r/partscaster

Kept the body. Replaced the rest. Peace was never an option. Chasing something pure, simple, and a little weird

Roasted maple neck. Bootstrap Palo Duros. 4-way switch. Brass saddles. Tort guard

The Palo Duros are lovely. The bridge has some snap without getting sharp. The neck stays easy. And the four-way series position adds weight

Parts:

● 2021 Squier Paranormal Offset Tele body
● Roasted maple neck with stainless frets w/ bone nut
● Bootstrap Palo Duro pickups
● CTS pots and 4-way switch
● Gotoh bridge with compensated brass saddles
● Custom tortoiseshell pickguard
● Hipshot open-gear tuners
● Aged/nickel hardware throughout

This is the photo the guitar tech sent me on the day he finished installing the new neck on my Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele!

This project is now finished, and I couldn't be happier!

Here are all the mods that were done:

• Gotoh compensated brass saddles
• Tort pickguard
• CTS 250k audio-taper volume pot
• CTS 250k audio-taper tone pot
• Treble bleed
• Vintage dome knobs, knurled, set screw
• 0.047µF Orange drop capacitor
• CRL 3-way blade switch
• Switchcraft output jack
• Electrosocket output jack cup
• Vintage-style cloth push-back wire
• Cavity shielding
• Fender Road Worn ‘50s fat U maple neck, 7.25” radius
• Fender Road Worn neck plate
• Fender Vintage string tree kit
• ESP aged bone nut

Final total cost, including labour:

163,346 JPY

+ gig bag - ≈ 5,000 JPY

+ new strings & string changes

+ transport & shipping

Did the full build yesterday and today. The body and neck are from warmoth. Body was stock swamp ash black burst. The neck was a custom order with 16" radius, thin C, roasted maple, jumbo stainless frets, graph-tech nut, graph-tech Ratio tuners. Pickups are a Duncan JB (bridge) , and two Duncan Classic Stack Plus (neck/middle). Obsidian blender control inside. Bridge is a Gotoh 510. It came out better than I expected. Lots more sustain than I expected, stays in tune perfectly. Intonation was almost perfect out of the gate after truss rod and trem spring adjustments. I have a high fret or two to level, but I think this is a keeper.

I’m fitting an Am Pro neck to a normal 4 bolt Telecaster body - I only realised having got to this stage that the Am Pro doesn’t have the traditional corner positioning for the 4 neck bolts, as their bodies have a cutaway at the base.

What’s the best approach to creating a hold for the 4th bolt here? Should I drill a small pilot hole and then screw in, or just screw directly?

Summer project done. Decided to try my own dye job, id probably do some things different given another chance, but im pretty happy with how it came out.

1-piece swamp ash body

Roasted flame maple neck

Lindy Fralin PJ set

7lbs. 2oz.

It's been a good number of years since I have played.. But I pulled out my old guitars recently and got back into it.

Just wanted to share my two favorites in my collection.

The first is a "Maestro" telecaster I got on Amazon for about $100. It came with the blue celluloid pick guard, and it just didn't look right. Switched to the white and it's perfect. Only other mod was upgrading the tuners.

"Ashlei" is my blue stratocaster..this guitar is a whole story in itself. I'll keep it short though..

My first parts Caster started as a Squier Affinity strat. I wanted a nice baby blue color similar to the 1950's Fender reissued. UNFORTUNATELY, when I went to clear coat the freshly painted body, I mixed oil based clear coat with regular spray paint. It turned into an ugly mix of blue/seafoam green/yellowed mess.

Anyway, after partly sanding/repainting /resanding I landed on this "aged" look..

I dropped in a vintage noiseless set of pups and all it did was Humm and buzz and sound like shit. And I finally landed with this pickup..

So if you have read this far, KUDOS TO YOU! Thanks for letting me share!

Have a great day!