Seems I've grown tired of the Sunfire Orange finish on my FSR strat... It's cool and all but I think I'm going to scour the bay for a sunburst HWY 1 body, and unload mine. As it stands now, the guitar seems a bit sterile, which surprises me given the Fralin Blues single coils and Dimarzio 36th anniv. HB in the bridge. I'm suspect of the bowling ball-like finish... it's THICK and while I don't always agree that a thick finish is a given tone killer, in this case I think it may be contributing to the problem. There's really nothing left of the original MIM strat it began it's life as, it's all new hardware, plastic, electronics, a Warmoth neck, the orange body is all that remains. I'm a sunburst guy at heart anyhow, and maybe the HWY1 body will open it up a bit.

I totally dig on that color....one of a kind pretty much.Too bad your not bonding with it.

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1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

If I ever have the hankering for another metal flake guitar I could always go with a Warmoth body... their metal flake finishes are pretty nice. However, I don't see myself going that route again soon

A MIM solid color body? Well, it could be one of those Mexican multi-piece bodies (like 5, 6, ... pieces), so that could be the problem you are finding with the sound.

What you ought to try is this: bring your guitar to you local shop and do some A/B comparisons with other Fenders (Hwy 1, Am Standard, etc) through an amp similar to what you have at home.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Too late for a change of plans...I scored a HWY 1 body in off the bay today. Seemed like a good deal and it was what I was looking to get. I may experiment with a solid steel block as well... one of my other mutt strats has one in it and that one sounds better to my ears. (That one has a Blacktop body with Tex-Mex pups). I dunno, I'm probably just bored and want to build stuff... I really think some of it is that finish... it's thick as a brick and I'm not sure if the underlying body was a one piece that it could possibly resonate or feel lively under all that poly. I'll keep y'all posted on it once it comes together.

What happened to the original orange body? it looks great.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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I'm no believer in finishes or number of wood pieces in the body having a nickel's worth of effect on a guitar's tone, but whatever floats your boat. Swap the body in that Partscaster, but save the original, you'll probably want to dig it out again some day when you get bored with the Hwy 1. I solved my boredom problem a long time ago with an assortment of Strats and Teles, though I have done a couple of recent builds. Enjoy.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

There's a part of me that would like to save it... then there's the promise I made to the little lady that there wouldn't be any new guitars, and I already mentioned getting rid of the orange body. Unfortunately, it's not the sort of color she's likely to forget- I could probably blend a sunburst into the herd without a problem..

Another little snafu I didn't see coming... the MIM bridge isn't compatible with the HWY 1 body so I'm gonna need to sort that out.

hey man, let us (particularly me) know if you're going to put that body up on the bay. I'd love to have a color like that!

I have a bridge that'll fit that HWY1 if you're curious, PM me

Bob-o

Thanks BOBROX... Now I'm on the fence about getting rid of it, what's that saying? It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission? Maybe it'll just live under the bed for a year or so

As far as the bridge, good to know but we're not supposed to be using the forum to sling gear (though I'd love to see a classified section like the Gibson forum has...) I think I'm going to go big and go for a Callaham bridge for the HWY 1... what the heck!

Well, the new HWY 1 body is set for delivery today, gotta love the big brown santa! And yes, I've decided to stash the Orange body for now... it is rather unique and perhaps it will resurface down the line.

I'm going to buff the finish of the HWY 1 to add a little shine... I really don't care for the matte finish so much and buffing them out a bit splits the difference between full bore shine and matte... it worked great on my HWY 1 Tele body. Anyhow, I know how you all love the guitar porn so I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can. Cheers.

Well, here she is... I swear it sounds better with this body but I'll have to simmer on it for a few days and see how I feel. It polished up nicely...no orange peeling with this one but a VERY thin finish, not like the one on my HWY 1 Tele, it's much thicker and did suffer a bit form the orange peel when buffed and polished. It;s late and a bit dark so not the greatest photo, I'll try again tomorrow when it's sunny.

looking good dude! Rock and or roll!

So in thinking about the perceived improvement in tone vs. the MIM body I previously had, I think it may have been a combination of things... the thick sparkle finish being only one factor.

*First of all, the new HWY 1 body is a beautiful specimen indeed! A lightweight 2-piece, center seam, delight! It simply resonates in a way that the orange body didn't.

*Second, the new HWY 1 bridge assembly is a much more solid unit than the MIM standard bridge... I don't know if it's a solid steel block or an alloy but a magnet really sticks to the HWY 1 bridge block whereas it didn't on the MIM bridge. The improved bridge may be a contributing factor to the increased resonance.

*Finally, I really spent some time last evening adjusting the pickup heights, not to the scientific specified norm (whatever that is), but so they sounded good. I've been spending a lot of time playing my Les Paul and SG lately, and I was wondering why the humbucker in this strat didn't sound nearly as good. Admittedly, it's a different pickup and I know the woods of the guitars are all different but it was lacking something and sounded sterile. That something proved to be the pickup height. I had it way to low on the strat, and when I raised it to the level of where my LP bridge pickup is in relation to the strings, it sounds much better, both by itself and split with the middle pickup. The only downside of this is that there is now a pretty steep jump in volume when jumping from the single coils to the HB, but hey, that's what knobs are for.

In conclusion, who the hell knows why it sounds better. My suspicion is that it's just a recipe of spare parts that work really well together. It's likely a combination of the above mentioned factors, some that I've overlooked, and a dash of mojo. Probably most important is that it's sunburst, they just sound better.