Ignored Member
Neutered male
Might add that Callaham's stuff is awesome. I thought it was corksniffery but darn if their strat bridge doesn't add a ton of attack and punch.
Parts Guitar Builds
- Thread starter Lerxst
- Start date
Then I'm confused... Warmoth's 6-hole standard is vintage (wider) spaced.In terms of actual work I didn't do a damn thing. All I did was go on a spending bender without doing any sort of due diligence on this kind of stuff.
The body came from Warmoth with whatever their standard 6-hole drilling is. My local guy did the assembly and only pointed out the bridge issue after the fact. Like I said, he did a fine job of dialing it in.
Are you sure the body wasn't undrilled and your local guy did the drilling for you? The reason I ask is that those saddles are clearly too wide for the bridge plate and they don't make a saddle wider than vintage.
baimun
Funkasaurus Rex
Then I'm confused... Warmoth's 6-hole standard is vintage (wider) spaced.
Are you sure the body wasn't undrilled and your local guy did the drilling for you? The reason I ask is that those saddles are clearly too wide for the bridge plate and they don't make a saddle wider than vintage.
The narrower 6 hole is used on import guitars or PRS. You can see that difference in USA Fender Strat saddles vs MIM Strat Bridges.
Right, that's why I'm confused. If the body was drilled by Warmoth it would have the wider spacing, but those saddles are too wide for the bridge on which the through holes seem to line up with the mounting screws... So either those are some wackado super-wide saddles not meant for a vintage Strat bridge or, more likely, that's a narrow bridge with vintage saddles and the Warmoth mounting screw holes were filled and drilled.
335clone
Living the dream
All I can say is go for it.
I knew I wanted something unique as well as familiar at the same time. There was some trepidation that the sum of the parts might still be lacking in some way, but I couldn't be happier with how it worked out. I didn't have the uncertainty regarding tools or the skills to use them, quite the opposite. But I worried about making the first scratch or ding during the build. I know it will collect them, but I wanted that initial perfection. Not having a good workspace to build on, it was all done on a desk and coffee table in my living room. Well, except for mill day when I made the control plate, or tried to. But that was all my doing. I do suggest anyone thinking about it to actually learn to solder before doing so on their guitar. Poor solder joints are the easiest way to screw up a build and frustrate the builder. Always use blue tape to mark hole locations before drilling, and measure twice or 3 times before you drill.
When you are done, you will have the guitar you want, and the satisfaction of knowing you made it.
I knew I wanted something unique as well as familiar at the same time. There was some trepidation that the sum of the parts might still be lacking in some way, but I couldn't be happier with how it worked out. I didn't have the uncertainty regarding tools or the skills to use them, quite the opposite. But I worried about making the first scratch or ding during the build. I know it will collect them, but I wanted that initial perfection. Not having a good workspace to build on, it was all done on a desk and coffee table in my living room. Well, except for mill day when I made the control plate, or tried to. But that was all my doing. I do suggest anyone thinking about it to actually learn to solder before doing so on their guitar. Poor solder joints are the easiest way to screw up a build and frustrate the builder. Always use blue tape to mark hole locations before drilling, and measure twice or 3 times before you drill.
When you are done, you will have the guitar you want, and the satisfaction of knowing you made it.
Danhedonia
Noted duckfat enthusiast
I don't really care about any of those, and have walked both sides of that street, but the one thing here I'd argue with is the apparent underlying premise that if someone doesn't want to do things the same way, they have a problem.
Lerxst
spaghetti and blankets
I haven’t read all of the posts but that was not the intention and I didn’t read a post that suggested otherwise. I see a number of people who find the experience and end result rewarding and are trying to share that.
Bob411
thrumming with potential
Do you hunt? Fish? I don't. I didn't grow up doing it and, if I caught a fish, I would have no idea what to do with it. So I get the feeling, " they have a problem" or, how can you possibly not know how to....
All I can say is, here, people love guitars. They want to share that love. Don't mistake that for a putdown of somebody that isn't interested in one aspect of them.
Modern Saint
Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
The amazing part about guitar builds or rebuilds is that you learn so much about the instrument. You begin to learn fine details that you may have read about but had no concept about it until you actually build or rebuild.
Bottom line, build one!!!
Bottom line, build one!!!
Danhedonia
Noted duckfat enthusiast
Guess I misread the phrase "have a problem. "
Most partscasters I've come into contact with seemed to have some sort of micro-millemetric oddness. This includes partscasters from very high-end people too, like Jim Mouradian before he passed (Cambridge Music Center spoiled me, I had no idea). I think it was @dmn23 that said he felt that there was some spacing issue ... inevitably, even the very nicest partscasters have some sort of 'thing' that seems 'off' to me.
And I'm aware that could well be just the lazy bias of an old hack guitarist. "Ahm usedta what ahm usedta."
OTOH, I have a sorta-Tele that hails from three continents, and it rocks.
Also - why is it that in my mind, I can replace the pickups 5x, the pickguard 3x, the pots, switches and bridge ... and it's "still a Strat, just modified." But once I put on a new neck, it's a "partscaster?" Hardly seems reasonable, but that's how my worm-eaten mind works.
Most partscasters I've come into contact with seemed to have some sort of micro-millemetric oddness. This includes partscasters from very high-end people too, like Jim Mouradian before he passed (Cambridge Music Center spoiled me, I had no idea). I think it was @dmn23 that said he felt that there was some spacing issue ... inevitably, even the very nicest partscasters have some sort of 'thing' that seems 'off' to me.
And I'm aware that could well be just the lazy bias of an old hack guitarist. "Ahm usedta what ahm usedta."
OTOH, I have a sorta-Tele that hails from three continents, and it rocks.
Also - why is it that in my mind, I can replace the pickups 5x, the pickguard 3x, the pots, switches and bridge ... and it's "still a Strat, just modified." But once I put on a new neck, it's a "partscaster?" Hardly seems reasonable, but that's how my worm-eaten mind works.
dmn23
Duller than cardboard
In fairness the issues I had were entirely my own fault. I thought I'd done the necessary research but that wasn't the case.
And frankly that's the frustrating part: I don't know what I don't know. And I feel like it would be really easy to go down the Charlie Brown-kicking-the-football path of "Next time I'll know better!" only to find I've screwed up something else.
And frankly that's the frustrating part: I don't know what I don't know. And I feel like it would be really easy to go down the Charlie Brown-kicking-the-football path of "Next time I'll know better!" only to find I've screwed up something else.
Chad
Slender Hobbit
I just looked at your 'screw up' again, on my computer, not my phone. I wouldn't say that was your fault. That bridge has the wrong saddles on it, the saddles are to wide for the mounting screws. Even so, the only thing that is 'wrong' with it, are the strings not lining up directly under the pole pieces on the bridge. I bet you can find that issue on plenty of guitars straight from the manufacturer.
335clone
Living the dream
LOL, you should post this on TDPRI, where debates about modding teles are serious business. Wrong screws! Changing the pickgaure on your AVRI kills the resale value! To them, you can take 2 identically spec'd custom shop AVRI's, switch necks, and they are both partscasters worth half of what they retailed for. Crazy shit.
I think your Fender bias is the root of the issue. I'm fairly certain that if you covered up all mention of brand on 5 partscasters and 5 Fender guitars of different lineage, your results would show that there are 'issues' with most of them, regardless of what it says on the headstock. I would be interested to see if you (or anyone) could correctly pick the Fenders from the 'others'. Most body builders use Fender blueprint specs and CNC these days, and most hardware suppliers also stick as close to Fender specs as possible. The cheapo chinese knockoffs can vary in quality, but when it comes down to it, the difference between something like a Nash and Chad or my partscasters are pretty hard to discern (except for the relicing).
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Chad
Slender Hobbit
I would put up any of my parts casters against anything Fender puts out. @Guitar Heel can tell you about the playability of them. After my Warmoth builds, I’ll never buy a Fender guitar again.
Guitar Heel
Demented Trick
335clone
Living the dream
^^^^This^^^^^
jelloman
Couch'd Tater...
The one thing that anyone embarking on a build needs to keep in mind is this; you need to be very diligent in figuring out exactly what you need it to be before you buy anything...careful planning will go a long way towards making it a much more enjoyable experience, and also minimize the expense of fixing mistakes...
...one other factor to consider is the basic fact that a parts guitar has a virtually zero resale value as a whole, and parting it out and selling it in pieces will only net you about half of what you invested...it's best (in my opinion) to be resigned to the fact that once you build it, you're probably going to own it forever, so you'd better get it right...
...one other factor to consider is the basic fact that a parts guitar has a virtually zero resale value as a whole, and parting it out and selling it in pieces will only net you about half of what you invested...it's best (in my opinion) to be resigned to the fact that once you build it, you're probably going to own it forever, so you'd better get it right...
Lerxst
spaghetti and blankets
That’s a good point. Resale is not anything near what you’d net with a mfg’d guitar.
Recoup on parts resale really depends on those parts and the condition. I’ve seen it go good and not as good for friends that have gone down that road (and most of those cases of part outs were builds that were based off cheaper eBay used part frankenbuilds).
On my first build I was resigned to the fact that if I wanted to sell off, I would likely part it out. Fortunately, I knew what I wanted and selected the right parts so it was totally unnecessary.