goldtop strat

[tfarny]

Hey guys, my third (and last for a long time) warmoth is coming together. I wanted a reasonably priced strat with a few custom options, mainly I just wanted it to stay in tune as well as my teles. So I went for an angled strat head, graphite nut and it'll have these tuners: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners/1/Gotoh_Mini_510_Locking_Tuners/Pictures.html#details - in gold.
It was a sale neck, birdseye maple / indian rw, standard thin, 6130s.
Body was a pretty normal alder body, 4.3 lb, goldtop finish, brand new off of ebay at a good discount. Routed for vintage strat, I'm going for the wilkinson vsvg: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar_tremolos/Wilkinson_Gotoh_VSVG_Vintage_Tremolo.html - also in gold.

questions I need advice for: I can't decide on the pickguard - this white one is for another guitar I'm working on. I can't decide whether black / white / black or tortoise would work best. white pearloid is a distant third choice, maybe. Second question, where do you go for nice truss rod covers? I'm thinking it should be rosewood to match the fretboard, or black w/white binding if I get a black pickguard. Any suggestions?

Pups, i'm going all true single coil, either fralin blues specials or rio grande vintage tallboys. Any idea the dc resistance of those talboys? Or a recommendation on kent armstrongs - which variety, where to buy?
Thanks

 

[RLW]

Nice. One suggestion, think tortoise pickguard. I think they look killer on Goldtop Strats.

 

[nathan a]

Tortoise!

My suggestion on the tallboys is that I've heard (never actually tried them) that they are not at all a vintage-sounding pickup. Not a good or a bad thing, just an FYI

 

[jackthehack]

Gold anodized pickguard and all black pickups and hardware

 

[RLW]

Gold anodized pickguard and all black pickups and hardware

I've never disagreed with Jack before, but, no.

 

[jackthehack]

One of you Photoshop guys change the Zebrawood to Gold Top so RLW can see the vision?

 

[vegababy]

When I was a kid I saw Steve Miller on TV at a festival during the late 80's. Ever since I liked goldtop Strats. Thanks for reminding me how cool that can look !!!

Have you maybe thought of mint-green for the scratchplate ? Could look very vintage (with white p.u. covers)...

 

[tfarny]

Thanks for the response, everybody. I'm leaning, I guess towards the tortoiseshell, with black knobs/switch. Jack, if I had about 30 strats like you and RLW, I'd probably do some full-on gold thing but I just want this to look like a regular guitar, and a regular strat (with an angled headstock). I'm also definitely doing gold hardware and I'm not doing a 'goldfinger' guitar. Mint could look nice too.

Anybody tried the Rio grande vintage tallboys? Their 'jazzbar' was a great pickup but too hot for my other guitar (10k is not a jazz/neck wind afaik), so I was concerned that the other rui grande products would be hotter than advertised too. I'm leaning towards Fralin blues specials or I might spring for a $60 full set from GFS, and swap them out later if they're no good. Or I might troll ebay for some used seymour duncans or something. Basically anybody recommend a vintage-tech strat set of alnico V pups not over about 6.5k (7k bridge)? No Kinmans, I don't want to buy from BSers even if they have a good product.

 

[willyk]

My tallboy experience is limited to one in the neck of my korinacaster. It's got a halfbreed in the middle and a muy grande in the bridge. The tallboy is a beautifully crisp sounding pickup to my ears, I'm seriously considering a set in my latest build. Other than that, SDs have never disappointed me.
BTW I think cream is underestimated as a pickguard color. I could see it looking sensational on a gold strat. :icon_thumright:

 

[jackthehack]

i haven't tried the Vinatge Tallboys yet, but plan to do so in a future build. There's a "trick" to most of the Rio Grande pickup sets that may take some getting used to if your more used to using vintage/"normal" pickups/pickup sets, especially playing through tube amps. You have to dial the volume down lower to get a clean/vintage sound like you're used to, dimed you can forego that boost pedal. My first impression using their TX/BBQ humbucker set or the JazzBar/Bluesbar P90s were that they were "too hot", but once I figured this out I'll probably never use anything but their pickups in the future.