H-H Statocaster Build – Advice/Recommendations Requested
Hey all,
I need some advice/recommendations for a two humbucker Stratopartscaster I’m thinking of putting together.
About 5 yrs ago, I bought a Warmouth ’59 Roundback Stratocaster replacement neck (maple w/ Pao Ferro board), with 25.5 scale length, that I was planning to install on a ’88 S/S/S USA Strat. I never installed that neck and I am now considering using it to build a H-H hard-tail Stratocaster. After many years of playing, my preference has always been a 25.5” scale length. My LPs don’t get much play, but I still want to have humbucker capability for some tunes.
I recently spoke with a Warmouth rep. He built a H-H Stratocaster guitar. He suggested using a light Swamp Ash Strat body, with Warmouth’s ‘Universal’ rout [which would allow a pickguard change to use almost any pup configuration (S/S/S, H-H, 2-P-90s, etc)], a string-through body design drilled for their hardtail “Vintage Narrow Strat Flat Mount” bridge (string spacing is slightly narrower for humbucker pups) and 500K V/T/T pots with .033 caps. I plan to use a pair of low/vintage output, nickel-covered, Alnico 3 pups (Custom 58’s??) from an Ibanez AR-300 (LP style) guitar. I have an assortment of magnets (A2, A4, A5) to mod the pups if needed. The Warmouth rep said he is using vintage output pups with an A2 in the neck and an A5 in the bridge. At this point, I’m thinking I’ll use a 3-position pup selector as I have no real need for coil-tapping (already have S/S/S Stratocaster) this guitar. I play classic rock and blues (EC, Allman Bros, BB-King, SRV, etc.). Body finish will likely be a Stew Mac transparent stain and gun-stock oil over the stain.
Because you never know how a build is going to turn out until you plug it into an amp, I am concerned about the string spacing on the “Vintage Narrow Strat Flat Mount” bridge, especially if I wanted to convert this guitar to a S/S/S configuration at a later time. I need to look at Warmouth’s S/S/S spacing hardtail bridge to determine if the screw mounting holes/spacing is the same. In that case, converting the guitar from H-H to a S/S/S configuration might only involve screwing on a different bridge and pup-equipped pickguard. Lastly, the ferrule diameter for the H-H string-though body configuration is slightly larger than the ferrule diameter for S/S/S set-up, however I think the center-center spacing of the ferrules are the same for both configurations. I’m not sure if the H-H ferrule diameter would be a problem if converting the guitar back to a S/S/S configuration.
Sorry for all the details. I appreciate any opinions/recommendations for this H-H Stratocaster build.
Thanks…
Hey all,
I need some advice/recommendations for a two humbucker Stratopartscaster I’m thinking of putting together.
About 5 yrs ago, I bought a Warmouth ’59 Roundback Stratocaster replacement neck (maple w/ Pao Ferro board), with 25.5 scale length, that I was planning to install on a ’88 S/S/S USA Strat. I never installed that neck and I am now considering using it to build a H-H hard-tail Stratocaster. After many years of playing, my preference has always been a 25.5” scale length. My LPs don’t get much play, but I still want to have humbucker capability for some tunes.
I recently spoke with a Warmouth rep. He built a H-H Stratocaster guitar. He suggested using a light Swamp Ash Strat body, with Warmouth’s ‘Universal’ rout [which would allow a pickguard change to use almost any pup configuration (S/S/S, H-H, 2-P-90s, etc)], a string-through body design drilled for their hardtail “Vintage Narrow Strat Flat Mount” bridge (string spacing is slightly narrower for humbucker pups) and 500K V/T/T pots with .033 caps. I plan to use a pair of low/vintage output, nickel-covered, Alnico 3 pups (Custom 58’s??) from an Ibanez AR-300 (LP style) guitar. I have an assortment of magnets (A2, A4, A5) to mod the pups if needed. The Warmouth rep said he is using vintage output pups with an A2 in the neck and an A5 in the bridge. At this point, I’m thinking I’ll use a 3-position pup selector as I have no real need for coil-tapping (already have S/S/S Stratocaster) this guitar. I play classic rock and blues (EC, Allman Bros, BB-King, SRV, etc.). Body finish will likely be a Stew Mac transparent stain and gun-stock oil over the stain.
Because you never know how a build is going to turn out until you plug it into an amp, I am concerned about the string spacing on the “Vintage Narrow Strat Flat Mount” bridge, especially if I wanted to convert this guitar to a S/S/S configuration at a later time. I need to look at Warmouth’s S/S/S spacing hardtail bridge to determine if the screw mounting holes/spacing is the same. In that case, converting the guitar from H-H to a S/S/S configuration might only involve screwing on a different bridge and pup-equipped pickguard. Lastly, the ferrule diameter for the H-H string-though body configuration is slightly larger than the ferrule diameter for S/S/S set-up, however I think the center-center spacing of the ferrules are the same for both configurations. I’m not sure if the H-H ferrule diameter would be a problem if converting the guitar back to a S/S/S configuration.
Sorry for all the details. I appreciate any opinions/recommendations for this H-H Stratocaster build.
Thanks…
