Sonic Blue Hardtail Stratocaster WIP

[GearBoxTy]

I started with an "out of the box" post but I figure any build actions should be here.

I am building a Sonic Blue Hardtail Stratocaster which I have wanted for longer than I can remember.  It will look fairly traditional when complete but that's what I want.  So, it will be a Sonic Blue Strat body, Maple/Maple neck, 3-single coils, nothing very fancy.

The first thing I did was install the String Ferrules on the back of the body.  I used the soldering iron method and it was super easy!

I installed them in 1, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6 order to give each one a chance to cool before doing the one next to it.  Not sure that helped or not but I felt like it did.

Here is the finished job:

 

[Tipperman]

That's going to be one clean strat. What pickups/ bridge are you going to use? I'm gonna go back to drooling now.

 

[GearBoxTy]

It is drilled for the Vintage Hardtail Strat bridge that Warmoth sells, so that's what it's getting.

I'm going to put in Dimarzio Injector pickups in the bridge and neck and a Dimarzio Area '61 in the middle.  I know that Paul Gilbert likes to use an Area '67 in the middle of his Injectors but I'm going with the Area '61.  The wiring will be the standard Strat 5-position wiring but with a Tone for the Bridge pickup and a Tone for the Neck pickup (not for Middle pickup like normal).

All chrome hardware and Gotoh vintage-style tuners.

As I get parts I'll post pictures in my tread in "Just Out of the Box".  As I do any work, I'll post here.

 

[Tipperman]

It is drilled for the Vintage Hardtail Strat bridge that Warmoth sells, so that's what it's getting.

I'm going to put in Dimarzio Injector pickups in the bridge and neck and a Dimarzio Area '61 in the middle.  I know that Paul Gilbert likes to use an Area '67 in the middle of his Injectors but I'm going with the Area '61.  The wiring will be the standard Strat 5-position wiring but with a Tone for the Bridge pickup and a Tone for the Neck pickup (not for Middle pickup like normal).

All chrome hardware and Gotoh vintage-style tuners.

As I get parts I'll post pictures in my tread in "Just Out of the Box".  As I do any work, I'll post here.

It's the bridge pickup that has no tone control. Otherwise, looking great! Good pickup choice, too.  :icon_thumright:

 

[pabloman]

Tortoise pickguard right? :headbang1:

 

[GearBoxTy]

Sorry, no PabloMan.  It will have a White/Black/White pickguard.

 

[AutoBat]

It's an acceptable second. My brother in-law has one with a w/b/w that looks pretty nice.  Sonic Blue + Tortoise is just lovely though.

 

[Cagey]

Sonic Blue + Tortoise is just lovely though.

I agree. It's one of the few finishes that I think look good with a tortoise 'guard, although it can be improved upon and I think he's doing it. But, I just don't like tortoise 'guards, so I'm unfairly biased.

 

[Tipperman]

Sonic Blue + Tortoise is just lovely though.

I agree. It's one of the few finishes that I think look good with a tortoise 'guard, although it can be improved upon and I think he's doing it. But, I just don't like tortoise 'guards, so I'm unfairly biased right.

:laughing7: Fixed! I kid. I don't really like a tortoise guard ever ever ever on anything, not even a Jaguar. But.... I can see it working with this via Google. I think the white/black/white is an awesome choice though. A simple, elegant, not-at-all-busy aesthetic.

 

[Cagey]

Hehe! You didn't need to fix it. I said I didn't like them. But, it's not fair. I'm going waaaay back to the olden days when plastics weren't as good as they are now, and for some reason everybody and their brother wanted to do tortoise parts that were just junk. They'd chip and crack and break without a moment's notice, they'd scratch up as easily as if they were made of wax, and were just generally ugly. This was also during the time when hardware sucked really hard so guitars were a severe pain in the ass. Then, Fender made all their picks out of the stuff and you had to buy them by the gross because they only lasted a few minutes. So, lotta bad memories. Every time I see tortoise it's like a nightmare revisited.

 

[line6man]

Tortoise shell material is just plain out hideous. All varieties, from that red pearloid crap, to browns, to the traditional looking stuff; it's all awful on everything.

Though once in a blue moon you'll find a white or a seafoam or something that works with the material. I still wouldn't want to own a guitar with a tortoise shell pickguard, though. Not unless it were an acoustic.

 

[Cagey]

Tortoise shell material is just plain out hideous.

I've often wondered if it was just the result of some coloring/mixing experiment gone bad, but Leo bought the stuff anyway because he could get it super cheap.

 

[line6man]

Tortoise shell material is just plain out hideous.

I've often wondered if it was just the result of some coloring/mixing experiment gone bad, but Leo bought the stuff anyway because he could get it super cheap.

Same story with the horrid clay dots on early Fenders. Those floor tiles were AWFUL, but Leo snatched 'em up cheap!

 

[Cagey]

Also the same story with that miserable cloth insulated garbage wire he used. Must've got the stuff for $.10/M and bought a trainload of it as military surplus. Now everybody thinks you gotta have it in order to attract tone worms.

 

[ezas]

Hey I like push back wire. You solder the joint and push the insulate right back up against the joint. Easy-peasy since I have a really bad habit of forgetting to slip some shrink wrap tubing on my wires before I solder them.

 

[Cagey]

Whatever floats your boat.

 

[ezas]

OH, I need a boat. No wonder I'm not catching any (tone) worms.

 

[scartozi]

Any updates Ty :dontknow:

 

[GearBoxTy]

I've completed 3 coats of the Stewart-MacDonald conductive shielding paint in the top route and output jack route.  Next up will be running the bridge ground wire, shielding the bottom of the pickguard, and mounting and wiring some of the electronics.  I will be ordering the pickups next: Dimarzio Injector Bridge (DP423), Dimarzio Area '61 (DP416) for the middle, and Dimarzio Injector Neck (DP422).

 

[Jumble Jumble]

PICS of all this please!

That's gonna be a lovely Strat. Nice to go for simplicity sometimes.