major TLC
Ian kindly contacted me to have a look at his long time owned 1988 Fender Strat Plus. It had been unplayed for a while sadly as there was some severe fret wear/divots along with a troublesome setup, but it was time to get it back in use and being enjoyed again. He popped by with it so I could see whether there was enough fretwire to play with for a level/crown/polish rather than a re-fret, of which there was plenty to work with so the level/crown/polish was the plan this time around. It was also in need of a thorough inspection/clean too, but selfishly I was really really looking forward to this little project as I have a soft spot for this era Strat, especially the Strat Plus, Ultra and Jeff Beck models from the Lace Sensor times. Very nostalgic for me, and this seemed like an era where it felt like every major player was sporting a Lace Sensor equipped Strat of some form! This one was particularly cool though thanks to it's original Graffiti yellow finish, which has darkened somewhat (which my photos don't really capture all that well unfortunately) but still looks super vibrant. Such a great colour.
Getting the most out of factory pickups; MIM Fender Classic Series 50s Strat
In this article I'm going to share some of the ways I decide on wiring specs, to help achieve a customers goal for their guitar's tone. As well as touch on some of the various steps I take when re-wiring a Fender Stratocaster. The specific guitar in question here was a lovely Classic Series 50s Stratocaster. A made in Mexico model which I'm always impressed by each time I get to see/play/work on. I've owned a couple of the slightly later variant of these, the Classic Player, which were great guitars but I've always liked both the Classic Series and Player models. Great vintage correct styling and build quality in my opinion is usually really nice on this era MIM, would happily own one again!
Left handed 'Delonge' conversion!
Well this was a fun one! For quite some time now, I have been offering a pre-wired volume pot kit, made to the same specs as what was installed on the original 2000/2001 Fender MIM Tom Delonge signature Strats, (having worked on an original to make reference of it's treble bleed specs etc) for both right handed and left handed players to either restore originals or make their own delonge projects. These have proved to be really popular, and Tom contacted me as a result of seeing these kits to 'convert' his beloved Custom Shop LH Strat so he could easily swap loaded pickguards over for when he's in the mood to blast out some pop punk. As this was a factory single coil equipped strat, it did require some routing work, so I stripped all the existing hardware and planned out the routing.
Chris' Tele partscaster project
Kind supporter of the Home of Tone, Chris kindly asked me to be a part of his Telecaster parts build which was a pleasure indeed after seeing the nice parts he had compiled for it. This has been a fairly long term project for him, taking his time to carefully consider and decide upon the specs to hopefully end up at a Tele that'll suit his requirements, and I think he did a great job with that. A body from Guitarbuild.co.uk, finished beautifully in a lacquer checked Olympic White by the great Paul at Retro169. No relic work on it, so it had a fresh look but plenty of character thanks to the generous checking. The body being paired with a new, genuine Fender Road Worn 50s Tele neck, a selection of aged hardware from Fender, Gotoh, Kluson and Charles Guitars, and pickups by Bare Knuckle. I knew this one would be a pleasure to build, when you're presented with nice quality parts it's reassuring you'll end up with a great guitar. So let's dive in!
Squier Bass VI
This week saw me finish up some TLC work on a lovely Squier Bass VI reissue. It had the factory installed string set on it, along with a rather high action and overall lackluster playing experience. Upon inspection I noted how low the bridge was sat against the pickguard, not a great sign when the action was on the high side. This hints that the instrument would benefit from an increased neck break angle, something that a shim at the heel of the neck would help achieve. So after stripping things down, carrying out some spot levelling on the frets, polishing those up and conditioning the fretboard. I removed the neck and made a neck heel shim from wood veneer and got it all back together ready to string up with the specially developed 'Balanced Medium' Stringjoy Bass VI string set.
A partscaster build for Ryan
This build/project was from a few weeks back now and I've been sitting on the photos waiting for a chance to pop them in a write up here on the workshop blog. Finally made it!
Ryan kindly asked me to be part of his partscaster project, and I had a wicked time going through the ideas, remaining parts needed and progressing through the build. I was provided with a Guitar Build body, painted beautifully by Paul at Retro169, in a NOS lacquer checked Shell Pink body, a Hosco neck which Ryan had done a lovely job on oil finishing himself. Oil City pickups. A pickguard, some control knobs and other hardware bits from Charles Guitars, and I supplied the Gotoh tuners, Gotoh bridge, some other items here and there like jack plate, strap buttons, screws etc. And I of course made the loaded pickguard! Here's some photos from the process, where I had to get everything aligned, carry out a fret level, radius, crown and polish, rolled the fretboard edge, full assembly and setup. It turned out great and sounded beautiful, especially when Ryan played it on collection!
Ryan kindly asked me to be part of his partscaster project, and I had a wicked time going through the ideas, remaining parts needed and progressing through the build. I was provided with a Guitar Build body, painted beautifully by Paul at Retro169, in a NOS lacquer checked Shell Pink body, a Hosco neck which Ryan had done a lovely job on oil finishing himself. Oil City pickups. A pickguard, some control knobs and other hardware bits from Charles Guitars, and I supplied the Gotoh tuners, Gotoh bridge, some other items here and there like jack plate, strap buttons, screws etc. And I of course made the loaded pickguard! Here's some photos from the process, where I had to get everything aligned, carry out a fret level, radius, crown and polish, rolled the fretboard edge, full assembly and setup. It turned out great and sounded beautiful, especially when Ryan played it on collection!
Paul's Custom Coodercaster
Paul kindly brought in his custom made Coodercaster for me to try and improve it's general play-ability. A lovely spec build, featuring a custom colour/finish, amazing pickguard, set of Mojo Pickups (gold foil and lap steel models) and a Duesenberg bridge w/G & B benders. I can however see why he felt like he was battling with it as the action was very high and inconsistent. Upon initial inspection I noticed that the neck wasn't seated very well in the neck pocket, with a gap at the outer edge resulting in a rather interesting neck break angle. Also, the bridge saddles were pretty inconsistent in terms of their individual heights and how well that matched up with it's 7.25" radius fingerboard. Ultimately though, none of this matters as it would all be something I'd be refining during the setup process.