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Post by backwardlefty on Aug 21, 2013 18:21:36 GMT -5
Hey everybody! I introduced myself in the Coffee Shop section, but wanted to let y'all know about my axe, so here goes:
Firstly, I do all of my own setups, and have for several years, though I have just recently reached a level of proficiency that I'm comfortable with. I play a left-handed guitar strung right-handed, so I make my own nuts and usually have to change the pots for a reverse taper
I have a Lake Place Blue MIM Standard Stratocaster with a rosewood fingerboard - I prefer rosewood boards. I use .009-.042 pure nickel strings. The neck relief is set at .006". The string height at the nut (measured at the first fret with a capo on the third) is .004" across the board. The action at the 17th fret is approx. 4/64 to 5/64. It plays beautifully
I replaced the bridge saddles with Callahams - HUGE improvement (I'm a big fan of Callaham hardware). I replaced the pickups with Fender Tex-Mex's. I flattened out the stagger on them which improved the string balance a lot. I have a master vol, master tone, config - I'm not sure if I like the blender yet or not, and I'm still messing around the height of the pu's (haven't found the sweet spot just yet)
I play through a DRRI that I put a Jensen P12Q in and warmed up the bias a bit - I like the bias on this amp around 58% MPD (I know that's cold for some, but I like the tone). I also have a 1987x clone with a 4x12 cab of Celestion Greenbacks in - the 20w type, not the 25w. I'm planning to run an A/B setup with this rig. I just got some NOS tubes, and have a whole four days off from work, so I'm going to monkey around with this over the weekend
I'm in the process of building a Warmoth Strat, a vintage body and neck, hardtail, Fiesta Red. I've been leaning toward Fralin Vintage Hots, but I'm not 100% on the pickups yet
Any questions/comments/suggestions/ideas/whatever are welcome
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2013 1:43:27 GMT -5
1st off wellcome! don't know about warmoth, but generally buying a ready guitar is better than building one yourself. At least that's my limited experience. *Every* MIM/MIA fenders i have played with, sounded better than my partscaster, no matter how many upgrades i did. Also, i think that two good strats could be limited to just one. A strat is a strat. If you must have let's say 5 strats for every possible wood/pup/hardware combination and then add teles, Les pauls, SGs etc... you would end up with 20 guitars from which very few will ever get played. I try to fight this syndrome myself. Collecting stuff and not dong anything with it just sucks! But hey, that's just me. OTOH moding guitars/building guitars is nice! its a trade-off actually.
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Post by newey on Aug 22, 2013 5:31:43 GMT -5
BWL- You're new, and we cut newcomers a good deal of slack, so I'm not moving this thread. But it really belongs more in the "Guitars" section, or in the Coffee Shop, since it really doesn't ask a wiring question or present a wiring scheme. And of course, the Amps section is for questions/comments on amp mods. I know, it's annoying to have to do the housekeeping chores, but someone's got to pick up after you guys make a mess . . . But all that's for future reference, as I said, I'm not moving this now. Greekdude makes a good point about not needing a whole raft of guitars, but I'll take the other side of that debate. I have a dozen or so, mostly ones I've built from parts. They all do get used/played, in a sort of rotation. I have my favorites, which are used more often, but each one was a labor of love and I doubt I could part with any of them. No, I don't need all those guitars, but I want them all. One advantage to having so many is the strings. Back when I had only a couple of guitars (one acoustic, one electric), I had to restring every few months as the strings would get munged up from perspiration or just go dead from use. Now, each guitar gets played for a while, as my mood dictates, and then goes back in the case for several months while I play others. I have gone several years on some without needing to restring. A minor advantage, to be sure, but it saves me from doing that chore so often! When I pull one out that I haven't played in awhile, it's like meeting an old friend. We have to spend a few minutes getting reacquainted, but then it's like we never were apart.
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Post by backwardlefty on Aug 22, 2013 8:16:34 GMT -5
Thanks newey! I'll keep this thread to guitar-related stuff, and do the amp stuff over in the amp section
greekdude, thanks for the advice! I've checked out Warmoth, and their products are pretty legit. If you order the neck and body at the same time, they make them to match even. The build part of it is pretty easy, a little drilling involved, but only to install the hardware, the main drilling and routing is already done, and it's done with precision machining. I'd love to buy a left-handed Fender hardtail, but I'd sooner see Elvis and Bigfoot having dinner on an alien spaceship than to find one of those - especially with my limited budget. I hear what you're saying about having a bunch of guitars just lying around, but that's a problem I wish I had the funds for. For now, I'm just gonna hang on to my MIM and give this Warmoth build a try
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