New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

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BluesGuyJ

New member
So here is what I got:

USACG Strat body, routed for 2 point trem, HSS under the hood and no holes drilled yet for the guard or anything. I got it on Reverb, new, for $200. Swamp Ash done up in a thin black finish.

Dimarzio pickups - I have a Injector bridge, Area 67, Heavy Blues II and 54 Pro. I think I am going to throw the HB II in the bridge, Area 67 middle and 54 Pro neck. THe injector is cool, but I am looking for something a little less intense. Oh yeah, I got red pickup covers for these.

Hipshot Contour Tremolo in chrome for the bridge.

I still need a neck, pots, jack and switches, as well as a guard and all the screws for the hardware, neck attachment and I also need tuners.

I am leaning towards A roasted maple neck, as I like the feel of it, or a normal maple neck with an oil finish. Since I snagged a quality body for cheap, I was thinking of really going in on a high spec neck. Even considering Brazilian rosewood for the board. I'd be cool with looking at spending $550ish on the neck.

Any cool wiring schemes I should look into? I've read a bit about 7 way switching setups on strats.
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

Congrats on the deal! I have a USACG Tele body, very high quality parts there!

I would highly recommend the Roasted Maple neck.

My dad has a guitar with the DMZ 54-very nice strat pickup but a little weak, IMO. I love DiMarzios in the neck but haven't found one I liked in the bridge...I really think the Screamin Demon is one of the best Humbuckers to match with Single Coils...but definitely an opinion.

Hopefully others will chime in--especially on the wiring options. Only suggestion I would have is it would be cool if you could do neck and bridge like a Tele.

Looking forward to the progress!
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

Yeah, we'll see how it goes with the 54 Pro in the neck. I've had a HB II in the neck of two guitars and really liked it, but am looking for a sound that is a little less intense and is why I am putting the HB II in the bridge instead of the injector and 54 Pro in the neck instead of HB II. I am thinking about going with USACG for the neck. Warmoth is super tempting, because they have roasted maple necks ready for delivery with the specs I want for the $250-$280 range. It sounds like USACGs attention to detail and out f the box readiness is a bit above Warmoth for necks. That is something for me to consider, since my tech will put this all together and less bench time means lower bill.

For the fretboard wood, I am not too sure. I think rosewood would fit the black body and this is my first Swamp Ash strat, so I am thinking that the rosewood tone would help balance out some of the scoop traditionally associated with Swamp Ash. I also like the punch of a maple board. Ugh
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

BluesGuyJ said:
Yeah, we'll see how it goes with the 54 Pro in the neck. I've had a HB II in the neck of two guitars and really liked it, but am looking for a sound that is a little less intense and is why I am putting the HB II in the bridge instead of the injector and 54 Pro in the neck instead of HB II. I am thinking about going with USACG for the neck. Warmoth is super tempting, because they have roasted maple necks ready for delivery with the specs I want for the $250-$280 range. It sounds like USACGs attention to detail and out f the box readiness is a bit above Warmoth for necks. That is something for me to consider, since my tech will put this all together and less bench time means lower bill.

For the fretboard wood, I am not too sure. I think rosewood would fit the black body and this is my first Swamp Ash strat, so I am thinking that the rosewood tone would help balance out some of the scoop traditionally associated with Swamp Ash. I also like the punch of a maple board. Ugh
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My favorite Strat tone ever came out of a Swamp Ash body with a Maple+Rosewood neck and Fat 50s–so I think the Rosewood board would be a great choice for the Ash body. Hopefully it will work for you–the tone of the 54 is awesome. My only complaint was that it was very easily overpowered.

From my experience with multiple neck companies I would rank them:

1 Musikraft – Group A
2 USACG – Group A
3 Warmoth – Group A
4 Allparts – Group B
5 Mighty Mite – Group B

Group A needed minimal work and all 3 are high quality...Musikraft and USACG both are set apart from Warmoth, more attention to detail and overall better feel...think of High end model car vs base model. With all of the Warmoth necks I've bought the sides of the frets needed to be sanded down BUT they are on the West Coast and I am on the East Coast so different climates need to be taken into account with them. All of these have varying amount of specs you can customize and Warmoth got me a Quartersawn Roastsed Maple neck last year even though it wasn't listed as an option.

Group B needed a fair amount of fret work and some sanding but for the price you really can't knock them. Very reliable and if one had the exact specs I was looking for I would not hesitate to go with them.
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

For an HSS, I came up with an interesting wiring scheme that kept every position hum-cancelling. I wrote a blog about it. You'd have to use a neck pickup that was rw/rp, though.
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

yeah, I have thought about getting white pickup covers, as they would match with many more colors than just red. The 54 Pro should balance well with the HB II in the bridge and combine well with the Area 67. I rarely use the middle SC on its own, so the balancing between N and M alone is not too much of a worry.... USACG uses dual graphite reinforcing rods in their necks, right? Does anyone else? I'd like to get a neck that is very stable, as I live in Boston and the weather changes drastically
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

I'm fidning lots of dumped new necks on reverb, but I think I need to get a new one with SS frets. I play pretty aggressively and also like the smooth feel of well polished SS frets. My Carvin has SS jumbos and plays great.
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

BluesGuyJ said:
I'm fidning lots of dumped new necks on reverb, but I think I need to get a new one with SS frets. I play pretty aggressively and also like the smooth feel of well polished SS frets. My Carvin has SS jumbos and plays great.
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Every build going forward for me will have SS frets...no comparison IMO
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

I have to say, I love the feel of SS frets. Any guitar I need to have refretted will get SS frets from now on.
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

Mincer said:
For an HSS, I came up with an interesting wiring scheme that kept every position hum-cancelling. I wrote a blog about it. You'd have to use a neck pickup that was rw/rp, though.
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This exactly. My take is two STK-S4's and the proverbial JB or any of the Customs or their hybrids.
I also use a no-load 500k volume pot sold by Stewmac that takes all the pots out of the signal chain.
 
Re: New Strat build - got some parts, needs some more, would love suggestions

Ill be running this SSS, so I wont be looking at 500k pots. I may try a no load pot and I'd also like to get the electronics setup with a treble bleed mod.... I really liked my Js1000 and the high pass filter it had..... never should have sold that guitar
 
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