fgl
Well-known member
Hi ho ..here's fgl again with the latest DIY guitar project. This time I've bought a cheap "Santa Fe" strat copy and have spruced it up to use as a studio practise guitar.
The Santa Fe's pretty good value for money copy strats. I've owned several in the past as back up guitars kept in the store oof various clubs I was gigging at ..but they always seem to be bought by interested axemen.
I picked up this cherry sunburst strat real cheap (2nd hand) from Dan Music.
First thing that was changed was the pickguard - I replaced the old plain one piece white pkguard with a nice white pearliod pickguard. I opted for a h/s/s pick up set up. The neck & mid pups are tex mex pups which I had lying around the house. The bridge humbucker is a 2nd hand DiMarzio dual sound, bought from fellow softie Embryo. The aged nature and look of the dual sound complimented the tone of the other two tex mex pups nicely.
Also added were these nice chrome (real metal chrome not painted pastic) barrel knobs with peal inlays in them. I think they compliment the pearliod pickguard. Pots were the Alpha 250K range (I always use 250K even with humbuckers in the bridge for a fatter tone), spare capacitor .22 was a spare from the org Fender pots and the 5 way selector was Ernie ball. I had abundant black & white cloth wires available & these were used in the wiring process.
Of course the entire pickguard inner face was shielded with foil and the internal cavity routs of the body was painted with shielding paint for maxiimum hum free performance
Me being gatal, couldnt resist sanding of the santa fe decal and repllacing it with a bootleg Fender decal (last one I had). Obviously true Fender collectors will know straight away that this guitar is NOT a Fender but - its a nice touch anyway for a mainly studiouse practise axe. So take note ppl THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL FENDER PRODUCT AND IS NOT FOR SALE.
The santa fe's neck was a large C shaped 21 fret rosewood one. Frets were medium jumbo (although I prefer super jumbo) and the dot inlays were stragely white pearloid - another nice touch.
The Santa Fe's pretty good value for money copy strats. I've owned several in the past as back up guitars kept in the store oof various clubs I was gigging at ..but they always seem to be bought by interested axemen.
I picked up this cherry sunburst strat real cheap (2nd hand) from Dan Music.
First thing that was changed was the pickguard - I replaced the old plain one piece white pkguard with a nice white pearliod pickguard. I opted for a h/s/s pick up set up. The neck & mid pups are tex mex pups which I had lying around the house. The bridge humbucker is a 2nd hand DiMarzio dual sound, bought from fellow softie Embryo. The aged nature and look of the dual sound complimented the tone of the other two tex mex pups nicely.
Also added were these nice chrome (real metal chrome not painted pastic) barrel knobs with peal inlays in them. I think they compliment the pearliod pickguard. Pots were the Alpha 250K range (I always use 250K even with humbuckers in the bridge for a fatter tone), spare capacitor .22 was a spare from the org Fender pots and the 5 way selector was Ernie ball. I had abundant black & white cloth wires available & these were used in the wiring process.
Of course the entire pickguard inner face was shielded with foil and the internal cavity routs of the body was painted with shielding paint for maxiimum hum free performance
Me being gatal, couldnt resist sanding of the santa fe decal and repllacing it with a bootleg Fender decal (last one I had). Obviously true Fender collectors will know straight away that this guitar is NOT a Fender but - its a nice touch anyway for a mainly studiouse practise axe. So take note ppl THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL FENDER PRODUCT AND IS NOT FOR SALE.
The santa fe's neck was a large C shaped 21 fret rosewood one. Frets were medium jumbo (although I prefer super jumbo) and the dot inlays were stragely white pearloid - another nice touch.
