'24 Partscaster Project

[muttley]

No mate but browsing their stock they are similar to Aligree in that all those items are China made and imported. Not the finest items but normally perfectly serviceable. Pretty much all the items on ebay like that are from the same suppliers. If they come from Tiesco or Hosco etc them the seller would normally make a point of saying so.

[JD01]

Cool, it appears that unless I can luck into finding a 2nd hand Fender or Squire one for cheap, this is the sort of thing I'll be getting.

[WhiskeyJack]

That blue strat body turned up. Looks quite nice actually. Just deciding what scratchplate to get and I also have to get a neck. Then I'm gonna start routing it. I already have a Tele bridge pickup floating around which I can use to size the rout.

Hope you have a template or some guides...

Speaking from very recent experience.

[JD01]

I'm tempted to buy this one 'cos I love the Chinglish in the advert so much
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394965773931 ... p_homepage

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134894609019 ... p_homepage

[JD01]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134894609019 ... p_homepage

Was just looking at this one, the bottom of the neck appears to have been rounded off to fit in a strat neck pocket. @muttley what you think?

[muttley]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134894609019 ... p_homepage

Was just looking at this one, the bottom of the neck appears to have been rounded off to fit in a strat neck pocket. @muttley what you think?

Tele style headstock, Strat style heel.

As I've said before though, you wont know for sure how it sits until you mark out the scale length. One advantage is that the truss rod nut sits by the headstock which makes setup and adjustment a hell of a lot easier for casual techs etc.

[JD01]

Cool, I think I'll get that one then. Will hopefully mean a little less faff. The nut is likely shite, but a decent one won't cost much.

Tools, I think I need the following:
- Notched straight edge
- levelling beam
- crowning file
- fret polishing doo-dahs
- nut slotting files

[muttley]

Cool, I think I'll get that one then. Will hopefully mean a little less faff. The nut is likely shite, but a decent one won't cost much.

Tools, I think I need the following:
- Notched straight edge
- levelling beam
- crowning file
- fret polishing doo-dahs
- nut slotting files

You don't need a notched straight edge. They serve absolutely no purpose.
You can improvise a leveling beam.
Crowning files are useful.
Fret polishing you can do with 1000grit emery paper or OOOO steel wool in a pinch, Final polish by taping off and use a silver cloth or Silver Duraglit with fret guard.
There is no substitute for a decent set of nut files so spend your money on them if you are going to prioritise.

The nut will almost certainly be plastic but it may well be OK to use with a few tweaks and that will help you get a feel for the nut files which is a knack in itself.

[JD01]

Cheers, I thought a notched straight edge was essential to get it flat prior to levelling - I guess I can just eye it in.
What would I use to improvise a levelling beam.

Noted on the nut files - a properly cut nut is essential. I'll buy a few 'cos I'm bound to fuck it up a couple of times.

[JD01]

Just looking up nut slotting files... they seem to range from 10 quid a set to 120 quid for a set.

[muttley]

Cheers, I thought a notched straight edge was essential to get it flat prior to levelling - I guess I can just eye it in.
What would I use to improvise a levelling beam.

Noted on the nut files - a properly cut nut is essential. I'll buy a few 'cos I'm bound to fuck it up a couple of times.

Sorry mate, I missed this reply.

A notched straight edge is a luxury. You can visually see if the frets are all seated correctly and if they are you should be good. The actual timber on the fretboard isn't what you need to work on, you need to work on the frets. Ask yourself if the board is that out of true, do you have the time and energy to fix it? Also if you do then you have to pull the frets anyway.

Spend your cash on better nut files and a good crowning files, they are the tool critical specific bits. If I was to recommend a better, more useful tool it would be a diamond wet stone which if used carefully is the best fret leveller around. Don't just score a cheap one as they are often not dead flat. I have one that is true and fine and I've done thousands of boards with it and its also used all day for tool sharpening. It's as good today as it was 30 years ago.

A decent improvised levelling board can be any thing from a piece of float glass to a piece of rolled steel with sand paper double sided to it. Hell I've even used an old mobile phone with paper rolled over it in a pinch. Anything flat. Don't be sucked into buying or using one that is too long. They are for building not setting up. Between 6-8" long is all you need. Even an old flat bed plane is OK if a bit heavy but they work as they are flat. An old marble off cut, I have a bunch of those for various levelling jobs.

Making nuts is a learning process. I can send you some bone blanks if you know the exact width of the slot I can thickness it first for you. Nuts are non destructive though so you can have at making as many as you want and nothing lost but time and few quid and much gained in the learning. As you say, decent nut files will make it a whole lot more pleasurable and predictable.

Remember as far as tools go, buy the best you can afford, learn to use them correctly and care for them. Buy cheap buy twice. Good luck and enjoy.

[muttley]

I'm away next week in Portugal (oh how the retired live) but if you have any specific questions I will be checking in.

[CeeBee]

When you get it finished and strung up try this tweak:

[Lt. Bob]

When you get it finished and strung up try this tweak:

maybe ..... sounds pretty 'iffy' to moi although the first thing I thought was "is there [anyone that doesn't check and tighten the neck screws as a matter of habit?

[CeeBee]

It's free

[JD01]

Mutt, just ordered a neck.
Regarding positioning:
Logic is telling me that I should get my saddles to the mid-point of their adjustment, then measure the length from there to the nut, make sure its 25.5" and then, for completeness, make sure that my 12th fret lands exactly in the middle. Sound like the right idea?

I just realised that I'll also have to buy my bridge/trem... haven't done that yet, but I'll wait until the neck arrives from China first.
Reminds me, I need to get neck screws/plate

[muttley]

Mutt, just ordered a neck.
Regarding positioning:
Logic is telling me that I should get my saddles to the mid-point of their adjustment, then measure the length from there to the nut, make sure its 25.5" and then, for completeness, make sure that my 12th fret lands exactly in the middle. Sound like the right idea?

I just realised that I'll also have to buy my bridge/trem... haven't done that yet, but I'll wait until the neck arrives from China first.
Reminds me, I need to get neck screws/plate

Let me know what type of bridge you intend to fit. What you suggest is a good start point but I often tweak it a few mm depending on what strings, gauge and action are planned. Depending on the bridge you may well have enough travel to not worry too much.

[muttley]

It's free

It's not really a thing if the neck is installed properly. Those bolt on's would hold way more than the string tension without even thinking of budging if installed correctly. If it gives him an improved perception that's fine but in reality it wont make a blind bit of difference. Some people claim that it pulls the neck into the pocket tighter up against the end and provides more contact area, it doesn't. Even if it did it would have the opposite affect and reduce sustain as more energy would be transferred though greater surface coupling. That wouldn't really apply either. The only way to increase sustain/decay would be to send energy back down the string rather than it dissipate through the body and you do that at the bridge coupling. The pickups are your number one point of tone in an electric and second to that is choice of body wood and then bridge.

[JD01]

Mutt, just ordered a neck.
Regarding positioning:
Logic is telling me that I should get my saddles to the mid-point of their adjustment, then measure the length from there to the nut, make sure its 25.5" and then, for completeness, make sure that my 12th fret lands exactly in the middle. Sound like the right idea?

I just realised that I'll also have to buy my bridge/trem... haven't done that yet, but I'll wait until the neck arrives from China first.
Reminds me, I need to get neck screws/plate

Let me know what type of bridge you intend to fit. What you suggest is a good start point but I often tweak it a few mm depending on what strings, gauge and action are planned. Depending on the bridge you may well have enough travel to not worry too much.

Bridge... do you have a recommendation for a strat bridge that doesn't cost a fortune. I posted one a few pages back that I thought looked tidy.

[JD01]

@muttley will this be suitable:
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products ... ra-sustain

Or would this be better:
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products ... el-saddles

Mutt, these were the two I was looking at. I quite fancy fixing it with two big screws instead of the traditional 6 little ones, seems like it would be more stable