Al Green: SF Green/F-hole Strat FINALLY done

[fdesalvo]

Sometimes it can take years to find the right ingredients for a guitar.  The right neck construction to ensure resonance and depth of tone.  The right body for comfort and tone.  The right pickups..bridge..tuners...you know this.

I've finally got a completed Strat - there is nothing more I can possibly do to make this any more ideal.  The action is extremely low, having been plekked and setup just right.  The pickups are perfectly suited to my tastes and compliment the tone of the instrument.  The tuners are stable.  The bone nut is precisely cut, shaped, and polished out nicely.  I contoured the neck for my hand and fretboard edges are perfectly rolled.    I even contoured the pickguard to flow with the shape of the bridge.  This is done up! 

Pardon the color of the pics - this is a very diff color to capture.  Also the spots on the third pic must be digital artifacts.

Neck - a NJ brand - 9/5"/SS6150 - Finished in Tru-oil
Body - Warmoth Chambered Alder w/ Single F-hole
Pickups: BK ABraxas/63/63 (push/pull split on hum + autosplit)
Tuners: Kluson Staggered
Bridge: Hipshot Contour Trem

 

[bagman67]

She's a beauty, Frank.  Congratulations.

 

[fdesalvo]

Thanks, my man.  The last of my projects for quite some time.  Ah marriage.

 

[vetteman]

That is a beautiful guitar. Impeccable attention to detail.  Congratulations on a superb guitar and on a marriage, which will be the biggest project of all (ie:re-training the female).  Just always remember that they all go insane at puberty and few ever recover!

 

[fdesalvo]

Haha! 

Every guy I know has told me some version of "happy wife/happy life - Wife is always right".  I've got a long road ahead.

 

[pabloman]

Frank I love this guitar. Perfect blend of modern/classic/custom.  arty07:

 

[Kublai]

Gorgeous guitar, there.

 

[pabloman]

How's it wired?

 

[fdesalvo]

Thank you, gents!

Wired like a standard 5-way with auto split bridge in 2nd position. Have a push pull on the volume to manually split humbucker.

 

[pabloman]

Is it a 500k pot with resistors for the singles?

 

[bagman67]

Haha! 

Every guy I know has told me some version of "happy wife/happy life - Wife is always right".  I've got a long road ahead.

Let me be the outlier.


"Happy wife/happy life" I am on board with.  But "Wife is always right" is a good way to end up either whipped or unfaithful, whether physically or otherwise.  If you roll over on important things, you'll eventually get to a place where you don't trust that Mrs. DeSalvo has your best interests at heart - she just wants to win (or so you will eventually conclude, if it goes on long enough).  And you won't have hers at heart either, if you let stuff that affects your mutual  happiness slide.  Pick your battles, sure - but fight the ones that matter to the long-term health of the relationship.  Whether the toilet paper comes over the top or from the bottom is not one of those things.  But other seemingly small things may make a bigger difference than you might expect.  Pay attention to your own needs.  It's okay - and indeed crucial - to make compromises.  But make sure you are both aware of when you're making compromises, so it's in the open.  If you compromise and you're the only one who knows about it, you run the risk of building up resentments that will pollute the relationship.  Communication is key. 


Blah, blah, blah.


Blah blah,


Bagman


PS:  I really am  happy for you.  I've had one marriage that went south for reasons a lot like what I've described above, and round two is awesome because of lessons learned in marriage 1.0.  I hope for you and your fiancee that you will find the happiness I have found.

 

[Glimmer]

That is one mighty fine looking instrument, sir. Hats off to you!

 

[Logrinn]

Ah, the joy of the perfect guitar! Is there a better joy? I think not.

It looks awesome and we all know how well it sounds, right?  :icon_thumright:

Congratulations to a stunning axe.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Looks great, excellent work! Can't wait to hear her in action!

Regarding Sea Foam Green being hard to photograph, I can relate. All the pictures I've taken of my dad's Jazzmaster have come out too blue. Weird optical phenomenon...

 

[Glimmer]

Regarding Sea Foam Green being hard to photograph, I can relate. All the pictures I've taken of my dad's Jazzmaster have come out too blue. Weird optical phenomenon...

Yeah, I can never tell if it's sea foam green that I love or if it's surf green – sometimes the latter looks a little on the yellow-side, sometimes not; sometimes the former looks a little on the green-green side, sometimes not. :dontknow: (I prefer the one that tends toward blue rather than yellow.) I'd love to see them in person side by side sometime.

And Bagman67 – wise words sir! (And I'm not talking about the bla, bla, bla. :glasses10: )

 

[Updown]

Haha! 

Every guy I know has told me some version of "happy wife/happy life - Wife is always right".  I've got a long road ahead.

Great looking guitar you have there sir  :icon_thumright:

**Plus**
Here this might help  :laughing7:
[youtube]0BxckAMaTDc[/youtube]

 

[Great Ape]

Pure Strat Class, Frank! Lovely...and the Hipshot bridge is really nice ; is it as functional as it is pretty?

 

[Steve_Karl]

Very classy and great attention to detail. Well done!

 

[fdesalvo]

Is it a 500k pot with resistors for the singles?

250K Ohm on a standard switch.  I usually do Suhr styled wiring, but notice no difference this time around.

 

[fdesalvo]

BM: Thanks for the sage advice, brother.  I was just messing around.  She's an angel wrapped up in bacon, dipped in chocolate, and served on a bed of Italian twist bread.  She's really amazing and we've done a bit of pre-marriage counseling to flush out any issues that could be problematic along the way.  It's a challenge, but we are starting from a good place and I've got me sleeved rolled up, brother!  I sincerely salute you for having the testicular fortitude to soldier on into a new marriage.  I'm really happy for you.

Updown: HAHA!

Glimmer: Seafoam Green is def the bluer of the two!

GA: Thanks again!  The Hipshot bridge is amazingly comfy!  Freakishly so.  I have it set to dive only and it's just phenomenal.  I had to to open up the ledge on the cavity (standard fender trem route) to allow the block to move.  Someone recommended the Wilkinson route and I believe this would have saved me some trouble.

SK - Danke!

VB/Logrinn/Kublai - thanks dudes! 

I'm still searching for the perfect volume knob and have some finish sanding to do along the edges of the f-hole route.  Also have 2 broken tuner screws (at opposite ends) to address at some point.  Thankfully, they broke in the right spots and no immediate action is required.  Can wait to fire up the studio desk and lay down some action with Al.  Now the only thing remaining is a dedicated shredder.  Someday I'll pick up an older S540-LTD/540R-LTD to scratch the itch.  Maybe I'll put that on my gift registry and see what happens heh.

Cheers gang!