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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:15 pm
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Final stripping coat was removed this morning ( 8 hours ago ) scrapped, then wiped off with a rag, then wiped off with a damp/wet sponge.
immediately following the wet sponge removal of the stripper remnants , I wiped the entire neck with two dry rags to completely remove the excess moisture.

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Now the neck will be left to dry over the next two to four days, then a light sanding to remove any small trace of stain/finish.
Following this will be the 1st coat of stain.....

On this I got two color options.....Sedona Red and Special Walnut....I will test them out on a scrap piece of Maple or Pine before attempting to stain the neck...
Both stains are by Minwax, but once again the clear finish will be Minwax Polycrylic.
Even though the stains are oil based and the clear finish is water based, it is quite compatible although curing time will be several days if not weeks...
I intend to prolong the curing time on this project as I was not satisfied with the results of Stratopartster I and II...

edit...Following day, the neck has dried quicker than I thought but I will leave it until at least tonight if not tomorrow before beginning to sand and apply a stain

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This being completed I will once again return my attention back to Stratopartster II's rewiring/ resoldering

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:26 pm
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Stratopartster II.....

Rewiring/Resoldering phase....Yesterday I finally found an electronics store which carried small spools of colored 22 gauge insulated wire...Bought two....Yellow and White.
It is much better for my own sanity when tracing back wiring that they are all in a corresponding color, not a red wire spliced to black or a yellow wire spliced to red and so forth....

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:08 am
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I'm exactly the same 53. Drives me nuts when all the wiring is spliced to different colours.
A few years ago, I installed a Light/ceiling fan in our bungalow living room.
I knew the day before that I would need to elongate the wires coming through the ceiling, so did that (red to red, black to black), by way of a block connector tied into the lighting ring main and two wires dropped down ready to connect

The following day, I connected everything up and blew a fuse when I turned the fan on
After scratching my head and sitting down with a hastily made wiring diagram, I tried again, still the fuse blew, so I really studied the diagram then it hit me, When the house had been originally wired, the cable in the wall coming down to the light switch should've been red down to switch (live) and then red back up to ceiling light
I went back up in the loft and spotted they'd used a single piece of 2 core red and black complete with grey covering , so the switch was red coming down (live) then BLACK (live) going back up, so after moving a black wire to the red side of the block connector (and that just felt so wrong while I was doing it), everyting worked fine

Nothing to do with guitars, but it just shows you what can go wrong if wires are spliced wrongly

Ted

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:02 am
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You are lucky....Thank your lucky stars for trip fuses at the main panel.
I did a complete inspection after we bought our house concerning the wiring, just for my own POM...

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:21 am
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Stratopartster II....

Both Pups the Neck and Mid needed their wiring spliced/lenghtened and insulated...

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Then soldered, on this I picked up specific solder for 22 gauge wiring @ Radio Shack
.032 diameter 60/40 rosin core solder.

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After soldering, was the insulating of the bare wire/solder section...Again @ Radio Shack I purchased last time ( initial 1st wiring ) shrink tube in various sizes and colors.
The tubing needs only to be large enough in diameter to slip on the spliced wires and cover the uninsulated section.....

Caveat....Do slip on the shrink tubing before hooking up the other end of each wire..You cannot slice shrink tubing and install it, it will not be neat and will be more problems then necessary...( Trust me...Iv'e tried it just to see... :lol: :roll:

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So here are all the wires..spliced/lenghtened...insulated....I will advise to cut your wires longer than you think you will need since they will be tucked thru the routs of the body out of the way so as not to pinch when replacing the pick guard ( we'll get to this later...)
Also as far as heat source for shrink wrap, I used my small bottle/torch that I use to repair install copper water pipes in the house....Mainly because since it is really close quarters around the pickups, I could dial in the flame length as well as step it back from the wiring so I could shrink the wrap without melting or damaging anything in the vicinity....
I would urge anyone to practice on scrap wiring and tubing before attempting to splice and shrink the pups. They are fragile and once you overheat them they are done...

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Next is hooking up everyone up......
5 way switch
Two TBX Tone Pots with .220 cap ( instead of .082 )
One Push/pull Volume pot ( for single to dual coil mode in the bridge HB

I have a bit of reading to do as I want to make sure I understand AndyBigHair's schematic for this as well as my own dialed in preferences....

Will update later........

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:56 am
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Update Stratopartster II and III

Wood Insert install time for both of the Strats pictured...

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As mentioned before, I have been planning this mod for quite some time, going from the belief that the bolt on ( screw on ) neck to body system has a weak point. This is concerning the fastening method, especially today when so many Strats and Tele's are often taken apart for whatever reasons.

( I have found vindication in the book by Will Kelly " How to Build Electric Guitars " )

Any how I will cut to the chase and explain a rather simple but careful attention to details process.

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Candy Apple Stratopartster III and neck, there are some issues here with the finish inside the neck pocket. That will have to be removed and the pocket scraped completely flat.

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White Stratopartster II and neck, on this one the pocket is clean and set to go.

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In the second pic, there are Two blocks of wood, these are to be critical in the drilling out process.

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As the above pic illustrates, the curvature of the fretboard while from a playing standpoint is ideal.... 8)
From a standpoint of wood inserts install and the required precise drilling, it becomes impossible to have the neck stay on a flat plane.
An option would/could have been to make a concave cradle that the neck sits on....
A lot of work for a simple problem.
My solution was this.....cradle/clamp the sides of the neck with two blocks of wood, thereby creating a flat plane from one block to the center ( high point ) of the neck (fret ) to the other block face...Flip upside down and the neck sits flat on the drill press shelf.... :wink: :lol:

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Next was figuring out how far to drill into the neck and what size drill bit....
bit is a 15/64 and the holes were drilled down far enough to allow the 1/2 " long wood inserts to be recessed in the neck....So about 5/8th" deep and a bit more (16th" or so ).

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:58 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:30 am
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Lots of work there but looking great!

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:03 am
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tyronne wrote:
Lots of work there but looking great!


Yes...Somewhat but in the quest of having a great guitar, I'm constantly reassessing the works and when I can improve on these two Strats, they really are the perfect test patterns..
As you can probably suspect, I'm not done yet.....Eventually I will have to put my money on the keyboard and provide a sound clip of the Stratopartsters....

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:23 am
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Next to drill the necks, as can be seen the holes in both necks are drilled out but also the edge of the holes are chamfered/beveled, that is to keep the maple from splintering up at the hole entrance as the inserts are being driven into the wood...

Image

The following pic is the tool needed, you can buy a special tool for inserts but I made this one from a 2-1/2 10/24 bolt, fitted with an aluminum sleeve and a long 10/24 nut...
The wood insert threads onto the bolt shaft, flush to the bottom of the nut..

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I must stress that even though the wood insert tool is fitted into the drill press...
This is a manual install of the wood insert...Meaning that you use the handle of the press to press down into the neck while at the same time rotating the drill press mouth by hand a quart to half a turn at a time....press down enough to drive the insert down but not so much that you are actually pressing it down into the wood, you can feel the pressure releasing as you twist the insert into the neck, thus keep applying constant pressure...

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Unfortunately the above neck is a much softer maple than the other, which should have required a faster rotation speed when chamfering the hole for the inserts...

I will update later as some of us have to go to work..... :lol:

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:42 am
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Have you done a "test drive" of the install on a scrap piece of maple or similar wood, to get a "feel" for the process?

Pretty tricky install.

With fingers crossed!

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"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield


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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:43 am
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No...there was no need after all once I had the driving tool issue solved.

It's really a simple process of aligning hole centers, depths and diameters and then drilling accordingly...
The above neck is the test bed, so I'm not too concerned with the small tear-out since this neck is going to undergo quite a bit of modding before it is ready to be reinstalled.

But I have to update on the second phase of the wood inserts which now focuses on the body itself and where the holes are located..
The Stratopartster II's white body is right where it should be, but the Stratopartster III's holes were drilled offset which may or may not pause a problem...Will update.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 3:58 pm
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The Strat II's holes in the body had to be enlarged as there needs to be a little bit of play for the screws to sit themselves into the inserts.....
The inserts are Brass and the screws Stainless Steel, which makes it very easy to strip the brass threads if force is used....So trial run was the way with adjustments as needed.
It did take two separate sized drill bits to get the correct diameter.

Image

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Last edited by 53magnatone on Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 4:03 pm
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Stratopartster III was also part of the fun today....

Stained the neck with Sedona Red, it will mimic a Uv'd tainted neck once it is clear coated with Polycrylic.. The other stain option of Special Walnut was just too dark as I want the grain to reveal itself...

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It will take about a week to be ready to 1st coat with Polycrylic, but I have to get some custom decals made and that may take some time as I'm not planning on doing this one freehand...At least not until I find out the cost of what I want as a Logo....
( And No It will not be a Fender Copy Decal before anyone suggests it...)

The reasoning for a week before sealing is that the neck has absorbed moisture from the current summer humidity and it no longer fits in the neck pocket, it was very tight before even too tight, so we'll see...
The neck pocket itself needs to be cleaned up from overspray and globs of urethane...

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:34 pm
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Bump back to the present....
The clear Polycrylic finish has finally cured enough on both the Stratopartster II and III so I had to reshoot both as I was unsatisfied with both the looks and feel of the first time refinish :roll:

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Those are Carvin Tuners... :oops: Had them for so long that they needed a worthy home...

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Same for the Stratopartster III as well..

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I just realized while uploading I omitted to shoot a top view of the peg head... :shock:
The tuners are Grover Mini's, really nice and smooth

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A bit of a difference on the two necks Fingerboards. The Stratopartster II is an Ebony though it could even be Rosewood, but it is too dark and too dense for rosewood, however this neck dates back to late 80's so the availability of fingerboards were much higher in quality for copy cat Strats....Really just semantics but worth a mention...

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The Stratopartster III Necks fingerboard is not only softer but a more varied and lighter color

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Both of these necks are ready to be reinstalled into their respective bodies....
That means I'll have 2 HSS Stratopartsters ready for notation...

The Stratopartster III needs a bit of work in the neck pocket, the fit has to be dialed in as well as the holes for the new inserts are now to be enlarged for the fine thread screws and the Neck plate has to be re-countersunk for the larger screw heads, as well as I may upgrade the Tone and Volume Pot and the 5 way switch since I have relocated my Carvin pickup schematics

The Stratopartster II has some electronics to be connected, grounds and hot to jack and 5 way, The pickguard has to be routed out, ( the current one is a bit sloppy and just won't do..:x )
pickguard screws to be recessed, in all a couple of hours worth of tidying up for both guitars, then the Stratopartster I will undergo a complete refinish...alas...

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Post subject: Re: Stratopartster Rebuilds I and II and III
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:37 am
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Nice choice with the Sedona Red.

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