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Post subject: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:28 pm
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A while back I posted that as time would allow, I would post a thread on the Stratopartster rebuild I have been working on since last October.
In retrospect, it was/is almost from the beginning, a two guitar rebuild, as I had a body with a few parts, but a neck I did not want to use in this 1st rebuild since it would be a SSS and a 22 fret neck did not fit in with the theme. So without further clarification, this is a recounted story up until today (March 1st 2011).

This was the body bought as is for $125, included were the bridge, two pups, jack, pickguard, as it is in this fuzzy photo. ( I had not decided to document this project at this time )

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Initially, the idea was to use this J.B. Player as a donor and the neck as the new Strat rebuild.
Once apart, the body of the J.B.Player was to undergo a routing and re-attachment of
missing body mass.

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This is the back side , not so evident until I got it home and inspected the body, was that the previous owner had stripped the top, sanded it rather recklessly and then stained it , shot a coat of clear and reassembled the guitar. In adition the body had quite a few deep dents in it which would necessitate a different approach.

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J.B. Neck was to be used but.....

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After much debating of colors and pickguard material and all the other options which seem to make a simple rebuild a complexing problem, an easy solution found it's way.
At the end of Christmas week, I went to G.C. and looking over the the Squier Bullets, realised that here was the answer to my rebuild, not only for one but I would also be able to rebuild the HSS Stratopartster at the same time. A $120.00 spent and the project was underway.

Enough for now, I will continue tomorrow as I have to backtrack and find some pics to upload for the next segment..

Ciao All....

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Wed May 16, 2012 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:30 pm
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At this point, a decision is made as to what goes where, this of course is the easy part. already, I had sanded the body a bit to get an idea as to how deep the stain had penetrated.
Being an Oil based stain, my suspicion being that it was either a Cabot or Minwax product.

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Body is sanded and in some places such as the top waist, needed to be recontoured, some dents were just too deep to be brought back in any other fashion.
Much to be sanded from 80 to 60 grit down to 220 to 400 prior to applying undercoat.
In addition, all the screw holes have been filled except of course for the trem mounting ones.

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At this point this was going into the second week and I was ready to start applying some color. First the undercoat.

This was a glimpse into a possible final outcome, the black jack did not make the final selection.

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Front and back first couple of coats
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Followed by the first couple of coats of black

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We'll skip to the chase at this point as there is no need to post each and every coat application.
Suffice to say that final tally was 5 coats of black and 5 to 6 coats of clear.

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And now a preview of tomorrow's next episode. :)
This neck is about to undergo a major transformation.. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:36 am
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On to the neck, donated from the Squier Bullet, this neck will need a lot of work, stripped, sanded, re-drilled for new tuners, the neck screw holes match exactly so one small detail out of the way. refinished and finally a new logo ( freehand )

Correction, the neck mounting screw holes do not match. in this pic, the neck has been stripped and sanded and is now prepped for redrilling

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On the Bench Drill Press, clamped and ready to redrill for the tuners. Drill bit diameter size matches the diameter of the tuner shaft

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Holes are drilled to size, but not ready as the holes now need to be slightly enlarged with a reamer

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Test fit completed, the reason for reaming the tuner holes by hand is for a snug fit around the outer shaft of each tuner. Each tuner must be secured and tight against the tuner holes, otherwise string vibration will not be transmitted to the head and neck and sustain will be reduced.

Neck mounting holes are redrilled and the neck is now ready for the next phase. Fret flattening and dressing. As of today's edit ( 3/19/11 ), I skipped an important explanation.
Once the neck screw holes are drilled out, a very important step is to insert the screws into their neck holes ( without the body ) as if you were attaching the neck and body.
Doing it this way prior to attaching the neck and body ensures that (1) the screws themselves tap out the neck holes, (2) the screws are going in as they should, something that you cannot see when the neck is attached to the body and then fastened down.
This phase is critical for accuracy as a mistake will cause the neck to sit uncomfortably in the body's neck joint and that will require a lot of backtracking.
A tight fit of neck an body ensures that the strat will resonate, ( this was one of the problems of so many of the CBS era strats.)

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This phase, fret flattening and dressing is where caution is needed. There is no way to fix a fret that has been flattened too far other than removal and replacement.
ON this neck, the frets were high and rounded and needed a good tune up. I match my other guitars in this respect, as i prefer a flat topped fret which facilitates a very low action.
Not shown is the sanding block used with 220, than 400 than 600 sandpaper. Finally polished off with steel wool.( there will be additional fine sanding and steel wooling :lol: once the neck is finished )
Not only were the frets in need of flattening but their edge radius was proud ( stuck out ) and needed to be shaped to the desired neck contour.
Speaking of that, the edges of the fret board were also quite square, thus needing rounding off for a more comfortable feel, but this was expected as a Squier Bullet is not at the same level of final prep as a Custom Shop. However I have been pleasantly impressed with quality of the materials and construction of the neck.

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Next we come back to refinishing the neck. I had a bit of a puzzle as I really wanted a somewhat aged/vintage color tone so that it would look a bit more like an older strat rather than a brand new reworked Newbie. ( Never mind what I may have previously posted about relicking :wink: I am completely entitled to be contradictory at my age And I consider this an exception to the decree :lol: )

Color choice was made rather easily as being a woodworker ( Residential Custom Remodeler ) my first instant choice was to see what the Minwax product line offered for my projects I and II. Polycrylic offered the easiest medium being waterbased, compatible with oil stains and extremely easy to clean up and dispose of waste residue.
After a bit of experimenting with stain color, I settled on Colonial Maple ( from Minwax ) overshot with polycrylic gloss and satin.

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At this point, both the neck and body are drying for a few days and it is time to address the electronics part of this project.

Next post will cover this phase....

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:51 am
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Nice job 53mag!! Thanks for posting. Looks like you are having a great time with these builds!! 8) :wink:

Great photography and as you may know I love black guitars!! :)


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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:12 am
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fhopkins wrote:
Nice job 53mag!! Thanks for posting. Looks like you are having a great time with these builds!! 8) :wink:

Great photography and as you may know I love black guitars!! :)


Thank you I'm actually enjoying backtracking thru the photo's and posting them at the end of this project. I must add that I replaced the nut with a bone nut as I was not happy with the original stock nut. It is installed but not shaped to final as this will come up later on this thread.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:14 am
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53magnatone wrote:
fhopkins wrote:
Nice job 53mag!! Thanks for posting. Looks like you are having a great time with these builds!! 8) :wink:

Great photography and as you may know I love black guitars!! :)


Thank you I'm actually enjoying backtracking thru the photo's and posting them at the end of this project. I must add that I replaced the nut with a bone nut as I was not happy with the original stock nut. It is installed but not shaped to final as this will come up later on this thread.



10-4!!! :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:56 am
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Really good thread so far mate. It's good to see a guy rolling up the sleeves and getting stuck into some budget builds for the love of it.
My Mexican build only involved preparation of the body, with new parts, but I'm thinking the next project will involve a Chinese Squier. I will watch these builds with interest. 8)
Image .....Mark.


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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:46 am
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Nice build thread! You know we all love these threads!!! Looking forward to the work in progress and love all the pictures!

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:52 am
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When you are finished with this build we'll have to get The_Nutter add it to his "Build Thread" of all the great builds here on our forum!! :)

Link,
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43152&hilit=build+thread


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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:07 am
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fhopkins wrote:
When you are finished with this build we'll have to get The_Nutter add it to his "Build Thread" of all the great builds here on our forum!! :)

Link,
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43152&hilit=build+thread


I'm not worthy...I'm not worthy.... :lol: Immortality finally :wink: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:22 am
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Boxbang wrote:
Really good thread so far mate. It's good to see a guy rolling up the sleeves and getting stuck into some budget builds for the love of it.
My Mexican build only involved preparation of the body, with new parts, but I'm thinking the next project will involve a Chinese Squier. I will watch these builds with interest. 8)
Image .....Mark.


You are actually quite correct as this was the main driving theme. As I searched around music stores as well as the internet for aftermarket bodies ( stayed away from the morgues :wink: ) I was becoming disillusioned with the pricing of detached ( dismembered ) necks and bodies, E-Bay just turned me right off as some of those ask prices are reminding me of the housing market " Just Flip It ". I truly believe(d) that you can build or rebuild a truly pro level axe on a reasonable budget.
Which is not say that my next Strat project will be a budget rebuild ( Iv'e already speced out the various parts and am anxious on starting that project, but it will not be for a couple of months if not before next winter.
In the meantime I have to admit that there are two more rebuilds in the works, one can be seen in one of the photo's, it's a Precision Bass which will become a P/J Bass, the other is this small 3/4 size guitar ( Nikininja commented on it a while back ) which Iv'e had for so long that I forget where it came from, but again suffice to say it has seen the scalpel more often then any other guit. It is my go to and let's try this :idea: :?:

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:45 am
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So On to the heart of the matter so to speak.....Could someone please put the candle back :lol:

At this point this pic features a bunch of possibillities. Initially the black Stratopartster was going to receive a brand new set of Texas Specials but again, this is a budget build and the theme was to use what was on hand as much as possible.
So decision was made that it would stay as a SSS set up, as some may know, my 2001 MIM Deluxe Players Strat was revamped with Samarium Cobalt Noiseless and that Push/push switch was deleted.
This gave me a perfectly good set of single coils, the only question was to how to improve their output for a more adjustable sound spectrum

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A slight customizing was to buy a set of black pup covers and black knobs ( under $10 ) The tortoise pickguard came with the body as the 1st photo shows.

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Now this layout is a bit different, I'm sure Ceri and Xhefri will immediately spot the TBX's.
Yes... I decided to replace both Tone's :idea: with a TBX and to have all pickups wired for tone control, I really like the option of adjusting the bridge pups tone parameters, I'm not sure as to why the traditional reason on Strats is to have this omitted :?:
I must add that at some point it is quite probable that I will switch that standard 5 way switch to a Superswitch which will allow me to have the NB selection.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:58 am
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Sweet thread! 8)

Always impressed by those who can do a decent spray finish. Great pic's too!

Andy

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:53 pm
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Onward to Logo'ism or the debate of wether to apply or not apply an aftermarket, not approved Pirate Fender logo.
The choice is rather simple, do it and you risk having legal issues, do it on this forum and it becomes a rub my face in it to Fender. As i consider myself a guest in this house, I chose a method of " Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery ".
On this #I build I free handed my own with a twist.


I cut out a few examples for layout purposes, the cutouts came from some of the hang-tags and paper brochures one gets with a new fender.
My aim here was to come up with the correct size.

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Initially this was going to be applied with " Letraset", which was a rub on lettering system mostly used in advertising and graphics. I have quite a few sheets left over from years ago ( which of course I have not been able to find ) when I did some graphics for a friends company and the cycling stage race I used to promote and run.

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As a contrast to the real McCoy, I am actually pleased with the result as it is a bit comical.

Image

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:51 pm
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At this point, I'm going to plunge ahead as there are some changes in the wiring, but I'm leaving " Well Enough Alone " for the time being.

It is really time to reassemble the guitar with a few deviations, none however that require special redrilling or parts spelunking.

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First the ubiquitous Straplock system, doesn't matter which, Dunlop or Schaller, but after having broken one guitar years ago, I won't even consider plain strap pegs.

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Yes...I'm having Mason Ruffner standing by for advice if need be... :wink:

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A Fender neck plate does the trick here. I must mention that even though this is attaching a Squier neck, I decided that the neck screws that came off the Squier neck were a bit on the small size and opted to upgrade to thenext size ( radius ) and a full lenght thread pattern.
Of course the lenght was the same but this upgrade provides a sturdier mount, less likely to shift over time.


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The back plate also came with the body, in this as in the pick guard, I changed from round head stainless screws to flathead brass screws, which gives a nice contrast to the black and
tortoise look.

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There is a bit of concern over the whammy bar hole as I'm not sure wether the previous owner tried to drive a train thru it, butas it was once strung up, it had no effect other than cosmetic. Eventually, this trem will be upgraded to another set up.

these are an older version of the locking tuners by Grover, they came with two sets of grommets of differing sizes, I actually had to call Grover and ask for some advice from customer service. Very Qick, I had an E-mail with install specs within the hour 8)

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This does it for this session... I'm off to work 8)

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