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Drak Build: Oak Body Super-Satch


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So I've been playing musical chairs with the various Floyd builds I have in progress at the moment.

Swapping guards around, swapping pickups, etc.

I decided to take the pickguard from what was going to be my Satch build (from 3 years ago, never completed) and swap it over to my Oak Floyd build.

I absolutely Adore the yellow leopard guard on the Oak body.

Why is it a Super-Satch?

It has a Fred in the bridge and a Satch Track in the neck, so that establishes the median line of a Satch build.

Where I blow the doors off and race to the victory line to claim my prize is:

This is an active EMG harness build, so it has mids-boost function and clean-up function tone knobs.

We'll take those harmonic overtones of the Fred and just push the hell out of 'em, right on board.

Super-surprise No. 2:

The middle pickup is a Fast Track 2, the absolute hottest rail-type HB DiMarzio makes. Around 17k worth of hawt.

So, I'm changing the functions of how most people look at the middle pickup.

I'm making it an alternate secondary bridge option, not a secondary neck option.

I've got it wired to a push-pull knob for series/parallel operation, so in series, it's like having another (and tonally different) Lead Tone from the Fred.

And in parallel, it blends with the Satch Track neck and performs the more 'normal' function of a middle pickup.

Incredibly, ridiculously versatile instrument.

The Super-Satch.

So this was the first body for the pickguard, which I still have, and I still like.

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So that's where we left off, the regular Tele got finished and I needed a few Floyd-specific parts which I just got.

So now we continue the story of the Super-Satch!

I finished the finish on the neck, installed the tuners and locking nut.

I never gloss-out the finish on the back of the neck, I go to 1800 and quit there.

The headstock goes all the way to gloss tho.

These are cheap lockers, but so what, its got a locking nut, hahaha!

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OK, OK, so I chickened out on the leopard guard (again!)

This (brown tort) guard is permanent, its mounted, mostly wired, and installed.

I installed the neck as well and it's 95% wired and very close to done now.

Whatever you do, Don't Touch that Black Knob! 😆😆

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5 hours ago, Drak said:

OK, OK, so I chickened out on the leopard guard (again!)

Whew! There was a lot going on with that one in place.

Are you actually left handed, or are those posed shots where you take the pic with the camera in your right hand? I'm pretty sure I haven't seen you build a left handed guitar....

SR

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1 hour ago, ScottR said:

Are you actually left handed, or are those posed shots where you take the pic with the camera in your right hand?

I'm pretty sure I haven't seen you build a left handed guitar....

I had to think about this for a very long minute, and I'm still not sure I 'have it'.

Like, how could you tell which hand I use to take pics with?

But Yes, I AM (primarily) left-handed!

I'm primarily left-handed ...but do several things naturally right-handed.

And I could never do whatever it 'is', the other way around, I have no choice in the matter.

I throw left-handed, but bat right handed. And I could never throw right handed, nor bat left-handed. Never.

Told you I was schizoid, I wasn't kidding, haha!

But...how did you pick up on that, I'm fascinated how you observed that...

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27 minutes ago, Drak said:

Like, how could you tell which hand I use to take pics with?

 

27 minutes ago, Drak said:

But...how did you pick up on that, I'm fascinated how you observed that...

It began with the airbrush action shot, and was sealed with the shot of you rasping the neck. Both shots show you working with your left hand, which by default means you took the picks with your right hand.....or had an accomplice.

SR

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  • 1 month later...

So I decided to alter the Super-Satch and add an Afterburner to the assembly.

This came about as I was pondering options for the Sonic Crayon and deciding/balancing options between the two.

So, apart it comes.

This is the pickguard 'part'.

Pickups - DiMarzio Cruiser in the neck (5k), DiMarzio Fast Track 2 in the middle (17k full out), DiMarzio Fred (10.5k) in bridge.

5-way Schaller 'E' model megaswitch, P/P tone pot (coil splits the Fast Track), and the EMG RPC on the pickguard.

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That then gets screwed down to the body, then the rest of the show gets 'dealt with'.

Additional EMG SPC and Afterburner pre-amp.

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Finished up the wiring, everything checked out A-OK. Strung it up and damn, this thing is a Rawk Machine!

I thought the combination of the Oak and the Floyd may wind up thin-sounding, but not even close. WIN.

And I love the imperfect and distressed finish, I could care less if it gets banged up a bit.

The bridge (Fred) is 10.5K, the middle pkp is a Fast Track 2 which logs in at 16.8K and sounds hotter than the Fred.

Which, really, was the plan all along, to utilize the middle pkp to get two different lead rock tones. It worked.

I have the Fast Track on a P/P coil split so I can tame it down when I want, and that worked out perfectly too.

You turn that Fast Track on and engage the Afterburner, you better Stand The Hell Back!

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