Building A Usa Strat On A Budget Pt.2, Tons of Pictures to Feast Your Eyes Upon
Mudbone
Oct 21 2010, 09:58 PM
Learning Apprentice Player
Posts: 1.750
Joined: 6-May 10
From: Charlotte, NC (residence)/Boston, MA (home) USA
This is the second installment of the budget USA Strat series, if you haven't read the first part, you can find it here.

In the original post I said the plan was to install the RS Guitarworks electronics kit, but that plan has been scrapped. I ended up getting the Specialty Guitars Strat upgrade kit that was tuned to have vintage/modern SRV sound. I saved about $25 going with this kit. The RS Guitarworks kit had a paper and oil capacitor, which was a big portion of the cost. I just couldn't justify dishing out that kind of money for something that makes little, if any difference in tone.

Also, I ended up going with the Guitar Fetish tuners instead of the Sperzels, and saved $30 in the process. These two changes saved me $55, which goes to show you if you don't keep a level head the price of your project can skyrocket. If I ad in the the savings from getting the Tonerider pickups instead of the Texas Specials, the savings expand to $135. Remember, this is a budget project, keeping costs down is absolutely essential.

The tuners were too big for the holes, so now I have to bore out the holes to 10mm. I was gonna do it with a reamer, but they're expensive, so I'm just going to drill out the holes. I'll start off with a 6mm bit then work up to a 10mm, at least thats the plan for now.

Anyways, enough yapping, on with the pictures.

Edit: All the pics didn't fit in one posting, so here are the links to all four posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4



- This is what I started with


- All the parts laid out


- Steel wool and tape used to buff out the gloss and give to guitar a satin finish


- Tremolo Kit


- Pickguard and black screws


- Electronics Upgrade Kit


- Straplocks, felt pads, and Pickup selector cap


- Tonerider City Limits Pickups


- Tuners


- Orange Drop Capacitor


- I put the cap next to a quarter just so you can get an idea of how big it is. It was actually a lot bigger that I thought it was gonna be.


- Pickup Selector. I had to push down the little metal tabs to make sure they made contact with the sliding plate, they were slightly bent up upon arrival.


- The crappy ass loaded stock pickguard.


- A ceramic bar going across the pole pieces, pretty shitty if you ask me, you can see where Peavey cut corners.


- 500K pots? Aren't single coils supposed to have 250k pots? The stock pickups must be really dark sounding.


- Stock capacitor.


- New CTS pot.


- A side by side comparison between old and new caps.


- Almost empty guitar

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This post has been edited by Mudbone: Oct 21 2010, 11:19 PM


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Guitars: Uncle Rufus' Twanger Classic
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Fran
Oct 21 2010, 10:37 PM
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Wow these posts are awesome. Picture quality is great too!

I'd love to put this stuff into a nice wiki article, would you like me to?

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

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Guitars:
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Amp:
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Mudbone
Oct 21 2010, 11:29 PM
Learning Apprentice Player
Posts: 1.750
Joined: 6-May 10
From: Charlotte, NC (residence)/Boston, MA (home) USA
QUOTE (Fran @ Oct 21 2010, 05:37 PM) *
Wow these posts are awesome. Picture quality is great too!

I'd love to put this stuff into a nice wiki article, would you like me to?


Thanks dude, actually the picture quality would have been even better if my damn camera wasn't acting up mad.gif Some pics came out a little dark and slightly out of focus, but most of them came out pretty good.

Feel free to put this in a Wiki article, I actually documented all this because I didn't find anything similar to this on the internet, and wanted to share it with people who were looking to do the same thing. I just hope after you post it I can go back and polish it up a little bit smile.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------


He who laughs last thinks slowest.

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." - Christopher Hitchens


Gear:

Guitars: Uncle Rufus' Twanger Classic
Amps: Mississippi Boom Box
Mojo: Hammer of Odin and a pair of Ox gonads
Inspiration: Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Zero to Hero: 1,387/10,000

Go to the top of the page
 
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Adrian Figallo
Oct 22 2010, 02:32 AM
Instructor
Posts: 3.466
Joined: 24-October 09
From: lima peru
amazing man, thanks for sharing this!!
maybe you can make a nice demo video?, i'm a strat geek!

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


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Mudbone
Oct 22 2010, 03:17 AM
Learning Apprentice Player
Posts: 1.750
Joined: 6-May 10
From: Charlotte, NC (residence)/Boston, MA (home) USA
QUOTE (Adrian Figallo @ Oct 21 2010, 09:32 PM) *
amazing man, thanks for sharing this!!
maybe you can make a nice demo video?, i'm a strat geek!


Thanks dude, I hope somebody can benefit from this post one day smile.gif I'll post a demo after I completely finish this project and get it running in top condition. This may take a while, as this stuff takes a lot of time, and thats something that gonna be in short supply the next few weeks sad.gif

Also, I got to learn some clean stuff to play on it, I've been playing metal forever tongue.gif The other thing I have to mention is the fact that I'm so used to the compressed sound of EMGs, that my picking dynamic skills haven't developed. These new pickups are so dynamic, every nuance of my playing is picked up and amplified. Its fair to say that Strats require a certain playing technique to get that "Stratiness" out, if that makes any sense. You play a Strat so I'm sure you understand.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------


He who laughs last thinks slowest.

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." - Christopher Hitchens


Gear:

Guitars: Uncle Rufus' Twanger Classic
Amps: Mississippi Boom Box
Mojo: Hammer of Odin and a pair of Ox gonads
Inspiration: Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Zero to Hero: 1,387/10,000

Go to the top of the page
 
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emirb
Oct 22 2010, 08:04 AM
Accomplished Tone Guru
Posts: 161
Joined: 23-May 10
From: Sweden
Great stuff ! I love DIY and this is really sweet project. Wanted for a long time to build/rebuild a guitar myself and I'm gonna do it soon I'm sure. Just a quick comment, orange (drop) capacitors are great caps but you don't needed here for this application. You can read on it that is for 400V and these are usually used for tube amps (or high voltage for that matter). It's a high quality cap, but you could same a few buck by buying metal film cap (of the same capacity) at smallbearelec.com or pedalpartsplus.com or effectsconnection.com or similar DIY sites. Generally for electronics supply aimed for guitar/effects.

Good job & Keep it on! Post some more pics!

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


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Fran
Oct 22 2010, 03:46 PM
Learning Rock Star - Wiki Coordinator
Posts: 8.451
Joined: 20-November 07
From: Spain
QUOTE (Mudbone @ Oct 22 2010, 12:29 AM) *
Feel free to put this in a Wiki article, I actually documented all this because I didn't find anything similar to this on the internet, and wanted to share it with people who were looking to do the same thing. I just hope after you post it I can go back and polish it up a little bit smile.gif



Sure man, the article will be there for you to add/change/tweak anything you see fit wink.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Guitars:
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Ibanez RG2570MZ, Epiphone SG G-400
Amp:
Vox AC4TVH head + V112TV cab
Effects:
Vox Satchurator, Vox Time Machine, Dunlop CryBaby, Boss MT-2, Boss CE-5, Boss TU-2, Boss ME-70
Recording:
Line-6 POD X3 + FBV-Express, Pandora PX5D

GMC wants YOU to take part in our Guitar-Wikipedia!
Have a good time reading great articles and writing your own with us in our GUITAR WIKI!
Share your playing and get Pro-advice from our Instructors: Join REC
Go to the top of the page
 
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