Building your own strat

T

ttl100

New member
I recently replaced my Squier Telecaster neck to a MIM stock maple neck and did all the fret leveling, alignments and setup. It's a great feeling. I now wondering whether I should put together a stratocaster by buying major components over ebay. I did a rough calculations and this can be done for around S$1,200 with Custom shop '54 pups + electronics, Callaham hardwares, tuners, mighty mite dressed neck & body.

My argument is you'll need to spend about S$1,600 for a MIM 50's strat, upgrade to CS '54 pup and Callaham bridge.

Cool savings of S$400 for effects!

Has anyone done your own assembly? Just like to find out. Thanks! :)
 
ttl100 said:
I recently replaced my Squier Telecaster neck to a MIM stock maple neck and did all the fret leveling, alignments and setup. It's a great feeling. I now wondering whether I should put together a stratocaster by buying major components over ebay. I did a rough calculations and this can be done for around S$1,200 with Custom shop '54 pups + electronics, Callaham hardwares, tuners, mighty mite dressed neck & body.

My argument is you'll need to spend about S$1,600 for a MIM 50's strat, upgrade to CS '54 pup and Callaham bridge.

Cool savings of S$400 for effects!

Has anyone done your own assembly? Just like to find out. Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Building one yourself is more engaging than that. You form a bond faster with that guitar because YOU chose exactly what you wanted from it.

May I suggest Custom 69s instead of the 54s?:twisted:
 
Whitestrat said:
Building one yourself is more engaging than that. You form a bond faster with that guitar because YOU chose exactly what you wanted from it.

May I suggest Custom 69s instead of the 54s?:twisted:
Click to expand...

In terms of quality, will I end up by having good individual hardwares but the finish item can't shine when put together? Or should I just stick to getting MIM 50's strat + upgrades?
 
ttl100 said:
In terms of quality, will I end up by having good individual hardwares but the finish item can't shine when put together? Or should I just stick to getting MIM 50's strat + upgrades?
Click to expand...

You think the assemblyline men at Fender's Corona plant pour magic or mojo into each component when making a Fender?

No. If you choose the guitar parts wisely, it can be as good as or better than a US strat.

The key thing you need to look out for is construction and parts. Choose your parts wisely, and make sure you think of EVERYTHING when putting it together.

If I were you, I'd put one together instead of upgrading the guitar.
 
I like to play clean tone with light tremolo use but also play overdrive / distortion. I am a big Gilmour tone fan so I thought custom54 will be more suitable for me. Custom 69 will be something like Los Lonely boys tone right?

For the body, what kind of wood / finishing should I consider?
 
ttl100 said:
I like to play clean tone with light tremolo use but also play overdrive / distortion. I am a big Gilmour tone fan so I thought custom54 will be more suitable for me. Custom 69 will be something like Los Lonely boys tone right?

For the body, what kind of wood / finishing should I consider?
Click to expand...

No, custom 69 for me is a very SRV shimmering tone... If you like Gilmours, maybe a Fat 50s might be nicer?

The 54s are nice, don't get me wrong, but I love the 69s...
 
You can choose alder body with maple neck, Quartersawn also can. Common finishing like nitro or poly can be considered too.
 
DoomKaze said:
Have anyone made a strat from scratch? If you did how much did you spend?
Click to expand...

Quite a few people here have done so. My last project mainly cost me $1400, with rift sawn RW fretboard neck, 3lbs 2piece alder body, wilkinson hardware, klusons, bone nuts and lastly GFS pickups. Body paint was acryllic sonic blue.

Only problem was, I didn't like the 7.25" fretboard radius, so I got rid of it...:mrgreen:
 
Whitestrat said:
You form a bond faster with that guitar because YOU chose exactly what you wanted from it.
Click to expand...

You form the strongest bonds when you actually had a hand in the building process - e.g. You did the finishing yourself, you put the instrument together yourself, etc.

And that bond - it is something quite special.

Does it make you a better player? Maybe.
Does it make your instrument more valuable? Probably not.
Does it make your playing experience spectacular? Depends on how good you put it together.
Does it have mojo? LIKE HELL YEAH!!!!!*


*And that's all that matters - screw 'em all!
 
ShredCow said:
You form the strongest bonds when you actually had a hand in the building process - e.g. You did the finishing yourself, you put the instrument together yourself, etc.

And that bond - it is something quite special.

Does it make you a better player? Maybe.
Does it make your instrument more valuable? Probably not.
Does it make your playing experience spectacular? Depends on how good you put it together.
Does it have mojo? LIKE HELL YEAH!!!!!*


*And that's all that matters - screw 'em all!
Click to expand...


well said man dude
 
ShredCow said:
You form the strongest bonds when you actually had a hand in the building process - e.g. You did the finishing yourself, you put the instrument together yourself, etc.

And that bond - it is something quite special.

Does it make you a better player? Maybe.
Does it make your instrument more valuable? Probably not.
Does it make your playing experience spectacular? Depends on how good you put it together.
Does it have mojo? LIKE HELL YEAH!!!!!*


*And that's all that matters - screw 'em all!
Click to expand...

Well said dude...

I'm still waiting for you to put this one together for yourself:

shreddy.jpg


You'll be able to MILK the mojo form it!!!!!
 
guitarsan said:
Are there any difference in tone/playability as opposed to the regular necks?
Click to expand...

Short answer, no. The reason why people prefer quartersawn necks is because the grain is vertical, and hence adds strength. There are 2 schools of thought. One says that because of that extra strength, it sounds tighter and brighter. The other says that the added strength ensures less neck durability issues.

I tend to believe the 2nd one more than the first.
 
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