timhatimay
New member
Pics at Bottom! I've been in the process of overhauling several of my guitars over the past few months, and finally they are finished off (for now). The strat has gone through several iterations until this, and I think I'm finally satisfied. The tele was a parts-o-caster.
The strat started as a Tom Delonge strat (hardtail, invader bridge, no tone, etc.). Its a great playing guitar, and has a really great neck. I love the sea-foam green (looks much greener than in the pictures) finish as well. Initially, I thought a P90 would sound great in the bridge. Then I thought I'd still like to get the strat bridge sound. It was then clear I needed a P-rail for the bridge. After some research, I wanted to get some bright, bell-like straty singles for the neck and middle. The Fender Custom Shop '69 seemed to fit the bill. I also really wanted to get bent steel saddles, so I added the Callaham bent steel saddles to the bridge. I also put a vintage pearl pickguard (with 8 hole conversion).
The singles sound just like I pictured in my head. The neck has that classic strat sound I was looking for. The notch positions both have great quack. It makes me want to play sultans of swing over and over again. The P-rail is a great bridge on this guitar. I love the bright, mean P90 sound, but I find all of the positions very usable and convincing. I'm already a P-rail fan, but this confirmed it. I wired it with no tone on the middle for an authoritative middle, and with individual bridge and neck tones (250k tone and 500k master volume).
The tele has been an on-going project for the past few months. I became obsessed with the idea of getting a tele (gas!). In addition I was really interested/curious about wide-range pickups. I don't like (the affordable) deluxe models that much and I wanted an ash body. I also wanted a fat maple neck and universal route, so I knew I had to custom build. Its a baja neck which is a soft-v shape, 9.5" radius, and medium jumbo frets, and is a really nice maple. The body is a Nashville deluxe with blonde finish in ash. Its a nice smooth transparent finish that doesn't come through well in the pictures below. Its got the wilkinson 3 saddle bridge, single ply pickguard, and flat-head screws (50's style).
It has a Fender Custom Shop Nocaster bridge pickup. Its definitely got that tele twang! It does the tele sound I wanted, although it is a bit less authoritative than I imagined. I'm style playing with the height and settings to get it right. The middle is a SD Antiquity II Firebird. Its really bright and nasty, and fits with the tele style perfectly. Really punchy and cutting. So far I like it! Last, is the Curtis Novak Wide Range neck. Its made in the traditional fashion (except cunife mags), and quenches that thirst I had when I set out on the tele journey. It does a great tele neck sound and has so much character for chords and rhythm. Its got a nice darker sound of a regular HB, but its incredibly clear with all the characteristics of a single coil. Its got a nice jangle and twang without being overly annoying too. I'm still getting into it more, but so far it is really great! I wired it so the 5-way switches between mid, mid and bridge, bridge, bridge and WR, and WR.
Sorry for the long winded post! I'll give some more impressions as I get more comfortable and fine tune all of the settings. Enjoy the pics:
Tim
The strat started as a Tom Delonge strat (hardtail, invader bridge, no tone, etc.). Its a great playing guitar, and has a really great neck. I love the sea-foam green (looks much greener than in the pictures) finish as well. Initially, I thought a P90 would sound great in the bridge. Then I thought I'd still like to get the strat bridge sound. It was then clear I needed a P-rail for the bridge. After some research, I wanted to get some bright, bell-like straty singles for the neck and middle. The Fender Custom Shop '69 seemed to fit the bill. I also really wanted to get bent steel saddles, so I added the Callaham bent steel saddles to the bridge. I also put a vintage pearl pickguard (with 8 hole conversion).
The singles sound just like I pictured in my head. The neck has that classic strat sound I was looking for. The notch positions both have great quack. It makes me want to play sultans of swing over and over again. The P-rail is a great bridge on this guitar. I love the bright, mean P90 sound, but I find all of the positions very usable and convincing. I'm already a P-rail fan, but this confirmed it. I wired it with no tone on the middle for an authoritative middle, and with individual bridge and neck tones (250k tone and 500k master volume).
The tele has been an on-going project for the past few months. I became obsessed with the idea of getting a tele (gas!). In addition I was really interested/curious about wide-range pickups. I don't like (the affordable) deluxe models that much and I wanted an ash body. I also wanted a fat maple neck and universal route, so I knew I had to custom build. Its a baja neck which is a soft-v shape, 9.5" radius, and medium jumbo frets, and is a really nice maple. The body is a Nashville deluxe with blonde finish in ash. Its a nice smooth transparent finish that doesn't come through well in the pictures below. Its got the wilkinson 3 saddle bridge, single ply pickguard, and flat-head screws (50's style).
It has a Fender Custom Shop Nocaster bridge pickup. Its definitely got that tele twang! It does the tele sound I wanted, although it is a bit less authoritative than I imagined. I'm style playing with the height and settings to get it right. The middle is a SD Antiquity II Firebird. Its really bright and nasty, and fits with the tele style perfectly. Really punchy and cutting. So far I like it! Last, is the Curtis Novak Wide Range neck. Its made in the traditional fashion (except cunife mags), and quenches that thirst I had when I set out on the tele journey. It does a great tele neck sound and has so much character for chords and rhythm. Its got a nice darker sound of a regular HB, but its incredibly clear with all the characteristics of a single coil. Its got a nice jangle and twang without being overly annoying too. I'm still getting into it more, but so far it is really great! I wired it so the 5-way switches between mid, mid and bridge, bridge, bridge and WR, and WR.
Sorry for the long winded post! I'll give some more impressions as I get more comfortable and fine tune all of the settings. Enjoy the pics:
Tim
