Heritage Cherry Soloist build!

[AndrewR12]

Working on my second Warmoth build, and my first time finishing a guitar myself! The body is mahogany, and I’m finishing it with supplies from Stewmac. So far I’ve filled the grain, sealed it, and applied the first layer of cherry red. Process has been far from problem free (you can see the spot where I ill-advisedly tried to fix a run while the paint was still wet, for example), but I’m pleased with how it’s going!

Some other specs:

Neck/fingerboard: roasted maple and rosewood (from their Neckapalooza sale).

Pickups: Gibson Super 57 in the bridge and 57 classic in the neck. These are from my Gibson Memphis ES Les Paul (replaced with Lollar Novel 90s).

Tuners: Sperzel locking tuners.

Bridge: Gotoh 6-hole vintage tremolo

 

[triple jim]

Very nice, Andrew! I like a Strat with a lot of wood showing like that. I did something like that myself.

 

[teleme01]

It sure is pretty

 

[stratamania]

@AndrewR12 I like the finish colour. But the body looks closer to a soloist than a strat to me, tell us more about it?

 

[AndrewR12]

Okay, the heritage cherry finish I did had a lot of issues. There were bits of dust and stuff, plus I sanded through the finish during pre-cure level sanding. Hand sanded all of it off which was my inspiration to buy an orbital sander which I now have and love! I opted for a tru oil finish, with a ‘top coat’ of Axe Wax. Same on the neck, but only 2 very thin layers of tru oil on the neck.

The guitar doesn’t feel great currently. Nut slots, neck relief, and possibly a few frets need attention. That said, the last guitar I assembled definitely ‘settled’ within a few days so I’m going to let this one sit before I go crazy with nut files and sandpaper.

It does, however, sound amazing. It might be my quietest guitar noise floor-wise. And the Gibson Hot 57 bridge and 57 neck pickup are great.

Other notes- I have, since taking these pictures, installed two string retainers, and I am still waiting on a long output jack (currently any play testing has been on a normal jack hanging out in the cavity while the cover is off LOL) to get here before I install the jackplate.
Yes, it’s technically a soloist body, though I’m not sure there are any huge differences between the two?

 

[stratamania]

Yes, it’s technically a soloist body, though I’m not sure there are any huge differences between the two?

Well, it is a Soloist body and not a Strat body, perhaps change the thread title.

A Soloist has deeper cutaways and is a little shorter than a Strat body. It is a derivative shape, but is not the same.

 

[AndrewR12]

Well, it is a Soloist body and not a Strat body, perhaps change the thread title.

A Soloist has deeper cutaways and is a little shorter than a Strat body. It is a derivative shape, but is not the same.

Thanks for the information! I thought the only difference was an 1/8” roundover instead of 1/4” on the sides. I’ve changed the title.

Also, a little update! After acclimating to string tension for a day and a tiny bit more adjusting it plays great! Not perfect by any means but enough that I’ll be breaking it in at a gig this Saturday.