The Partscaster Thread
Discussion
I notice there’s no Partscaster thread on here so I thought I’d start one. I case you don’t know what a Partscaster is, I suppose one definition might be – “a guitar consisting of parts that did not leave the factory together,” or similar. And there are so many people out there selling really nice parts, that it would be a crying shame not to buy them and turn them into working instruments again.
I want to see yours, but first, I’ll start the ball rolling with some of mine.
First up, these two Mexican Classic Strats.
I saw this Classic 60’s on eBay and just had to have it. Shell Pink was the rarest Fender Custom Color originally (only in the catalogue from 1960 to 63, when Candy Apple Red replaced it) and is not that prolific on reissues either.
Then a couple of months later this Classic 50’s in Fiesta Red came up, and again I pressed the trigger.
Then I had a thought. I’ve had several 50’s Strats in Fiesta Red (these are quite common; probably the Hank Marvin influence), but never a 60’s one. Fender never did a Mexican one, the Japanese ones are as rare as hen’s teeth, and the US ones out of my price range. Just a minute, I thought, I’ve got a 60’s Strat … why not just swap bodies?
So to cut a long story short – I did! The maple neck looked absolutely drop-dead gorgeous on the pink one.
Unfortunately, a spell of poverty meant I had to have another of those culls that afflict me from time to time, so the pink one had to go. I managed to hang on to the red one, though, and have it to this day.
This is still my favourite guitar and sounds magnificent – although the fact that I have since fitted Fender 57/62 pickups, Callaham steel trem block and 12-52 strings may have something to do with that.
OK moving forward a little in time and things improved so I was able once more to indulge my hobby. My two MIM Classics had whetted my appetite (opened the floodgates more like).
From a US seller on eBay called The Stratosphere I bought a fully loaded Deluxe Players Strat body, in a rather fetching Crimson Red Transparent; from another eBay seller called ilovesmesomestrats came a Deluxe neck. Here they are, just after assembly and stringing up.
They didn’t stay together for long, though, and the body and neck went in different directions. Back to Stratosphere again, this time for a fully loaded Classic 70’s in Olympic White. I don’t seem to have a photo of this one as it arrived, but this is how it ended up, with a new tortoiseshell scratchplate plus new pickups and circuitry.
I then bought a Mighty Mite neck for the red one, this was a CBS-style one with the larger headstock (I just fancied a change). A black scratchplate complete with new pickups and all black plastic parts completed the late 70’s look. Pickups were wired in series so this became my Brian May Strat!
Later when my finances got worse and another cull was in the offing, both guitars got sold. The red one had the Brian May scratchplate removed and sold, to be replaced by the original white plate from the Oly White one. Thus becoming an early 70’s Strat.
The original torty plate from the red one went on the white body (thus it retained its identity as an early 60’s reissue), my new one being removed and kept (and I’ve still got that; I wasn’t going to let my clever circuitry go to waste). I don’t have a photo of the guitar in this guise but it would have looked the same as before anyway.
I did more recently buy a cheap Chinese fake Strat to take the torty plate with the clever circuitry, but then decided it was deserving of something a little better so the guitar’s up for sale. When I can afford to, though, I will buy something decent to put it on.
Right, back to an earlier era now; all these are from about 10 years ago. First off, Candy Apple Red with pearloid scratchplate. Don’t remember much about it except the only genuine Fender parts on it were the pickups. It originally had a Fender decal on the head, but I removed it before sale.
Next, Squier in Fiesta Red with matching headstock; matching the colour was fun I seem to recall. This one did have a Fender decal, but it’s a bit difficult to see in the photo.
Telecaster – this was a lovely guitar which absolutely refused to sell – it went in parts in the end. Neck was a Mighty Mite one – licensed by Fender – and the body was absolutely heavenly; colour and grain to die for! Pickups and scratchplate were genuine Fender but I don’t think anything else was.
Last but not least, the very first! This was based around a mahogany Strat body Geoff Gale built for me, and an old neck I’d had lying around for ages – it had been on a VOX for many years, replacing the original which had warped. It had an anodised aluminium scratchplate and the pickups were DiMarzios.
Bit of a strange configuration with the humbucker in the middle you might say. Well you see, I had long been impressed with the guitar sound of John Lees from Barclay James Harvest, whose Strat had a Gibson pickup between the neck and middle pickups. So my Strat had the middle pickup replaced with humbucker. I didn’t realise at the time that the correct place to put a humbucker on a Strat was in the bridge position, as nobody had thought of doing that then. (This was in 1979.)
Switches were on/off and phase for each pickup, plus a series/parallel switch for the Dual sound Humbucker. I tried several permutations of tone and volume controls, ending up with a volume control for each pickup. I think.
It can be heard being played here (the lead sound is the humbucker only):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hovzmIqwsVU&fe...
(Sorry about the dreadful sound quality.)
The next pic shows me taking the guitar to bits again about 3 years later; noticed I’d changed the neck by then. The next time you see it, I’ve changed everything! I was about to join Tangent (a Shadows tribute band at a time when the phrase ‘tribute band’ hadn’t even been thought of), so everything went back to standard Strat configuration, and I took the body into the garage and sprayed it Fiesta Red, or as close as I could get to it anyway.
(Notice it has a rosewood neck, which is where we came in!) A couple of years later, I had it resprayed Sonic Blue, but I don’t have a photo of that.
TO BE CONTINUED …
But I want to see some of yours first!
I want to see yours, but first, I’ll start the ball rolling with some of mine.
First up, these two Mexican Classic Strats.
I saw this Classic 60’s on eBay and just had to have it. Shell Pink was the rarest Fender Custom Color originally (only in the catalogue from 1960 to 63, when Candy Apple Red replaced it) and is not that prolific on reissues either.
Then a couple of months later this Classic 50’s in Fiesta Red came up, and again I pressed the trigger.
Then I had a thought. I’ve had several 50’s Strats in Fiesta Red (these are quite common; probably the Hank Marvin influence), but never a 60’s one. Fender never did a Mexican one, the Japanese ones are as rare as hen’s teeth, and the US ones out of my price range. Just a minute, I thought, I’ve got a 60’s Strat … why not just swap bodies?
So to cut a long story short – I did! The maple neck looked absolutely drop-dead gorgeous on the pink one.
Unfortunately, a spell of poverty meant I had to have another of those culls that afflict me from time to time, so the pink one had to go. I managed to hang on to the red one, though, and have it to this day.
This is still my favourite guitar and sounds magnificent – although the fact that I have since fitted Fender 57/62 pickups, Callaham steel trem block and 12-52 strings may have something to do with that.
OK moving forward a little in time and things improved so I was able once more to indulge my hobby. My two MIM Classics had whetted my appetite (opened the floodgates more like).
From a US seller on eBay called The Stratosphere I bought a fully loaded Deluxe Players Strat body, in a rather fetching Crimson Red Transparent; from another eBay seller called ilovesmesomestrats came a Deluxe neck. Here they are, just after assembly and stringing up.
They didn’t stay together for long, though, and the body and neck went in different directions. Back to Stratosphere again, this time for a fully loaded Classic 70’s in Olympic White. I don’t seem to have a photo of this one as it arrived, but this is how it ended up, with a new tortoiseshell scratchplate plus new pickups and circuitry.
I then bought a Mighty Mite neck for the red one, this was a CBS-style one with the larger headstock (I just fancied a change). A black scratchplate complete with new pickups and all black plastic parts completed the late 70’s look. Pickups were wired in series so this became my Brian May Strat!
Later when my finances got worse and another cull was in the offing, both guitars got sold. The red one had the Brian May scratchplate removed and sold, to be replaced by the original white plate from the Oly White one. Thus becoming an early 70’s Strat.
The original torty plate from the red one went on the white body (thus it retained its identity as an early 60’s reissue), my new one being removed and kept (and I’ve still got that; I wasn’t going to let my clever circuitry go to waste). I don’t have a photo of the guitar in this guise but it would have looked the same as before anyway.
I did more recently buy a cheap Chinese fake Strat to take the torty plate with the clever circuitry, but then decided it was deserving of something a little better so the guitar’s up for sale. When I can afford to, though, I will buy something decent to put it on.
Right, back to an earlier era now; all these are from about 10 years ago. First off, Candy Apple Red with pearloid scratchplate. Don’t remember much about it except the only genuine Fender parts on it were the pickups. It originally had a Fender decal on the head, but I removed it before sale.
Next, Squier in Fiesta Red with matching headstock; matching the colour was fun I seem to recall. This one did have a Fender decal, but it’s a bit difficult to see in the photo.
Telecaster – this was a lovely guitar which absolutely refused to sell – it went in parts in the end. Neck was a Mighty Mite one – licensed by Fender – and the body was absolutely heavenly; colour and grain to die for! Pickups and scratchplate were genuine Fender but I don’t think anything else was.
Last but not least, the very first! This was based around a mahogany Strat body Geoff Gale built for me, and an old neck I’d had lying around for ages – it had been on a VOX for many years, replacing the original which had warped. It had an anodised aluminium scratchplate and the pickups were DiMarzios.
Bit of a strange configuration with the humbucker in the middle you might say. Well you see, I had long been impressed with the guitar sound of John Lees from Barclay James Harvest, whose Strat had a Gibson pickup between the neck and middle pickups. So my Strat had the middle pickup replaced with humbucker. I didn’t realise at the time that the correct place to put a humbucker on a Strat was in the bridge position, as nobody had thought of doing that then. (This was in 1979.)
Switches were on/off and phase for each pickup, plus a series/parallel switch for the Dual sound Humbucker. I tried several permutations of tone and volume controls, ending up with a volume control for each pickup. I think.
It can be heard being played here (the lead sound is the humbucker only):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hovzmIqwsVU&fe...
(Sorry about the dreadful sound quality.)
The next pic shows me taking the guitar to bits again about 3 years later; noticed I’d changed the neck by then. The next time you see it, I’ve changed everything! I was about to join Tangent (a Shadows tribute band at a time when the phrase ‘tribute band’ hadn’t even been thought of), so everything went back to standard Strat configuration, and I took the body into the garage and sprayed it Fiesta Red, or as close as I could get to it anyway.
(Notice it has a rosewood neck, which is where we came in!) A couple of years later, I had it resprayed Sonic Blue, but I don’t have a photo of that.
TO BE CONTINUED …
But I want to see some of yours first!
Disastrous said:
Great post!
Lovely way to make an instrument your own and I'm mighty impressed.
Would love to make myself a Tele but afraid I've got no skills beyond playing the damn things. I shall watch this thread with interest though...
Would love to play myself a Tele but afraid I've got no skills beyond making the damn things, and from where I'm sitting making them looks easier.Lovely way to make an instrument your own and I'm mighty impressed.
Would love to make myself a Tele but afraid I've got no skills beyond playing the damn things. I shall watch this thread with interest though...
If you ever fancied having a go, though, I am sure that between us we could talk you through it. Really the only tricky thing with Teles is to make sure you are selecting the right components, as the bridges can vary in style and shape. There are complete matched kits you can get if you wanted to make a start, though.
singlecoil said:
... There are complete matched kits you can get ...
True, I recently came across this:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231393657040?_trksid=p20...
They do them in gold and black too.
Some lovely combinations there, the pink one with the maple neck is most unusual.
Fancy doing a partscaster myself at some point: I saw a picture of a white Tele with just a single neck humbucker and thought it looked a bit different. I'm not one for having more than one guitar of the same type, but a Tele with a humbucker is going to sound quite different, so I can justify it.
This is my inspiration (note NOT my partscaster), I'd prefer a mint pick guard on it and the standard chrome knobs. The bridge is a bit more tricky, but a 'half' bridge was suggested on TDPRi when I asked. I will need to buy a custom body so that it is only routed for the single neck pick up, but I did find a supplier somewhere in my 'guitar favourites' bookmarks.
Fancy doing a partscaster myself at some point: I saw a picture of a white Tele with just a single neck humbucker and thought it looked a bit different. I'm not one for having more than one guitar of the same type, but a Tele with a humbucker is going to sound quite different, so I can justify it.
This is my inspiration (note NOT my partscaster), I'd prefer a mint pick guard on it and the standard chrome knobs. The bridge is a bit more tricky, but a 'half' bridge was suggested on TDPRi when I asked. I will need to buy a custom body so that it is only routed for the single neck pick up, but I did find a supplier somewhere in my 'guitar favourites' bookmarks.
Edited by OldSkoolRS on Saturday 6th December 09:09
singlecoil said:
Disastrous said:
Great post!
Lovely way to make an instrument your own and I'm mighty impressed.
Would love to make myself a Tele but afraid I've got no skills beyond playing the damn things. I shall watch this thread with interest though...
Would love to play myself a Tele but afraid I've got no skills beyond making the damn things, and from where I'm sitting making them looks easier.Lovely way to make an instrument your own and I'm mighty impressed.
Would love to make myself a Tele but afraid I've got no skills beyond playing the damn things. I shall watch this thread with interest though...
If you ever fancied having a go, though, I am sure that between us we could talk you through it. Really the only tricky thing with Teles is to make sure you are selecting the right components, as the bridges can vary in style and shape. There are complete matched kits you can get if you wanted to make a start, though.
Disastrous said:
How much would you budget for one?
Either quite a lot or not very much at all. This will sound daft, maybe, but a lot depends on what you want to achieve. In the end a guitar is just a collection of parts, and there's scope for spending lots on every single one of them. If I wanted to build a Telecaster I would use the excellent Wilkinson bridge for less than £20, and the equally excellent Artec pickups £30 for the pair, set of decent diecast machineheads for £15, all the other hardware wouldn't amount to very much even for decent stuff, then that leaves the neck and the body. More on eBay than you can shake a tremolo arm at, wide range of prices.Great thread, I love the fiesta red strat with the maple board. White one with tortoise shell pickguard and rosewood looks great too. I have been half considering replacing the pickguard on mine for a black one (Dave Gilmore style) or one like your one.
Problem is I have been debating it for so long the one that is on has started to age naturally and I quite like it like that
Certainly different though, I have never seen one like that.
Problem is I have been debating it for so long the one that is on has started to age naturally and I quite like it like that
OldSkoolRS said:
Some lovely combinations there, the pink one with the maple neck is most unusual.
Fancy doing a partscaster myself at some point: I saw a picture of a white Tele with just a single neck humbucker and thought it looked a bit different. I'm not one for having more than one guitar of the same type, but a Tele with a humbucker is going to sound quite different, so I can justify it.
This is my inspiration (note NOT my partscaster), I'd prefer a mint pick guard on it and the standard chrome knobs. The bridge is a bit more tricky, but a 'half' bridge was suggested on TDPRi when I asked. I will need to buy a custom body so that it is only routed for the single neck pick up, but I did find a supplier somewhere in my 'guitar favourites' bookmarks.
Not sure how I feel about that, a tele is all about the single coil in the bridge! Fancy doing a partscaster myself at some point: I saw a picture of a white Tele with just a single neck humbucker and thought it looked a bit different. I'm not one for having more than one guitar of the same type, but a Tele with a humbucker is going to sound quite different, so I can justify it.
This is my inspiration (note NOT my partscaster), I'd prefer a mint pick guard on it and the standard chrome knobs. The bridge is a bit more tricky, but a 'half' bridge was suggested on TDPRi when I asked. I will need to buy a custom body so that it is only routed for the single neck pick up, but I did find a supplier somewhere in my 'guitar favourites' bookmarks.
Edited by OldSkoolRS on Saturday 6th December 09:09
Certainly different though, I have never seen one like that.
I must confess that I failed to take in the fact that the picture shows a bridge with just the saddles and no pickup aperture. That being the case it would seem that obtaining such a bridge is the problem, not the body. If the bridge has no pickup aperture then there being a cut out in the body isn't going to matter as it won't be visible.
The bridge is the hard bit as that particular one was custom made. I'll just using a 'half bridge' (Wilkinson compensated is one I found) and get a body that doesn't have the route for the bridge pick up. Cheap enough off eBay as Singlecoil says. The pick guard I'd cut from a blank so it doesn't have the cut out for the bridge. The control panel wouldn't need a slot for the selector, but that could be used to switch to different tones like an Esquire does perhaps?
I know Teles are all about the bridge pick up, but when you think that 'Keef' often plays just on the neck humbucker, then just having that one sound option doesn't worry me. I have a regular Tele for the full on 'twang' if I want it: That one doesn't really count as a Partscaster as I've only swapped the pick ups on it for better Fender ones.
I know Teles are all about the bridge pick up, but when you think that 'Keef' often plays just on the neck humbucker, then just having that one sound option doesn't worry me. I have a regular Tele for the full on 'twang' if I want it: That one doesn't really count as a Partscaster as I've only swapped the pick ups on it for better Fender ones.
OldSkoolRS said:
The bridge is the hard bit as that particular one was custom made. I'll just using a 'half bridge' (Wilkinson compensated is one I found) and get a body that doesn't have the route for the bridge pick up. Cheap enough off eBay as Singlecoil says. The pick guard I'd cut from a blank so it doesn't have the cut out for the bridge. The control panel wouldn't need a slot for the selector, but that could be used to switch to different tones like an Esquire does perhaps?
I know Teles are all about the bridge pick up, but when you think that 'Keef' often plays just on the neck humbucker, then just having that one sound option doesn't worry me. I have a regular Tele for the full on 'twang' if I want it: That one doesn't really count as a Partscaster as I've only swapped the pick ups on it for better Fender ones.
I don't understand. The Wilkinson bridge has a cut-out for a pickup.I know Teles are all about the bridge pick up, but when you think that 'Keef' often plays just on the neck humbucker, then just having that one sound option doesn't worry me. I have a regular Tele for the full on 'twang' if I want it: That one doesn't really count as a Partscaster as I've only swapped the pick ups on it for better Fender ones.
Yes, that's the idea...I already have a nice Tele anyway. I've never really seen the point of having lots of the same type of guitar myself (though I'm sure if I won the lottery I'd end up with some different coloured guitars of the same type). I don't uses different tunings either, which may be one good reason for having more than one the same.
I'm trying to think of something that will be a variation on my Tele, Strat and Epi LP for a big birthday next year. I keep wavering between an SG (maybe too similar to the LP, though with P90s perhaps not?), some kind of semi acoustic like a 335/339 or this slightly different version of the Tele.
I'm trying to think of something that will be a variation on my Tele, Strat and Epi LP for a big birthday next year. I keep wavering between an SG (maybe too similar to the LP, though with P90s perhaps not?), some kind of semi acoustic like a 335/339 or this slightly different version of the Tele.
I'm currently modifying a traditional Tele kit, rerouted the body for vintage Schaller humbuckers, Wilkinson compensated bridge and the control plate will be 2 x volume pots with no tone pot and the toggle will be for phasing plus series/parallel of the pups.
The body is Alder and the neck maple
Here it is fitted together
And the body with a bit of stain ( Australian Jarrah ), the front of the headstock is also stained and ultimately there will be a dark brown border on the body and around the pup rings ( Durtcaster )
Also doing a P Bass kit, the only change is a high mass bridge and the cheap Chinese pups swapped out for GFS pups which are still cheap but much better.
This time the body is brilliant white as there was no grain worth highlighting.
The necks on both are finished with citrus oil
The body is Alder and the neck maple
Here it is fitted together
And the body with a bit of stain ( Australian Jarrah ), the front of the headstock is also stained and ultimately there will be a dark brown border on the body and around the pup rings ( Durtcaster )
Also doing a P Bass kit, the only change is a high mass bridge and the cheap Chinese pups swapped out for GFS pups which are still cheap but much better.
This time the body is brilliant white as there was no grain worth highlighting.
The necks on both are finished with citrus oil
I'm semi-sold on the idea of this I think. Move got a couple of questions if that's ok?
I'd like a Tele for the sound, so want one that's as close as possible to the real deal-does that mean buying Fender body/neck/hardware? Presumably that comes at a premium?
Beyond that, are there different fixings or does one bit pretty much bolt into any other?
I'd like a Tele for the sound, so want one that's as close as possible to the real deal-does that mean buying Fender body/neck/hardware? Presumably that comes at a premium?
Beyond that, are there different fixings or does one bit pretty much bolt into any other?
Disastrous said:
I'm semi-sold on the idea of this I think. Move got a couple of questions if that's ok?
I'd like a Tele for the sound, so want one that's as close as possible to the real deal-does that mean buying Fender body/neck/hardware? Presumably that comes at a premium?
Beyond that, are there different fixings or does one bit pretty much bolt into any other?
The two kits I have experience of so far just go together, the electronics are where the real gains are to be made and that is a whole other can of worms and google will be your friend there plus questions on forums such as TDPRI.COM.I'd like a Tele for the sound, so want one that's as close as possible to the real deal-does that mean buying Fender body/neck/hardware? Presumably that comes at a premium?
Beyond that, are there different fixings or does one bit pretty much bolt into any other?
Apart from the Tele kit with the Alder body I have a Thinline with a Mahogany body and maple neck and a Shergold with a Basswood body and maple neck. The thinline and shergold just sing, obviously don't sustain like an LP but plenty for what I play.
These guys Pit Bull Guitars are responsible for the P Bass kit that I am making and also have an active and very helpful builders forum here plus a Facebook presence
Edited by suthol on Sunday 7th December 04:15
Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff