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Post subject: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:10 pm
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Hi everyone,

My name is Robert, and I’m from Breda, Netherland, I’ve been playing guitar for about 32 years now.
My Fender Stratocaster is a left handed 1972 reissue, built 1987.
It was originally RAL9001 white but after a while I got tired of that color so I decided to repaint my Strat. I opted for a duo color, going from light to dark. I chose Motip metallic blue for the top half of the body and Motip metallic violet for the other half, without a defined straight line in the middle. It looks great, but the paint isn’t as strong as the nitrocellulose lacquer which was originally used.Since I’m a metal worker (machinist), I also made a new stainless steel scratchplate, bridge plate, saddles, jack connector plate,whammy bar with design knob, new design volume and tone knobs, rolling string trees for the headstock and last but not least, also dice shaped tuning knobs. All out of stainless steel. I also made a new soundblock out of aluminumbronze. I made the block a little bigger than the original one, it has a nice sustain. On the backside of my Strat, I made a transparent coverplate, so you can see the springs.Finally, the electrical. This time I wanted some heavy power pickups. Here’s what I chose: Neck pickup: DiMarzio DP 186 Cruiser Neck, Middle pickup: DiMarzio DP 188 Pro Track, Bridge pickup: DiMarzio DP 184 Chopper.I also changed the wiring. I put three extra 3-way switches on my Strat for Parallel/Coil cut/Series. Now I have 15 different sounds on my guitar.and finally I changed the wiring of the tone pots; The bottom one is for the bridge pickup only, the other tone potmeter is for the mid and neck pickup.
It took some work but I’m pleased with the results. Sometimes I regret that I didn’t make the changes years ago.I’m very satisfied with my “new” Stratocaster.
A few years ago I also taught myself to play mandolin. I have an acoustic electric mandolin. Being spoiled with all the luxury and parts you can buy for guitars, I decided to rebuild my mandolin also.You really can’t buy much for mandolins, it’s a non-commercial instrument. I always say if you can’t buy it you can always make it. I made a complete stainless steel whammy bar kit for my mandolin; Yes it really works on an 8-string!!!!
Because of the mass added to the instrument I got a much stronger sound and a better sustain. I also made a complete adjustable floating roller bridge and again dice for the knobs. Besides that I made a pickup holder, so the pickup is much better to adjust now, and a separate transparent scratchplate that can be removed so I can change the picture that is behind it. For the electric part I put in a DiMarzio Fast Track 1 pickup, and also a 3-way switch for Parallel/Coil cut/Series. This friendly looking mandolin has enough power to blow you away! :D

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:24 pm
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Hi robbie59,

Sounds like you have a phenomenal Strat, a labor of love. With all of the unique, hand-made parts on your instruments, you should post a few close up pics. Certainly worth showing off a little. We all really enjoy pics, especially of things so unique.

Welcome to the forum!

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 8:12 pm
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Welcome and congratulations on your custom Strat!

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:05 am
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WELCOME !!

Jump in... the Water's Fine !!

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:26 am
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I would love to see pics of your mandolin. Better yet... if you can upload video/audio of what a mandolin with a whammy bar sounds like....

Too cool.


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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:12 am
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I've already tried putting in some photo's but my pictures are saved to my computer so I don't have an url to post them and I don't see how to put them in as an attachment. I'm assuming since I'm new here is why I don't see a way to add an attachment. I've tried posting them from skydrive and I even have a couple of them that my wife sent to Fender via twitter but I can't get them to work here. :(

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:24 am
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jeff_hatcher wrote:
I would love to see pics of your mandolin. Better yet... if you can upload video/audio of what a mandolin with a whammy bar sounds like....

Too cool.


Hi there, I've used the whammy bar in a couple of my mandolin lesson clips. Mandolin lesson 039B - The Young Ones has a good example of how it sounds. Just follow my signature to my website and then from the index page you can see the page that has that lesson. It can also be found under my youtube channel: charlie1dusty

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:51 am
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robbie59 wrote:
I've already tried putting in some photo's but my pictures are saved to my computer so I don't have an url to post them and I don't see how to put them in as an attachment. I'm assuming since I'm new here is why I don't see a way to add an attachment. I've tried posting them from skydrive and I even have a couple of them that my wife sent to Fender via twitter but I can't get them to work here. :(

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!


You can open a free picasa account, upload your pictures there, and link them in the forum using the "IMG" tag. Ain't too hard.


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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:00 am
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robbie59 wrote:
jeff_hatcher wrote:
I would love to see pics of your mandolin. Better yet... if you can upload video/audio of what a mandolin with a whammy bar sounds like....

Too cool.


Hi there, I've used the whammy bar in a couple of my mandolin lesson clips. Mandolin lesson 039B - The Young Ones has a good example of how it sounds. Just follow my signature to my website and then from the index page you can see the page that has that lesson. It can also be found under my youtube channel: charlie1dusty


Far out. Can't believe you fabbed the bar from scratch. The instrument sounds great. I've subscribed to your channel. Thanks for all the mandolin lessons you posted.


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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:28 am
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Welcome Robbie. Nice work there. You'll come to know Lefty Elliot and his LH Claptons. .

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:16 pm
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jeff_hatcher wrote:
robbie59 wrote:
I've already tried putting in some photo's but my pictures are saved to my computer so I don't have an url to post them and I don't see how to put them in as an attachment. I'm assuming since I'm new here is why I don't see a way to add an attachment. I've tried posting them from skydrive and I even have a couple of them that my wife sent to Fender via twitter but I can't get them to work here. :(

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!


You can open a free picasa account, upload your pictures there, and link them in the forum using the "IMG" tag. Ain't too hard.

Thanks for your information.
We first tried Picasa to upload pictures, but they compress the pictures so much that it hurts to look at them, the pictures were so blurry.
My wife found another way to post the pictures, the quality is much better.

Robert.

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:26 pm
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shimmilou wrote:
Hi robbie59,

Sounds like you have a phenomenal Strat, a labor of love. With all of the unique, hand-made parts on your instruments, you should post a few close up pics. Certainly worth showing off a little. We all really enjoy pics, especially of things so unique.

Welcome to the forum!


Hi everyone,

Per your request, here are some pictures of my modified guitars and mandolin.
I Hope you enjoy them.
I also have an Eastwood mandocaster mandolin that I bought a few months ago, and yup, you guessed it.
I am already brainstorming and making drawings for a new bridge for the mandocaster,
because I don’t really like the Telecaster-style bridge. Since the mandocaster is so small the Telecaster-type bridge doesn’t work to well for this instrument.
Sometimes the saddles are instable which causes detuning, and I don’t like the way the strings are attached to the bridge.
I’ve also read about other Mandocaster players having similar issues and complaints.
I want a stable mandolin and a nice sustain. It will take some time, but I’ll make it work.
Keep on rockin’, Robert
Image
Image
Image

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 5:53 pm
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Awesome! :D

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:29 am
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Welcome to the forum Robbie,you are definitely a master at your trade according to the beautiful work that you have done on your instruments and a gifted painter too,I might add. The paintwork and colours on your Strat is striking to say the least.It's great to have someone with your technical ability aboard because there is always someone looking for information about all kinds of things and with your skills,it's obvious that you would be able to make a really positive contribution to the forum and offer expert advice.I look forward to seeing more of your work in upcoming posts. Cheers-Derek.

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Post subject: Re: Hello everyone, newbie here
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:16 am
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great job you have done there, congrats and welcome.

cheers :D

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