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Guitarnut - Stratelecaster


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once I saw it was one of your build I knew i was going to like it. that thing it sweet! I love how deep the sunburst is, Its not you run of the mill sunburst and it adds to the effect. I think its the most successful combination of two great body styles i've seen.

you do so many builds in such a short time with compromising quality, great work.

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once I saw it was one of your build I knew i was going to like it. that thing it sweet! I love how deep the sunburst is, Its not you run of the mill sunburst and it adds to the effect. I think its the most successful combination of two great body styles i've seen.

you do so many builds in such a short time with compromising quality, great work.

Thanks! I hope you meant without compromising quailty. :D

Peace,

Mark

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Just a quick update. I have all the clear coats sprayed. I've been very happy with the way the EmTech water based lavquer lays down...just beautifil. It sprays like nitro, flows out smoothly, and cures very quickly. Of course, I've added a bit of help in the curing dept.

I hang the guitars in my studio closet and I've placed a small space heater ( no extention cords involved...keeping it safe) in there with them...it keeps the room at about 100 degrees F. That coupled with the dry air indoors from the A/C really help the spraying schedule.

I spray 2 double coats, place them in the hot room for an hour, spray 2 more and so on. It's been great. And when they come out of the room for another few coats, they're quite warm and the coats flash very quickly...allowing the double coat process to go very quick without fear of sags or runs.

This will also allow me to speed up the cure time...normally fully cured in 100 hours. I used this hot room on my $210 Challenge entry and buffed it out the next day...only 20 hours after the final coats were sprayed.

all07.jpg

Now I just need to wait a few days for "baking" and they will all be ready for buffing.

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Nice work. I'm gathering stuff for my first build (a Strat hopefully). Do you have a paint booth for your finishing? The finish quality looks fantastic.

Paul

Hi Paul. Thanks!

I just spray out in the garage. I've been using a spray gun for many years, so I have a little practice in on getting things to lay down the way I want them to. It sort of runs in the family. My older brother is an airbrush artist. He does race cars and helmets down in Alabama.

Patience is the best tool you can have when it comes to finishing. Spraying is just like anything else; practice, practice, practice...there's likely gonna be some stripping, sanding and cursing in the middle of it all though.

Peace,

Mark

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I got started on buffing this morning. I started with 1000 grit, then 2000 grit wet sanding. Then buffed with fine ColorTone compound. I switched from my small buffer to a foam pad. It worked beautifully. It took only seconds before I had a smooth mirror shine...something the small buffer took much longer to accomplish.

I was sanding/buffing 4 guitars this morning, so this is only to fine compound. I need to make a pass with swirl remover and then hand polish.

fin01.jpg

fin02.jpg

Peace,

Mark

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I started assembly on this one today.

I;m going with the Guitar Fetish Super Strat wiring kit. I've the pickguard and kit sitting on a shelf for over a year now. I figured since this is a cross between two models of very different sounds, why not give it the widest range of sounds I could without buying another wiring kit.

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I had to do a fair amount of sanding on the neck heel and pocket to get it sit there properly...I'll have to rebuff the heel once I get it all tweaked in.

fin09.jpg

I hope to get it finished today.

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Well, after a day of shoveling dirt, grilling burgers and a brief afternoon nap, I was able to get this one wired up this evening. I'm not diggin' the switches...guess it takes some getting used to. It's a nice look. I just need some practice with them.

I'll post some sound clips tomorrow. I still need to set up the bridge and file the nut.

fin10.jpg

fin11.jpg

fin12.jpg

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fin15.jpg

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Here we go... audio of the Stratelecaster.

Setup:

Line 6 FlexTone II, a bit of reverb and some delay. Gating and compression on the dirty lead parts.

Single SM57 slightly off axis about 6" out

Helixboard 18 pres into Cubase SX3

I threw these together in the hour that I had to myself this evening. I realized after the fact that the pre on my I/O converter might have been a bit hot. Still. you get a good feel for how it sounds. I don't have the phase side of the switches hooked up yet so this is the 9 main sounds of the switch combos. I only did each of the 3 PUs on the dirty lead parts...ran out of time.

The PUs (StewMac Golden Age) have a nice dynamic range. You can hear in the rhythm clips that the picked notes articulate nicely, then the strummed chords break up the amp pretty good. They have plenty of power for the dirty stuff and back off nicely for the clean parts.

Rhythm

Bridge

Middle

Neck

Bridge-Middle

Middle-Neck

Bridge-Neck

All

Clean Lead

Bridge

Middle

Neck

Bridge-Middle

Middle-Neck

Bridge-Neck

All

Dirty Lead

Bridge

Middle

Neck

Peace,

Mark

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You are seriously bending my mind with the pickguard/body shape combo! :D

Nice work!

Thanks Geo!

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the bending, warping, breaking or otherwise misshaping of one's mind. Such occurances are the result of one's complete immersion into all things guitar. There is no known cure. :D

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Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the bending, warping, breaking or otherwise misshaping of one's mind. Such occurances are the result of one's complete immersion into all things guitar. There is no known cure. :D

True... I have no one to blame but myself for my warped mind. :D

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