Goldtop / Gold Strat

tfarny

Master Member
Messages
4,481
Here she is, my Goldtop Strat. This started basically when I realized I needed a trem guitar to expand my options - I've had them before but they always sucked and I never really knew how to play one. So I decided that for the next W, I'd get a 'real' strat, with a trem and vintage type pickups, no excuses. But I went with angled, graphit nut, and locking tuners, as well as a non-floating setup, for tuning stability so that tuning wouldn't drive me crazy. I often detune (1/2 step flat & open D are my faves right now), so this was a real key.
Body: ebay score, brand new in box. Alder 4.3 lb, standard strat stuff.
Neck: closeout special, birdseye / Indian RW, angled strat standard thin 6130, MOP. Finished by me; four light coats of Deft Semi-gloss lacquer from one simple spray can, buffed before and after with super-fine steel wool. Much easier than I expected and I can't find a single flaw in my job there. Surprisingly easy and professional. As you can see below, the scarf joint is really visible from some angles, which is why I guess it was on closeout (?).
Hardware: pickguard and most of the guts from Warmoth, Wilkinson VSVG vintage bridge, Gotoh 510 locking tuners both from stew mac. Various gold parts from all over the web. Pickups: SD "California 50's" calibrated set from Ebay. These are your basic A5, vintage stagger, SC pups wound to 6.5k. From what I understand, that's a 60's wind, not a 50's wind, but whatever. They sound very stereotypically strat - glassy and scooped, with serious 'quack' in the 2 & 4.
Switching: the standard stuff, tone #2 controls tone for both middle and bridge. The little gold switch activates the bridge pup so I can get all 3 together, or neck + bridge.
Truss rod cover: needed some bling here, the cheap black one that came from W wasn't cutting it. From: http://www.custominlay.com/default.aspx - thanks whoever first found these guys (Orpheo?), this thing just totally works. Rosewood and MOP just like the fretboard. Now I NEED one of those gold Warmoth decals (bought one and promptly lost it). If anyone is ordering soon, is it possible you could add one to your order, and I'll send you money and a SASE? I would really appreciate it.


Compared to some of the recent stuff that's been posted up here, this one is a bit tame but I'm really happy with it, it compliments my other guitars really well and totally rounds out the sounds I can get.
Hardware review: The tuners are good, I don't know that I'd buy them again though. The advantage is that they lock without the big ugly thumbscrew, and are lighter than, say, the sperzels. They were expensive and you need a coin or something to loosen the locking mechanism. Very smooth and 18:1.
I like the looks and action of the VSVG, and strangely enough it screwed right in and after setting action, it was intonated within 1 cent without my touching the adjusters. Very solid and positive, quality feel. Dropped directly in with no modification.
Truss rod needed about 3/4 turn but now that it's in the right spot, it was very easy to dial in a super-low smooth action. This plays like butter.  Once again I'm an ecstatic customer.

Gripe for Warmoth: you guys need to sell more hardware, I had to go all over the web and pay a bunch of shipping fees to get, for instance, gold plated pickup screws, a gold on/on mini switch, that nice truss rod cover that is just begging for you guys to stock it, etc. You also sell the individual pickups in the california 50s set (ssl1 with rwrp mid), but you can get the set for about $40 less at other places (Acme guitar products is where I bought mine). You could also easily stock products that you already know are drop-in fits for the routes you already do, like the bridge and tuners here that fit your existing routes perfectly. I hope this happens as it would give your repeat customers a much easier and simpler buying experience, besides being profitable. Not that I would buy my woods anywhere else, of course. Thanks for making such beautiful stuff, as always.
 
Apparently the 'upload folder is full' so I can't post pictures. Just imagine it, and then reply telling me how cool it looks! I'll try to post again later today.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11283369@N07/
try that, there's a 'slideshow' button near the top right.

HTML:
<iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=11283369@N07&set_id=&text=" align="middle" frameborder="0" height="500" scrolling="no" width="500"></iframe>

...slideshow courtesy of admin.  Upload folder now has more room, too.
 
RLW, I'm a total sucker for tortoise. It was always gonna be tortoise, somehow. With all the gold, you need something old-school to balance it out. You had me at "tor".
My wife is calling this my "pimp guitar" though, I suppose because it doesn't look like a log. I'm sure if Prince were picking one guitar from my collection to play, he'd pick this one.
 
Good goldie there tfarny!  I love it, it is so STRAT!  I, too am a huge fan of the tortoise, but even if I wasn't I would still say it looks right on that there strat!
 
I was expecting the sides and back to be not gold - - but it looks sweet anyway. :)
 
When I heard tortoise p.g. in a gold guitar I thought: "this will be butt-ugly"...
But it's awesome!!!  :glasses9:
 
Brilliant! I love it! Love the neck, absolutely love the pickguard. Nice trussrod cover. Just plain great.

How's the bridge?

Awesome guitar.
 
It must has a picture here...
2428190861_77a91affc8.jpg
 
I've been thinking of pming you about those, actually, dangerous. Great product. How much? you take paypal?
 
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