The Jolly Roger - My strat build

[CTN]

I finally pushed through the last order of parts for my hardtail strat build. I've posted a little bit here and there about it, but I think I'm going to use this thread to document everything, for no good reason other than to appease my desire to have a build thread.

So basically it's gonna look a little somethin like this:

Specs:
Warmoth Alder body - to be painted Olympic White
Fender MIM all maple neck - headstock to match body
hardtail bridge, string-thru-body
Warmoth Black Pearl pickguard - this is actually the single part that inspired the whole pirate theme.
H-S configuration
1 vol, 1 tone, LP style 3-way toggle, 2x series/parallel mini toggles
Pickups: Duncan Custom/Lil 59 - Planning on doing some mag swapping with the custom, so it might end up as a CC/C8/CUOA5... we'll see.



Headstock design will look a bit like this (minus the rosewood board and chrome hardware):

It says "Jolly Roger Cutlasscaster" and the skull/swords are actually the same design that adorned Captain Jack Rackham's personal flag.

and lastly, no pirate themed anything would be complete without some booze, treasure and lusty wenches, so I decided to find a pinup-girl type graphic I could use for the back. It took me ages to find just the right saucy little minx for this project. I think she captures the vibe of the whole guitar quite well - classic, but sexy, dangerous and a bit unpredictable.

The only thing I have left to get a hold of is paint/primer, but that can wait until I get back to Canada and my gums have healed from this infernal wisdom teeth extraction.

Next major update will involve copious amounts of parts photos! Maybe I'll even post a video detailing how difficult it will be to find olympic white in Toronto. lol

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Very nice....I'm also working on another strat project...Protone blonde ash lefty body..Might Mite rosewood neck 9.5 radius/small headstock,vintage amber tint/Spaghetti logo...Not sure if I'll go mint green guard or dark brown shell S/S/S on the guard? Fat 50 neck and middle and either a Twangbanger or an SSL6 bridge? Kluson vintage style small tuners..

 

[Will S-T]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Very nice recipe indeed:approve:

Why don't you go push/pull pots on the vol and tone for the two series/parallel switches?

I think it would look less clutered and you could use the Stewmac
6 way switch to give you coil split options for both pickups aswell.

love the skirted wench, nice touch:friday:

 

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Yes, Yes & Yes to both you gentlemen.:beerchug::headbang::headbang::headbang:

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Gonna be supah sexy, dude.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

And this is my current idea on mine...

 

[Will S-T]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

I'd have either........but preferably BOTH!!

Nice designs gents, class and attitude!

 

[Bayou_Picker]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Very nice idea there Convoy! I can't wait until you get to work. The mo' pictures the better!

 

[CTN]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Very nice recipe indeed:approve:

Why don't you go push/pull pots on the vol and tone for the two series/parallel switches?

I think it would look less clutered and you could use the Stewmac
6 way switch to give you coil split options for both pickups aswell.

love the skirted wench, nice touch:friday:

I thought about it...but I just don't like push/pull pots. *shrug* Something about the tactile feel of toggle switches really appeals to me lol.

Also, I don't like hum, so I tend to not use split coil wirings on any of my guitars.

 

[CTN]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Some parts have arrived!

I arrived back home from Panama on Thursday, and when I had a chance to check the mail, I found a whole bunch of packages.

Got a chance to open them up:

Huzzah!

The pickups are (L-R)

Duncan Designed HB103 bridge
Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell
Duncan Lil '59 neck
Duncan Distortion trembucker
Duncan Hot Rails bridge

The DD and HFH are going in my Ibanez - it's going to be my dedicated metal axe. Not sure what to do with the HB103, maybe it'll go in my blue bastard. I'll only be using either the lil '59 or the hot rails on the Jolly Roger - as the neck position pickup. I've also got a white Duncan Custom which is eager to begin its new life as a magnet testbed.

Speaking of which, the mags shown are:

A3
A4
UOA5
A8
all courtesy of Blueman (thanks again dude!)

And a couple of A2 mags, from Andrew Lamprecht (thanks again to you too bro!)

Also pictured are my beautiful pickguard for this build & neck mounting hardware both from warmoth, and the saucy wench stickers.

I decided that now that I have the neck mounting hardware, it'd be a good time for a test fit.

So far so good! The pickguard is the whole reason I chose the theme for this guitar, so I was hoping it would really look good. I'm glad I took the chance on this black pearl pg from warmoth. i was hesitant, not knowing if I would get something blue-ish like the Fender "black pearl" pickguards, but in the end I think I won out. Here it is with the pickups, on the body with a chrome bridge as a rough mock up:

Closer:

Much closer, and get a load of that patterning! so cool!

One little problem I've encountered is that one of the neck mounting screws tends to go extremely deep for the mounting holes drilled into the neck. I think this is because of the contoured heel (the body is a warmoth, so I figured it would be prudent to get warmoth neck plate/appropriate screws, just to be safe). Turns out I was wrong about the being safe thing.

I decided to just use a washer to give the screw some extra height for now. I'm not entirely sure I want to drill the mounting hole much deeper. the screw would be edging dangerously close to the fretboard - not enough to come right out of the fretboard, but close enough that I'm not sure that is such a good idea. Might have to get a replacement shorter screw, somehow. Any suggestions of how to deal with it?

 

[guitarkid]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

That's looking great man!! I'm really digging it!

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Yes yes yes.

:approve:

 

[playas]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

That looks really great.

Can´t you file down the neck screw a bit?

 

[JollyRoger523]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Hmmmmm curious name...

Just kidding man, it looks great. Good luck with the build and keep us updated.

 

[CTN]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

That looks really great.

Can´t you file down the neck screw a bit?

I suppose I could. I do have a file. There's gotta be a more elegant solution though...right?

JollyRoger: hahaha I assure you dude, I was not thinking of you when I came up with the idea!:friday:

 

[BTMN]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Gonna look real nice!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

You can get those wood screws at just about any hardware store in the length you need. Probably cost you less the a quarter. I would just cut it shorter, myself.

 

[Kam]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

That looks impeccably awesome as it is. I'd be so tempted to just leave it unfinished.

I'm sure it'll be a killer guitar, either way. Can't wait to see the final pics and hear the tone report. Good stuff, lad. :beerchug:

 

[JOLLY]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

It doesn't need to have Roger in the name.:9:

 

[CTN]

Re: The Jolly Roger - My strat build

Today I took the old Fender tuners off the headstock - I thought they were kinda weird looking cuz they didn't have any mounting
screws. Then when I took them off, I found
this:

those two little protrusions had corresponding holes drilled into the wood, so I needed to fill them. Good ol wood filler to the rescue.

bit messy right here, but after some work at it:

Now that the back is more or less prepped for the new hardware, and I sanded off the old Fender logo on the front and sanded down the whole face of the headstock all the way to bare wood, to ready it for the new finish.

bit rough here ^^, and you can just barely see where the F in Fender was. A bit of elbowgrease later:

Also sanded out some minor imperfections on the body.

Also also, I have acquired appropriate paint and a decal!

Also, I received a notice in my mail today saying that a parcel is waiting for me at the local post office. This is probably the box of parts from GFS, as I am not expecting anything else at the moment. I'll go pick em up tomorrow and squeal with delight when I unbox it all.