Partscaster Project

[astutzmann]

Here's my project, I have a tele style guitar, love the neck, not the body. Bridge is a fender vintage 3 saddle and I just wanted a change as well.

Here's some shots so far:

http://gallery.me.com/astutzmann#100300

So, I bought a warmoth body, gloss black and then I thought, hmmmmmmm, black, so I ordered all black parts, gloss black pickguard (ordered a black pearl as well, still trying to decide, right now black is it), black 6 saddle modern bridge, black plate, knobs, strap locks, etc.

I have gotten this far but have to wait for some black screws to come in, mostly pickup screws. I ordered 2 black knobs, but they only put 1 on the order, so have to wait for that as well.

The cost adds up, this started out as a body replacement....now I even bought black locking tuners for it and black graphite tree string.

I like the pickups I have for it, they are Bill Lawrence keystones.

I was just going thru my stuff and realized I have a G&L Legacy bridge pup laying around (my legacy has a DiMarzio in the bridge) and the stupid question of the day is, could I and should I put that pup into the neck of the partscaster? Just a thought. hmmmm

I'll keep adding pics to this. With the screws in, I should be able to finish it up in no time.

I thought the soldering was going to be an issue, no problem.

Alf

[darwinohm]

Alf, My kind of project. One caution however, this body looks like it is drilled for a vintage 4 bolt bridge. If this is true the modern bridge will not fit without a fair amount of modifications as it is 3 bolt mount and the string holes come through the body in a different place. If you run into this issue and have not done it before contact me in a PM and I will show you how I have done it. Maybe you are already aware of this. Great project.--- Darwin.

[astutzmann]

Hi Darwin:

Thanks for your post, yes I was worried about that and I ordered this bridge, should work fine, thanks,

http://www.allparts.com/Black-6-Saddle- ... 30-003.htm obviously I ordered the lefty version. So a modern bridge with vintage mounting and thru body strings. I lined it up and it will work perfect. I also bought black ferrels for the back.

I also ordered a book on guitar setup, intonation, etc and that should help me when I go to re-install and setup the saddles.

[astutzmann]

I was also thinking of these, have you tried them, do you think they would make a difference?

http://www.allparts.com/Graph-Tech-Stri ... 22-00g.htm

[darwinohm]

Alf, it looks like you have done your homework. That is a vintage mount modern bridge. I didn't know that anyone even made them. I would probably use the saddles supplied with the bridge unless you find a reason to change them. This will be a fun one!!! -- Darwin

[blargfromouterspace]

Sounds good, Alf. I agree that the cost adds up pretty quickly, especially when you have to have things sent to Australia

That original body looks interesting, what is it made from?

I have Bill Lawrence pickups in my parts-o-caster too, the twin blades, and they're fantastic. You might have trouble fitting the Legacy pickup into the neck route on a tele body, but if it fits it's worth a shot I thought it might make a nice middle pickup, giving you a neat 'Nashville' tele...

[astutzmann]

that's a great idea as well, hmmmm

The original body is black cherry, solid, 1 3/4 inches thick, very heavy

[astutzmann]

I've gotten a little bit further on the partscaster.
http://gallery.me.com/astutzmann#100300

Its soooo easy to scratch a black gloss finish, I put a big scratch in the pickguard, just cleaning it with a cloth............ Still missing the screws for the bridge pickup and the black nuts and knobs for the pots.

The parts I ordered over three weeks ago, some came in today, ugh. Getting stuff from the US to Canada is so slow.

I also decided I would take the old body, sand and fill it, cut a better angle for my arm (takes some of the weight out as well). Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but have this crazy thought (got the idea from the leftyfrets forum, so not my own), to take it to a car repair place and have them paint it in metal flake, make orange or blue metal flake and then if it turns out, perhaps assemble another guitar, ha.

Anyone know how to remove the Ferruls in the back?

[blargfromouterspace]

You can most likely buff the scratches in the finish out with some wet/dry sandpaper.

Definitely go with the metal flake idea!

Those ferrules are (well, should) only be held in by friction, so a pair of pliers and some brute force should do it. Mind you, when I installed mine it took some hefty blows with a hammer... You could try inserting something long and metal throught the hole in the top of the body and knocking them out if pliers don't work. Someone might know a gentler way, but that's how I'd do it. If you're refinishing the body you don't need to worry about dings/scratches.

[astutzmann]

good idea thanks

[astutzmann]

Well, its assembled. I must have bought every black screw type there is and still couldn't find the screws that hold the bridge pickup, so they will still stay chrome for now.

You can see more shots of it with the url above but here it is for now,



the back



Just put the strings on and it plays. Solder job must have been ok, both pups. I love the sound, much better than the old body,

tomorrow, setup for action, tonation, pickup height, then she should be good to go.

I learned a ton doing this project. A strat with floating trem would scare me at this point. I also learned that when it comes to this stuff, I'm a bruiser, not a fine detailed guy. I put some scratches on it, etc, should have had more patience and taken my time. I will have to buff them out......

Thanks for watching,

what's next????

Alf

[yowhatsshakin]

Good looking guitar Alf I also like the color of the back of the neck with the black.

- Jos

[darwinohm]

Alf, this thing is really shaping up!! I like the color of the neck. A suggestion on the pickup screws, I paint my own. All you need to do is color match them and do it with a fine brush after the setup. The choices are gloss, matte or flat black depending on what everything else is painted.-- Darwin

[astutzmann]

Hi Darwin:

Yes, was thinking of that, makes a lot more sense. Now I have a container of black screws and still not the right ones.

The bridge worked out great. Looking forward to finishing the setup.

[blargfromouterspace]

Nice job Alf So what is next then?

[astutzmann]

Damn, you had to ask, lol

Well, I was working on the old body (black cherry) and was going to paint it or something, but this alder body already sounds so much better. All the tin like sound from the guitar is gone, no more hurting my eardrums on the higher strings.

So, it goes to show, that wood type does effect tone, if the wood is dramatically different. I probably wouldn't be able to tell between ash and alder, but black cherry and alder, huge.

So, I think for another project, I'll take my time and look for an unfinished Tele body, perhaps some kind of saddle lock bridge, paint it metal flake, was thinking blue, gold, orange but when I saw Darwin's candy red, wow, red metal flake might be the way to go. Love the binding on that one as well.

This time I will probably order a neck from Warmoth, am very very curious to see what a compound radius neck feels like.

I'm going to be in florida next month and plan to visit Jerry's Lefty Guitar shop and hopefully try some of his amazing guitars, I particularily want to try an Anderson, Suhr, etc and feel the difference.

Then I'll decide, nice summer project.

[MAP70]

Alf, I know this is an old thread.. but I did a partscaster last year with a Warmouth compound radius neck... It is one the most comfortable necks I have played... I was wondering how the keystones worked out, I am thinking of replacing my stock Legacy Tribute pickups with them.... I have some Wilde Pickups in my Partscaster (L-500's and L248S) and I love them... great stuff at a great price... Bill Lawrence was a master.

Mark

[NickHorne]

WAS a master?!
I hadn't heard. But just went looking and found Becky's post at the Bill Lawrence site. And Bill's gone.
How very sad this is.

[Elwood]

WAS a master?!
I hadn't heard. But just went looking and found Becky's post at the Bill Lawrence site. And Bill's gone.
How very sad this is.

News to me too. Sigh.

[MAP70]

Yeah it was a bummer to hear.. hopefully Becky keeps producing his pickups... They are so reasonably priced compared to alot of boutique stuff.... My pickups are killer... and I think the set cost me $180 or so??? The keystones are about $90...

Mark

[astutzmann]

love the keystones, they sound great, no desire to change them!

[MAP70]

That's what I figured.... Do you like them better than the G&L USA Stuff??

Mark

[astutzmann]

well, they are top notch....I can't really compare against G&L as I only have a blues boy, so only the tele bridge...

I wouldn't doubt the G&Ls are awesome in an asat. Others will have to comment on that.

I will say one thing though, I changed the body on the parts caster because the black cherry wood made the keystones screech! With the alder, they sound fantastic, so maybe a softer wood is not the way to go with them.

[MAP70]

Thanks for the replly, I think I will see what the stock pups sound like and then make a decision, but I can't go wrong with Bill's stuff..

Mark