New project.. and some history
The History
Back in the mid 70s a young lad convinced his mum to order a Columbus Strat copy from one of the catalogues that she ran. Do you remember them? My Mum used to be an agent for Empire Stores and another. I'm pretty sure the guitar came from Empire. It was pictured laying close to a Saxon black Les Paul custom copy which at, I think, £89 was out of my price range. The Columbus Strat though was £75 and I sacrificed most of my weekly pocket money for a year to pay for it.
That was my first electric guitar. My second guitar of all. Anyway - wind on a couple of years or so - 1978/79. I wanted a more raunchy sound from the bridge pickup so I headed to London with my big brother one day. In a shop (I think Rose Morris) I saw an Ibanez Super 70 humbucker in a cabinet and I could afford it - can't remember the price. I told the assistant what I was going to do. He was indignant I was thinking of putting a humbucker in a strat at all esp in the bridge position. In those days people who did add humbuckers Elliot Randall or Roger Hodgson put them into the neck or middle position.
Back at home me and my brother went at with chisels, saws etc. and what was definitely not the best bit of guitar modification still gave me what I wanted. A Strat with great chimey tones off the neck and middle but with more powerful poke for solos etc. off the humbucker in the bridge. Although I obviously reached the same place at the same times as others this was the first HSS Strat I believe I ever saw and I came up with it!
Here is that very guitar in use by yours truly in 1981.
You can see the gold plated humbucker surrounded by a black plastic ring as I'd had to chop the existing scratchplate and that covered up the gaffs! My next electric was a two humbucker strat home build built with my Dad in 81-82. Then in 83 I bought my Squier JV 62 Strat - which I still have today. But I've actually never had a typical HSS strat ever since. I don't know why given the versatility that everyone in the end cottoned on to that I'd seen in them. So... to the project...
The Project
To build an HSS strat. However I pondered this I wanted something a touch different. Firstly I decided I wanted Mahogany (or similar) body not typical Strat tonewood but of course used my many others over the years.
And here we are... I bought a mahogany body that is sort of strat shaped - it's more like a Yamaha Pacifica I think over the lower bout and the cutaway seems wider. I saw this really unusual Strat neck on eBay. It is a maple neck but tinted quiet dark for maple. It isn't too far from a mahogany colour itself. But more surprisingly it is like a Jaguar/Jazzmaster neck in that it has a bound fingerboard and large block inlays. So a bit more Gibson than Fender, matching the body wood choice. However the neck is very Fender in dimensions, C shape 9.5" radius so like modern Strats and with the 22nd fret lip - again another Gibson nod.
Having assembled all the bits I've started to put it together.
The neck pocket was sloppy so I had to put a shim in the side but that was completed reasonably easily. Lined up the bridge which needed a little fiddling. The bridge is a Wilkinson Vintage style but with their clever staggered trem block - the strings aren't in a straight line basically and with a modern like push fit arm.
Lining up the neck and bridge before anything is drilled.
Another new addition - Mrs F bought me this pillar drill for Christmas.
Neck fitted.
Bridge fitted
Trial string up. What did this tell me? There's a bunch of fret work to do esp on the top two strings. And the nut slots need lowering. Or I might get a new nut actually. However. It was almost spot on itonationwise on at least three strings so that was time to breath out.
Jobs to do then... Fret work. Nut work. I'm going to be cutting a bespoke scratchplate as a standard one I got just doesn't fit right but I'll use that as a template for another - that may have a slightly different look too - await details. Then I'll have to wire up the electrics, which I'll explain in a subsequent post but it'll be essentially an HSS strat. Stay tuned for the next update...
Back in the mid 70s a young lad convinced his mum to order a Columbus Strat copy from one of the catalogues that she ran. Do you remember them? My Mum used to be an agent for Empire Stores and another. I'm pretty sure the guitar came from Empire. It was pictured laying close to a Saxon black Les Paul custom copy which at, I think, £89 was out of my price range. The Columbus Strat though was £75 and I sacrificed most of my weekly pocket money for a year to pay for it.
That was my first electric guitar. My second guitar of all. Anyway - wind on a couple of years or so - 1978/79. I wanted a more raunchy sound from the bridge pickup so I headed to London with my big brother one day. In a shop (I think Rose Morris) I saw an Ibanez Super 70 humbucker in a cabinet and I could afford it - can't remember the price. I told the assistant what I was going to do. He was indignant I was thinking of putting a humbucker in a strat at all esp in the bridge position. In those days people who did add humbuckers Elliot Randall or Roger Hodgson put them into the neck or middle position.
Back at home me and my brother went at with chisels, saws etc. and what was definitely not the best bit of guitar modification still gave me what I wanted. A Strat with great chimey tones off the neck and middle but with more powerful poke for solos etc. off the humbucker in the bridge. Although I obviously reached the same place at the same times as others this was the first HSS Strat I believe I ever saw and I came up with it!
Here is that very guitar in use by yours truly in 1981.
The Project
To build an HSS strat. However I pondered this I wanted something a touch different. Firstly I decided I wanted Mahogany (or similar) body not typical Strat tonewood but of course used my many others over the years.
And here we are... I bought a mahogany body that is sort of strat shaped - it's more like a Yamaha Pacifica I think over the lower bout and the cutaway seems wider. I saw this really unusual Strat neck on eBay. It is a maple neck but tinted quiet dark for maple. It isn't too far from a mahogany colour itself. But more surprisingly it is like a Jaguar/Jazzmaster neck in that it has a bound fingerboard and large block inlays. So a bit more Gibson than Fender, matching the body wood choice. However the neck is very Fender in dimensions, C shape 9.5" radius so like modern Strats and with the 22nd fret lip - again another Gibson nod.
Having assembled all the bits I've started to put it together.
The neck pocket was sloppy so I had to put a shim in the side but that was completed reasonably easily. Lined up the bridge which needed a little fiddling. The bridge is a Wilkinson Vintage style but with their clever staggered trem block - the strings aren't in a straight line basically and with a modern like push fit arm.
Jobs to do then... Fret work. Nut work. I'm going to be cutting a bespoke scratchplate as a standard one I got just doesn't fit right but I'll use that as a template for another - that may have a slightly different look too - await details. Then I'll have to wire up the electrics, which I'll explain in a subsequent post but it'll be essentially an HSS strat. Stay tuned for the next update...
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