A Strat I couldn't find to buy

[reery]

Hi there,

my first Warmoth order and they shipped faster than expected. Here are some images of the pieces I've got.

Lefthand alder body, HSH routing. A perfectly crafted masterpiece.

The same from the back side.

The best neck I've ever seen. Satin finish and 22 6150 frets.

This tremolo is surprisingly in a good shape and quality.

I just put the pieces together to see how it looks like when I'm done with the job.

A step closer.

What's missing (will get delivered next week):
- 3 DiMarzio pickups (Super Distortion, Tone Zone and Air Norton)
- A switch and some pots
- Tools for fret leveling and soldering, a lot sanding paper, files...

Especially on the electronics part I could need some help. I wanted to use 2 push-pull pots to achieve a serial/parallel and coil-split circuit at the same time. Problem here: As I've read I could kill my pickup when accidentally splitting a parallel one. That's what I don't want, even if I'm the only one playing on this guitar this could happen  :icon_biggrin:

I'm doing this all for the first time, but I'm expecting a proper guitar when it's all done.
Help, hints and tricks are appreciated

 

[Jusatele]

explore the forum,, there are many threads in the tech section with info about electronics, and other stuff, even a tips and tricks section
good luck, looks nice.

 

[Firebird211]

That is going to look sharp. If you have any questions you can do what I do and search it here first, then just fire a question out if you can't find the specific information that you are looking for. :kewlpics:

 

[Cagey]

Nice choices. That's going to be a sharp guitar.

Especially on the electronics part I could need some help. I wanted to use 2 push-pull pots to achieve a serial/parallel and coil-split circuit at the same time. Problem here: As I've read I could kill my pickup when accidentally splitting a parallel one. That's what I don't want, even if I'm the only one playing on this guitar this could happen  :icon_biggrin:

Who told you that? We must hunt him down and berate him mercilessly. You could wire those pickups/pots/switches into a Gordian knot with 90 bajillion shorts, opens, and cold slobber joints, and it still wouldn't hurt anything, let alone kill it. May not work worth a tinker's damn, but no parts will be harmed in the making of that mess.

 

[rapfohl09]

Nice choices. That's going to be a sharp guitar.

Especially on the electronics part I could need some help. I wanted to use 2 push-pull pots to achieve a serial/parallel and coil-split circuit at the same time. Problem here: As I've read I could kill my pickup when accidentally splitting a parallel one. That's what I don't want, even if I'm the only one playing on this guitar this could happen  :icon_biggrin:

Who told you that? We must hunt him down and berate him mercilessly. You could wire those pickups/pots/switches into a Gordian knot with 90 bajillion shorts, opens, and cold slobber joints, and it still wouldn't hurt anything, let alone kill it. May not work worth a tinker's damn, but no parts will be harmed in the making of that mess.

+1, that's completely rediculous.

On the brightside, that guitar is going to look gorgeous :icon_thumright:

 

[Firebird211]

Yeah, what is a basic passive guitar signal, a few hundred milivolts.  You will never see the components frying themselves no matter how you hook them up.  Now if you get struck by lightning that is another story.  The circuit will either work or not work.

 

[bob7point7]

I think there may be some confusion on the word kill. If you mean that splitting a pickup after wiring it in parallel can kill the signal coming from it until you flip one of the switches, then that can be the case. If you're worried about doing permanent harm to anything, then you can rest easy.  :toothy11:  Whatever you want to accomplish with the wiring, post it here (as specifically as possible) and you will get the answers you need. Those parts are looking very nice by the way!  :icon_thumright:

 

[reery]

Here is the text regarding the pickup kill (last paragraph): http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/serpar.php
Reading it for the second time it doesn't sound like real killing.

I looked again on Warmoth homepage and found out that I've ordered the wrong pickguard. Mine has standard humbucker routing but I need the "fat humbucker" routing as I don't want to use pickup covers or these plastic curbs.
But nevermind, I need more supplies, too.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, when he says "kill", he means "short the output", which results in NO output. Doesn't hurt anything, but is hardly useful.

 

[Firebird211]

Oh, that makes sense. :doh: When I first read it I got the impression that he was afraid of letting some of the smoke out.

 

[Cagey]

Oh, that makes sense. :doh: When I first read it I got the impression that he was afraid of letting some of the smoke out.

Hehe! No, guitar pickups don't generate enough power to tickle an amoeba, let alone encourage smoke release <grin>

That's part of why they can be noisy. The signal is so small that the input stage of a guitar amp has to be ultra-sensitive, which means it can hear (and amplify) things you don't necessarily want it to. A good demonstration of how sensitive an amp's input has to be is to plug a cord into it, then just touch the other end of the cord with your finger. The signals your body is picking up out of thin air will get amplified so much it'll scare the snot out of you. They even make cords now that automatically short the ends when they're unplugged so that can't happen.

 

[exaN]

Can't wait to see this one finished man :headbang:

 

[reery]

I went to the local music store and bought the final parts - except the pickups - to assemble the guitar. I gave him my neck to install the nut and do the fretwork. It was not that expensive - but the parts were. So better leave it to some experienced hands.

The luthier there told me that I don't need a F-spaced neck-humbucker for this strat, now I'm completely confused  :toothy11:
He also told me that it is only possible to split up to 2 humbuckers (I've got 3) and only one to switch from serial to parallel with my combination (standard 5 way switch, 1 500k cts and 2 250k push/pull pots). Yeah then, better than nothing to switch from.

 

[ORCRiST]

Nice color, whats it called?

:kewlpics:

ORC

 

[Firebird211]

Nice color, whats it called?

:kewlpics:

ORC

I think it is Lake Placid Blue, and the funny thing is I was looking at some of the guitars that Jimmy Page owns and uses, and one of them looks just like this guitar...just right handed.

 

[reery]

Yeah it's the one and only Lake Placid Blue, my all time favorite Strat-color. But if the paint job is well done almost every combination of color looks great.

A question: Do I really need a F-spaced humbucker in neck position? The luthier from the guitar shop told me that I should go for the normal spaced.

 

[rockskate4x]

neck pickups almost never need to be f-spaced, because no matter how wide the string spacing is, the string taper from bridge to nut will be enough to line up over the pole pieces of a standard neck pickup. The one exception would be if you have a very wide nut, like the nut of a classical guitar, which very few people actually have.

 

[reery]

Thanks for the reply rockskate4x.

I kinda like this board

Now to go on with assembling.

Everything shielded.

Tremolo installed. I hope I did it the right way: Just dropped in and put the springs on tension. I need a lot of force to push/move the tremolo, I hope this is intended.

Back cavity shielded.

These are Schaller staggered locking tuners (M6). The quality is perfect, no rattling parts. They are somehow heavy, but others are too.

That's for it so far, I hope to get my pick-ups next week so I can finally finish it.
Nut is also installed. I went with a bone-nut, unfortunately Warmoth don't install bone-nuts and I'm very unsteady regarding Graph-Tec or other materials.

 

[Panthur]

Tremolo installed. I hope I did it the right way: Just dropped in and put the springs on tension. I need a lot of force to push/move the tremolo, I hope this is intended.

It is. The strings will provide almost all of that required force once they're on, giving a nice smooth whammy action (providing the strings are tensioned right of course, simple adjustment of the screws on the spring claw).

 

[Jusatele]

that is coming along real nice, I lie the shielding, I did not shield my first build and I think I will do my next, Keep the pics coming.