r/partscaster

The Gemini pickups make this sound fantastic!

Been working on this since January. Ran into a lot of problems with the body but I'm happy how they resolved. Hardest part was getting 3 wire neck pickup through the narrow vintage sized routes. Used a mojotone solderless convertible harness, I think eventually I'll use a soldered harness, the connectors seem kind of sus to me. Love the neck lacquer and fit my repair shop did, really good resonance and no gaps. Pickguard from Etsy was a great find. Some what desensitized drilling holes into the guitar after completing my first project.

I recently acquired a neck that was from a Carvin Bolt kit from back in the day and I am trying to find a body to do a build with it. It has an ebony board with larger stainless steel frets and a 14 in radius. My first inclination is to build a super strat but I am open to all suggestions. I don’t mind a raw wood body, I am getting good with tru oil. What body style and brand would you recommend?

MJT body from Facebook marketplace, came with mystery hot bridge pickup and fender bridge. Antiquity neck pick up taken out of a player tele being un upgraded. Allparts V neck bought from a friend who parted out his tele. Gotoh in tune saddles and the klusons are the only new part.

The relic body wasn’t my first choice but you can’t beat cheap.

Second hand body from GuitarBuild UK
Second hand neck from Guy Butterlin, a French luthier: quatersawn maple and ebony fretboard, inox frets.
Mojo Charlie Christian Jetson for neck and Mojo Dual Blade Charlie Christian for bridge = huge note clarity!
CTS pots, Kluson deluxe tuners and Gotoh hardware.
Pickguard is a cheap one from WD Music, in Orange Wildcat, I love it!

Very pleased by the sound and playability (will change the 3 way switch spot though, I did not have a lot of room as pots holes were already drilled… so I will have to drill the body elsewhere)

Hi guys , i have recently retired my custom guitar from a local builder here in italy after almost 8 months of waiting. This instrument is everything that I was missing from my other instrument ( which is an actual fender stratocaster AVRI 70 from 2011 , you can see it on the last pic).

I would like to start from the beggining: why didn’t i just buy a Fender ?
Well , the answer is not that easy. I’m a huge fan of the company, but not in the last few years. Back in the days the AVRI was basically a step lower than the custom shop, basically one of the best instrument I could buy on their catalog. Just 1700€ at the time (crazy).
That guitar is more that 2k now ( and they do not make a 70 white strat with rosewood fingerboard anyway).
So in this economy everything is more expensive, but i wouldn’t care about spending more if I actually HAVE MORE BACK from the company , but it’s not happening .

This guitar basically is the better version I would say of Fender’s Suhr-killer , the american ultra luxe vintage , which is sold at 3500 k euro/dollar.
I went crazy for that guitar but i was not feeling good about spending that much, so i had the crazy idea to contact this guy in Venice and started a project with him.
This guitar has some good specs :
\- american 2-pieces alder body
\- roasted maple neck (1 piece) with compound radius from 9.5 to 12
\-indian rosewood fingerboard
\- tusc nut
\- 22 stainless steel frets with pearl inlays
\- hand wounded pickups from an other guy who worked with vintage stratocasters for his own life, with a very modern blend features ( so i have tele’s tone too)
\- gold hardware, gold locking tuner, gold tremolo, everything made in japan from gotoh
\- 3 nitro colors (white, shoreline gold and black) with a over-relic finishing on the body, and a little bit too on the back of the neck)
\- hard case included

I didn’t make that list as a flex, which considering the price and the FUCKING SOUND OF IT actually it is a little bit, but the real deal is that: should i feel bad about this ?
Should I feel bad about not supporting the original design and company who made the stratocaster what it is today ? Because i can’t give an damn thing about reading “Fender” on that headstock. I feel a little bad for having the headstock too with the original design, which makes this guitar a very boderline replica . But look at it, Fender would never build something like this . And it’s not something crazy.

Fender are even starting to sue every boutique builder or any brand that copy the design of the strat but i see that as a very coward move to not have any competitors on the market, which actually is parallely very rich in good alternatives, in particular if you’re looking for some specific specs that Fender don’t do.

So the topic isn’t about the guitar, is about the context and what makes me doing this project.
What do you guys think ? Is this on of the worst era for guitars? Higher prices, no innovations. Should really players keep spending their money just to have a Fender ?

Picked it up from one of the many guitar wizards here in Nashville. Malinoski gold foil single coil in the neck and a Roswell Charlie Christian in the bridge. Absolutely obliterating my Tele right now.

The first time ever… i hold a soldering iron in my own hands. 😅

my favorite guitar build ❤️

I don't even know what to call this beauty of mine.

The base was a Fender Standard BTB Made In Indonesia, while i was aware that the Player II was a much better choice, for then only 199€ more, but to me it was too good for all the parts that i wanted replaced.

I started with swapping the bridge for a Highway One 3 Saddle bridge, so i could also put an ashtray on it.

I swapped the ceramic pickups for a set of TexMex Alnico V Pickups, where i added a Baseplate on the Bridge Pickup and staggered the Pole pieces. And mounted the neck pickup to the body.

I swapped the pickguard for a Carmedon "Rad Paisley" 3 Ply pickguard, which now has 2 holes at the neck pickup i don't need. And some colour started to wear on the place i rest my fingers while playing.

I replaced the stock tuning machines for ClassicGear Tuners. I took off the big ass screw plates, and put smaller ones on, for a more "vintage", and IMO sleaker look.

The really pale, satin finished maple fretboard was replaced with a roasted maple neck with narrow-tall frets and gloss finish on the fretboard and headstock and satin finish on the back.

I cleaned up the cheap indonesian wiring, after learning to solder in like one week, and replaced the weird 3 way switch they used, with a more traditional fender 3 way switch, and put on a Top Hat style switch tip. I also replaced the weird green asian capacitors with an orange drop .047 Cap, and changed the wiring to the vinage dark circuit wiring with a .1 Cap in the front position.

It's got a lot of half authentic half self induced "roadwear/relicing", where i put some woodpaint on, so it looks more like swamp ash, and not the 3-piece Poplar that it is. (luckily im not a big TOnEwoOd guy)

Im currently thinking about replacing the pickguard with a 1-ply white 5 hole pickguard, to make it actually look more like a whiteguard Tele (which it, due to its steel saddles, staggered Alnico V bridge pickup, vintage wiring and body-mounted neck pickup it functionally already is).

I really like the current pickguard, but i kinda grew to find it unfitting, especially now with the 2 extra unfilled holes, and wearing off design.

Let me hear your thoughts, and i know i made some questionable decisions.

When I bought this Vester Tele, it already had the Wilkinson bridge and B/G bender installed. I wasn’t really into the neck, and the electronics were a bit sketchy, but I liked the look of the body (alder). So I decided to use it as a project guitar and learn more about all the different parts by taking everything apart and rebuilding it.

Really happy with how it turned out, feels like “my” guitar, and it plays great.

Happy to share more info on the parts if anyone is interested. I also made some before/after sound samples, which mostly highlight the pickup swap. The bridge pickup sounds a lot fuller and smoother to me now, not the ice-pick sound of the original. The neck pickup changed less, but has a bit more articulation and clarity to me, great for that jazzy sound.

So far I’m not totally sold on the 4th position with the pickups in parallel, but maybe I’ll find a use for it eventually.

Hi 👋 everyone!
Here my two teles (left is Bariton) !! Both great partscasters (telepartes 🤔), but what I want to bring to discussion is the slanted switch position. To me is the only obligatory upgrade all Teles need! (Middle in a gig and try to come back from the bridge p.u…. And not achieving it was enough reason to do this)

Always wanted to build a Partscaster, so I kind of did my own version of the 75th Anniversary American Professional Custom burst with gold hardware, but a green burst.
Oh, and a black pickguard just like my 30-year-old Strat.

Single-bound, vintage-routed body from Guitar Fetish. Vintage spec 7.25in radius neck from Mighty Mite (both surprisingly great quality, btw).
Vintage-fit modern bridge from Stewmac. Locking tuners from Guyker. Tone Shaper wiring kit with a treble bleed and 250k pots.

Right this second, it has a temporary Guitar Fetish pickup at the bridge and a $20 Wilkerson pickup at the neck. They actually both sound pretty good for cheap pickups, but I've got a DiMarzio Twang King neck and Pre B-1 bridge on the way.

Except that I should have just bought the DiMarzios in the first place, couldn't be happier with how this build came out.

Took everything I love from my other guitars and built one perfect guitar. Jesus I can’t believe how amazing this thing is.

- Roasted Ash Body with Satin Finish
- Asymmetrical Roasted Flame Maple Neck with Ebony Macassar compound radius fretboard, jumbo stainless steel frets and large headstock, finished with two light applications of Tru-Oil
- DiMarzio AirNorton (N) and ToneZone (B) pickups wired Split-On-Off for each switch

Old hardtail squire white strat( when i got it it was as white as the Picard, but after two years sitting in a case in the dark, it yelled), 24 inch scale, custom neck, Seymour Duncan, antiquities, custom wiring, Charvel strap, custom, locking heads, Floyd Rose style blocking nut and it screams!

Today I received my shell pink relic body and I used copper tape the first time. Is this acceptable? I tried to cover every surface where electronics would be.

I got rid of the Harley Benton chunky neck in favour of this roasted maple neck. Straight and comfortable it plays great, I'm happy to see her back in the game (locking tuners coming soon too).