Here comes Guitar 9

So that's Guitar 9, to be followed by a Jazz and a Tele. 

Just in case I break a string or something. 

Hi Chopper, it's quite easy. ;-)

Pop over to North West Guitars - there's your body. Jazz or Precision. (I wouldn't even think of trying a set neck, bolt on only. 

Get a proper Fender, or licenced neck. The rest is quite easy, the scary bits are installing bridges to the correct scale length, but it's all do-able. 

One problem with Partscasters though is that the parts can need some jiggling to fit, but it's really all just minor sanding. You won't save much over the cost of a comparable instrument, but the pleasure is to build something for yourself and get exactly what you want. 

I don't see the whammy hole. Is this guitar gonna be a hardtail?

Neck went on perfectly. ;-)
Tuners, pickups and a set up next. 

Those are just test pickups, by the way. It's going to wear a set of snazzy custom pickups made in Manchester - Creamery 1969's. I want something vintage but a bit hotter than the Fender Fat 50's in the current Strat. 

This is just to see if I get some output when it's wired up. 

Davesax1965 wrote: Irritatingly, the neck is slightly off. This happens a lot with Partscasters, as the tolerances are very tight and parts vary by manufacturer. I've got to clean the neck pocket properly, but the neck is about .5mm out at the 22nd fret. It doesn't sound a lot, but it's enough to throw the string alignment out.  What I have to do is tidy the pocket and see if I can free the neck up to rotate a fraction of a degree clockwise. It's basically a little out and a little too tight. I'm actually probably going to build the rest of the guitar and leave the adjustment to a trained luthier - which I am not.  You have to expect these "minor challenges" when building a guitar from parts. I'm also aware that the neck isn't set up, it's not under string tension, the nut isn't cut (more of which below) and I'm replacing the existing saddles with solid brass ones, so it might all change. String tension is higher on the thinner string side of the neck, so that might bring things around as well.  It's literally a fraction of a degree. Infuriating. And, alas, no, I can't slacken the neck bolts, adjust the neck and re-tighten them as there is quite literally no play in the socket.  A slightly larger challenge was that the nut wasn't cut for the strings. A set of nut files is $100, and you tend to use them once. There are some cheap alternatives, which I'll look into later.

Edited by Atavachron - March 09 2022 at 14:45

Just dug out an old 90's Tele copy I have somewhere. It's completely shot, but I've got some bits lying around and it may be a fixer upper. We shall see. Strat to do first. 

Work so far !

Fender American Standard tuners. 

Twin string trees added. I know most modern Strats only have one, I went for two to improve tuning stability.

The neck is perfectly aligned after some twiddling, I'm going to have to be ultra careful cutting the nut, though. Yes, Fender necks (this being a roasted maple with jumbo frets) come without the nut being cut, you just get guide markers. Nut files are incredibly expensive and not something you use every day, so I'm going to borrow a set from my brother. Next time I see him. 

11.2mm brass saddles to replace the vintage style ones. 

The neck relief isn't set up yet, I thought it'd have a 1/8" truss rod, but, Made in Mexico necks need a 3/16" Allen key. The longest one in the world arrived yesterday, it's about a foot long. However, even with the neck relief not done, the bridge not set up, the nut not cut and the intonation not set, it plays wonderfully. Really impressed with it so far. 

All that's left to do is choose some pickups. They'll probably come next month, and then it's a case of wiring it up internally, connecting the bridge earth wire and output jack and setting the pickup height. I'm going for expensive pickups, 60's style to contrast with the 50's ones in my other Partscaster. No point putting cheap pickups in an expensive custom guitar. ;-) 

Hopefully a sound demo to follow. 

And a Telecaster build next year, if my wife doesn't kill me first. ;-) The next album is going to be more guitar based, by the way.