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Post subject: 68 Strat Build
Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:33 am
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I was looking for a bit of advice. Currently, I'm putting together a 68-inspired strat build. I would eventually like to change everything out to get it as close to a 68 copy as possible. The neck may vary from an actual 68 but that's for personal comfort reasons.

Basically, what I'm doing is getting a custom Warmoth neck and putting it onto a Fender body I own.

Neck specs:
-CBS Stratocaster style, Maple one piece finger board
-Vintage satin nitro finish
-25-1/2" scale
-1-11/16" nut width
-9.5" radius
-22 jumbo frets

I'm taking this neck and fitting it into a 98 American Standard body. Popping some Fender "F" tuners in it too. For the time being, I'm sticking with my set of Sumarian Cobalt Vintage Noiseless PU's until I figure out what I want to put in it.

Any advice or tips on this would be greatly appreicated. Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: 68 Strat Build
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:46 am
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Location: France
Hi,

All I can tell you is that I've been down that road before and I've always been disappointed by the resulted and ended up with a guitar that I ended up selling and lost a lot by doing this. I would sincerely advise you to custom order a guitar from the custom shop.

By the way a 68 should have a round lam fretboard. If you want a one piece neck, that'll take you to late 69/70.

Ordering a custom built was very exciting and in the end very satisfying. Pay the down payment and save up for the 6 months+ of wait. It's well worth it. Will make you feel like a rock star. I promise.


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Post subject: Re: 68 Strat Build
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:01 am
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:54 am
Posts: 2573
Location: Laurel, MD
I agree with the person before me. I went down this road trying to make a '70s inspired Strat. The guitar was sold within a year. I ended up buying a 1976 and a 1975 Stratocasters. I've been pretty satisfied with my purchases.


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Post subject: Re: 68 Strat Build
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:34 am
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Location: Connecticut
I'm not comprehending your build. You say it's a 68 but you are keeping SCN pups ( which I loved ) and ordering a Warmoth ?

(1) if you are going for a 68 then you should order a 60's neck from Fender. as for the body if you search you will find that the Stratocaster body contours have changed from 50's, 60's, 70's to current.
The hip inside contour may be deeper or shallower and the forearm contour will have variations in radius.
Pups then buy 60's Fender pups. Hardware would have to be vintage style 6 point Tremolo but a very unique would be a hard tail. It was offered but very few people knew you could order a Strat with that feature. I believe Robert Cray's Strats fall in that era. Hardware finish would have to be chrome but depending on color of body you could order gold. Not unheard of.

Basically if you are going to replicate a 68, then you may as well source all of the parts from Fender. The price you will pay for a Warmoth neck is in my opinion no longer warranted since we can now buy direct Fender necks from the source. Yes, Warmoth has excellent product but you pay a bespoke premium for something that could be acquired for much less... Your choice.

My suspicion is also that your late model body may be incorrectly routed as in a SSH route ? Yes / No ?
As for F style tuners... Meh. On this I would diverge to Grover Deluxe. They are of the Kluson style but much better and appropriate. The F style angled tuners aren't that good and they have a low gear ratio. You need at least a 14-16 to 1 but you can spec out replacements. Lmii.com ( luthiers mercantile ) is a good source.

Before you begin I would strongly suggest that you buy these books. As there were multiple variations of models throughout the late 60s. That and the fact that Fender was a company in transition.

(1) Fender The Golden Age 1946-1970 isbn 978 1 84403 666 0 by Kelly Foster Kelly

(2) The Fender Stratocaster Handbook 2nd edition isbn 978 0 7603 4243 5 by Paul Balmer

(3) The Stratocaster Chronicles isbn 0 634 05678 6 by Tom Wheeler

(4) The Dream Factory Fender Custom Shop isbn 978 1 4234 3698 0 by Tom Wheeler

My suggestions is that there is so much detail and history to Fender that having relevant fact sources is paramount to replicating a 68 stratopartster.

We'll need pics and a story line in addition to details on what you will consider.
BTW.... DO research before you decide on final choice of parts and neck and body components. You probably also should look into what was the predominant pots and wiring for that particular late 60's era...

Cheers and Have fun.

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "


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Post subject: Re: 68 Strat Build
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:19 am
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Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:32 pm
Posts: 701
53magnatone wrote:
I'm not comprehending your build. You say it's a 68 but you are keeping SCN pups ( which I loved ) and ordering a Warmoth ?

(1) if you are going for a 68 then you should order a 60's neck from Fender.


The only problem with that is Fender doesn't sell a late 60s neck that would be appropriate for a 68 strat build. They sell an early 60s small headstock and the highway one/american special necks, which are both wrong spec wise. The only ways to get one are to find a MIJ 68 neck, CS 69 neck, or custom order one from Musikraft. Even warmoth only does the large headstock with 22 frets, which is incorrect.


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Post subject: Re: 68 Strat Build
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 12:26 pm
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Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:34 pm
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Location: Athens, Greece
The STRATosphere store is the ideal place to find spare Fender parts IMO.

http://stores.ebay.com/The-STRATosphere


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