Hwy 1 Strat body and bridge
'04 50th Anniversary Am. Series Strat pickups and electronics (Custom Shop '54s).
The pick guard from a Clapton Strat
Neck from a Clapton Strat

Does anyone see unfor seen issues doing this? I'd like to put the Hwy 1 neck on the Clapton body. I know that the Clapton Strat has a micro-tilt device. I figure that I'll just remove it.

One problem would be the pickguard holes on the Highway 1 body won't line up with the holes from the Clapton guard...8 holes vs 11. If you don't have an issue with drilling some new holes into the body, then don't see much else that could go wrong...but never cross Murphy...he has some laws that are a real pain!

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Why carve up some fine guitars to mix and match with some budget parts? I really can't see the sense. Unless you just happen to have those parts laying around of course..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

I had a wildly successful merge of a Fender 60 Reverse Special (MIM) with a 2011 Fender American Special lefty neck!!
This thing plays better than before!!
I didn't like it's previous 7.5" radius neck with Maple board.
Now it sports a 9.5" radius, LARGE frets, and a Rosewood board!!
MUCH happier now!!

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

I do in fact already own all of these guitars. I really like all of them, but I like the sound of the '54s, the neck of the Clapton and I love the boddy of my black Hwy 1. I've put a lot of thouight into this.

Thanks for the heads up. I knew about the difference in the number of wholes, but I hadn't thought that they might not line up.

Thanks again.

I started working on the Strat. It turns out that all the necks are interchangeable. I had always known this, but never really believed it. The micro-tilt part is actually in the body. Also all of the necks have a metal small disk built into them so when you make adjustments to the micro-tilt you're not cutting into the wood. So far it all looks great.

As for the pick guard: All the screw wholes match up. I'm just short one screw on the bottom of the guitar. It's a Hwy 1 body so I'm not very worried about drilling 1 whole. That's not something I would think about doing on my own with the other guitars I own.

I also had to shield the Clapton single ply pick guard.

I hadn’t thought about it much until I put all the parts together, but I’m basically building a ’57 style Strat.

I'm very excited. The best part is that I'm putting Hwy 1 neck on the Clapton Strat so I can still us it.

Paris

Heck, if EC could do it, why not you?
wasn't Brownie a partscaster?

I'm not sure. I don't think so. I think only Blackie was. You can never tell with Clapton. Don't forget that he made that Tele/Strat guitar while he was with Blind Faith. He says he did it to have something different than everyone else.

So my best friend and I finished the guitar last night. It looks, feels and sounds amazing. I'm still going to have to make some minor neck and pickup adjustments, but I'm quite pleased with the outcome.

As for the Clapton Strat: I put the Hwy1 neck on it and it worked out great. I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of the 50th Anniversary Strat. I may put the Hwy1 pickups in it.

My friend and I both own Hwy1s. We agree that the pickups that come with the guitar are great for rock, but they're just a little too hot for us. He swapped his out over a year ago.

Nope Brownie was a 56, Blackie on the other hand was made from three different strats, so it is a partscaster. Probably the most famous on the planet...except for maybe a couple built by our own Retrovervial

Paris, glad all but one lined up...and I with you, since it is a Hwy 1, no worry about drilling ONE hole!

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Well, after putting your 3 Strats in a blender, I'm happy you're pleased with the way it worked out. But probably not a good idea to think too long about what you've done to their various re-sale values..

Agree on the Highway pickups. Don't inflict the Anniversary model with them. find something more authentic and less spiky at your leisure, and as the funds allow. I must say though that my Highway p/ups went in an old and very dark sounding Squier Strat. The extra power brightened it up considerably and made it quite useable.

What say you polish up that satin finish on the Highway body now? I find that it toughens up the fragile nitro and looks pretty good too.

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Thanks for your input. The nice thing about Fender guitars that you can put them back together the way you got them. Not too worried about resale value.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the 50th Anniv. Strat. I might get some Tex-Mex pickups some day for it. It’s a beautiful 2-color-sunburst body and has a great neck. I’d hate to think that it’s just sitting in a case doing nothing.

As for shining the Hwy 1, well that was done within months of owning it. Since my Hwy 1 was black with a maple neck and '70s style head stock I bought a black pick guard, black knobs and black pickup covers. After some rubbing compound, an old cotton t-shirt and some elbow grease the guitar looked just like '77 Strat I used to own. I feel like that hand shined black looks “warmer” and more vintage than other black bodies.
The guitar looks, feels and sounds like an old ‘50s style Strat. It’s actually a little eerie.

When I get the chance I’ll post some photos on facebook. You can see what they all looked like before on my facebook page: Paris Thalheimer

I had posted this topic a bit a ago. I'm finally getting around to putting the on the website.

Pickups and electronics from the 50th Anniversary Strat.
Neck and Pick guard from the Clapton Strat.
Body and Bridge from the Hwy1.

All of these:

[img]http://s1068.photobucket.com/albums/u457/parist1/?action=view&current=Guitars32.jpg#!oZZ6QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1068.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu457%2Fparist1%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DGuitars318.jpg
[/img]
[img]http://s1068.photobucket.com/albums/u457/parist1/?action=view&current=Guitars371.jpg
[/img]
Became this:


The funny thing is I really miss using all of these guitars. So I'm going to put it all back the way it was.

If you perform some nice relic job in the body and the neck, you can turn your guitar into a real "Blackie" without the overwhelming price tag. EC would be very proud, IMO.



With the CS '54s you can nail those classic Clapton Stratocaster tones from the 1970-1985 period - unless you finally decide to change your mind and put a set of Lace Hot-Golds or Super 55 Split-Coils with TBX and MDX tone shaping circuits!