My take on a '59 Strat

Got_tone?

Got_tone?

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This is said guitar in question:

59_Stratocaster_Relic_Ash_Sunrise_Orange_Transparent_R58272_a.jpg

Fender CS '59 Strat; A beautiful master piece priced at about $3500. With my paycheck that ain't happening, lol. So instead, I'm going to make one for myself. It won't be 100% vintage specs, but it'll have certain vintage appointments with modern twists or upgrades.

Here the specs so far:
Ash body
Maple/Pau Ferro neck pimped out w/ MOP inlays & cream binding :14:
Seymour Duncan Surfer(s) Neck (6.4k) and Middle rwrp (6.42K)
Seymour Duncan PATB-3 from an 80's kramer wound by MJ (reading unknown, I don't have a meter with me)
Gotoh VSVG Bridge
Gotoh vintage tuners
Raw trem springs
Ivory Tusq string guides
Black Tusq nut
CTS pots
Orange Drop .022
Warmoth B/W/B HSS pickguard

That should be it I think. Now for the pics.... :naughty:
 
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Re: My take on a '59 Strat

Ok, I was suppose to post this thread the day I took the pics/started working on the project. Problem was that my browser crashed and I lost the whole post. :34: Either way here we go:

Ash body: Currently it's MIA, still being finished by the guys at MJT (http://www.mjtagedfinishes.com/customorderform.htm). The guys here are awesome to deal with and they've REALLY taken care of me so far. Highly recommended on customer service alone. Can't wait to see the final product when it's here.

They mostly specialize in aging finishes. That's not really my thing so I've opted for a clean body with the thin nitro finish of my choice. MJT has 4 options for their finishes; color, "yellowing" of the finish, degree of wear, and degree of checking.

Specs on the body itself so far are:
1)"Sunset Orange" Thin Skin Nitro Finish
2) Degree of yellowing of the finish; left that up to them
3) Degree of wear; Closet Clean
4) Degree of checking; N/A

Here's a pic of a finished "sunset orange" ash tele
DSC02657.jpg


The body should be here in about 1-2 week. He had to custom order a ash body w/ a HSS route. He was gracious enough to order 2 bodies so I could get the lightest one! How cool was that?
 
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Re: My take on a '59 Strat

Maple/Pau Ferro Neck; Also MIA, currently being built by Warmoth who has been great so far as well. This is my first big ticket item from them and I'm hoping it's worth the cash. I originally wanted to go with USACG, but with the specs I wanted, Tommy was giving me a 6 month lead time. That's not an option, especially since I haven't touched a guitar for about 2 months straight.

Here are the warmoth neck specs:
Construction: Warmoth Pro
Scale: 25-1/2 in.
Neck Wood:
* Shaft Wood: Maple
* Fingerboard Wood: Pau Ferro (I wanted a one piece maple neck, but I've read that pau ferro feels like ebony, if not better. I LOVE the feel of ebony when sliding or bending.)
Orientation: Right Handed
Nut Width: 1 5/8"
Neck Profile: 59 roundback (yup, I wanted a thick neck) :cool2:
Radius: Straight 9.5"
# of Frets: 22
Fret Size: 6150
Inlays: Mother Of Pearl Dots (pimp option)
Nut: GraphTech Black TUSQ XL
Finish: Clear Satin Nitro
Binding: Cream (pimp option)

Will post pics when they get here...
 
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Re: My take on a '59 Strat

Finally, we get to the part where I posted pics of the "finished" fruits of labor....

Electronics/Hardware: Okay, I started out the project by picking this up at our mail room in the motor pool. I got to my room ASAP and started unwrapping all the stuff I got.

Picture37.jpg

Round up pics of all the crap I got.


Once I policed everything and accounted for all the parts, I went ahead and mounted the pickups to the HSS warmoth pickguard.
Picture29.jpg

Close up pic of the Surfers. Gotta love the seymour's sig on the sticker. I was going to go with SSL-1s since it's THE strat tone IMO. Lots of threads and posts stating that if you got the extra $$$, the surfers are a better choice/buy than the SSL-1s. It also doesn't hurt to know that these were either wound by Seymour himself or MJ. This is my first set of surfers so I can't wait to hear them! :headbang:


Picture28.jpg

Close up of the PATB-3. Stole this one off ebay for about $80. New PATB-3s sell for about $95 and this was the only used one I found. The reason why I "stole it" is because it's a vintage SD wound by none other than MJ from the Custom Shop. Should have a ton of mojo on paper. :naughty:

The guy pulled this off a 80's Kramer. I've never seen a trembucker baseplate like that one before. Must been one of the very first trembuckers or PATB-3s. The reading on this p'up is unknown for now since I don't have a meter out here. When I get my hands on a meter, I'll check. The reason I went with a PATB-3 is because of reviews here on the forum. They "fatten up" thin sounding strat and make them "breath" LP like tone. An ash strat with a maple/pau ferro neck is going to be bright on paper. A PATB should be a good match for this strat. A very respected member also thinks the PATB-3 sounds a lot like a Brobucker which sealed the deal for me. Can't wait to hear the distorted grit you get from the ash through the voicing of the PATB-3. :headbang:

Picture27.jpg

I went ahead and mounted all the electronics: CTS 250k pots and the CRT 5 way switch. I ended up hooking them up cwith vintage cloth wire. Looks classier IMO. I chose a orange drop since they've always sounded good to me and they only ost a buck. I don't hear the difference between orange drops and PIOs caps so it's not worth the extra cash. Besides the only PIO caps I would buy are Mojotone PIO caps and I didn't order the electronics from them so...

Picture30.jpg

Oh snap, I do have say this came out sweeter than I thought it would. All the parchement knobs look great! Too bad, SD don't make cream bobbins for the PATB. A Zebra or Double cream p'up would look killer with this color scheme. I'm thinking about painting the coil(s) with acrylic paint....

Picture31.jpg

About to start working on the jack. Since I don't have the body to measure the length for the leads, I decided to leave them long for now.

Picture36.jpg

Looks good to me.
 
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That's it for now. I'm waiting on the body or neck to ship out before I do anything else. Better yet, can do anything else, lol. Will keep those who are interested posted on how the project turns out/updates.
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

So what's it actually gonna be? Is it gonna be Sunset Orange or Clear?

If it's Orange, the tortoise pickguard would look ....yum.
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

A unmolested Sunset orange finish. Huh, never thought of tortoise. It's a d*mn good thing warmoth is cheap. :naughty:
 
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That should be really sweet. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

For the tone cap, I hope you mis-typed and actually meant .022uf. A .22uf cap is rather big for the tone control and will roll off tons of highs. Just FYI, the Eric Johnson Strat uses a .1uf cap, which is smaller. A .022uf cap would be perfect in your application.

Just a tip: be consistent on what color wires are used for ground and hot. I see you have a black signal wire from the switch to the middle tone pot and then a yellow wire for ground with a black for ground and yellow for hot in other spots. Go yellow for hot all around and black for ground all around. I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but quick glance troubleshooting can be a lot quicker when the colors are the same for hot and the same for ground.
 
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Re: My take on a '59 Strat

I like the look of it already :) You'll really dig those Duncan single coils. I've only had the SSL ones, but they've blown away other brands that I've tried (several boutique ones believe it or not).
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

ErikH said:
That should be really sweet. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

For the tone cap, I hope you mis-typed and actually meant .022uf. A .22uf cap is rather big for the tone control and will roll off tons of highs. Just FYI, the Eric Johnson Strat uses a .1uf cap, which is smaller. A .022uf cap would be perfect in your application.

Just a tip: be consistent on what color wires are used for ground and hot. I see you have a black signal wire from the switch to the middle tone pot and then a yellow wire for ground with a black for ground and yellow for hot in other spots. Go yellow for hot all around and black for ground all around. I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but quick glance troubleshooting can be a lot quicker when the colors are the same for hot and the same for ground.
Click to expand...

Opps, forgot the zero in front of it. I meant .022. haha, yeah I get bored with using the same colors for grounding or hot wires, so I mixed it up. I haven't worked on it in a while so I might fix it up just for kicks.

Thanks for the positive remarks. I'm a little limited w/ tools here, but so far it's looking good. Too bad I won't be able to let her rip through a tube amp. I guess mk III will have do for now. ;)
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

FYI, that style soldering gun can demagnetize your pups.

You should be using a pencil style iron.
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

^Really, I wasn't aware of that. Well, all I have to solder are the pickup leads, jacks, and ground it all. I'll look into finding a soldering iron here, but it'll be a PITA for sure.
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

Just got word from MJT and the body is out the door! Should be here in about a week tops. :banana:
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

My bank account just got charged from warmoth. I'm thinking the neck is gonna ship soon or it's already out the door. :D
 
Re: My take on a '59 Strat

Just for interest's sake, why did you go for the neck and body from different suppliers???

I've had products from both, and they do good work, but Warmoth has a paint facility and MJT can age a neck so it matches the look of the body.

Great work on the parts selection - I've got all those pickups and they're incredibly nice, and the Raw vintage springs are a nice addition to any guitar.
 
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