SO I am away for a few day with the wife and kids tomorrow and while she and the girls are spending all day packing and sorting out their outfits I threw a couple of pairs of kecks, some socks and old t-shirts in a bag andwas sitting twiddling my thumbs. So I decided to be bad and start my Strat re-fit that I was leaving to do when I got back...oh well. So I decided to put some progress pics up if that's ok.
Here's how I got her(roughly - I refretted it a couple of years back and put on a Gotoh Bridge)
SHe's bruised, beaten up and foul mouthed but she's comfortable and....well....just like me!!!

the guy I bought it from had taken out the old tremolo bridge and fitted a hard-tail as well as drilling through body holes......??
I had the pickguard off and via Martian (cheers Martian) I found out it had the original neck, mid pups and an SD SSL-1 in the bridge but I fancy a change. SO I pulled it apart.


the redundant holes I am going to re-introduce and notice the one of a kind 'sleeping cat' neck........

The real neck......still the most comfortable I have ever played, dated Aug 12 1983 and printed with J Sama

Set of locking Fender tuners I got off e-bay for a tenner.....

interesting filling of the tremolo hole for the hard-tail

Got a nice w/b/w Squier pickguard and am fitting a 57/62 in the bridge, a fat 50s in the mid and a CS54 in the neck.......why? because I want to.......

Have now run out of time but will get it all back together when I get back next week......wish I hadn't started now though.....I want to finish it instead of going on some stupid family holiday......humph(checks over shoulder in case her who must be obeyed is reading!!!)

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

Enjoy your holiday and enjoy your project!

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Well, after too much eating, drinking, smoking and general partying for 4 days I am back and faced with my Strat in bits on the bench and am thinking,'probably better to wait till the hangover wears off before going near it with a soldering iron,' and after having just read the Legend of Nevin thread and seeing his geetar am thinking I may have to offer a tribute and change the pup covers and nobs....... or will infringeing the copyright of Nevin cause me to spontaneously evacuate every orifice in my body simultaneously????????

Oh dear I am very tired and maybe still a bit drunk!!!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

Finally I am sober enough to et going again.............monster few days celebrating new job, family birthdays and the footie.............
Right where's the soldering iron and let's get this thing finished!!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

Hi pappawookee: I love guitars that have a real story to tell with mods, damage and wear - as opposed to the stuff that people do to them artificially.

Though I'm still trying to work out whether this photo makes me want to grin or cry:



That sure as heck is not craftsman level carpentry on display. And the low grade pine from B&Q...? The drilling of those string holes at the back makes me wince a bit too. And before anyone challenges that, the trem unit that has been removed must be an '80s Freeflyte system, so no cavities at the back of the guitar. Man, people really hated those Freeflytes, didn't they?

And yet and yet. It's all character, isn't it? I think it's a neat looking guitar and one that you will definitely always be able to pick out of a police lineup. Which is handy.

Altogether, pretty cool. I'll be watching the thread with interest. Good luck!

Cheers - C

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You know I've never managed to get a shot of the Freeflyte system.......

I have had half a doxen of these on my workbench and each one was converted to a hardtail, most done better than the job that was done on mine I have to say!!!

I wonder if the Freeflyte was really that bad or did people just remove them because the guitar was seen as a 'cheap' rip-off at the time.......

Cheers though Ceri, I love the thing. There's a lot of guitar 'snobbery' up here and I love plugging this thing in at rehearsals or gigs and seeing the contempt on the faces of some of the guys sitting around cos they think if you don't spend £1000s on gear then you can't play!!!!

I am proud of the fact I have never spent more than £500 on a guitar and would probably be a bit scared to own one at high end prices cos I play hard.

My mate has the 25th Anniversary PRS and i won't play it standing up cos he is just obvously terrified when anyone even moves when they are playing it.(lovely bit of kit mind you....)

But, I probably won't post a picture of my soldering......still reasonably new at that so although it works, it don't look pretty and I don't want to cause cardiac arrests for the real electrical guys on here........

BAck to work.....

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

mmmmmm...............well that's it all back together and I think I may have wired something wrong........
SOunds really good in positions 1,3 and 5 but 2 and four are quiet and quacky..........
Does that mean I have put the middle picup in wrong?????

I would have thought that that would make 2,3 and 4 all sound wrong........

Bugger, strings off again.........

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

If you mean weak and nasal by "quiet and quacky", your middle pickup is out of phase with the other two. Reverse it's lead wires.

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Doh!!!!!!

opened it up and I had wired them the wrong way round..........they weren't wired wrongly, I openely admit that I looked at the schematic and saw exactly where the black and yellow wires go and somehow managed to suffer from temporary colour blindness and wired them the complete opposite of the diagram........

ANyways here it is............


I decided not to copy Nevin's.....scared of the ramifications!

Pickguard doesn't quite fit round the neck but, hey, it adds more to the beat up look of the thing........who needs a relic or roadworn????

But this shows everyone that anyone can do it!!

I have swapped pickups out in a couple of my cheap and nasty guitars to practice before I did my 'good' one but if a numpty like me can swap out pups with little or no soldering experience then anyone can.

Well CHuffed!!!!!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

"All's well that ends well!"

Looks like a fine machine, enjoy!!

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