How to begin?

[Jusatele]

Hard Tail fanatic here
never understood trems
But I will say, those who use them properly sound so sweet, those who use them because of a lack of talent, sound like a 3 year old on a violin.
Jeff Beck uses his thumb to depress his so it is such a slight movement and he gets tons of praise for his use of a trem.
Be careful for what you build, you may get what you want, and not what you need, some of the best trem guys are using very basic trems.

PS, I am with Cagey on this one, and we bash heads a lot.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The battery box and chambering issue seems strange to me.  I've got 2 chambered J basses with double battery boxes and a chambered Tele with a single battery box.  Being a Strat may make it different or you caught a Warmoth employee being human.  It happens.  Cagey is correct, but I would add this caveat to his statement about the battery boxes.  On the double battery box, the mounting screws are on the outside, so the depth of the route matters not.  On the single battery box, they mount on the inside, so the depth of the route must be the same as the box under the flange.  Too shallow, there will be a gap.  Too deep, the box will warp when installing.

 

[reluctant-builder]

I screwed in the trem on my MIM Strat until it was fixed.

My Jazzmaster however ... I plan to use that baby as intended. No dive bombs, just some sweet little nuance.

 

[jrybicki]

if you want a van halen strat, study eddies guitar, or his own break down of all his guitars on youtube.. has every detail and now they sell a re make evh humbucker.. same with a gilmore build!  combine whats best..2 lace sensors and a vintage humbucker...gibson pearly gates  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[swarfrat]

Necro post, but I wanted to add this for posterity..

I just added a battery box to a chambered body. Be especially careful of where you put it, and put it in a solid area, and forget about  ergos and aesthetics.

I plunged into a spot under the pickguard (top routed strat) and ended up going into a chambered area. The walls beween chambers can be thin, and they tend to tear when a free spinning router meets them. Also, the single 9v screws to the bottom, and there is no meat there. I decided to build up a wooden shim which I screwed to the box cage, which will then be superglued to the floor. The intercavity walls are thin, and the floor is simply too far away. None of this will be visible but it sure caused me some gut wrenching moments.

 

[Jcurl02]

Hey gpsbassist,

I did not see a response in the thread that stated if you had started your project or not yet or if it's been put off for some reason.

I'm also very new at this as I recently complete my first build (November 2011).  A couple of things....

1)  I "assembled" mine as a lot of folks like to point out since it was not a scratch build or finished by me (Warmoth did it and it was a great job)  Very pleased!!! :blob7:  I'm still very proud of my guitar.

2)  Don't be to intimidated by the process.  It is actually pretty fun and not that hard to do.  However when I completed my build I did take it to a guitar tech for fine tuning and it was well worth it.

3)  Most importantly, I was going to suggest you look at the showcase bodies before you spec on out yourself.  You may save some money.  I was also going to tell you to stay the %^&* away from the one I had my eye on.  But I just looked and someone took it!  Hope it wasn't you! :evil4:

4)  Be prepared, if you special order one, it will take 8 to 12 weeks.  Not bad but you'll be anxious, second guess every decision, but be thrilled when it finally arrives!  Well worth the wait.

5)  BE CAREFULL.  THIS IS ADICTIVE.  I JUST COMPLETED MY FIRST AND EVEN BEFORE I FINISHED I STARTED THINKING ABOUT MY SECOND.  JUST ASK THE REST OF THE GROUP HERE!!!

Advice....  Take the plunge  Get started and provide picts as you go and complete! ccasion14: