'54 Z-Caster

[Fat Pete]

Loving this - can't wait to see it with the scratchplate. Looks 'right' to me, not at all weird or jarring - maybe it should?

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Fortunately, a "Fender-style" pickup is one of the most bonehead simple electric devices imaginable, so there are at least 50 different places to get them, and they all work fine.

Yeah, I have played too many strat pickups that are less than forgiving.  It seems to me that the details tend to make a difference.  And if I buy the right thing the first time, even better.
Patrick

 

[Patriot54]

Thanks for all the good advice about the pickups. And I love obsessing about them - LOL. In the end, I'll probably end up with slightly less-than-vintage pickups - most likely a set of noiseless with a full Stratty sound at an average price range. After I posted the question, I noticed that DiMarzio makes a noiseless 54 Pro which may be the direction I'm going with this project.

 

[Cagey]

They are fun to obsess about, because they're important and there are so many of them with strong claims and opinions associated. It's like a game, almost. Problem is, no matter how much you study or ask around or how many reviews you read or how much you pay, when you finally make a choice and install them they don't sound anything like you expected. There are too many other variables.

 

[Re-Pete]

Thanks for all the good advice about the pickups. And I love obsessing about them - LOL. In the end, I'll probably end up with slightly less-than-vintage pickups - most likely a set of noiseless with a full Stratty sound at an average price range. After I posted the question, I noticed that DiMarzio makes a noiseless 54 Pro which may be the direction I'm going with this project.

Given Buddy Holly was the first to use a Z Caster, although only in prototype, maybe give your Z Caster some Texas Specials in his honour?  :icon_biggrin: (Do Fender still make them?)

 

[bbl4ck]

Thanks for all the good advice about the pickups. And I love obsessing about them - LOL. In the end, I'll probably end up with slightly less-than-vintage pickups - most likely a set of noiseless with a full Stratty sound at an average price range. After I posted the question, I noticed that DiMarzio makes a noiseless 54 Pro which may be the direction I'm going with this project.

Given Buddy Holly was the first to use a Z Caster, although only in prototype, maybe give your Z Caster some Texas Specials in his honour?  :icon_biggrin: (Do Fender still make them?)

Yes, Fender does still make the Texas Specials...
But if that is the type of sound  your going for, I would go for the previously mentioned Callaham Fralin H/SRV set. 
Similar type sound, but the Callaham Fralin set is much moe' better...
However, I would first be looking to Ken at Roadhouse.  I have not heard his strat sets, but I have a tele set and a humbucker/single coil set of Kens and I love em both to pieces. 
Great guy, great product, great price; what more do you want?
:rock-on:

 

[DangerousR6]

Thanks for all the good advice about the pickups. And I love obsessing about them - LOL. In the end, I'll probably end up with slightly less-than-vintage pickups - most likely a set of noiseless with a full Stratty sound at an average price range. After I posted the question, I noticed that DiMarzio makes a noiseless 54 Pro which may be the direction I'm going with this project.

Given Buddy Holly was the first to use a Z Caster, although only in prototype, maybe give your Z Caster some Texas Specials in his honour?  :icon_biggrin: (Do Fender still make them?)

Yes, Fender does still make the Texas Specials...
But if that is the type of sound  your going for, I would go for the previously mentioned Callaham Fralin H/SRV set. 
Similar type sound, but the Callaham Fralin set is much moe' better...
However, I would first be looking to Ken at Roadhouse.  I have not heard his strat sets, but I have a tele set and a humbucker/single coil set of Kens and I love em both to pieces. 
Great guy, great product, great price; what more do you want?
:rock-on:

For something compared to the Texas Specials, I'd agree with Bart here. Give Ken a shout and ask for the D6's... :icon_thumright:

 

[Great Ape]

Now Doug--We know that although YOU are indeed 'vintage', those D6's are not!  :icon_biggrin:
The guitar looks GREAT, P54!!

 

[Patriot54]

Thanks guys. Whatever I decide on, it must have standard pole pieces so the D6s are out, although they'd look great on a future project I have in mind.

 

[DangerousR6]

Now Doug--We know that although YOU are indeed 'vintage', those D6's are not!  :icon_biggrin:
The guitar looks GREAT, P54!!

:sad:

 

[stubhead]

Ron Kirn is the guy who has that wonderful obsessive/compulsive "Making of a Strat" slide show. He's well-respected in the industry for his no-B.S., anti-mojo views. I.E., things sound the way they do for reasons, and it's the builder's (his) job to figure out what those are and maximize the good. I don't "do" TDPRI - my waders are only chest-high - but there was apparently a monster thread on Lawrence Microcoils, and Kirn condensed his answers down to a few thousand words (did I mention that OCD yet?)  and stuck it on the Fender/yuku pages as that seems to be where the Lawrence pickup research resides.

http://guitarsbyfender.yuku.com/topic/10891/Great-Source--Info---MicroCoils---s-Approach--General#.UakRB9imVmh

It's long, but worth reading if only to derive some more awesome technology terms, which you can use to crush your enemies on other forums...

http://guitarsbyfender.yuku.com/topic/10891/Great-Source--Info---MicroCoils---s-Approach--General#.UakRB9imVmh

Umm, it's hard to boil down, but here is a partial semi-gist:

If you were to remove the pup from the guitar, sit in on a workbench so that all the influence of the construct of the total package were removed from the sonic equation, even then, placing a cap in the circuit would not produce a duplicable sound from multiple pickups of the same make and design with any degree of consistency, depending on how precise your analysis is.

To do that, the pickup has to be “calibrated”, or designed from the ground up., so that the sonic and electrical parameters can be determined, then repeatedly reproduced, validated “on paper”.. and put into production… I know of only one pickup manufacturer that can do that, only one that has demonstrated any awareness of the necessity of doing that.

Because Lawrence consciously chooses to spend his remaining time in his workshop rather than court, "modern pickup advancement" largely consists of his former employees Joe Barden, Larry DiMarzio, Kent Armstrong and George L waiting to see what Bill Lawrence comes up with, then stealing that, too. He's a lot like Leo Fender that way - by American standards, he's a "poor businessman" because he lacks the sociopathic viciousness that you need to be "great."


http://wildepickups.com/

 

[Patriot54]

I received my '54 Z-Caster body today and I can say that Tonar's work lived up his reputation here. The finish is exactly what I wanted, the clear coat is glassy and it was well-protected during shipping. This one is vintage 2-tone burst, and at the point where the dark edge color meets the yellow, it has a golden effect to it that you could only see in person. I don't even think my photos would do this finish justice, but I'll give it a try later anyway.  :headbang:

 

[Perry Combover]

I received my '54 Z-Caster body today and I can say that Tonar's work lived up his reputation here. The finish is exactly what I wanted, the clear coat is glassy and it was well-protected during shipping. This one is vintage 2-tone burst, and at the point where the dark edge color meets the yellow, it has a golden effect to it that you could only see in person. I don't even think my photos would do this finish justice, but I'll give it a try later anyway.  :headbang:

Photos never do the parts justice.

But if you don't post them after this thread, there might be a riot.  :glasses9:

 

[Patriot54]

Tonar's photos earlier in this thread are a much better representation of how it really looks, but I wanted to take a few of the body and neck together. It was a challenge to do without getting reflections, dust, shadows, etc in the shot but here you go. This is fresh out of the box without polishing, so I'll get some better photos soon, including some of the back and whenever I make progress assembling it.

 

[Cagey]

Wow. That is one sharp instrument! You gotta be anxious to get it put together.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

YOWZA!  That is an amazing machine you have there - Tonar is a true artisan!

 

[DangerousR6]

:kewlpics: :rock-on: :headbang1:

 

[Patriot54]

Hell yeah - this project just became my first priority before the others I'm working on. All I have to do now is make up my mind about what pickups I want and finish up the pickguard.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Now that is quite nice looking.  :rock-on:

 

[stubhead]

My brain stem remembered, there's a couple of Premier Guitar articles you might want to look at regarding pickups. One is

5 Tele-Style Builders You Should Know
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Jan/5_Tele_Style_Builders_You_Should_Know.aspx

And the other is
5 Single-Coil Pickup Builders You Should Know
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Jun/5_Single_Coil_Pickup_Builders_You_Should_Know.aspx?Page=3

Being "Premier Guitar", they have a pretty strong tilt towards really expensive stuff - hey, if I owned a guitar mag and could lie around all day playing $4,000 guitars, I would too. I'm personally a huge fan of Bill Lawrence's stuff, but if you're really after classic thems ain't it. I'm not a big Strathead, but I know that for classic Tele's the Fralins are really good, and he makes a Strat set. A lotta lotta people like the DiMarzio strat sets too. Jason Lollar makes great pickups in the individualized mode, where he needs to know your dog's name, 8th grade teacher and underwear brand before he can make a pickups just for YOU.