Creature's Birthday

[ganzosrevenge]

Tomorrow is Creature's 3rd Birthday. (Creature is the name of my strat.) I'm thinking of what to get Creature for its birthday... be it caps, new tuners, new pups, etc. I'm thinking to get creature something nice (replacements for the SSL-1s, maybe a mil-spec jack, etc.), and taking her out for one helluva a good jam session with a few friends of mine. What's your collective ideas?

All good ideas considered

Jason

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Creature's Birthday

id think about refinishing it.

just sayin.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

id think about refinishing it.

just sayin.

It's SG red!

As a reference, here's what i've done so far to it.

Mods:

• Pickups: Seymour Duncan
  • Neck: Seymour Duncan SSL-1 rwrp
  • Middle: Seymour Duncan SSL-1
  • Bridge: Seymour Duncan Brobucker overwound to 11k
• Potentiometers: RSGuitarworks Custom Kit
  • Volume: 280k RSGuitarworks / CTS superpot (readout: 300k)
  • Tone 1: 250k RSGuitarworks / CTS pot (wired to neck and middle SSL-1s)
  • Tone 2: 500k RSGuitarworks / CTS pot (wired to brobucker)
• Capacitors: LuxeRadio Vintage Reissues
  • Tone 1: Luxe 1957-1958 Phonebook .1uf/150v capacitor wired to tone control #1, controls neck and middle SSL-1
  • Tone 2: Luxe 1956 – 1960 “Bumblebee” .022uf / 400v PIO capacitor wired to tone control #2, controls Brobucker in bridge position
• Switching: 5-way Lonestar Switching with AutoSplit in position 4
  • Position 1: Neck SSL-1rwrp (wired to tone control #1)
  • Position 2: Neck SSL-1rwrp in parallel with middle SSL-1 (wired to tone control #1)
  • Position 3: Middle SSL-1 (wired to tone control #1)
  • Position 4: Middle SSL-1 wired in parallel to inside coil of Brobucker in bridge (SSL-1 wired to tone control #1, Brobucker wired to tone control #2)
  • Position 5: Full Brobucker in bridge position in Series (wired to tone control #2)
  • Switch: Fender / CRL 5-way superswitch
• Bridge:
  • Block: Premium Callaham American Series Block made from Cold-Rolled UNS 1018 to match 1950s Stratocaster Specifications
  • Saddles: Callaham Hardened Steel saddles for American Series / American Deluxe Stratocaster with elongated string openings for reduced breakover angle
  • 5 American Series Springs to Stratocaster Claw, with claw clamped down
• Neck: Screw upgrade Kit by Onyx Forge Guitars
  • 4x 10-32 thread, 18-8 stainless steel machine screws
  • 4x Stainless steel inserts for 10-32 thread machine screws
• Miscellany:
  • AcmeGuitarWorks Solderless connector kit for hot wire, output wire, and ground wire, soldered to Volume Pot
  • Grounding wire connecting all 3 potentiometers together for further hum-reduction

And Creature's Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31313557@N04/sets/72157613795414899/

I'm thinking to put in Ant Surfers n and m, and maybe a mil-spec switchcraft jack. Refin: no... LOVE that color.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Why did you put the RWRP SSL-1 in the neck, rather than the middle?

If I were you, looking at the list there, I'd just PLAY THE FREAKIN' THING.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Why did you put the RWRP SSL-1 in the neck, rather than the middle?

If I were you, looking at the list there, I'd just PLAY THE FREAKIN' THING.

I do play it... A LOT. I avg about 1.5 hrs / day on it. I put the RWRP in the neck b/c on an HSS, the RWRP goes in the neck or it hums like crazy when the switch is in Pos 2. As for playing it. I play my strat acoustically and electrically, and she's VERY alive acoustically (lots of sustain, resonance, etc.)

A bit of backstory on creature: Creature, in part, got me through a very rough spot of my life where I had been cheated on (and walked in on said cheating), had guitars and amps stolen from me, etc. Although from a playing standpoint, we haven't seen eye to eye on everything (I like to play delicately, creature loves to fight), the guitar has massive sentimental value both as a guitar that sort of marks a rebirth of myself post-breakup (i went into a deep depression and the only thing that kept me sane was playing creature), as well as a period of time where I went on a modding rampage... fortunately creature came out ok. (It is in part due to the procession of creature's modifications, that I was diagnosed with OCD and I underwent therapy on how to combat it. I still get "tweakeritis" but it's controlled by appreciating what i've done, and how nicely creature sounds

Lately, I've been playing creature for 1.5 to 2 hrs per day, and I've really gotten to know better how all the parts interact with one another... in the flip of a switch and the knobs on her the right way, she can go from an aspiring jazzbox to early sabbath. I'm taking her to a jam (my first jam in about a year) and I've been trying to improve my chops as well. Also, Creature has gone from "i wanna be trees!" to "i'm a GUITAR!" and has become much more lively in her disposition. So yes, I play, yes she has scratches and nicks (she's def. a closet classic in poly), and she has almost a split personality. But I <3 her.

And when I get the moog working... I'm going to record her clean, dirty, and moog'd out. (That, was my 4.0 GPA gift to myself)

Jason

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Creature's Birthday

I put the RWRP in the neck b/c on an HSS, the RWRP goes in the neck or it hums like crazy when the switch is in Pos 2.

Really? I never knew that. (This sounds sarcastic! I'm not being sarcastic! :lol: )

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Really? I never knew that. (This sounds sarcastic! I'm not being sarcastic! :lol: )

yup, the proper order of pups, n to b, for an HSS is:

n: rw/rp
m: normal
b: bridge HB.

but yea, creature is a player

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

so far, the list is:

one mil-spec switchcraft jack (the guitar jack in a strat, but a bit more robust... ($8)

that's all she really needs at this point.

 

[Sanford]

Re: Creature's Birthday

machine heads?

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

machine heads?

no no, for the screws on creature's neck / body joint, i changed out the wood screws for a machine-screw / stainless steel insert kit from onyx forge guitars. That mod helped seat the neck into the body much better... and also lowered the action a bit.

Jason

 

[Sanford]

Re: Creature's Birthday

I was asking if you had changed the tuners (machine heads) or if you planned to do so.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

I was asking if you had changed the tuners (machine heads) or if you planned to do so.

Locking, Confirmed to be Schallers (I asked Fender)... haven't found a single thing wrong with them. They stay.

 

[CTN]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Considering how many awesome mods you've already made, and considering how good you say it sounds, what could you possibly want to change about it? Sounds to me like Creature has matured and settled in finally.

Although, personally, I would really change that body colour, even though I know you're not gonna.

 

[Sanford]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Leave it alone. Consider the jam session its present: a night on the town! Happy birthday/valentine's day, Creature! You should dress to match the color scheme of your guitar. Do you own anything in red velvet? I bet you could find a jacket in red with black trim at a used clothing store. And a pair of shades.

 

[CTN]

Re: Creature's Birthday

You should dress to match the color scheme of your guitar. Do you own anything in red velvet? I bet you could find a jacket in red with black trim at a used clothing store. And a pair of shades.

hahahahaha

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Leave it alone. Consider the jam session its present: a night on the town! Happy birthday/valentine's day, Creature! You should dress to match the color scheme of your guitar. Do you own anything in red velvet? I bet you could find a jacket in red with black trim at a used clothing store. And a pair of shades.

I have a "hugh hefner robe" that reeks 70s shagadelic.

As for the jack, that's a need... mine is shorting out badly.

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: Creature's Birthday

You should drill holes through the body to reduce drag.

 

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: Creature's Birthday

First of all, that's a great looking Strat. Really awesome. I can't think of anything it needs, except of course the most obvious thing of all. Paint it black.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Creature's Birthday

You should drill holes through the body to reduce drag.

:dot:errr. wa?

 

[CTN]

Re: Creature's Birthday

Speed holes...they're like "go-faster-stripes" on P.O.S. cars.