My First Warmoth Build, and after 50 years, my first Strat!

BigSteve22

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For your consideration, My First Warmoth build and my first Strat:
the Twin Mountain Custom Guitars,    Bluescaster/S³    (S³=Short/Scale/Strat)

(Twin Mountain is a place in the Catskill Mts where I backpacked in my younger days. The Logo is a modification of the one I use for photos. Not a company, just me.)

Built as a 60th birthday present to myself, it took longer than I thought, but it was worth every second.

Unlike a standard Strat, I tried to set this up for traditional blues. (Think BB King instead of Johnny Winter). I used a short, 24.75" Gibson scale, low profile frets, and a satin lacquer finish on the neck,  for sort of an old ES335 feel. To get the fuller sound and keep the Strat look, I chose Duncan STK pickups with a standard Strat wiring schematic. (Bridge pickup still has quite a lot of bite when needed.) And, although I never use a trem, I figured: Hey, if its going to be a Strat, its gotta have a trem!

Here's the specs:

Body-
Warmoth, Stratocaster Replacement
Construction: Chambered, Swamp Ash on Swap Ash

Route: S/S/S
Bridge Route: American Standard, 2 Point Tremolo
Finish: Urethane, Black/Red/Yellow Burst.

Neck-
Warmoth Pro-Series, 24.75" Scale Conversion
Base: Birds Eye Maple, Std Thin Contour
Truss Rod: Gotoh Double Rod, Base and Side Adjust
Fret Board: Pau Ferro, 10"-16" Compound Radius
Fret Wire: Nickel/Silver, 6230
Nut: Tusq XL, 1.625", White
Headstock Logo: J Bennett, Custom, Water Slide
Finish: Clear Satin Lacquer

Pickguard-
Warmoth, Stratocaster, S/S/S
Material: 4 Ply, W/B/W/Tortoise (Nitro)

Pickups-
All Seymour Duncan, White
Bridge: STK-S6b - Custom Stack Plus
Middle: STK-S4m - Classic Stack Plus
Neck  : STK-S4n - Classic Stack Plus

P/U Switch-
CLS, 5-Way, Wafer Type

Pots-
Volume & Tones:
MoJo Tone/CTS, 250kΩ, 30% Audio Taper, Split Shaft

Input-
Jack: Switchcraft, #11
Jack Plate: Fender Recessed

Tone Cap-
Sprague, Orange Drop, .022µf, 600v

Treble By-Pass-
Cap: Sprague, Orange Drop, .001µf, 600v
Resistor: Metal Film, 150 kΩ, 1/2 Watt

Wiring-
Schematic: Standard Stratocaster w/ Treble By-Pass
Wire: Gavitt, 22AWG Cloth covered Vintage Push Back

Knobs/Switch Tip-
Fender Vintage, White

Tuners-
Hipshot, Open Back, Locking, Staggered, Chrome
Buttons: Hipshot, A07, Pearloid

Bridge-
Hipshot, US Flat Plate Tremolo, Chrome
Saddles: Stainless Steel
Base Plate: Brass

Strap Buttons-
Planet Waves Elliptical, Chrome

Trem Cover-
Fender, 4 Ply, W/B/W/Tortoise

Neck Plate-
LazarArt, Custom Engraved, Chrome

Strings-
Ernie Ball RPS, Hybrid Gauge, (9-46)
w/.018w G-String
As American made as I could get!
 

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Beautiful! -Love the SRV-ish color scheme. Welcome to the 'boards, man! -Hope to see ya around!  :icon_thumright:
 
Very nice work, and welcome to the forum!


I see when you decide to go Strat, you make it very much your own.  Nice choices all around.
 
Very good! I like that one a lot!

I've also more or less transitioned to short-scale necks. Getting too old to reach like I used to. Doesn't make a lotta difference, but every little bit helps.
 
Thanks for all the kind words! Glad you like it, the planning and collecting of parts took as long as the build, and the final parts didn't come until the very end.

Day-mun: It does look pretty SRV, in fact that's why I used the pearloid tuner buttons. The actual inspiration for the color choices was my first electric guitar, a '67 Kent 740 which I got new for Christmas 1966. If you're interested in seeing one, here's a link:  http://drowninginguitars.com/2011/12/04/1967-69-kent-740-solidbody-electric-guitar/

Cagey: I know exactly what you mean about transitioning to the shorter scale. Much more comfortable. Additionally, I played my Gibson and Ovation acoustics as my main instruments for many years, now I play solid bodies almost exclusively. Only acoustic I play these days is an Epiphone SST Custom, solid body acoustic.
 
Very nice, and I condour, it does have that SRV-esque vibe to it...But hey as a Texan, I'm a huge SRV fan so I like it... :rock-on:
 
I always thought ol' Number One should've had a tortie pickguard, anyway, so...  :laughing7:
 
This week I reached the outer limit of my current luthier skills. Being unable to get the setup exactly where I wanted, I dropped my baby off at Imperial Guitar to let the pros have at it. Promised back before next Saturday. I can hardly wait.........
 
BigSteve22 said:
This week I reached the outer limit of my current luthier skills. Being unable to get the setup exactly where I wanted, I dropped my baby off at Imperial Guitar to let the pros have at it. Promised back before next Saturday. I can hardly wait.........
That's just what I did with my local expert. I don't have the fret and nut files to do a from-the-git-go setup if it needs anything more than simple adjustments. It was worth the expense. I remember pacing for a couple of days, too. :icon_biggrin:
 
BigSteve22 said:
This week I reached the outer limit of my current luthier skills. Being unable to get the setup exactly where I wanted, I dropped my baby off at Imperial Guitar to let the pros have at it. Promised back before next Saturday. I can hardly wait.........

Very much worth doing.  I've done that with every Warmoth build.  Especially for the level/crown/polish of the frets. 

Nice build!
 
My baby's home!

Joe from Imperial Guitar called last night to say the operation was a success, and that I could pick her up today. Which of course I did.................

Nice low action, and every note in tune up and down the neck. NICE!
 
I'm not normally a fan of three colour bursts but that one is a beauty.

Also good choice on the pickups. That's my favourite set for a Strat outside of the custom shop stacks (same bridge pickup but slightly scooped neck and mid) I had them make for me.
 
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