70s Vibe Pentatonic....Caster?

[kevin_guitars]

I buffed out the front of the headstock and reamed out the tuner holes which were quite built up with lacquer. Gently tapped in the bushings and lined things up with a straight edge to mark my drill holes. I went with the trusty vintage style Gotoh tuners, I've been a fan for a long time of the hollow cavity the string end sits in. I have them on a 20 year old strat that stays in tune better than most other guitars. I then installed the Gotoh vintage 6 screw tremelo and swapped out the saddles for Graphtech String Savers.

My experience with String Saver saddles is they absolutely improve the resonance and sound quality on every guitar I've installed them on. I don't usually have an issue with string breakage so that's not really the intended purpose. And though some may say that they don't change the tone, it does to my ear so that's all that matters

 

[teleme01]

Very nice work , kudos

 

[Eddie-Applegate]

Beaut! I think that buffing job looks fantastic

 

[vernschrock]

Awesome work! Well done. I like how you’re particular with every little detail, even down to things no one else will see. But you know. Like the overhang of the copper tape. You’re a craftsman. Respect!!!

 

[kevin_guitars]

Awesome work! Well done. I like how you’re particular with every little detail, even down to things no one else will see. But you know. Like the overhang of the copper tape. You’re a craftsman. Respect!!!

Thanks so much. I really appreciate that.

 

[Spud]

Good job "Buffy Bufferson"!

 

[bagman67]

that there is some handsome work.

 

[kevin_guitars]

that there is some handsome work.

Thank you!

 

[kevin_guitars]

I had about an hour of free time after work last night to shield off the pickguard and screw in the pickups and pots and super switch.
Parchment color pickguard and cream color knobs and switch tip.

Pickups I went with a set of Bareknuckle '63 Veneer Boards with a zinc plate mount on the bridge to give it a little balls. Finished in Bareknuckle's psuedo relic "aged" parchment finish. I think they look awesome. I can almost smell the nicotine stains

I've been passivley thinking about the wiring on this guitar. I want simple controls with as many spanky Strat tones as possible. I decided I'm going to have a neck pickup blend control layout. What I gather is the first tone knob serves as a master tone knob. And the second tone knob acts as a blend control to mix the neck pickup with the bridge. I very much like what this video has to offer called the "1/4 blend mod". Does anyone have experience with this wiring scheme?

 

[stratamania]

I used a blend knob on my "Max goes to Woodstock" build, you can see the wiring at the link below. It is a useful wiring and with a 5 way switch, in addition to the normal 5 positions gives you the possibilities of having neck and bridge or all three pickups together. Of course you have to go with a master tone rather than a separate tone for neck and middle for example.

Max goes to Woodstock (Another Strat in Progress )

Good finish on that one. The grain in that headstock is really nice. :icon_thumright: Thanks. I should try and capture some video of some of the flame in this neck at some point...

unofficialwarmoth.com

 

[kevin_guitars]

Wrapping up final assembly, setup, wiring, troubleshooting of two projects took me away from the forum for a bit but SHE IS DONE!

I wired and rewired MANY different variations and finally landed on the PERFECT tone for what I was going for.
Treble bleed circuit on volume knob
Middle knob is tone control for BRIDGE pickup only
Third knob is a blender circuit for the neck and bridge pickups.

This Bareknuckle pickup Strat set is god tier in case anyone was wondering or on the fence about them. I sort of was but they are amazing.