Sparkle Project

[LLL]

Re: Sparkle Project

My thoughts at this point:

Exactly.

[Mincer]

Re: Sparkle Project

I'd say that body deserves a proper neck. Troll Warmoth's 'Screamin Deals' section daily.

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Sparkle Project

Maple is Proper

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

Exactly.

Haha, ignored the '69 ? I always thought the '68 / '69 was the best Malibu. So sharp and pointy...

Anyway, yeah, passive in scoping out a new neck; the Kmise will do well on a cheaper body I have, if all else fails. When I find a deal I'll grab it.

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

Progress. For those who haven't seen the other threads I've created or haven't cared:

-The body arrived with neck holes drilled slightly different than Fender spec; a standard neck plate fits fine but no factory Fender necks I have would bolt right up without drilling new holes. Had to drill holes in the $30 ebay neck anyway; otherwise it fits well. The joint is pretty tight.

-Both the dual humbucker guards I possess are non-standard bolt pattern and I don't want to drill the body for that; mounting a stock loaded US Fender HSS guard in the meantime. I may just drill for the US guard and tack the HH on with whatever screw fits, for now; eager to try out some pickups without de-soldering the nicely wired HSS guard for mostly no reason considering it won't be permanent. US HH guard on order.

-All other holes in the body are drilled, bridge etc. mounted with success Seems stable and lined up at the moment anyway.

I could play it tonight if I care to fire up the drill and solder iron again. If it isn't by now evident, this was originally a semi-budget build and the developments with the body now cause it to stay in the budget mindset; I dislike needing to drill a 'nice' neck just to have it fit this body. I plan on the neck and body staying married, and hope it sounds/plays somewhat decent. I'll probably keep replacement in the back of my mind.

Also: it's been a while since my last project ten years ago, which was a pretty extensive cut-up of a Telecaster (Tele-gib sort of, routed neck/bridge for humbuckers, filled in portions of the remaining Telecaster routes and drilled for a Tune-o-Matic/tailpiece.) Part of me is more fine than ever with buying whole guitars, even after this meager amount of work, although the price of all the components make it right. Neck and body were about $100 altogether, everything else (bridge, pickups etc.) I had a spare on-hand except a bunch of random screws and things.

[Thundermtn]

Re: Sparkle Project

WoooWeeeeeee! I don't even like that body shape most of the time and that thing looks eff'n awesome

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

More cheap quality mock-up pics for now.

[Mincer]

Re: Sparkle Project

Wow, it is like a speedboat!

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

Speedboat is def. one of the things I had in mind

So more on the state of the world of my guitar... It's all together (with the temporary HSS guard) except the strap buttons. Starting with the good, I have the bridge set to float and this works quite well; tweaked it as I do with six-points; keep the middle four screws somewhat elevated above the plate, set the outer two closer down, raise them by fractions until it stays "in tune" up/down according to my pedal tuner. Any six point trem that can at least stay within that range, I deem acceptable; note that this trem by that token works better than the Floyd Special on my Jackson. More "good," the string spacing is perfect. Both those items are what I was most worried about.

The bad: action won't go high enough. The saddles are on their tippy-toes and the G/D buzz; this is even with the bridge set to float as mentioned. I could shim the neck in the opposite way vs. the usual (so it leans forward,) but really I need to figure out whether the pocket or neck thickness are off spec, and route/plane according to that. Or I could substitute block saddles for the bent ones to get more range, but I don't really want to do that.

Anyway, it actually at least looks ok. From what I can tell it has a quite bright, snappy tone, which will probably balance well with the 250k pots/A2 Fender Diamondback and Tex Mex set in it now; those were dark in my mahogany Strat. Might not mix so well with the JB/Jazz I had planned for it...

[BTMN]

Re: Sparkle Project

Love some big flake on a guitar. Coming along nice. I like mine with no guard.
Dean EVO60

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

I thought about trimming a small guard to show off more sparkle, but I think that always makes a Strat look like a cheap ripoff. No pickguard def. works on the above guitar though.

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

Update: I routed the neck pocket about one millimeter; I could go further as the saddles are still quite high up, but it works. This guitar is a slut, and the ebay ad was right, the body needed 'work' to fit in just about every way... But...

It plays pretty well. The cheap neck actually feels very nice, bends are smooth and wide. It has been stable in my house so far, though I haven't taken it out yet. I quite like the shape, and it looks damn decent. Very high radius. The fretwork could be better but in all honesty it's still better than most Squiers and such that just need a total setup out of the box; shiny/smooth, the biggest issue is the ninth and thirteenth frets being a bit high but it's not insurmountable for what I'm using this guitar for, which is basically going to be pickup/electronics test-bed.

It's a bit heavier than my basswood Strat and much lighter than my mahogany Strat. The sound? Confirmed, VERY snappy and bright. From the paulownia? Bent saddles? Maple? Who knows.

The A2 Humbucker/Tex Mex combo isn't my favorite; not terrible, but the singles split the difference between "regular" Fender singles, and hot ceramic things, though they can at least sound Stratty... Just middy/tighter, not as open and dense. The loose character of the Diamondback humbucker in combination with he bright snappiness of this Strat make for a decent sound, my biggest complaints are a bit of a hollow bass characteristic and bland sort of high/lead notes, plus more intricate chords under gain can turn to mush. Can't wait to switch it for the JB when the new pickguard is here, although I'm still not sure that will be a great match either.

I used to really enjoy projects; cars, guitars, etc. But now whenever I play this guitar I remember what a headache it was and feel a little pissed off, I'm def. at a point in my life where I just want something that freaking works out of the box, but in all likelihood I'll keep torturing myself I'll get over it.

[Silence Kid]

Re: Sparkle Project

Ship of Theseus update: Went through multiple iterations, HSS, SSS, HH etc. ; old pics evaporated, oh well. Finally got sick of that $30 neck. I sorted the frets with some amateur leveling but increasing annoyance toward the heel at the 14th fret and the neck depth ~25mm at the heel (as opposed to the 23mm or so of a standard Fender neck) led me to act. As-mentioned I had to route the neck pocket down to even get that neck to work at all, but finally measured Fender-spec and routed more to get an acceptable fit.

Reason for posting is how much I like the neck I picked up - 2004 Squier Standard; better than my Korean Mighty Mite or Indonesian VM Squier, biggest flaw is the tuner holes are not *quite* lined up and even. Pretty thick (getting used to thicker necks,) but need to get some wipe-on poly for the back as someone sanded the finish - not my preference. Intonation with the non-standard neck had the saddles as-pictured (back and sky-high,) they're now in a more standard position.

Also - I widened the neck pocket to fit the cheapskate, so there's abt. a 1mm gap on the treble side using the Squier neck. I pretty much murdered the body (had to re-drill the bridge holes at one point, has a ding in the back received during our last earthquake - not because it or anything around it fell, but because my wife panicked and knocked it off a chair. If I find a cheap Seafoam body I'll be tempted; annoying, but this is just my knock-around/lay-around guitar so not worth too much effort.

After, before:

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Sparkle Project

Hell yeah...much better!

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Sparkle Project

Love some big flake on a guitar. Coming along nice. I like mine with no guard.
Dean EVO60

No, no. Take it away (he crosses his fingers in a pattern to ward off vampires).