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Post subject: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:07 am
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Be forewarned... this is a LONG one!

First of all, I say "Strat" because that will be the basis of the build as far as the body goes... the rest of what I have planned is quite unusual. As some of you may know I am a junkie for all things Grateful Dead. I have tinkered with adding some Jerry-esque features to a few of my guitars (Dimarzio pickups, Alembic Blaster, etc. ) but I'm going all out on this one. I am really hoping to build my dream "Strat" so I can clean out a few other guitars.

I'm going to model the electronics of Jerry's "Tiger" as closely as possible... (we'll see how that goes within the confines of a Strat body). The only real difference is that I'm going to use a H/S/H configuration instead of a H/H/H or H/H/S set-up as he used, and slightly different pickup choices than he used. There are two features which really set this guitar apart from others. One is the onboard effects loop, and the other is the unity gain preamp. I've posed a picture of the wiring scheme which is really going to give me a run for my money! :shock: I've also posted a link to a more detailed desrciption of both of these wiring features.

I've also decided to go with another neck choice than using a Fender neck... Warmoth makes their "Warmoth" neck which bolts on to a Fender body with no problems and I think it will look better than a Fender neck (not that I don't love my Fenders :D ) Other than that, it's going to be fairly straight forward, I'm going to permanently block the trem so I can remove all the springs and other hardware and use the rear cavity to house the pre-amp and battery. I think it makes the most sense as I can ground that entire cavity with copper shielding. As far as electronics, I'm sourcing out mil spec pots and toggles. One toggle splits the Humbuckers, and one runs them in parallel. Another interesting twist is that the middle pickup utilizes it's own tone knob while the other tone know controls the neck and bridge.

For pickups, I'm going with a combination of his two favorites with one that I'm hoping will be a good choice for the middle. The neck pickup will be a Super 2, the middle a Red Velvet, and the bridge a Super Distortion... I'm hoping it will be a best of all worlds setup... we'll see. I have DP100s in the bridge position of two of my strats already. They split well and are exceptional for huge clean tones and also drive effects quite well. The Super 2 is basically a DP100 for the neck position... I've used them before and like them just fine. Again, I think they sound awesome clean and split well. The middle pup is supposed to sound like a combination of a strat and tele but it's a pretty hot pickup (it runs around 8.5ohm). I'm choosing it to match the output of the split humbuckers.

Well, I've typed/talked your ears off enough for now... I'll be sure to keep you all posted and of course, put some pics up as things come together. Oh boy, this one is gonna be fun! 8)

Explanation of electronics:http://www.wald-electronics.com/tiger.html

The basic wiring scheme...
Image

A neck similar to what I'd like to use...
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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 7:45 pm
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I knew of a guitar builder in Florida, who used to make these guitars. They also made off-set necks as well.


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 7:48 pm
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are you trying to make the map of the London Underground train network?


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 9:23 pm
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tobougg wrote:
are you trying to make the map of the London Underground train network?


:lol: I know huh?!? It'll be a challenge to keep everything straight… not to mention finding room for everything.


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:37 pm
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paris wrote:
I knew of a guitar builder in Florida, who used to make these guitars. They also made off-set necks as well.


Are you referring to Steve Cripe? He made some stunning instruments. I've been nerding out over at http://www.rukind.com/forum/index.php lately and I was surprised how many Garcia inspired guitar builders there are… I find it all pretty fascinating. Love or hate the Dead, they pioneered some pretty cool insturment/sound system stuff that was really ahead of its time.
[
url]http://www.cripeguitars.com[/url]


Last edited by JamGuy on Thu Oct 31, 2013 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 4:52 pm
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Black is hot
White is ground


Oh DiMarzio. You so crazy.

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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 5:07 pm
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JamGuy wrote:
paris wrote:
I knew of a guitar builder in Florida, who used to make these guitars. They also made off-set necks as well.


Are you referring to Steve Cripe? He made some stunning instruments. I've been needing out over at http://www.rukind.com/forum/index.php lately and I was surprised how many Garcia inspired guitar builders there are… I find it all pretty fascinating. Love or hate the Dead, they pioneered some pretty cool insturment/sound system stuff that was really ahead of its time.
[
url]http://www.cripeguitars.com[/url]


I don't know. The shop was in/or near Jensen Beach and Port Saint Lucy, FL. This was right around Jan 2001.


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:05 pm
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I'm not sure if it's the same guy or not, Steve died in '96.


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 5:54 pm
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Parts Update:

I've sourced out some high quality micro toggles from Honeywell… they seem a little better constructed than some I've seen and I like the fact they're even smaller than mini switches. They're the size that are often used on effects pedals. They weren't a fortune either, about nine bucks a pop so that's nice. Here's the link to them (and a bunch of other fun stuff).
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=70118951#tab=specs

So… pickguard, pots, knobs, 5-way, and toggles have been ordered and should start rolling in shortly. I need to raise some funds to order up some more parts… I guess I could chop shop one of my teles and use that $$$. We've never really bonded and I LOVE my other tele so this LPB one never really gets played. I think that might almost raise enough funds for everything but the neck… I'll have to simmer on it.


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 4:41 am
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What is the Tele you are thinking of parting with?


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 8:16 am
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paris wrote:
What is the Tele you are thinking of parting with?

Image

I'm trying my best to think of other funding sources for this project… I know I must have something else laying around. I'm always amazed at what people will buy on eBay… I just sold a bunch of used clothes for almost $150…(that's what got this project underway). I've sold used sneakers, and even a used haircutting kit… that's just kinda gross IMO. Oh well, there's a sucker born every minute (and when it comes to guitars, I'm one too... :lol: )


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:01 am
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Scored a body ob eBay yesterday… looks to be in nice shape and I can use the pick guard and other parts for various endeavors. I've been thinking more about my neck choice and may opt for a Fender (or at least Fender Strat) style neck… Warmoth has some fairly good deals on ebony fretboard strat necks so that may be an option…

I began tinkering with the pickguard yesterday… I installed the pots after shielding it with the scraps of shielding tape I had left over… it ain't too purdy but it'll get the job done.
Here's the body and pickguard so far.
Image
Image
Image


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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:45 pm
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Tele has been parted out… more parts on order, and I've decided to take a turn toward the Fendery side of things… I'm scouting for a maple Strat neck instead of a Warmoth neck. I love the American Specials (and 70's necks) which are quite different beasts, but either will do… tall frets, short frets, 9.5" radius, 7.5" radius… it's all good. I've never had problems adjusting to either and I know I like them… my only experience with a Warmoth neck was ho-hum.

In conjuction with the actual guitar wiring, I'm going to cook up one of these… basically it's a switching terminal so I can use both the OBEL guitar and regular guitars without having to frig with my wiring every time. This is turning into quite a wiring adventure…
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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:42 pm
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Pulled the trigger on one of these… as far as I can tell it appears by the specs to be a MIM version of the HWY1/Am.Special necks. 9.5" radius and med/Jumbo Frets. Only obvious difference seems to be a more tinted and glossy finish. We'll see… it was quite a savings over most of the other necks I was considering so I'll make it work. I just made a little mock up too… I'm not sure of the toggle placements yet… probably wherever they fit best w/o being in the way.

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Post subject: Re: Most Ambitious "Strat" Project Yet...
Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:46 pm
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if that wine body is a mexi you're going to have to do some routing on the neck pickup.


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