Suggestions for a $600 project

Robert Delahunt

Robert Delahunt

Showmasterologist
All,

I'm going TDY and I'm thinking that hopefully I can save $600 by being smart with my money while I'm gone. On that note, I'm wanting suggestions for a $600 project.

What I've got: Fender Lite Ash Stratocaster and Schecter C-1 Classic. Fender Pro Junior and Boss ME-50. 1972 Fender Twin Reverb.

What I've owned before: ESP LTD EC-100QM, Ibanez RX240 (A2PS/A2PS/CC), Fender Showmaster FAT HH.

What I've never owned: a Floyd Rose tremolo, a Gibson or Epiphone, any high output humbucker other than a JB. Carvin guitars. A bass guitar. Any alder body guitar. Any ebony fretboard guitar.

What I like: flat neck radius (16"), single coils, pickups with a loud but clear sound (with high resonant peaks), XJ frets, tremolos, versatility, options. Medium thickness necks. Stratocaster body styles. Mahogany and especially swamp ash bodies, maple necks and fret boards. Amps with character and nuance. Boss pedals. Alnico magnets (especially Alnico II).

What I don't like: thin necks, thick necks, basswood bodies, locking nuts.

I'm just looking mainly for something new to try. I'd describe my style as "loud and clear", i.e. clear pickups (but I like the JB in the bridge), clean tube amps (but with character), and pedals (or a good overdrive channel).

I was tempted to buy a replacement WarMoth Stratocaster body for my Lite Ash, since it was a B-stock for a crack in the upper rear bout of the body, and a crack on the body where the neck joins it. With that much money, I could go Warmoth direction and get an exact replacement, but this time in a one-piece swamp ash body.

I also thought about a Carvin bolt project guitar.

I also thought of a "Les Strat": maple neck, rosewood fretboard, mahogany body, vintage tremolo, Hot Rodded Combo, five way switching.

Any and all ideas please! :D Just looking to try something new. Just be sure that if it's "go buy this guitar!" that you include in the cost analysis some Seymour Duncan pickups: I'm very much sold-out to them, and I won't play on anything but their pickups unless I can't help it. I've played my friend's Fender American Standard (the new 2008 edition) Stratocaster and his Les Paul Classic, and they're both nice instruments, but I like the Seymour Duncan sound more. Especially the Hot Rodded combo and any Alnico II magnet pickups.
 
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Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

Get the Carvin bolt kit. Don't waste your money on a replacement body for your Strat. You certainly won't hear whatever you spend in difference.

That bolt kit has been calling my name for a few years. Maybe someday I'll break down and get one :)
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

JB_From_Hell said:
Get the Carvin bolt kit. Don't waste your money on a replacement body for your Strat. You certainly won't hear whatever you spend in difference.

That bolt kit has been calling my name for a few years. Maybe someday I'll break down and get one :)
Click to expand...

Took the words out of my mouth (or, as it were, fingers :9:).
What you've been describing is the Carvin BOLT down to a T.

The standard is a 2-piece Alder body (but you can choose pretty much every body wood you may want including Mahogany), Maple neck with an Ebony fretboard (their necks are a tad on the thin side but not shred-sticks by any stretch of the word, just thinner than both an MiM Strat or a Schecter) an SSS pre-wired pickguard assembly and a Carvin/Wilkinson Trem (which, I suspect, is the Wilkinson VS-100n but built for Carvin by a manufacturer other than Gotoh, I can assure you however that it's every bit as good as the Gotoh one, at least all the ones I played were :))

Just last night I spec-ed one kit for myself:
- 2-piece Swamp Ash Body
- HSS pickguard assembly (with the C22B humbucker, I find it a good moderately hot bridge bucker)
- Maple neck with Ebony fretboard and Tung-Oiled back of neck
- Med-Jumbo (.048" H .103" W) frets with a 14" fretboard radius (that's as far as they go, still not a whole lot of difference between that and 16")
- Optional Dome Knob Replacements
- Dunlop Straplocks
- Sperzel Locking Tuners

619 USD - factory direct.
The ONLY thing this kit needs is a final fine sanding and a body finishing (or, they can optionally finish the body for you in either Satin Black or Satin White for 50$)

As you can see after removing a couple of unnecessary (but nice to have) extras I chose like the dome knobs or the dunlop straplocks you can EASILY hit the 600 mark no problem, and that's a REALLY good quality kit right there, down to the last bolt and washer!
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

^ That's a nice looking guitar! If I had $600 burning a hole in my pocket, I'd have hit Buy It Now about 30 seconds ago.
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

KeeperOS said:
Took the words out of my mouth (or, as it were, fingers :9:).
What you've been describing is the Carvin BOLT down to a T.
Click to expand...

I agree: they're nice. It would let me try alder body and ebony fretboard (since I've never owned a guitar that's alder or ebony) and three alnico ii pro singles (or maybe not, since I already own that set). Or I could do mahogany body with rosewood fretboard and three vintage flat single coils. Yet the problem is that I'd be replacing pickups out of the box. Sure, I may install them and try them, but still.... On top of that, I might as well sell my Lite Ash at that rate, which means I might as well get one with the same specs (since I like the wood and pickup combination but do not like the cracks in the body).

Almost too many options, going the Carvin route.

Still, I'm looking to try something different, in terms of pickups. I think that's the main thing right now. I don't think you can specify HH setup for the bolt kit, but I could be wrong.
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

The Carvin T I built had a very thin neck is all. The neck pocket was and is not quite a Fender spec either.
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

Is the guitar gonna fall apart because of the cracks? If it's sound, don't sweat stuff like that. Also, are they just finish cracks? If so, don't ever give them another thought.

I'm pretty sure you can get the bolt in H-S-S, and if you have a friend with a router, that turns into H-S-H or swimming pool VERY easily. Of course, you could always get a guitar that's routed the way you like from the get-go, but I bet your money goes way further with that Carvin kit than any other off the shelf guitar.

And you could always decide that buying used makes the most sense :) Especially in the price range you're speaking of.
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

JB_From_Hell said:
Get the Carvin bolt kit. Don't waste your money on a replacement body for your Strat. You certainly won't hear whatever you spend in difference.

That bolt kit has been calling my name for a few years. Maybe someday I'll break down and get one :)
Click to expand...

Yeah...and finish the whole thing in Tung Oil to get the max resonance! I have been wanting that kit too! Buy the no trem body!
 
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Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

JB_From_Hell said:
Is the guitar gonna fall apart because of the cracks? If it's sound, don't sweat stuff like that. Also, are they just finish cracks? If so, don't ever give them another thought.

I'm pretty sure you can get the bolt in H-S-S, and if you have a friend with a router, that turns into H-S-H or swimming pool VERY easily. Of course, you could always get a guitar that's routed the way you like from the get-go, but I bet your money goes way further with that Carvin kit than any other off the shelf guitar.

And you could always decide that buying used makes the most sense :) Especially in the price range you're speaking of.
Click to expand...

bolt kits are routed hsh already:14: and i would also go with the bolt. If it were an exact strat shape i would have done it a long time ago for my project
 
Re: Suggestions for a $600 project

Beat me to the punch!

Actually, hard as it is to believe, the Bolt kits are HHH routed :9:
Just chekc the photo of the body.
Also, you CAN order it HH as an option 50 (basically in your case that just means you'd have to PHONE them to place the order rather than making it through their site, that's all ;))


Ascension man, that's one beautiful guitar, I'd love to hit it (actually already being contemplating for an Ash Strat), too bad you got me at the wrong time...
Just out of curiosity, what is it routed for under the guard?
 
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