First Build

[Flufene]

After thinking about this for almost 40 years I am finally ready to do my first build. Very simple: ash Strat body, rear mounted controls with one angled humbucker and one volume knob. CBS era large headstock Strat neck with 21 frets all,Birdseye maple.  Pretty sure I will go fixed bridge.  Any suggestions on the best bridge type?

What is the level of difficulty?  I rebuilt my tractor deck last year watching YouTube videos so I feel confident  enough to tackle this.

My daughter is a fantastic artist so she will paint the body for me

Thanks

 

[teleme01]

the hardest part for me is deciding what to get,  then there is the wiring,  but i get someone else to do that.

 

[Ozopart]

Agreed, deciding on what to build is definitely the hardest part. Sounds like you have that mostly decided. As to bridge type, that is a tough one, at least it was for me in the end. My Warmoth Strat that I built a few months ago has a Gotoh Tremolo which I like a lot but given my lack of experience has proven to be the hardest thing to get setup well. I continue to tweak it. For the build that I am doing next, as soon as my body, etc. is delivered from Warmoth, a Tele with HH, I wanted something like a TOM/STP but in the end opted for a fixed bridge to minimize things that need to be adjusted after completing the build.
For me I was scared of drilling into the body for fear of cracking the finish. In the end that was much easier than I expected as I bought good drill bits, and just took my time.
Like teleme01 I have the wiring done by someone else. In my case I purchased my Strat pickups from Fralin and purchased a prewired pickguard. I am going back and forth on whether to do the same with Fralin for the HH Tele, or whether to try to do the wiring myself. I am not experienced with soldering, but not afraid of it either. I have practiced and did have to do a few solders for the prewired pickguard installation. I will probably go with Fralin doing it again, but again, I am still going back and forth on that.
Good luck, I am very happy with my Warmoth Strat. Hopefully you will be also.

 

[teleme01]

  My Warmoth Strat that I built a few months ago has a Gotoh Tremolo which I like a lot but given my lack of experience has proven to be the hardest thing to get setup well. I continue to tweak it. 

i got the gotoh 510 tremolo as well,  love how heavy it is,  one thing to remember when setting it up is to take the tension way way off the strings before adjusting string height on the bridge.

 

[Rick]

If you built a tractor deck you will have no problem.  Fixed bridges i like hipshot and gotoh.  You might want to read some books like guitar player repair guide or how to make your electric guitar play great by Dan erlewine.  Get em used.

 

[stratamania]

Welcome to the forum.

Just use this one. It will line up better with humbuckers but probably more importantly you will not end up with the E strings as close to the edge of the fretboard as with vintage spacing which seems to bother some people.

NARROW SPACED STRAT® FLAT-MOUNT BRIDGE

And of course choose NARROW SPACED STRAT® FLAT-MOUNT for the bridge rout.

(This thread should be in General Topics really)