Second Warmoth build - Lake Placid Hybrid Strat

[xParallax]

So guys I've just ordered my second Warmoth build! My first build was a great success ccasion14: - as you can see by my GOM badge below - I love that guitar, it's a work of art.

The only problem with it, is it's a work of art. I'm almost scared to take it to rehearsal in fear it'll get dinged up and I'll regret it. So it's a lovely piece of eye candy and an occasional home guitar only.

The brief for the second one was clear. It had to be a guitar I loved the look of, but didn't mind getting dinged up, and would look good dinged up. It had to be a guitar that played like my other one, with a few fine tunes, and sounded like another guitar of mine. Also needed a tremolo.

I've always loved to stray slightly from the norm by mixing guitar types up, I have a Fender Pawnshop '72, a Jazzcaster, etc. So the Hybrid Strat was a great start for me. Have a look at the specs, and mockup below and let me know what you think!

Body:
Hybrid Strat
Poplar (I have a Poplar Mustang and adore it)
Tele Neck Pocket
7/8" Jack Hole
Lake Placid Blue Metallic Gloss

Neck:
Telecaster
Vintage Modern
Roasted Flame Maple Shaft (with Skunk Stripe)
Roasted Flame Maple Fretboard
25.5" Scale Length
9.5" Radius
1.650" Nut Width
Standard Thin Profile
21 Frets, 6150
Schaller Tuner Holes
Black Dot Inlays, Black Side Dots
Graphtech White TUSQ Standard Nut
Clear Satin Nitro Finish

Pickguard:
Hybrid Strat
Tortoise
Tele Neck Pocket
Tele (Holes) Neck Pickup
Strat Middle Pickup
Humbucker Bridge Cut

Pickups:
Neck: Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Tele, Neck
Middle: Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Strat, Flat Poles, RWRP
Bridge: Seymour Duncan Seth Lover, Nickel Cover, 4 wire

Electronics:
1x Volume, 1x Tone, 1x Coil Split Mini Switch, 1x 5 Way Switch.

Hardware:
Wilkinson VS100 Bridge
Fender Locking Tuners, Chrome
Fender Infinity Strap Locks, Chrome


This time, I'll be building it all myself, not sending it to a luthier for assembly, so I'll document it in the builds section of the forum and link in this post when it happens!

Thanks all,
Rhys

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Your project is very cool.  I just want to add a comment about the pickups.  It seems to me you would be better off with a standard polarity strat pickup for the middle position, instead of RW/RP.  See the info from the Seymour Duncan website.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/nashville-telecaster-pickups-what-you-need-to-know

"Many Telecaster neck pickups—such as the Alnico II Pro, Five-Two, La Brea, Antiquity, and Antiquity II—feature a reverse winding/reverse polarity (RWRP) construction. This makes them hum-canceling when combined with the bridge pickup.

But adding a middle Strat pickup changes things. A standard-wind Strat pickup will be hum-canceling when combined with the Tele neck. But it will not be when combined with the bridge. And it’s the other way around with an RWRP Strat pickup. ​

Tele pickups—like the Hot Tele and Quarter Pound Tele—do not present this issue. For these, you want an RWRP Strat pickup for the middle position."


So what I'm suggesting for magnetic polarity:
Neck: 5-2 Tele neck pickup (default RW/RP) = North magnetic
Middle: 5-2 Strat neck pickup = South Magnetic
Bridge: Seth lover, slug coil = North Magnetic.
Bridge: Seth lover, screw coil = South Magnetic.

The idea is that in position 2 and 4, you can combine one south, and one north coil to get hum cancelling.  I also suggest to check with a magnetic compass when you receive your pickups.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Nice! I look forward to reading about the build. For my 3-pickup Tele, I still wanted the bridge + neck to be humcancelling, so I had them wound with the bridge and neck RWRP relative to eachother and the middle pickup wound the same as the neck. So bridge + neck and bridge + middle are humcancelling, middle + neck is not. Works for me  :icon_thumright:

 

[xParallax]

Your project is very cool.  I just want to add a comment about the pickups.  It seems to me you would be better off with a standard polarity strat pickup for the middle position, instead of RW/RP.  See the info from the Seymour Duncan website.

So what I'm suggesting for magnetic polarity:
Neck: 5-2 Tele neck pickup (default RW/RP) = North magnetic
Middle: 5-2 Strat neck pickup = South Magnetic
Bridge: Seth lover, slug coil = North Magnetic.
Bridge: Seth lover, screw coil = South Magnetic.

The idea is that in position 2 and 4, you can combine one south, and one north coil to get hum cancelling.  I also suggest to check with a magnetic compass when you receive your pickups.

Thanks for your input! I didn't even realise that the Tele Neck pickup would be RWRP, so I thought I did well in purchasing the RWRP middle pickup. You can probably guess that I've already ordered these pickups now unfortunately so I'm stuck with the Alnico II Neck and Middle, with the Seth Lover bridge. It's ordered with Warmoth too so it'd mean disrupting the order of the rest of the guitar too, which I don't want to do.

Is there any way I could wire the neck pickup differently, possibly oppositely wired so black is hot and white is ground? Or would that not make a difference? Forgive me I'm not too knowledgeable on pickup orientation etc.

Thanks
Rhys

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I don't think you are stuck.  IMO you are being reasonable as the product information from Seymour Duncan is typically unclear, since it requires you to scour the SD website for an obscure blog post.  It's a crazy way to provide info, although that's just my personal view.

As I understand, warmoth's restrictions on changes applies to custom necks and bodies, or people who want to split/combine shipping for their convenience.
There is still a comment on the website that says:
"Hardware, Pickups, Pickguards:  We will gladly process deletions, additions, and changes to these items on open orders that have not shipped. "
I don't see why it would delay the processing of a custom order body as its a completely separate issue.

If you prefer to keep the pickups you have ordered, I would look at the suggestion from Mr -VB- which is not a bad idea.  My only concern is the seth lover will give a bright and quacky tone when split and combined with the neck, but you wouldn't really know until you try it.

 

[xParallax]

I don't think you are stuck.  IMO you are being reasonable as the product information from Seymour Duncan is typically unclear, since it requires you to scour the SD website for an obscure blog post.  It's a crazy way to provide info, although that's just my personal view.

As I understand, warmoth's restrictions on changes applies to custom necks and bodies, or people who want to split/combine shipping for their convenience.
There is still a comment on the website that says:
"Hardware, Pickups, Pickguards:  We will gladly process deletions, additions, and changes to these items on open orders that have not shipped. "
I don't see why it would delay the processing of a custom order body as its a completely separate issue.

If you prefer to keep the pickups you have ordered, I would look at the suggestion from Mr -VB- which is not a bad idea.  My only concern is the seth lover will give a bright and quacky tone when split and combined with the neck, but you wouldn't really know until you try it.

Yup, just scoured the SD website for anywhere logical where it says the Alnico II Pro Tele Neck is RWRP.... Can't find it on the product page.

Hmm yeah I suppose, but I'm a little cautious about messing around with orders after they've gone into Warmoth, I think even Aaron said if you change an order it'll go straight to the back of the queue again or something. This may not be the case for pickups etc but still, I think I'm just gonna keep the pickups on order and see what I can do with them, I may even like the sound I get from them when I install them, no matter what the polarity is! I don't want to mess Warmoth around because I know they're busy at the moment.

I'm guessing reversing the wiring of one of the pickups won't achieve anything? I do have a Dremel tool to adjust the route if i need to install the pickup backwards and wire it backwards? I dont know.

Thanks,
Rhys

 

[SeaGroomer]

That's going to be awesome. A very cool design and nice color choices! Can't wait to see it!

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

If swapping the connection polarity for one of the pickups, it would cancel hum, but the sound will be affected because they will be in opposite phase.

Did you consider using two 5-2 strat pickups for neck and middle?

 

[xParallax]

If swapping the connection polarity for one of the pickups, it would cancel hum, but the sound will be affected because they will be in opposite phase.

Did you consider using two 5-2 strat pickups for neck and middle?

Ahh okay! I may just wire it up as I put in the original plan and see how it is. If I don’t like anything I can always do some wiring changes or sell the Alnico IIs on eBay and replace them.

I did consider that, but ideally I don’t want to change the order, especially since I don’t know if I’m not gonna like it yet! Thank you for your insight on this though, it’s been cool to learn!

Thanks
Rhys

 

[SeaGroomer]

I predict once you build your new one you won't want it to get dinged up any more than the first one haha

 

[xParallax]

Just received my shipping notification, exactly 13 weeks after ordering! Unfortunately I can't be at home on the delivery date so I've had to delay it 2 days - I cannot wait!

 

[xParallax]

It came in!

Just out of the Box post here:
https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=33604.msg465959#msg465959

Thanks,

Rhys

 

[xParallax]

Hey all!

Going to continue with this thread to document the Work In Progress of the guitar!
Read up to the original post for the specs of the guitar, but in the photos below you can see the just out of the box state, along with a bit of shielding work on the pick guard and the body.

I used the copper tape that Warmoth sell for the pick guard, just cut it with scissors, which worked fine,
and then I used a small pot of the Crimson Guitars Rear Guard Shielding Paint for the body cavities. (from Crimson here in the UK it was £9.95 + postage). I masked the whole body because I was really worried about splashing it with paint! But I'm pleased with the result!
(Edit, I am aware that I didn't really need to shield the whole pick guard but it's a force of habit for me now, and I kinda find the job therapeutic)

In the meantime I put the strap buttons on because I remember Aaron saying how handy it was to install them as soon as possible! On to the soldering and installing the pick guard next, then I'll almost be done!

I'm working hard on it as we speak so should have some more updates very soon!

Thanks,

Rhys

 

[xParallax]

A bit more progress on the guitar!

After the paint in the cavities had dried, I set about soldering the control plate and output jack, as well as the ground wire to the trem claw. It was fairly tricky to get the solder to stick to the trem claw, and wouldn't even stick after I'd rubbed the smooth plating off with sandpaper, but a big ol' glob of flux did the job, and it attached just fine after that.

In the control plate photo, the eagle-eyed amongst you will realise that the pickups are not yet wired, after the photo was taken I arranged the pick guard in-situ and drilled the holes.

By first running a small pilot drill in reverse, then forward, then used the countersink bit with my hand just to take the excess lacquer away from the edge of the hole, then used the correct sized drill for the screw, then cleared the lacquer before screwing the screw in with beeswax polish. This method seemed to work great and had no bubbling or removal of lacquer through any of the pick guard or control plate screws, something I was dreading the most thinking about the build.

PS. you may notice the Tele Neck pickup I used is screwed through the pick guard. I wouldn't go for this mounting option again, and would wood mount as is standard. I ended up resting the pickup on the rubber sleeves they provide in the pickup box to provide enough height, and the pickup is pretty much non-adjustable as it is without warping the pick guard.

With the pick guard on and the pickup wires through into the control cavity, I wired them up to the switch taking extra care to cover the entire body of the guitar in masking tape again to avoid solder splashing everywhere. After that it was simply doing a sound check, plugged into a small amp, lightly touching a screwdriver to each pickup in each switch position to ensure it was wired up correctly, and then I fastened down the control plate.

The last photo shows me drilling the holes for the Fender locking tuners I'm using. They have a Schaller drill size, and have two small nubs that sit in the holes to avoid rotation, but no screws. Online I found a 3D model that someone had made as an aid to drill these holes, so I downloaded the model, then uploaded it to a website who do custom 3D printing, think I paid about £10 inc. postage for the little guide, just stick it in the tuner hole and drill through the holes with a pilot drill, then take away the guide, counterink the lacquer, drill in correct size for the nubs, then install the tuners. On the nitro lacquer of the neck, the lacquer did raise a tiny bit more than it did on the body. however when the tuners were installed none of the untidiness can be seen. (NOTE: As stratamania kindly pointed out, the dimensions of some two-pin tuners can be different so please check on a piece of scrap wood that this solution is acceptable before drilling your guitar!)

Next will be putting the neck on and setting up, but I can't imagine that'll take to long. See you all soon!

Rhys

 

[stratamania]

I can see the holes in the pickguard but I dont see any mounting screws for the Tele pickup?

A point to note about the two pin tuner mounts, Schaller make two types F-Series type and the M6 pin for example. They are different dimensionally and not interchangeable in case anyone thinks one will fit the other.

 

[xParallax]

I can see the holes in the pickguard but I dont see any mounting screws for the Tele pickup?

A point to note about the two pin tuner mounts, Schaller make two types F-Series type and the M6 pin for example. They are different dimensionally and not interchangeable in case anyone thinks one will fit the other.

Sorry it's a bad picture, I had the screws in the box for the pickup, I think this photo was taken when I laid the pick guard down on the pickup, before screwing the screws in through the pick guard, pickup, rubber sleeve, then into the body below. Holes in the pickup were too large from factory for the screw to bite, and so the screw just went straight through the hole to the wood. I've got a bit of a 'wood mount with screw heads through pick guard' going on now - just because I didn't want the holes in the pick guard left open.

Regarding the tuner mounts, thank you for your insight, I didn't know this. I'll edit my original post too to highlight this.

 

[stratamania]

No worries.

If I have understood it correctly it may be worth mentioning that the tele neck pickup if you are mounting it to a pickguard you would not use the woodscrews used for mounting to the body but rather use the same types of screws as the middle strat pickup uses, and Tele neck pickups don't always get supplied with them.

 

[Fat Pete]

Great build so far. LPB on a Strat (alike) is always a solid win.

No worries.

If I have understood it correctly it may be worth mentioning that the tele neck pickup if you are mounting it to a pickguard you would not use the woodscrews used for mounting to the body but rather use the same types of screws as the middle strat pickup uses, and Tele neck pickups don't always get supplied with them.

This. It seems like you're mounting the pickup to the pickguard and to the wood. One or the other will work best.

It may just be the angle of the (otherwise very nice and clear) photo, but it looks like the pot-lug end of the tone cap lead is very close to the body of the pot and you wouldn't want that to short.

 

[xParallax]

No worries.

If I have understood it correctly it may be worth mentioning that the tele neck pickup if you are mounting it to a pickguard you would not use the woodscrews used for mounting to the body but rather use the same types of screws as the middle strat pickup uses, and Tele neck pickups don't always get supplied with them.

Ah that makes total sense, I knew something was amiss but didn't know how the best way was to assemble it with the bits I had. I'll look in to the correct screws for the job! Thank you!

Great build so far. LPB on a Strat (alike) is always a solid win.

(stratamania post)
This. It seems like you're mounting the pickup to the pickguard and to the wood. One or the other will work best.

It may just be the angle of the (otherwise very nice and clear) photo, but it looks like the pot-lug end of the tone cap lead is very close to the body of the pot and you wouldn't want that to short.

Thank you! Yeah I've always loved LPB but never found a guitar on the shelf that I've liked enough to buy - so Warmoth was the route!

Yup that's the case! I'm going through both the pick guard and the wood, will look for the correct screws!

Yeah it does appear like that, I guess you're referring to the leg of the cap that's too long beyond the solder joint below the top lug of the tone pot on the left? Thanks for spotting that, I'll get that snipped off!

 

[stratamania]

I noticed earlier in the thread you are using Seymour Duncan pickups, the last Tele neck pickup I got from them they do not ship the screws needed for pickguard mounting although the pickups can be mounted into the wood or from a pickguard.

Here is an example of what you will need.

https://www.thomann.de/be/fender_strat_tele_pu_mounting_screws.htm