80s superstrat

[Jumble Jumble]

OK so it's not totally finished. Has a very high first fret, so once it's settled in properly I'll need to take it for a proper setup.

However, it's playable on all the other frets and it sounds GREAT. I was so happy when I switched to the bridge humbucker and this burst of pure 80s came out. Exactly what I was hoping for.

Specs are:

Body
Swamp Ash
HSS
.045 mod
One knob + 5-way switch
Rear rout
Routed for recessed original floyd rose

Neck
Maple on maple
Wizard profile
10-16 radius
SS6100 frets
black face dots

Hardware
All black
Original Floyd Rose
R4 nut
Sperzel non-locking tuners
Floyd string retainer
Back-of-headstock wrench clip
DiMarzio ClipLock strap
FloydUpgrades 37mm L-shaped brass block
"Custom" volume knob - black with white writing, coloured in with yellow sharpie
Trem cover and control cavity cover in matt black

Electronics
2x SD classic stack plus pickups
1x SD JB trembucker
Eyb Guitars 8-pole super switch
5-position switch:
1 - bridge humbucker only, 500K volume pot
2 - bridge split + mid split, 250K volume pot (500k resistor in parallel w/500k pot)
3 - mid only, 250K vol as above
4 - neck split + mid split, 250K vol as above
5 - neck only, 250K vol as above

1x 500K master volume pot
1x 510K resistor used to create effectively a 250K pot as above

Bridge grounding wire soldered to underside of claw.

All wired through easy-change system of my own devising, allows pickup cables to just be screwed in without affecting the overall wiring of the circuit.

Not many pics done yet.

 

[nexrex]

Wow, that yellow looks amazing. Great choice on electronics too.

 

[bagman67]

The word you're looking for is "AWESOMETACULAR."  Nice work!

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Supercool!  :headbang:

 

[Updown]

:blob7: ....  You need to PM me ASAP so you have my address to send it to  :icon_biggrin:

You now what I would change on it ....... NOTHING  :headbang:

Great Job  :icon_thumright:

 

[Jumble Jumble]

[nic-cage-voice]That's high praise.[/nic-cage-voice]

I'm really happy with how it came out. I was going for a sort of luxury frankenstrat feel, and it really worked out like that. I wasn't prepared for how... expensive it was going to look.

I do have a little work to do on it. A bit of wood removal in the trem cavity, to get out of the way of the large brass block when pulling sharp. And a proper setup. Then I can raaawwwwk.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The 500k resistor in parallel, very nifty solution to change the value to 250k when switched.  Brilliant!  Did you come up with that?

 

[JonatanOTG]

Hey I've been following your blog on this project and I'm really excited about how this one turned out! Looks g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s...  :toothy10: (I know I keep saying this on all Warmoth guitars but man, I really really mean it this time!  :icon_biggrin.

The yellow color is one of these things that keeps on haunting me. Seriously! I keep telling myself that a yellow guitar just can't look good,  but I get proved wrong over and over again!
I love the yellow body.
And I love how the maple neck looks on the yellow body.
And I love the way the black hardware looks on the maple neck and the yellow body.
I just... I like this guitar!  :hello2:

Just... Congrats!  :icon_thumright:

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The 500k resistor in parallel, very nifty solution to change the value to 250k when switched.  Brilliant!  Did you come up with that?

Well, I had the idea of selectively altering the load with a resistor in parallel, and then I looked to see if anyone had done it. There was a lot of talk about the "Suhr wiring scheme" which looked like this:

My main problem with this is that in the neck+mid position, there are TWO 470k resistors running in parallel with the 500K pot, which makes the load in that position 160K!

Also, because I'm splitting the stacked pickups at positions 2 and 4, I couldn't use that scheme anyway as I'd already used up all the poles on a superswitch just on splitting and selection.

So in the end, once I established the existence of an 8-pole switch, I designed the wiring scheme myself, and I only needed one resistor for that.

Of course, it's difficult to say how it affects the tone, because I've never wired it differently, but it sounds great in all positions. I did test the circuit without pickups attached to check the load in all positions and it is 500, 250, 250, 250, 250.

Actually if you want to read all the thinking about it I did beforehand I wrote about it here.


JonathanOTG - thanks! You need a yellow guitar....

 

[JonatanOTG]

JonathanOTG - thanks! You need a yellow guitar....

I do! I just have to convince my dad first, he's not the biggest fan of the, well, yellowish look of the color...  :doh:

 

[ezas]

Except for that hideous contraption where a 'normal' bridge should be that is one fine looking instrument. But seriously the overall look/design is awesome.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

JonathanOTG - thanks! You need a yellow guitar....

I do! I just have to convince my dad first, he's not the biggest fan of the, well, yellowish look of the color...  :doh:

Make him watch American Graffiti, then explain where graffiti yellow comes from.

Except for that hideous contraption where a 'normal' bridge should be that is one fine looking instrument. But seriously the overall look/design is awesome.

Thanks a lot! An 80s-themed guitar just wouldn't look right without a Floyd, and now it's on there it's a hell of a lot of fun to use, but none of my upcoming planned ideas have them. Setup is a nightmare.

 

[AutoBat]

JonathanOTG - thanks! You need a yellow guitar....

I do! I just have to convince my dad first, he's not the biggest fan of the, well, yellowish look of the color...  :doh:

Make him watch American Graffiti, then explain where graffiti yellow comes from.

Except for that hideous contraption where a 'normal' bridge should be that is one fine looking instrument. But seriously the overall look/design is awesome.

Thanks a lot! An 80s-themed guitar just wouldn't look right without a Floyd, and now it's on there it's a hell of a lot of fun to use, but none of my upcoming planned ideas have them. Setup is a nightmare.

setup isn't bad if you know some of the tricks to it.

 

[Cagey]

I like this one a lot. Except for the Floyd, of course.

Been threatening to put together something similar for a while, but everybody keeps telling me I'm nuts. All the more reason, I suppose <grin>

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Thanks man. Good thing is, everything pretty much standard means it's cheap. I think it'd look great with a black Wilky or hardtail, with a graph tech nut.

Also the fact that putting in the pickups was a 5-minute, solder-free job, was really nice. Makes me think I might start using Seymour Duncan Liberators as standard in my wiring.

 

[leafkin]

Is it a 24 3/4" Conversion 22 frets neck?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

No, standard 25.5" strat neck. It was a showcase neck actually.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I got around to reading the blog.  Very thorough.  I never thought of a pot value as a compromise, the 300k.  Rather than deal with slight treble loss for the humbucker by using 250k or 300k, did you consider just having brighter single coils with 500k master?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

I did consider it, but I've tried it before and didn't like it. Plus, I have to admit, I just plain enjoyed the challenge of designing the wiring scheme to get that 250/500 switching.

I've got blog articles sitting waiting for the finishing touches before they get uploaded, never seem to find the time though.

Guitar's going for a pro setup in the next couple of days.

 

[DocNrock]

Great build!  And I for one love the Floyd!  :rock-on: