Putting the fat-strat copy together

[milesdeem]

Finally got all the parts "in-house" and am starting process slowly and carefully....The ultra-light surf green paulownia body came painted that way from GFS for $50. The neck is of "unknown manufacture", but is lighter in weight, and has a better fretboard than the one I had previously selected for this particular build. The entire neck, except the fretboard, I painted in ivory color. The fretboard already had a nice clear polyurethane on it to begin with.
And this will get the white pearloid Mighty Mite pickguard pre-loaded with the dual Motherbuckers/3-way switch/quarter-sized 500K pots. Rounding it out will be chrome hardware and gold straplocks.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

Nice,Cool color to

 

[milesdeem]

Yes the surf green is a preferred color. More pics as thing's progress.

 

[Bullfrog]

Cool! I can't wait to see it come together.

Strats are another obsession of mine!

 

[chicagoslim]

That should look great. Post pictures, so we can see how it turns out. My only question is; Why gold strap locks, with chrome hardware?

Here's my HH Strat. I went with a Seymour Duncan type super switch. I use the split coils, 90% of the time. I went with CAR, because my wife doesn't complain when I come home with a red guitar.

 

[milesdeem]

That should look great. Post pictures, so we can see how it turns out. My only question is; Why gold strap locks, with chrome hardware?

The answer is: I'm cheap...and I already had these gold one's sitting there unused.
Nice real Strat HH BTW

 

[chicagoslim]

The answer is: I'm cheap...and I already had these gold one's sitting there unused.
Nice real Strat HH BTW

That makes sense. But you need a better story.

We're gullible. You could of told us that it was in remembrance of some deceased blues guitarist. Who was poor and cheap, and had them sitting around.

 

[milesdeem]

Since I know a number of "local metal musicians" who literally have given me a fair amount of gold/chrome/nickel parts off their cheap guitars they've "upgraded" with the black chrome stuff, my part's cost goes down because I get this free hardware from time-to-time.
No dead blues guy....just fellow guitarists with ever-changing tastes

 

[milesdeem]

Pics after fitting of the tremolo, "loaded pickguard", output jack & plate, and the straplock buttons. While the tremolo and jack plate are chrome, the pickguard screw's are nickel....and two of those nickel screws are used to fasten the jack plate as well. Protective sheet is still on the 'guard and the pickups. Still more to do...

 

[Bettyboo]

Looking really nice.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

Hell Fire it looks really good.

 

[milesdeem]

Thank You both...I'm really likin' the overall look of this

 

[Bullfrog]

Me too!

 

[milesdeem]

Some green for St. Patrick's Day. Got her strung not long ago so here's a few more pics. Take note that I'm not running any string tree(s) on this one. The mini-gotoh-clone tuner's I'm running have a shorter shaft height on all, and I made a shim that I'm using under the B and E string tuner housing's that lower's the peg height even more-so (about 2 mm worth) on those two tuning machines. Seem's to work fine so far.....If I do end up going back to using one string tree it's no big deal. There's still a hole in the headstock face for putting one back on

 

[milesdeem]

My Review:
This beauty weigh's about the same as a 2-liter bottle of pop (4.5 lbs.)....so I'm thinking 4.5-5 lbs. playing weight is a safe estimate. Not that I have any "back trouble" to complain about (yet). But it's nice to have that one or two that won't kill my back if I do get sore....
Considering that this guitar is nothing more than a planned assembly of random parts, it turned out very good. I didn't know what to expect from the MM 404 WP loaded/pre-wired pickguard. Mighty Mite is one of those companies that I've been aware of since the 1980's. I see their stuff occasionally for sale online: necks, bodies, pickups, pickguards (both loaded and not), tuning machines, bridges, tremolos, etc....Anyway, I couldn't resist that sale price of $55 shipped. I've got nothing but good to say about the pickguard/pickups/electronics. Work's and sound's like they say it should, and look's good. A great combo with the paulownia body, which has the heft of balsa and a tone of some heavier wood that is quite resonant and musical.
These are some of the hottest Alnico 5 humbucker's I've ever heard of....and heard/played today. With just amp overdrive or an OD pedal it's a hot blues machine (albeit thicker-er). With any modern distortion pedal or metal pedal it's a doom and sludge monster. Thrash would be kind of a stretch, due to a looser bass response. Clean is a nice powerful round tone that is loud. Not the cleanest clean for those that need it. 22K bridge and 17K neck pickup aren't known for crystal clear.
I can also say "I do not need string trees". The little shim trick work's fine with the short-shaft mystery tuners.
Happy Happy Joy Joy.