NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

PFDarkside

PFDarkside

of the Forum
NGD!

When Mike's Clone #013 became available I knew it had my name on it. He originally offered it to me when it was up on the block, but I had already added a few to the stable.

It's a Birthday Present to me. :headbang:

Body: Fender Eric Johnson Sunburst Strat (1 piece alder finished in 2 tone nitro sunburst) routed for a humbucker
Pickups: WCR Godwood Bridge / WCR single coil neck
Neck: 1/4 sawn oiled maple neck with specs modeled after Mike’s custom shop charvel (i.e. C-shape, large frets, 12 inch radius, and rolled edges)
Nut: Mammoth ivory
Trem: Real vintage charvel brass bridge
Other hardware: Vintage charvel brass
Tuners: Black Sperzel as added by HeavyDutySG135

So far the WCR Single is a nice juicy Strat neck. The Godwood in combo with the guitar is more mid-forward than I'm accustomed to, especially as I've been playing my Strats so much.... Solution, I fired up the Mesa Road King, and it's a perfect match! From channel 1 sparkling clean, Channel 2 slight Brit grit, Channel 3 is a monster rock rhythm and Channel 4 is searing lead.

The nitro is wearing a bit, which is awesome, I can play with abandon. (I have to keep Mike's other Clones pristine... ;)) I think this will become my #1 rock guitar and I'll swap the '69 Style Strat back to the #1 vintage guitar.

Two mods planned:
-Add a 500K resistor to ground on the single to bring the resonant peak down a touch
-Brass trem claw to complete the look

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics... Better ones forthcoming.

2D4716EC-A682-4429-85F6-4D46216D47BA_1.jpg


D604FB30-7938-4DFF-B93A-7CA16BEA54A9_1.jpg


D07A8B02-0411-4765-A758-224349B07AF9_1.jpg


With his brothers #002 & #003:

30303136-C513-49DD-B7C4-610547137004.jpg


CC3FB19D-4880-46AC-855C-9A13D171CC53_1.jpg


FD2CDFAD-6859-464C-933A-215EC91728D1.jpg
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

That one is one of my favs. It needs the Marilyn sticker on the back though.
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

Very cool, I always wanted the orange one! Congrats.
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

Yep, that is one of my fave guits from Mike. I was ogling it again when it showed up in the classifieds.

Congratulations.
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

Wicked. But it's the orange one that's sofa king hot that its pictures pose a fire risk.
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

Very sweet! congrats!! Like that logo the best, but the orange one is my fav!!
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

Wow, been a long time since I've seen that one, it's #013 of the Clones. I forgot the other two have the old logo, I have hundreds of the newer style logos left over I'll never do anything with if you want to change #002 and #003 over since the final Clone logo is much cooler than the original one. Since I owned #013 the nut was changed, tuners were changed (Sperzels, ugh, not a fan), pickups were changed and Marilyn is MIA from the back haha. Nice to see it living with its siblings. All my guitars, both Clones and D'Avanzo's like to live in multiples thankfully which always makes me realize I'm doing something right when I get a return customer, a good feeling. Speaking of, now you just need a D'Avanzo guitar to see how much things have evolved since the Clone days :D it's been over a decade since I was doing the Clones, crazy . #002 is the one of all the Clones I did that I miss, that huge DiMarzio brass hardtail is just awesome.

Just remembered all the testing I was doing back in the Clone days, all 3 of those have drastically different necks. #002 has a thicker neck with a 1 11/16" nut, #003 is one of only two Clones with a dual action rod and the only one with a 1 3/4" nut width and the only mahogany body with a Floyd and #013 is when I finally decided on my favorite thickness/shape and a 1 11/16" nut width. There's others with different radius boards, different heel widths etc etc, they were all a test platform of sorts as I was honing my abilities and figuring out what I felt worked best. Thankfully they all ended up being some kick ass guitars with unique differences!
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

Really glad that this went to a great home with several brothers and sisters; play it in good health.
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

PFDarkside said:
NGD!

-Add a 500K resistor to ground on the single to bring the resonant peak down a touch
Click to expand...

1. Nice! Enjoy!
2. How far can you expect that to drop the resonant peak, and in which direction (hz or db)?
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

This is almost too classy for me to even look at! Sweet!!!!
 
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

XSSIVE said:
Wow, been a long time since I've seen that one, it's #013 of the Clones. I forgot the other two have the old logo, I have hundreds of the newer style logos left over I'll never do anything with if you want to change #002 and #003 over since the final Clone logo is much cooler than the original one. Since I owned #013 the nut was changed, tuners were changed (Sperzels, ugh, not a fan), pickups were changed and Marilyn is MIA from the back haha. Nice to see it living with its siblings. All my guitars, both Clones and D'Avanzo's like to live in multiples thankfully which always makes me realize I'm doing something right when I get a return customer, a good feeling. Speaking of, now you just need a D'Avanzo guitar to see how much things have evolved since the Clone days :D it's been over a decade since I was doing the Clones, crazy . #002 is the one of all the Clones I did that I miss, that huge DiMarzio brass hardtail is just awesome.

Just remembered all the testing I was doing back in the Clone days, all 3 of those have drastically different necks. #002 has a thicker neck with a 1 11/16" nut, #003 is one of only two Clones with a dual action rod and the only one with a 1 3/4" nut width and the only mahogany body with a Floyd and #013 is when I finally decided on my favorite thickness/shape and a 1 11/16" nut width. There's others with different radius boards, different heel widths etc etc, they were all a test platform of sorts as I was honing my abilities and figuring out what I felt worked best. Thankfully they all ended up being some kick ass guitars with unique differences!
Click to expand...
I can't believe it's been a decade either Mike. I was ogling 002 and 003 ten years ago and bought them 8 years ago!

I kind of like the fact that all three necks are different, 002 is still in Drop C, and the chunky neck feels good for those types of riffs. 003 is thin and wide and promotes thumb behind playing and 013 is a pretty standard thinner Strat shape. Definitely the most familiar of them all. Overall my favorite profile is the C on the Hot Rod AVRI 62 Strat, a little chunkier than modern, but slimmer than 62. I've debated replacing the neck on 003, but the flame on the current one is killer!

As to the mods, the nut is very nice, and locking tuners do make the change a breeze. I'd like some brass tuning keys to tie the look together, but I'm not sure if that will happen. I'd also like to hear a C5 in it, but I think for now the Single is going to remain. ;) ...and Marilyn may have to make a return too.

I really like that white strat style D'Avanzo you built... ;)

I'll PM about the logo...

One more thing, what do you think about polishing the brass on these types of guitars in general? I like how this one is going toward natural relic with raw brass, nitro and maple, but like on 002 everything is pristine except the volume knob. Is that the look or should I polish it?

jtougas said:
1. Nice! Enjoy!
2. How far can you expect that to drop the resonant peak, and in which direction (hz or db)?
Click to expand...
I'm actually not approaching this from an analytical standpoint, I'm just trying to get the sound a bit closer to a Strat neck. Here's what I'm hoping to achieve with a 500K to ground to simulate a tone pot at full for the neck:
pots1_zps8eb38254.gif
 
Last edited:
Re: NGD! An XSSIVE attack of the Clones

And thanks for the comments guys, this is a really fun guitar, I'm going to enjoy getting it dialed right in for me and make it a main player. (Can't ask for much more, can you?)
 
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