mistermikev

love the body shape... reminds me of the neal schon jackson which i always loved.  I am not crazy about the headstock... just don't feel like it matches the beauty of the rest of the design.  Just one a-holes opinion so take it with a grain of salt.

oops, missed the link.  nice call curtisa.

A) yes this can certainly be done and is quite simple. 

B ) my advice would be - just think of it like any other strat.  if you aren't going to wire in any switching on the pickup... you could use any strat diagram you are comfy with.  you just need to wire the humbucker in series (for seymour I believe this will be black is live wire, red and white get wired together and taped off, green and bare to ground). 

Now... your humbucker is just like any other single coil... black is your live - put it where a std strat wiring bridge live is(red in diagram below), and green/bare is your ground - put it where the std single coil ground is(black in diagram below). 

note, that as a humbucker, this will not cancel hum in pos 2 like a normal strat.  you could do that by wiring in an auto split on the second half of the 5 way switch but to keep things simple for now lets just assume you don't want that. 

reference wire colors:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/humbucker-wire-color-translation

std strat wires:

https://diagramart.com/products/electric-guitar-wiring-standard-strat-fender-switch-electric-circuit

love how the little circle makes a mirrored offset circle.  v nice.

looking good.  def appreciate that mahog... just a really nice piece there.

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

That last photo really brings it out.  It looks lovely

thank you sir!  def some subtleties to the top/finish - hard to get pics of.

2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

Looks great, I would like to see a closeup of that binding that gave you so much stick 

Thank you AD... will get some sunlight photos this weekend and will try to capture it better.

3 minutes ago, ZekeB said:

Mike that looks great.  Its going to have some great stage presence.

Thank you @ZekeB!  My wife says this is the one she likes best so far due to the color scheme... def very warm!

here's the current state of things: working on the wiring... have some touch ups to do on the fret slot edges... and nut isn't glued down.  def need to work up some better pictures... the rosewood on the pickup covers is hard to capture.

It's interesting how a little difference in neck profile and finish (no binding) can make for a noticeable difference in feel.  This is sort of a rounded C profile... and it feels fenderish... but with a 12" radius it plays sort of fast... my mind can't quite reconcile the two!

Anywho, been a long journey but I can see the finish line:

I like the fact that there is no epoxy through the center area... not because of tone/strength, but it just looks better to me.  nice work.

wow, don't take this wrong at all: I love it... my first impression is it's like a rickenbacker had sex with an eko.  really great retro vibe there.  nicely done.

1 minute ago, Frankdemariany said:

Okay great thanks! I have a lot to do but am excited. Is it cool if I post the progress when I begin? 

I'm guessing the general consensus among regulars here would be "go for it". 

13 hours ago, curtisa said:

The 'Epiphone' logo is more likely to be a decal. It should sand off once you get through the clear coat layers. Epiphone are unlikely to have invested time and labour on an inlay job for the logo on the headstock.

I think I stand corrected.  I was thinking of my es295... i think it has inlay anyway... but relooking at this special... likely just paint/decal.  good call curtisa.

def that fender logo is not genuine... looks like the typical diy waterslide.  headstock def doesn't seem to have come from the std fender neck as mentioned.  my guess is someone rebranded something else - just fair warning: fender has been known to give forum admins a hard time about displaying pics of guitars that are branded with their name that are not obviously made by them. 

afa switches... you aren't likely to find a diagram for this exact variation, and even if you did find one for 6 switches you couldn't be sure these 6 are doing the sm.  you could take it apart and analyze them but not sure it'd be worth it.  personally, I would find it hard to remember how to get back to a sound I liked but it def would have flexibility and to each his/her own.  you want to take it apart and post lots of pics - assuming it's not a rats nest - probably could give you an idea of what's going on.  I'm guessing 3 of those switches are on/off for individual pickups... the other 3 could be phase, perallel/series, split... any number of things.  If the wiring is problematic... probably better off starting from "what would I like it to do" than to try and reverse engineer (I shudder using that term here... but it's somewhat appropriate) .  If it were mine I'd buy all new electronics and rewire it.  you can spray pot cleaner on pots but there is some grease from the factory that will be cleaned out when you do that... that grease collects dust and prevents scratchy pots... removing it will usually result in a scratchy pot a few weeks down the line.

not likely.  it's probably inlay so it'd require you to lam a new piece of ebony or paint over.

16 minutes ago, Frankdemariany said:

Gotcha. And do you think there is a white or grey base under it?

i honestly do not know.  not sure why it would matter.  either way I'd put down some primer of a different color, do some sanding to see where hi and low spots are... get it smooth... primer a final time and paint.

in my case... I don't think it's consistent enough to really qualify as 'desireable'... but it's close.   I could def see finding a piece with some more of it and liking it for a front.  def pretty for a back.  will have to take a look at the rest of my stock of it and see if there are any more spots (the first blank had none).

15 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Now that you mention it....

I'm beginning to believe this is somewhat common to ash.

SR

I've seen it a few times around here for sure.  kind of something to watch out for if you are trying to do a finished side.  then again, it's pretty in its own way.

not sure I'd try sanding thru the stickers if that's what you mean.  they'll gum up and ruin lots of sandpaper.  since you are going to refinish anyway... I'd use some goo gone and peal/clean it first.  No obvious chips so... should be pretty good candidate to leave the finish and just paint over. 

easily one of the best headstock designs ever.  love yours.  the curve at the end is not only beautiful but I bet it makes that headstock very rigid.  form AND function... nice.

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

I was looking in the middle.....never saw a thing.

SR

thank you for the feedback.  I'm fairly happy with it.  Did you see those X in the grain?  kind of faint... but it looks like chain link fence.

tru dat.  all part of that measure twice, cut once school of thought. 

this template is especially complex because I'm trying to set it up to where I can make one template and be able to do a thinline, and a deluxe,,, so 4 knob + toggle vs 2 knob + 3way... tremolo bridge vs tom style.  lot going on!  Every time I step away for a sec and come back I think of some new detail I need to re-work... so until I run out of new thoughts... keep iterating!

stu I'm reading your post while I was working on my drawing at the 'template level'... I was thinking I might take a look at the f hole with this style but smaller - like you suggested - just to see how it looks... but my photoshop template is setup such that it isn't easy to switch back and forth between this view and my template view... so I'll have to revisit that. 

I'm not sure a smooth straight line headstock is what I'm after... but you've made me start thinking about another thing I might try to lock it all together - so thanks for that!

I very much appreciate your feedback.

I think I'm using this for the back of one... and it will be black stain... so it probably doesn't matter anyway... but yeah, I think your right side arrow is pointing right at the grain I was looking at.  it tapers out about 2" from the edge.  I think I see what you mean on the left... the lighter grain of the top piece stops abruptly.

hmm... it's funny, we are looking at the same sort of artifact but I think I'm seeing it in a different place.  I'm seeing exactly what you are describing... but not on the left.