The Sweet Spot - Blue
MATERIALS:
- Neck is flamed maple sourced locally from Superior Hardwoods
- The body back is 1 piece khaya mahog sourced locally from Peterman Lumber
- The top is 1/4" quilted maple I got from Downhomewoods
- The fretboard and headstock overlay are gabon ebony from Allenguitar
- Mother Of Pearl inlays were pendants I bought on Etsy
SPECS: 25" scale length | 12" radius | set neck | 17 degree headstock | heel adjust via fretboard | 30" radius top | Tru Oil finish
PARTS...
PICKUPS: a mix from 3 different handwound sets from Bootstrap Pickups.
CONTROLS: 1 volume, 1 rotary 6 way, and a push-pull active-mid-boost. Bourns pots, oak Grigsby switch, Stew Mac 6 way, Switchcraft jack
FUNCTIONALITY: 6 way mode switch serves up all sorts of parallel/series and inside/outside combos... approximating Tele, Strat, Les Paul and PRS like sounds.
TRUSS ROD: Allied Lutherie spoke wheel double-action
TREMOLO: Gotoh/Wilkinson VS100 2 point
TUNERS: Sperzel trim lock
FRETWIRE: Evo gold medium jumbo
NUT: Graph Tech TusqXL
AMATEUR/PROFESSIONAL...
I build for the love of it. Building is my "shelter from the storm", my therapy (about the SM price and a better value IMHO)!
This is scratch build #3 for me, so in short... I'm all amateur!
BACKGROUND...
I have some woodworking experience as a young man, have built 10 or more partscasters.
BUILD LOCALE...
This was built mostly in my garage... assembled in my home office, and finished mostly in my kitchen (thank you honey and sorry about the table)!
BUILD GOALS...
This was built for me... I wanted to pick features that would challenge me (nailed it!).
The radius top, the binding that would move in two dimensions, the truss access via the fretboard - these were all things I had never done before and wasn't sure I could do. There were times I wanted to ask questions, but forced myself to think on it and see if I could solve it. There were times I gave up and asked for help (BINDING among others!).
Fortunately, when I've stumbled, many of the members here have lifted me up, encouraged me, and even cheered me on!
Thank you all!
INSPIRATION...
I've wanted to do a 4 pickup strat for a long time. The idea festered in my mind for a while and finally worked it's way out!
My favorite positions on a Strat are 2 and 4... aka the "sweet spots", but I also like a high output bridge pickup and hum cancelling for when I do heavier noodling.
I've tried higher output bridge singles in a Strat but that seems to compromise the mixing of the coils (the higher output coil always dominating).
I've put in a Strat sized humbucker, but they don't sound as good split.
I've used a full sized humbucker with two singles, but it feels like you compromise that Strat 2 position a bit.
All perfectly great solutions by the way.
I chose to compromise a little more on the humbucker sound (after all, there is the physical separation and the magnetic poles instead of bar mags). I felt like there might be less compromise in terms of the Strat 2/4 sounds with a four single coil setup.
SEE MY BUILD THREAD BY CLICKING HERE
VIDEO DEMONSTRATION (click play below - would love your feedback!):
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