Fender/Gibson Love Child

[bowyn]

I love Strats. It's actually a fairly recent thing. In the past I actually avoided both Fender and Gibson because I feel they are incredibly over-priced and over-hyped.

A little bit back, I ended up with a Mexican strat and was really impressed with it. I've since sold it in the interest of making my own guitars (and because my Yamaha SC300 does everything I'd want from a standard Strat while having a fairly unique look to it).

Still, as easy as they are to get parts for and build yourself, I've ended up with several "home built" Strat-type guitars. I posted one here (the Blue Special).

I *really* like the 24 3/4 scale, though, and have had the desire for a Fender with a shorter scale for a while. Squier makes a Vintage Modified Thinline Tele with this scale neck, but I like what I like, and it ain't Shoreline Gold.

So, here's what I've done to satisfy that urge:




Gold Wilkinson Tremolo/Vibrato unit with a full size steel block. I've got this installed a bit closer to the Trem route than typical, but not so much that it interferes with the movement.. as a matter of fact it actually gives the full size block more clearance which works remarkably well. It also helps close the small gap between 24 3/4" scale the neck was made for and the 25 1/2" scale the body was designed for.


Just a stock pic of the trem since I neglected to take a shot before putting it in.


.

Installed in my GFS transparent Cherry Burst Strat body





I lucked out on finding a 24 3/4" scale neck in a color that really complements the body. I installed Gold tuners. I decided to go with gold to compliment the warm colors of the body.





Front view with Gibson logo, decoration, and Les Paul Custom truss rod cover.





Angle shot with all of the electronics installed in a aged white pearloid pickguard.





You can see here what I've got it loaded with:

Bridge Pickup: DiMarzio Fast Track 2 SC-sized rail HB
Middle Pickup: DiMarzio Cruiser SC-sized rail HB
Neck Pickup: GFS Lil Killer SC-sized rail HB

These pickups pack some serious balls. I've always loved the Cruiser. It's got punch, but it's also got a little something extra that seems to smooth things out without backing down. The Fast Track 2 is just a plain out rockin machine, very straight forward. The GFS Lil Killer is the real shocker to me... I love GFS stuff, but at half the price I'm still surprised at how damn good it sounds. Split or Series, it's fantastic in the neck. No mud, just tone and power. Sooo happy with it.

3 way switch for each pickup, Up=Single-coil, Middle=Off, Down=Humbucker (series wiring)

Arcade-style momentary Kill Switch (button next to the bridge pickup).

Standard volume control (500k)

Fender TBX for the Tone control

Gold input jack and plate




Full shot, front. I'm in love.





Full shot, back. Matching aged white pearloid trem cover. I'm using 4 trem springs. It feels very nice... enough tension to resist you a bit, but just right for a soft push without being mushy feeling. So far it's stayed very well in tune. I'm not a whammy-abuser, though.





Custom gold neckplate What can I say? I like boobies on my guitars.


I'll try and get some sound samples of it this weekend and post them. I get a wonderful and overdriven sound from it. VERY versatile. I've got a few guitars that do what they do SO well that I love them regardless of their short-comings in other areas (ie. my Esquire with active humbucker), but this one seems like it's eager to play the crap out of whatever's thrown at it.

I gotta quite falling in love with the guitars I build :/ Makes it very hard to sell them. I think I've already put this one firmly in the "keeper" category.

[newey]

bowyn-

A very sweet build! +1!

You are right, the neck goes perfectly well with the trans-burst finish, and the double-take folks do upon seeing a Strat body with an LP neck is probably good for a few chuckles.

[yakkmeister]

heh - groovy!
Nice job

[asmith]

I'm unsettled by how unsettling I find it.

But it's a lovely piece of craftsmanship. Congratulations.

[bowyn]

One of my best friends (a fantastic bass player who loves P Basses, but hates Telecasters, grr...) saw it and I was anticipating this great reaction, but his face was sort of doing a "huh?" thing. So I'm messing with him like "Oh, thanks... I appreciate the feedback. You suck." He looked at me and said basically the same thing, "It's just not... it's weird..." ;D

I've got it strung with GHS David Gilmour Reds
.0105 .013 .017 .030 .040 .050

I've never used GHS strings before recently. I built a David Gilmour Red Strat and I'm almost done with a David Gilmour Black Strat, so for fun I'd bought a few packs of both the Blue (for his Strats) and Red (for his Les Paul) GHS custom sets. I kind of like them. Otherwise I'm a D'Addario EXP fanatic.

The string size coupled with the body and full-sized steel block seems to generate a fairly bright sound. I've found that the neck pickup, with that extra touch of brightness, just sounds fantastic.

I haven't had the chance, during the week, to really play the crap out of it (got promoted at work recently and they're REALLY laying it on.. as a matter of fact, that's where I'm at right now, heh) so tomorrow I'm looking forward to spending some more time with it and maybe recording some samples.

[cynical1]

So, how did you make up the .75" in scale length to allow proper intonation?

HTC1

[long813]

Sept 16, 2012 14:18:01 GMT -5 cynical1 said:

So, how did you make up the .75" in scale length to allow proper intonation?

HTC1

That could be easily handled by the bridge no? (I'm not actually sure, but it makes sense to me)


I love this franken-Giber. I'd love to get a nice beefy neck on my LP to make me feel more at home (3/4" nut acoustic is my home ).

[cynical1]

Sept 16, 2012 15:10:09 GMT -5 long813 said:

That could be easily handled by the bridge no? (I'm not actually sure, but it makes sense to me)

Without the trem routing I would agree. With a standard Strat body it becomes more of an issue unless your re-route or cut the neck pocket.

HTC1

[bowyn]

I was kind of worried about that at first. I had read previously that it wasn't going to work, and then I read some opposing opinions that saddle adjustments alone would be sufficient. Since I didn't see .75" of adjustment length with the saddles and didn't want to mess around with using longer saddle screws, I decided to tweak the distance a *little bit* wherever I could get away with it.

I took a little bit off of the heel of the neck. As it was, it was squared off like a Tele neck, so I had to do some shaping anyway to properly fit a Strat neck pocket. With the fretboard overhang, it's completely hidden.

I also got myself a little more by installing the trem a bit closer to the neck than I normally would. It still clears for vibrato use very nicely, but when flush to the body, the steel block is almost resting against the trem route on the side towards the pickups. I'm not sure if that's some sort of "no no" that I'm not aware of, but I haven;t noticed it affecting things adversely at all.

That, plus some saddle adjustments and I haven't had any trouble intonating it.

[cynical1]

I never would have thought there was .75" in there to play with, but that's cool it all worked out.

If you're not a violent whammyist then there's no foul moving the bridge up.

You also have the added ease of installation dropping a Gibson neck on as you can match the fingerboard radius much easier with a Fender style bridge.

Very cool...very cool indeed... +1 to you, sir.

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[bowyn]

I won't go so far as to say it's perfect, scale-wise... I'm not nearly that confident in my skills, but it's pretty dang close. For what I spent on parts, it was worth risking catastrophic failure

It feels quite a bit like an SG, but much better balanced (that's likely a quirk of my playing... I've never quite felt comfortable with the way an SG hangs when I play them, kind of awkward feeling). It was odd, since I don't often play Gibsons or Epiphones, but strapping on a Strat and then feeling that neck was interesting. It feels... Robust and solid, for a lack of more appropriate words.