I have been kicking around the idea of a building a Stratocaster. I am going to have Warmoth build a body. I would love to find a Fender V neck, or might have one built as well, depends on what I can find. I am thinking something like this.



or like this:



So I want to solicit some expert Forum advise. This will be my first build and any input is appreciated.

I would love a V neck, undecided Maple vs. Rosewood. I already have 2 rosewood necked guitars so I am seriously leaning towards Maple.

Thinking of going with brushed nickel metal pieces ( already have locking tuners), 2 point tremolo brushed nickle, and LSR roller nut.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Buy most of your parts used. Much cheaper, and broken in. Also, there's no shame in MIM, MIJ, or any other country parts. I used a combination of MIA, MIM, MIJ, MIK, and generic parts from all around the world for my Tele. It's just whatever suits your needs.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

I plan on using as much used parts as I can; however, the body will have to come from an after-market company. I priced a paint job in a dragon burst. It will be cheaper to go new. If I was going for a solid color, I would go used for the body and paint it myself.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I'd also change the pickguard from your original design. Just something to make it less boring.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Hey rk,

Those are some great designs!

Can't offer much advise as I've never built a guitar but from what you've said it'd make sense to go for a maple board.... having said that, the rosewood board with the block inlays looks superb with that Godzilla paint job!

Have you played a maple boarded Strat lately? A satin finish may help keep things feeling more familiar if you're used to rosewood boards.

Good luck, man!

I've built a few over the last couple years. My suggestion is to focus on getting a neck made. You can get it how you want it. In addition, dollars for dollars, you're likely to end up with far more neck (quarter-sawn, flamed maple, richer fretboard material) than if you focus on getting a Fender neck, regardless if its new or used. While prices on places like eBay have fallen more inline with prices that actually reflect the price of the guitar it came from originally (I've seen plenty of MIM necks going for maybe $100-150 less than you could have bought the whole thing new for), they're still much more expensive than a Warmoth.

Also, don't fall into the trap I've seen others do; you spend $$ on a good body, hardware, electronics, then by the time you get to the neck you don't have as much money as you'd like, so you go for a cheaper and lower quality neck so you can finish building. You'll just end up being disappointed later down the road and either not play it, or end up chucking the neck & end up buying what you wanted originally. So you end up buying 2 necks.. the neck,ideally should be bought fist. Then you can mount it to one of your existing bodies and be able to get a handle on whether or not you want to shave some wood off the profile before you get it shot w/finish. Since the neck influences how playable you percieve the guitar should be, its important to get it right. Also if you can get it finished by someone around where you live, or you can ship too, do it. While I like the necks warmoth build, I think they put too much finish on it. Plus I like nitrocellulous finish over poly or urethane. And know up front that unless you buy something already built in their showcase, you're looking @ a 10 week lead time.

Quick edit, typing on a phone, tough to proofread.I meant I prefer nirocellulous "instead" of a polyester or urethans, not sprayed over a coat of poly or urethane. I know some guitars have that, I don't really understand why. If you shoot the neck with a urethane, might as well finish withit. Any percieved tonal changes between a nitro finish is kind of rendered moot by spraying it over the others.
If you're going with a maple neck( and I nean neck not fretboard) instead of an all rosewood, mahogany or other material, might I suggest kick in the extra $20 to get a quarter sawn neck. The last strat I built is 1/4 sawn, & I only shot the neck w/ 3 coats of nitro, 2 tinted & 1 clear. The quarter sawn doesn't need to have the truss rod adjusted as often.

The pick guard is supposed to be white pearloid with white pearloid inlays. I have also considered black pearloid and green pearloid pick guards.



I used to have an American Special SSS with maple neck. Loved the neck. I have thought of maple with black dots and black pearloid pick guard. My wife likes the rosewood design better.

Too many options out there. This is why I need ideas.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Great idea.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I prefer the slightly warmer yellowish hue in the top pic.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

WOW Martian Sunburst! The neck is one of the most important parts for feel of guitar...IMHO...get one made to your specs. Do you use the wang bar? If so, I would go with the Vintage style bridge, not a fan of the two point types...just seems much more difficult to set up than the vintage style...again IMHO.

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Ever thought of going hard tail? I have a modified MIM Strat that has a 2Tek bridge installed ( http://www.the2tek.com/ ). It has great sustain and stays in tune very well.

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Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Interesting bridge. I have considered hardtail. The more I play around with guitar builders, the more the specs resemble an American Deluxe.

The 2Tek bridge, would I have to have the body cut for a standard tremolo or could I have the body built for hardtail install?

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

At Warmoth, the neck build to my specs is between 4 and 5 hundred dollars. A Fender Deluxe neck at Stratosphere is between 5 to 6 hundred dollars.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Contact them and ask. I have seen it both ways.

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Does anyone here know where I can buy a waterslide...not a Fender or any other brand, but one where I can design a logo for my build. I was thinking of using my name like this:

"Richard's" in Fender-style writing then "Partscaster" in the same lettering of Stratocaster. Maybe even put in a Made in Texas and SN like US1(1)000001 on the back of the headstock. I would also love to put a Fender Forum emblem on the back of the headstock, but I think that might be pushing the Fender copyright envelope. Not sure if Fender would approve.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head