My New Purple Beauty

Phrankenstrat

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Probably the best build I've done.

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Strat body - Purple Dye - HSH route - EMG Steve Lukather Pickups - Schaller Floyd - Roasted Flame Maple Neck w/ Tru-oil and gunstock wax finish - 1 5/8 nut - Standard thin - SS 6105 frets - Hipshot locking tuners.

It was a pleasure putting this one together and it sounds and plays magnificently! Kudos to Warmoth for delivering exactly what they said they would. Sorry for the crappy pics.
 

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Yes, I will work on getting more pics up. I've gigged it about 8 times since finishing it two weeks ago. Need some down time to get to it. Thank you for the compliment. It's a fantastic guitar.
 
JohnnyHardtail said:
Its stunning!  The color is great, and I'm also impressed by how good the neck finish looks.

Thank you! Yes, I love that neck finish. I've even sanded down a few of my regular maple necks and applied that finish. It's so easy to do (not the sanding part). I'm actually thinking of doing the same to one of my LP's just to see how it turns out. I hate the feel of a lacquered neck. These are the best feeling necks I've ever played. I experienced on my first Ernie Ball Music Man and was 100% sold.
 
TonyFlyingSquirrel said:
That’s a fine workhorse you got there, love the purple finish.  EMG’s don’t get enough love, they really are versatile.

Thanks. I've always liked EMG's but I think I'm finding the 85 a bit too dark. I think I want something along the lines of what the 85 is giving me but a little more high end and clarity. Just a bit more spank on the 2 position as well. Just not sure what to look for. I'm an EMG fan from way back but they have increased the number of pickups they have by quite a bit since I last went "shopping". The single coils are fantastic though.

PS: I have a couple of 85's in alder body guitars that sound just fine. I guess the basswood is just a bit darker sounding than I had thought although I have several basswood guitars but this is the first with EMG's in it. We live and learn.
 
Before you pull out the emgs, did you try a string change?  I found going from steels to nickel strings tames brightness so I'd imagine the reverse is true.
 
Do a search in google for the Suhr MK (Mark Knopfler) mod. Basically a cap and resistor in series for the 85 in position 2 will give you more quack from the 85 when combined with the middle pickup.
 
stratamania said:
Do a search in google for the Suhr MK (Mark Knopfler) mod. Basically a cap and resistor in series for the 85 in position 2 will give you more quack from the 85 when combined with the middle pickup.

I appreciate that and thought about doing that but I think I just want a brighter version of the 85 in there whatever that may be. I'm sure EMG makes something along those lines, just not sure which one as they seem to have quite a few pickups these days that I am in no way familiar. First world problems.

PS. I had a friend of mine do that mod with his guitar and the pos 2 did indeed sound more stratty.
 
Perhaps an 81, they are brighter than the 85. There are effectively four 81s, the 81, 81TW which also gives you a single coil option and then the X series version of both.
 
The EMG 57 is probably too similar to the 85, and generally Not an improvement IMO.  It is a more bassy pickup with a mid spike.

I had the original version of the EMG 57, and its been posted that the newer ones and TW version in particular use a brighter pre-amp circuit.  That could be a welcome improvement, but I would not count on it personally.
 
Was this one inspired by the Marco Sfogli Charvel? The Color scheme is very nice on this build 👌
I'm not sure who that is so I will answer no on that. I've been toying with doing this particular one for about 10 years. I just finally went for it. Thanks for the compliment.
 
I'm not sure who that is so I will answer no on that. I've been toying with doing this particular one for about 10 years. I just finally went for it. Thanks for the compliment.
Charvel has a new signature model for that guy (I’ve also never heard of him) but your build has a similar anesthetic vibe going. If anything you and that guy must share great taste haha.
 
Charvel has a new signature model for that guy (I’ve also never heard of him) but your build has a similar anesthetic vibe going. If anything you and that guy must share great taste haha.
Wow! I just looked that up. Eerily similar. I originally was going to go with an all black pickguard but the wife talked me into parchment. As it turns out, she was right again ( I hate that sometimes) lol. His is a sweet guitar though!
 
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