My first build/Coodercaster build?

[Breadroster]

Hi
I'm totally new to all this but I'm very interested in building a Coodercaster. This will be my first build and I'm totally inexperienced, however I have my dad as help and he is skilled in a lot of different areas like soldering etc.

I'm planning to buy a Warmoth body and a Warmoth neck, then equip it with a Gold foil in the neck and a Lollar Supro in the bridge. I'm looking at the vintage strat shape but I don't fully understand the difference between the vintage and standard. Can someone shed some light on the differences? Can a specific routing ease my work with fitting these pickups?

For the neck I've been thinking about either going with a standard stratlike neck but I have also thought about a tele neck. I know that I will have to go the standard strat way if I choose the tele neck. I want the guitar to sound as much ¨Fender¨ as possible, so I'm going with a maple neck with a rosewood board. I'm mostly interested in the vintage look and feel of guitars so I'm guessing I should go for the vintage construction, or is there a major selling point for any of the other constructions?

I'm mostly concerned about fitting the pickups I think. I have already decided on most things like 6 hole vintage etc. If anyone has built a Coodercaster I would really appreciate some help with how to fit the pickups. Also wondering a bit about how a Coodercaster genereally is wired? I want a simple 3 way, 1 vol and 1 tone layout.

Sorry for the wall of text and the amount of questions. Since I'm totally new to this I feel a bit intimidated and confused, but hopefully I'll be able to soon have a plan on how to build this.

Thanks

 

[Fat Pete]

Welcome to the forum!

The main features of Warmoth's vintage Strat bodies can be found here.

As you'll see, apart from the difference in the contours, the main difference from the 'standard' version is that the pickup routing options are much more limited. If you're going to be fitting less common pickup types, I would think you'd be better off going for a standard body with a 'swimming pool' pickup route. If you're set on the vintage version be ready to get the router out yourself!

 

[bagman67]

Welcome aboard!  Sounds like a fun project you're setting out on.


The vintage strat body has more pronounced forearm and belly contours that more closely match the 1950's-era Stratocaster, and it has shallower pickup routs by 1/8", and a smaller trem spring cavity (which won't fit newer trem claws, so bear that in mind if you're not going hardtail).  The vintage body is only offered in a S/S/S pickup rout configuration, so if you want to drop other stuff in, you're either facing some post-purchase woodworking or a different body type in the first place.  I'd just go with the standard construction, myself, but I'm nobody's idea of a traditionalist.  If you plan to have Warmoth paint the body, in particular, I'd shy away from anything that might involve having to apply tools to freshly-painted lumber.


You can get a non-vintage strat routed for a tele pocket, or a tele neck with a strat-style heel, if you want to pay the upcharge.  You'd have to call for an off-standard combo like a tele headstock on a strat heel, or vice versa - the online builder does not provide it.  But the non-vintage body builder allows you to specify the pocket type.

You'd think they could do some of the same stuff to the vintage body as they do with the modern ones, but my educated guess is Warmoth are probably prohibited from selling anything under their Fender license as "vintage" unless it conforms to certain specs.




As far as the gold foil pickups go, please do yourself a favor and check out the pickups offered at Roadhouse Pickups by one of our brothers on this forum, Ken Calvet.  He does wonderful work at a really decent price.


http://www.roadhousepickups.com/pickups/


The KT-100, 200, and 300 are all fascinating designs worth digging into.  If there's something in particular you have in mind, Ken is a great listener and can help you describe what you are after, and can wind it to suit you.  And I'm sure he'll advise on wiring, but for what you're describing, you can basically relay on any standard Tele diagram to get you where you want to be.






If you plan on doing the work yourself, scamper on over to Amazon and buy the Erlewine book.  http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457816581&sr=8-1&keywords=erlewine+guitar+book


There are also hordes of videos out there that describe every step of the guitarbuilding process.  Here is a link to the first video in a 30-odd video playlist of a guy who built a Warmoth strat from scratch and documented every stroke of the sandpaper.  Worthwhile watching for a lot of stuff you might not otherwise find intuitive.  He could stand to acquaint himself with a ruthless editor, but the flipside is that he's got a complete course there.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqLfllURlo8


Happy building, and keep checking in with us as you progress!  We are all happy to provide advice and/or cheerleading and/or a shoulder to cry on.

 

[Timmsie95]

There are also hordes of videos out there that describe every step of the guitarbuilding process.  Here is a link to the first video in a 30-odd video playlist of a guy who built a Warmoth strat from scratch and documented every stroke of the sandpaper.  Worthwhile watching for a lot of stuff you might not otherwise find intuitive.  He could stand to acquaint himself with a ruthless editor, but the flipside is that he's got a complete course there.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqLfllURlo8


Happy building, and keep checking in with us as you progress!  We are all happy to provide advice and/or cheerleading and/or a shoulder to cry on.

That video series is the first one I watched when I started looking into all of this ,and it is very helpful! I also reccomend watching them.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like a cool build, I'll certainly look forward to seeing it commence!

 

[Tonar8352]

I suggest you get the CBS head stock on a Strat neck if you are going after the look of Ry's guitar. If you are going for the look of the blue one get it with a bound neck. There is plenty of information on his guitars to be had on the internet and he discusses them on YouTube.

Sorry I can't help you with the wiring but good luck in your journey and keep us up-to-date with a build thread.

 

[Breadroster]

Thanks for all the replies!

I'm not aiming for an accurate replica of Ry's guitar, just my own version I think. I'm 99% decided on a Butterscotch blonde vintage strat body, but I think I'll order it unfinished to route it and do everything necessary and then send it in somewhere locally to finish it.

The neck will probably be ordered finished and ready, just have to decide which construction.

On a different note, how difficult do you guys think this project will be? Will I be able to complete it and make it a good guitar even though I'm totally inexperienced?

Still confused about the Valco/Supro pickup because I have read that it's extremely important to correctly line the polepieces, and I still don't even have a clue on how I'm supposed to mount the pickup.

Anyway, I will probably theorycraft and think this through a bit before jumping into something. Very grateful for all the answers