Finished my project guitar

[JonEthan]

Just want to share this to all.

This project is actually already a year and a half due.
I got the guitar from a relative last Jan 07. I knew it was not a real Fender (a cheap copy in fact) I wanted to throw it away, but wife wanted me to keep, so it became a project.

Basically, the guitar has these specs
- Fender shape body and headstock
- All-Maple neck that doesn't have a thrust rod and has a crack near the headstock
- 24 frets
- Trem bridge, but the position is about 3cm off to the neck (to compensate for the 24-fret neck)
- (Fake) Boss pickups
- 1 Vol, 2 Tone, 5-way switch

Original pics:

I will post the upgrades and "After" pics later

 

[obzervr]

This would be interesting...

 

[JonEthan]

So, here's the outcome.

Changes made were:
1. Replaced the neck with a 22-fret J&D tele neck (I need a tele neck because the neck heel is straight, not curve like normal strats)
2. Carved a pool-type pickup route because the old S-S-S routing was so off.
3. Moved the Bridged back by about 3cm (to get 25.5" scale, and so I can fit in a standard Strat pickguard).
4. Converted the trem to fixed bridge (by removing the block and screwing directly to the wood).
5. Change pick guard to 1-ply Black
6. Changed the pickups to Proline (saving to get better ones later)
7. Change electronics to Allparts Pot and Caps
8. Thrust rod adjustment
9. Action set to 1.3mm(bass) and 1.1mm (treble)
10. Corrected the intonation (pics taken before intonation)

And now, this:

The guitar sounds surprisingly good. Tone is on the bright side but lacks some mids. The neck position can really bring out good single coil sound, and the bridge is very crunchy.

Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

 

[kerplunk182]

Ooo... Nice nice... What pickups are those?

 

[ThisIsTheEnd]

Look .... Up?
Wow looks really different. How much did you spend?

 

[JonEthan]

Pickguard and pickups = $48 (from Ranking Sports)
Neck = $50 (from another softie)
Pots/Caps = from another custom i did before.

Everything else taken from the original guitar

I suppose it could be cheaper if I bought the pickups from softies.. or not.

 

[JonEthan]

Before and After

 

[JaarVis.]

seriously , its fcking awesome. im someone who dont really favour strats. but after seeing how much effort u've put in and changing a shit to gold . beautiful man. and the current one looks real awesome.

 

[RyanZ]

Nice job, bro!

 

[fgl]

Before and After

GREAT TO SEE MODDERS DOIN THEIR "THANG" BRO ... upz ur pts!

 

[KissMyAxe]

I just did some major overhaul to my guitar too. After about 5 months of ordering the parts which includes the new pups, used edge pro bridge and a new maple neck, I finally got it done. Swap all the parts that I need the guitar to have and sold off the ones that I dont require. Man, it takes alot of effort, patience, money and time to finally nail it. I'm completely drained....

Many thanks to Dan Music which did an excellent job in changing the new pups and setting up my guitar.

Grumpyfella25/Custom Swirl JEM - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

[JonEthan]

THanks for the compliments, guys.
Yeah, it takes a lot of effort and can be draining sometimes. But the sense of fulfillment is worth it.

 

[obzervr]

$100 worth of parts and 100 hours worth of labour! This is excellent!

 

[Jugman]

well done, man. it looks great!

 

[DeathCubeK]

Am I the only one who prefers the original one?

 

[fgl]

I just did some major overhaul to my guitar too. After about 5 months of ordering the parts which includes the new pups, used edge pro bridge and a new maple neck, I finally got it done. Swap all the parts that I need the guitar to have and sold off the ones that I dont require. Man, it takes alot of effort, patience, money and time to finally nail it. I'm completely drained....

Many thanks to Dan Music which did an excellent job in changing the new pups and setting up my guitar.

Grumpyfella25/Custom Swirl JEM - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

hahaha sorry I didnt have time to do ur axe bro - but I recommend all swee swee one ... hahaha I heard from Dan there was an Indian dude customer wanted to test ur swirl axe there?

 

[KissMyAxe]

hahaha sorry I didnt have time to do ur axe bro - but I recommend all swee swee one ... hahaha I heard from Dan there was an Indian dude customer wanted to test ur swirl axe there?

Ya lah, I am so hesitant to let him try my baby. So sorry....My precious

(twisted)

 

[fgl]

Ya lah, I am so hesitant to let him try my baby. So sorry....My precious

(twisted)

hahaha I believe that he's a busker .. always drunk type that goes to Dans sometimes .. lucky U didnt let ...

 

[KissMyAxe]

hahaha I believe that he's a busker .. always drunk type that goes to Dans sometimes .. lucky U didnt let ...

You're right. He looked so stoned

 

[JonEthan]

Am I the only one who prefers the original one?

Anything about it that you like in particular?
The pickup shape looks very odd to me.