Oh yeah now we're talkin',that's classic!
Looks like it belongs in that china cabinet.

I was finally able to make a tortoise pickguard work on my Mary Kaye hardtail......



I'm thinking that my next build might be a maple-necked '59 clone, in Oly White with the gold anodized guard and a set of Fralins......



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Very Nice... those are some fine looking instruments!

I'm going to call my luthier here in a few and see about dropping off my guitar today.

Make sure he installs the string tree correctly.

On all of the MIM re-issues and most of the MIA models, it's mis-located too far up the headstock. It should be nearly dead even with the "A" string tuner post.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Yeah,I like the t-shell guard on the Mary Kaye.

Good to know, my plan was to have him just install the nut and I'm going to wrap up the rest of it myself... including the string tree. I haven't had a chance to sort out the wiring yet... at the very least I think I should ground the tone pots to the vol... and will probably get the tone knobs functioning properly too. Not sure I want to leave it as is. I had thought that the alum. pickguard shield would be enough to ground it but I think I'll be better of grounding the pots too... can't hurt.

The '59 project you mentioned sounds cool... that's the same color as Gilmour's #1 isn't it (or is that white/blonde? Anyhow...that'll look sweet with a gold guard! Look foward to seeing it if & when it comes together.

Well, I dropped the guitar off today to have the nut installed and decided to have him do the final set up as well... In the past he's set up a few of my other guitars and they have always come back playing like butter. By the way "he" is Steve Spalding... one of the best in the rogue Valley. It might have been gratifying to have done the final set up myself but I'm itching to play this thing and with him getting the last of it sorted out, I'll be playing it much sooner! Should be ready early next week...

+1

It's a beauty.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Well...the wait is over! Picked it up from the shop today... I have the flu so wasn't feeling so hot but man oh man, what a guitar! (It's ahrd to let rip in front of the Twin with a pounding headache. Anyhow, it feels feathery light (I'll have to weigh it) The neck is BIG, bigger than I was thinking it would feel but I love it...the pickups are amazing too (Klein 65's) They might be my favorite strat pickups I've ever tried... hard to describe but swampy, thumpy, spanky, twang with some quack... definitely in your face but vintage sounding for sure. Well balanced (to my ear) Easy to nail a SRV tone, handle OD and effects well. I'll try and get a video up soon as describing pickups is no easy task and pretty subjective. I'll get a few new picks up too.

Thanks for the help along the way... I learned a bunch from you all! Cheers...

As promised a few pictures of the finished guitar... it's cool how it really changes color depending on the light... sometimes it looks much lighter, today it seems a bit darker, almost a smokey green. Still loving the pickups... they sound amazing to me. I didn't end up placing the string tree in the "vintage correct" location just 'cause I didn't want to cover up the decal. I ended up doing a vintage wiring scheme (no tone control on the bridge pup) and next time I change strings may change that. I think it could yield more useable tones that way. So I weighed it (and it with me) on the bathroom scale and supposedly it weighs in at 5.6 pounds but that seems unreasonably light... of course the scale doesn't seem to lie when it's just me on there .I don't know what the avg weight of a hardtail start would be...lighter than one with a trem I'd imagine. It does feel VERY light but that just doesn't seem to be right.

As I mentioned, I'm going to try and get a video made soon. I'm trading in my little practice/jam amp in on a Mustang III today so may kill two birds (with one video) and combine the two. Or perhaps one vid of the guitar through my TRRI, and one on the twin setting of the mustang as a comparison. Anyhow, enjoy the pics and I'll try and get crackin' on a video this weekend. Cheers

Did you go with Klein pickups?

Yup, the '65's... I couldn't be happier. I've got a video uploading to YouTube right now...should have the link posted soon. Kind of a double feature... new guitar/new amp. (The amp by the way is KILLER...I'm having a blast with it!)

A little sumpin' for eyes & ears...enjoy!
[urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5sJGOGOL_w[/url]

oops... let's try that again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5sJGOGOL_w

Congrats on getting it finished !

Looks an sounds great, Nice playing an all !!

All the best, Dan.

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Dan...

Fender 1987 MIJ Stratocaster, Texas Special Loaded.
Fender 2007 MIA Jazz Deluxe.