Recent content by GilgaFrank

Deeply saddened today by the death of Keith Emerson, apparenty by suicide. Few people in the rock music world deserve to be called musical geniuses but Keith Emerson certainly was just that. I haven't stopped playing this all day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwSTe9uit48&feature=youtu.be

That is a nice piece of wood. I'm not usually a fan of sunburst Strats but that korina really makes for a nice guitar.

We call me old fashioned but that's just how I play electric guitar!

For all the debate about ash, alder, mahogany, rosewood, maple, poly, nitro, tru oil - none of it makes as big a difference as a quick turn of a tone knob.

It's starting to gloss up! Several more coats to go and much sanding to level out the finish but this should be the colour of the finished article. Minwax does tend to run a bit when applied, it's very easy to get "runs" in the poly coat if you slap it on too thick. Steel wool keys it nicely...

That's really strange, one of the best-sounding guitars I ever owned was a 1986 E-series MIJ Squier with a Duncan Custom in the bridge. In my experience, every guitar with a JB humbucker sounds off. They do one thing and one thing only, high-gain distorted wig-out. Clean them up and they turn...

There's always this option ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbT9OOSvVdw

Unfortunately Schaller don't make complete sets of Strat or Tele hardware. No jackplates, no vintage bridges and the modern trems they make look to have different post spacing from the Fender US Standard bridge. Bang goes that great idea, unless you want to experiment with doing your own copper...

+1 for all the good comments about Schaller hardware, that stuff is absolutely top notch. Side note, their vintage copper finish (left of pic) is incredibly beautiful, makes me want to build a Strat just to deck it out in that hardware.

I built a mighty Mite partscaster once, it was ok for the money but not great. The alignment of the neck was slightly off, I think the drill holes were in the wrong place so the strings never quite ran exactly parallel to the neck. Looked nice though, even had a drop top in a nicely finished...

Thread's been very Fender heavy so far, let's have a pic of that neck for some much-needed Warmoth content. The workbench of sawdust and chaos ...

It won't be nearly so dark when it's finished, the coat lightens up as it dries but it'll just darken the wood enough ... after about ten coats. This ash is really porous and the poly coat disappears into it really fast.

Finally, after many many distractions and side projects, the finishing is under way. Looks like the Minwax is going to give it just about the right amount of amber to look really great. This is the first coat, still wet. That stuff really sinks into the ash so it's going to be a long process but...

Can't you just shim the neck?