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Post subject: The Building of a Custom Strat Plus
Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 3:29 pm
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WARNING; this tread has a lot of pictures!

I have to admit, I was very inspired by the thread entitled: Touching up Nikininja's body by Ceri. After reading that day after day I thought maybe I would take you through the process of building a custom Strat Plus. I admit, I am nowhere near the craftsman Ceri is, but, I have done custom wiring for years and have, maybe, a little to contribute.

The first time I took a guitar apart, I was totally scared. Now it is a very relaxing and fun thing to do. So here is the project.

Some of you have maybe seen this guitar on my website which is on this page: http://xhefriguitars.com/page5.html: Image

I want to build a twin sister to it but with a Rosewood fret board, standard bridge and a 2nd mini-toggle switch to split off one side (tap, as it is often called) of the humbucker. SO THIS IS WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT!!!!

Here is the candidate. This was a mint 1994 Strat Plus before UPS poked a hole thought the box damaging the body. As you can see, the owner installed an active set of EMG pickups (SA/SA/81).

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I happened to have a mint black 1995 Strat Plus body in one of my piles of guitar bodies. I did some light wet sanding to remove some light pick scratches and then ran it over the buffer to a high gloss.

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Next I will gather some of the items I will use in this custom build. This will use a Black Pearl Warmoth pickguard. Notice the hole cuts. Top has a square humbucker and the lower one is the rounded humbucker.

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I will use a DiMarzio PAF (195N) in the neck, a Hot Gold Lace Dome in the middle and two Red Chrome Domes in the bridge. I plan on using the Ultra (James Burton) Strat-o-Tele switching on this plus an extra Mini-toggle for splitting the humbucker.

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Later today I will start the wiring process and get the neck prepared. Then later I will take you through to the finished product!

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Last edited by Xhefri on Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 3:39 pm
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That thing is bitchin!

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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 3:58 pm
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this thread is gonna be good.
i cant wait. :D


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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:19 pm
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The UPS thing sucks. Project looks cool though.

I stopped by the guitar store by me today, looking for a mini switch to add to my strat plus deluxe, but they were closed for the holidays. :(

I'm going to just wire it to split the dually where I can have it the front dually, both, and the back dually. Should be simple enough.


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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:25 pm
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JasonSD wrote:
I'm going to just wire it to split the dually where I can have it the front dually, both, and the back dually. Should be simple enough.


Really, it is fairly tricky wiring the Dually up. I will be posting the diagram later on how to do this. It requires a on/on/on switch. More to come later! Do yu have a wiring diagram?

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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:28 pm
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Yeah I grabbed one off the Lace website. Was going to use the bottom diagram off this one

http://www.lacemusic.com/wiring/pdf/9.pdf

that should work right?


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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:34 pm
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JasonSD wrote:
that should work right?


Yepper, that's it. Same as what Fender uses on their Ultra Strats. Thanks for pointing this diagram out because I get asked a lot for it and mine is hand drawn! :lol:

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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:55 pm
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Quote:
Thanks for pointing this diagram out because I get asked a lot for it and mine is hand drawn!


No Problem, feel free to post the diagram for the humbuckers, sc, and dually. ;)

Also, any price on a pearloid pickguard with the dually yet?


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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:01 pm
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Love that pick guard. 8)

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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:00 pm
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I built this Strat a couple years ago.

Image

It looked cool and had great humbucker tone, but lost a lot of those cool Strat tones.

This particular build is really great because it gives you so many voices. You have the humbucker in the neck which can be split. So you have Gibsonish tone there. Then using the Chrome Domes you have the versility of many cool out-of-phase Strat quacks and honks. Using the Ultra Super Switching you also get Telecaster tones as well, and then can mix and match the voices. I must add esthetics is also taken into consideration!

Ok. Let’s get on with wiring this. Next I am going to take round and square files and fit the upper humbucker hole to the pickup, as they will not fit right from Warmoth. I like to get it snug and then push it all the way down so I can mark the mounting holes with a sharp pick.

Image

Next we will drill all the holes on the pickgaurd. I will use a Fender Ultra pickgaurd as a template and line up the pot holes so I know where to drill the mini-switch holes. A drill press is a great way to keep your holes clean and in place.

Image Image Image

We can pull off the protective plastic and start mounting the pickups. The humbucker springs are a bit of a pain sometimes and you have to clip the srews off as they are too long and will hot the bottom of the Strat body in the route. The Lace Chrome Domes are connected by a small bracket that makes the two pickups mount like a humbucker. Fender used this same bracket on all their Ultra guitars. Lace is now gluing the two pickups onto one mounting plate with small holes like on a standard humbucker. I really prefer this way as it mounts the pickups very solidly on the guard (Scratch Plate for you Ozzies, Kiwis and UK folks!)

Image Image Image

Ok here is the pickguard with all the pickups mounted. It already looks cool. The Laces use the small rubber surgical tubing instead of springs for mounting. I like to put the screws through the guard and then cut the tubing the same length as the threads poking through. This makes the pickup stay firmly in place and will not be rocking in the guard (no pun intended!)

Image Image

More to come……..

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Last edited by Xhefri on Fri Jan 01, 2010 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 10:46 am
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Hi Xhefri:

I really like what you do to restore and remodel those Strat Pluses and Ultras. I have a Strat Ultra, and I was wondering what the small 3-way switch does on a 'dually' Red Lace Sensor. I thought the up position was the "neck" portion of the dually only, the middle is both PU on, and the down position was the "bridge" pickup of the dually only.

I did check your website, and it seems as that info has changed. There is a section saying when the 3-way switch is in the middle, you say in the Custom Strat Plus section that the dually is in parallel. Then in the Strat Plus Ultra section you say that in the middle position, the dually is in series. Which one is it?

Also, do I have to shield a new pickguard, even though the Laces are noiseless? BTW I hate the 'toilet bowl' pickguard; I love the upgraded ones you have on your website.

1990 Strat Ultra in FireStorm finish

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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:14 pm
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Hey Roadie, Thanks for pointing out the mistake on my website. To be honest, I was even confused on the mini-switch middle postition for a long time, even though I was wiring them up. So here is the answer: The Lace Dually is in SERIES in the middle position. Here is a diagram of what how it is wired:

Image

I would like to show you how to solder these up. I am going to use a 500k linear taper pot for the humbucker (first tone control). I like using the 250k audio taper pots for the volume control. This will also have the TBX tone control in the lower position. I mounted the volume and 1st tone control, plus the on/off mini-switch for splitting the humbucker and the on/on/on mini-switch for the Lace Dually. The alligator clamp holder really is handy for soldering. Her it a few soldering tips.

Image Image

Have a soldering iron that gets really hot really fast will make the job go a lot smoother. Mine has two settings, 100/140 watts. I use two sizes of rosin core solder that is designed for soldering wire: One is bigger at .062 with 40% tin / 60% lead. This is really good for soldering wires down on the back of a pot or filling the bigger holes when soldering the wires onto the pot connectors. Its higher lead content makes it melt faster and stick better in these applications.

The other solder has a smaller diameter at .050 with 60% tin / 40% lead. This works great for soldering the wires on the small areas, like the 5-way switch and the mini-switch lugs. Also NEVER cut a wire unless you are absolutely sure it should be cut! Save all cut off wire and use it for wiring the other parts of the assembly. Measure your wires so when you cut them they are the same length if going to the same place. This keeps the job clean. I also like to braid my wires to keep it looking tidy.

Image Image

The Ultra/ James Burton Strat-o-Tele wiring uses a 5-way, single wafer, 2-lug Super Switch. These were out of stock at all wholesale vendors here in the US for nearly a year up until a few weeks ago. The last batch I bought I got from the UK. This switch gives you the bridge & neck pickups in position #3—instead of the typical middle pickup on a standard Strat.

Now notice something. I solder a white wire from the left lug to the right lug and a wire from the left lug that is free about 3 inches long, that will be trimmer and then soldered on the right lug of the volume control. Fender connects the TBX tone control on the right lug, which is crazy as the TBX then affects all the pickups. I choose to connect the TBX to the bridge and middle pickups, which I will show you in a bit.

Image Image Image

Please note I have also attached the small nylon ties to hold the wires in place. While soldering I use a surgical hemostat to hold the unwanted wires out of the way. All the ground wires are trimmed to the exact same length and then trim back the coating about .5 inch so it will be easy to solder them all together for a ground.

Image

Next I will wire up the “coil tap” for the humbucker. This allows you to flip the switch up and it will cut off one side of the windings on the humbucker, giving you more of a single coil sound. It simply grounds one side of the pickup windings. It is nice for mixing with the middle pickup for those Strat tones. DiMarzio has the Red=Hot, Black and White=Tap, and Green ground. Seymour Duncan has a different color scheme.

Image Image

Next session we will work on the neck and get it mounted on the body and then come back and finish wiring the TBX and start getting the guitar together!

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Post subject: Re: The Building of a Custom Strat Plus
Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:20 pm
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Xhefri wrote:
WARNING; this thread has a lot of pictures!

HA! You are talking my language! :D

This picture in particular holds a lot of promise. There's more to you than meets the eye, Mr Xhefri... :wink: :
Image

But hold on just one minute. What happened to that nasty UPS ding?
Image

More info, please!

BTW: I so agree with you about the aesthetic appeal of those chrome Senors. And they sound pretty good too!

Great work, man. Keep it coming...

Cheers - C


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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:38 pm
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He had another Black Strat Plus body in that stack of bodies that he used instead.


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Post subject: Re: The Building of a Custom Strat Plus
Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:45 pm
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Ceri wrote:
Xhefri wrote:
WARNING; this thread has a lot of pictures!

HA! You are talking my language! :D But hold on just one minute. What happened to that nasty UPS ding? More info, please!Great work, man. Keep it coming...Cheers - C


Hey Mr Ceri, you home now? Did you read the 1st line of this thread? Where i state: "I have to admit, I was very inspired by the thread entitled: Touching up Nikininja's body by Ceri. After reading that day after day I thought maybe I would take you through the process of building a custom Strat Plus. I admit, I am nowhere near the craftsman Ceri is, but, I have done custom wiring for years and have, maybe, a little to contribute."

The 2nd body was from my stockpile of bodies that I buffed out and used to replace the damaged body! Look forward to you finishing up your project! I know my thread is long but it answers most questions as it goes along. Your thread is GREAT by the way!

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