Project: "Jungle Jane"

[CrackedPepper]

This is my first Warmoth guitar.  It's based on some ideas that I developed playing one of the original Samick Greg Bennett Malibu (strat clone.)  I couldn't really mod that one as much as I wanted and the truss rod was adjusted to its limits.  It was a pretty nice guitar given what I paid for it - the body would just sing even when not plugged in.  But, all good things come to an end and it's time to move on...

Here are the body specs:

Model: Standard Stratocaster® Orientation: Right handed Core Wood: Alder "Swimming Pool" Top Rout Vintage 6-Hole Trem Top Output Jack   Gold-top Gold Finish Scale: 25-1/2 in.

And the neck:

Headstock: Stratocaster®   Construction: Warmoth Pro   Orientation: Right Handed   Shaft Wood: Goncalo Alves   Fingerboard Wood: Goncalo Alves   Nut Width: 1 11/16"   Back Contour: Standard thin   Fretwire: 6150   Tuner ream: Vintage Style (11/32")   Fret Number: 22   Radius: 10-16" Compound   Inlays: Mother Of Pearl Dots   Nut Install: Black TUSQ XL   Scale: 25-1/2 in.

For tuners, I'm going with Locking Sperzels in the Shiny Chrome finish and staggered posts.  

It has a custom pickguard:



and a custom "jungle girl" neckplate designed by my teenaged daughter:



I'm going to fit it with a '62 Reissue Strat Trem.  I'd like to get a Callaham someday but for now this will do:



I'm going to try some GFS NeoVin Pickups - the "Power Rock" set.  For $80 bucks off eBay they are almost disposable (or at least, auctionable).    Some day, I hope to get Seymour Duncan's Everything Axe Set for Strats.  In any case, the pickups will be in black.

I'm going to try two interesting things on this build: First, I am going to try a Toneshaper from Acme Guitar as I expect to
replace the pickups at some point and I dislike soldering.  The second thing I am going to try is adding a wire harness for easy
disconnects from the trem claw ground and output jack.

Comments and feedback are welcome!

CP

 

[bbl4ck]

Ya got a sweeeet Goncalo neck goin' on there.
It's a great match for the gold strat.
Should be a real looker  :glasses9:
Can't wait to see it finished.  Be sure to keep the picks a rollin'
:kewlpics: :rock-on:

 

[tfarny]

Don't get those GFS Neovins - they are the worst strat pickups I've tried in the past few years, out of at least 10 sets. Well, I had the 'vintage' set. I have a set of actual USA made Bill Lawrence Keystone pickups, new, in black, complete, that I'll sell you for that price. If you don't want those, and you are set on noiseless, get some Dimarzio area series. They are not really that much more expensive and they absolutely nail the tone you want in a strat. They have four or five choices so you can mix and match.
If you don't like either the Dimarzio or the Bill Lawrence I have no idea what would be a better reasonably priced pickup.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Great!

 

[-CB-]

woot

 

[SlingBass]

Looks like you're planning a true 'players' project - the culmination of the right parts will get you there.  Lookin' good  :guitaristgif:

 

[kboman]

This is the guitar I was thinking of when I said Prince earlier:

I think they share at least some characteristics

(PS. This is my second attempt at finding a photo of that guitar. The first one ended with me watching the entire "An Evening With Kevin Smith" DVD on YouTube...)

 

[CrackedPepper]

This is the guitar I was thinking of when I said Prince earlier:

I think they share at least some characteristics

(PS. This is my second attempt at finding a photo of that guitar. The first one ended with me watching the entire "An Evening With Kevin Smith" DVD on YouTube...)

I see what you are getting at now - I think it's the pickguard.  I have to say Prince holding a Tele is not something I've ever seen.  Thanks for posting the pic.  Unfortunately, now I've got "Purple Rain" going through my head...    :icon_scratch:

I have one question though - how did you get the Prince picture uploaded to the forum?  The forum image uploader won't let me upload anything, not even my avatar!

 

[CrackedPepper]

So today I installed the tuning machines.  I went with Sperzel Trim-Loks.  First I had to enlarge the holes because when I ordered I did not know what I was going to use.  I figured it was easier to enlarge the holes if needed:



I found that a "W" sized bit was perfect.  No sloppiness at all.  Once the tuner holes were enlarged, it was time to make smaller holes to keep the machines in place.  Sperzels don't use screws to keep the machines still, they have these little pins.  Using the template provided with the packaging and a very sharp #36 drill bit, I ended up with something that looks like this:

Painstakingly, I did this for each hole.  I'm not sure what design flaw pins are meant to address versus screws but it's an interesting design.  You can twist off the head of a screw so that can't happen here...

Now I was ready to install the machines.  I did not want string trees so this set of Sperzels is staggered.  The shortest posts go farthest away and get longer as you approach the nut.  Here's the end result:

Well, I couldn't just stop there so I installed the neck with it's cool, cool custom neckplate:



And the results of my efforts so far:

Next up, pickup wiring to the Toneshaper...

 

[kboman]

I have one question though - how did you get the Prince picture uploaded to the forum?  The forum image uploader won't let me upload anything, not even my avatar!

Easy - I didn't! I just image-googled for Prince, found one picture I liked and put the link to the .jpg between two "img" tags with brackets around, like so:

[IMG]http://domain.com/folder/subfolder/imagename.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I see what you are getting at now - I think it's the pickguard.  I have to say Prince holding a Tele is not something I've ever seen.  

Really?

 

[CrackedPepper]

I finished the wiring.  I used a Toneshaper which makes the wiring a snap and obviates using my idea for using quick disconnect plugs for pickup/wired pickguard swapping.  I configued it to have a single volume and single tone.  The second tone control is now a "blender".  It lets you dial in an additional pickup depending on where your 5 way is set.  For example, if you select the neck pickup, or the neck/middle, the blender lets you add in the bridge and vice versa.  Dunno if I will like this but it's the first feature that I wanted to try.

Here are the next to last pictures from this guitar assembly.  The first picture shows the Toneshaper:



Here is a macro view of the entire pickguard:



I went with the GFS NeoVins as I stated I would (no offense to tfarny - I already ordered them and began mods before his suggestion) .

Just the pickups:


What follows is the final test fit before bridge installation and drilling for pickups.  One note of caution for any potential Toneshaper purchasers.  I found the Toneshaper to be a very tight fit and had trouble getting the wires to route correctly between the pickup cavity and the control  cavity.  I ended up tying a piece of thread to the pickup wiring so I could gently tug the wiring in to the correct position to seat the pickguard properly.  The alternative was to widen the space between the two cavities and that option was not appealing.  I just tucked the string under the pickguard when I was done - pretty non-invasive.  The other thing that I would note is how the second/bottom tone pot ended up right next to the output jack corner of the control cavity.  I had to give the pickguard a little flex to get it in there but after tugging the wiring out of the way, the pickguard laid down nicely.



The next step is final assembly.  I'll probably link to the Galley after posting the final assembly pictures in the next couple of days.

 

[jimbo]

Looking pretty beastly!

 

[tfarny]

Oh, none taken - it's your guitar, your decisions, and the rest of us are just armchair quarterbacking.  :icon_thumright: I hope you like those pickups and that the "toneshaper" thing is worthwhile. It certainly doesn't look any simpler than a standard solder job or a basic mod like 'blender'!
The toneshaper is not something most of us will try, so please let us know how it works out and if it's durable. Since more complexity -> less reliability, that would be my first concern with it. I'd love to hear another opinion on the GFS pups as well.  :icon_thumright:

I would advise you to spend a ton of time playing with the pickup height, getting as close as you can to the string (they don't pull like normal strat pickups). Also I found that going to 1 meg volume and and a true bypass tone control helped to bring the treble response closer to a 'strat' level.

 

[Nando Vallart]

WIll look awesome!

 

[Unwound G]

Interesting project with a nice looking body and neck.  It will be a real head turner once it is completed.

 

[MUYFUE]

Nice!
Gonna be very shnazzy!

I've only been able to locate satin chrome Sperzels. good find!

 

[CrackedPepper]

Nice!
Gonna be very shnazzy!

I've only been able to locate satin chrome Sperzels. good find!

I got them from this guy on ebay: http://shop.ebay.com/pottbelly2000/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 - looks like he still has some.

 

[elgravos]

Here's the place to go for any Sperzel needs - only place I know of that you can get left handed (reverse headstock) / chrome / staggered 6 in-line and pretty much anything else you can think of so far as machine heads go.  I spent a very long time looking.  Though the factory did offer to provide me direct if I couldn't find a dealer.  Very nice guys.

http://www.tkinstruments.com/id75.htm

 

[bbl4ck]

Here's the place to go for any Sperzel needs - only place I know of that you can get left handed (reverse headstock) / chrome / staggered 6 in-line and pretty much anything else you can think of so far as machine heads go.  I spent a very long time looking.  Though the factory did offer to provide me direct if I couldn't find a dealer.   Very nice guys.

http://www.tkinstruments.com/id75.htm

Wow... 
What a bunch of cool Sperzel's  :headbang1: