1954 Z-Caster

[Jeremiah]

Yeah, I hadn't really considered how the control plate would fit on the body. I don't think I'd like it to be moved closer to the bridge, as I find having knobs close to the bridge is really annoying as I keep knocking them with my picking hand - that is why I don't generally play Strats.

Maybe it could go further back, or at an angle, in the lower bulge of the body.

 

[Patriot54]

Yeah, I hadn't really considered how the control plate would fit on the body. I don't think I'd like it to be moved closer to the bridge, as I find having knobs close to the bridge is really annoying as I keep knocking them with my picking hand - that is why I don't generally play Strats.

Maybe it could go further back, or at an angle, in the lower bulge of the body.

I know what you mean about knobs next to the bridge, which is why I eliminated the top volume knob position on my maple Strat.

Something tells me that a Tele control plate should overlap the pickguard, so another option would be to lengthen the pickguard on the Tele Z so that the control plate can be moved down and left from where it is in the 2nd picture.

 

[Patriot54]

I really love that Parker Tele, even though I'm not a big fan of that body shape.

Seeing these other ideas for hybrid guitars inspired me to do another Z-hybrid this morning. I call it "Appetite for Z-struction".....  :icon_thumright:

 

[Patriot54]

I heard back from the shop and top routing a Z-body is not an option. I'll still make this guitar a reality, but I have to consider the following:

1) As I mentioned, I could still get the top jack drilled through to a rear out cavity but John gave me fair warning that they advise against it, so I'd be taking a $500 risk with a non-returnable item. It's not so much the cable pulling on it that worries me, it's more because of putting the screws into it and putting pressure on the thin wood when I push the cable in.

2) Plan C would be to order a body with no routs at all, have the top routs done myself, then send it off to someone else to do the '54 burst paint. I'm considering doing this, as long as it's within my budget, because then I could do it in steps to make sure the control placement is right and I wouldn't be cutting into a body that's already been finished.

Any thoughts or advice would be welcome here.

Thanks to John and Rob from Warmoth, and the forum members here, for helping me get to this point.

:guitaristgif:

 

[bagman67]

Well, if you rout a raw body and go with someone else to finish it, I hear Greg (AKA Tonar) has a pretty good idea how to apply a 50's-style burst.  Just sayin'. 

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

That's an absurdly sexy idea!  I abhor pickguards on 80% of instruments, and yet - this fits beautifully.  I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing this become reality.

I must agree, although, I think the 6 inline Warhead would be a better fit for the Z angles/curves.

 

[Patriot54]

Well, if you rout a raw body and go with someone else to finish it, I hear Greg (AKA Tonar) has a pretty good idea how to apply a 50's-style burst.  Just sayin'.

I just sent him a message.

As for the routing part, I don't have the tools to do that kind of job right, but I've been thinking that if I have Warmoth send me the body with the bridge and pickups already lined up and cut (as if it was a rear rout cavity), then I could borrow a small hand router and finish the top myself, which would save me the extra custom fee I would have paid and leave me more $$$ to put into the finish.  :icon_scratch:

I still have the question of exactly how to fit the controls in, but I might have to wait until I have the body and pickguard in front of me to figure that one out.

 

[Patriot54]

That's an absurdly sexy idea!  I abhor pickguards on 80% of instruments, and yet - this fits beautifully.  I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing this become reality.

I must agree, although, I think the 6 inline Warhead would be a better fit for the Z angles/curves.

I've been considering that for this guitar. I've also decided to use the Warhead on a regular Strat body which will be my next next next project, an evil twin of my maple Tat Strat.

 

[Patriot54]

:cool01:

I'm so excited because tomorrow morning I'll order the body for this guitar. It shouldn't take too long because it's just a solid piece of swamp ash with pickup and bridge rout (no rear control cavity). Once the top rout and basic pickguard shape are done I can finally get a good night's sleep because this project has been haunting my dreams for months.

Then, after I finish the custom top rout, it will be getting the Tonar Treatment - vintage 1954 Fender burst.

:guitaristgif:

 

[Patriot54]

And there will be something like this for the headstock decal.....

 

[swarfrat]

It kind of reminds me of steampunk. At least what the idea repesents, rather than the execution. 

I think the slickest way for top jack/rear route would be for W to offer a RR control cavity that leaves an optional boss for toprouted jacks. I think it would be a popular option. I mean only 10% of the population is lefty and EVERYBODY makes lefties.

At the very least they could offer a cover recess only route and let you do the rest.

 

[Patriot54]

The cover recess rout is a good idea.

I'm happy with how this idea turned out, because I think the rear cavity plate would have looked weird on this guitar.

And I want to compliment John Cochran from Warmoth sales staff for good service, so I wouldn't end up with a custom body I was unsatisfied with.

 

[Patriot54]

UPS Ship Notification....... scheduled delivery August 8th

arty07:  :guitaristgif:  :guitarplayer2:

 

[Tipperman]

UPS Ship Notification....... scheduled delivery August 8th

arty07:  :guitaristgif:  :guitarplayer2:

:hello2:  :toothy10:  I can't wait to see this! I love vintage guitars, and this is a pretty erotic looking twist on one. Those curves!

 

[Patriot54]

I do love the curves - I was at Guitar Center drooling over a Schecter whick looked very close to a Z-style body.

I'll name her Zoe, which in Greek means life. One sign that you're way too into guitars is when you're on the baby names website looking to name your newest guitar.

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Portland, OR, United States  08/02/2012  3:12 A.M.  Departure Scan 

 

[Cagey]

One sign that you're way too into guitars is when you're on the baby names website looking to name your newest guitar.

Or, that you're naming guitars in the first place.

 

[Updown]

One sign that you're way too into guitars is when you're on the baby names website looking to name your newest guitar.

Or, that you're naming guitars in the first place.

Yeah Yeah Yeah Ok I know I know ..... I'm one of those that name their guitars.  :icon_biggrin:

I got a strong feeling now, that I shouldn't have called my latest strat build ... HUEY
As someone rang up the other night and asked, what I was up to ? ...  I said ...

Oh I'm just playing with HUEY  :doh: 

Just knew I should have used a girls name.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah... maybe. I think I can out-embarrass you, though. When my son was about 3 or so, he decided it was his job to answer the phone. So, one day grandma calls and in the small talk that ensues, she asks "what's your father doing?" I was working on my computer (an S-100 based 8080 back then that needed non-stop attention) so he tells her "He's playing with his 'peter!"(his word for computer).

She wasn't any brighter than my wife, who made chimney pitch look like chrome, so once I wrestled the phone away from the critter I had to put up with all sorts of condemnation for child abuse, lack of morals and decency, wife neglect, on and on. Too much fun.

What's weird is last year when my mother died, she showed up at the funeral. Hadn't seen her in 25 years, our parents had never been social, and I didn't recognize her at all. So, she gets all huffy about that, and I'm standing there going WTF?

Anyway, yeah. TMI.

 

[Updown]

Ha Ha Ha  …. classic Cagey  :icon_thumright:

That's just like the time I answered the phone when I was about 8yo and it was someone asking to speak to my dad.
Well just earlier in the day, I had asked dad what he was doing.
He told me he was, banging some new slats in, on the verandah.

So that's what I told the the bloke on the phone.
But … I didn't say 'slats' correctly  :evil4:  ….. being an 8yo  :toothy11:

Turned out to be my dad's boss. 
Opppps ......  :doh:

 

[Cagey]

Kids say the darndest things...​