Cheap Fender Style Parts

[JDOD]

I do have experience of fitting a neck bought from Ebay. Our bassplayer bought a P-bass neck with the decal and I fitted it with tuners, fitted it to the body and set it up. I can't remember now who the manufacturer was but the setup was a complete breeze. It was excellent, and compared to a setup on a Mexican P-bass I did for our singer it ended up a far better playing instrument.

I have other good guitars I could use but my stage guitars need to look abused, be stickered up and generally punkified. They also need to play great and this one doesn't. It sounds good, though.

I'll be another pay day of two before I'm shopping for a neck so if you get one in the mean time tell me how it worked out.
My next proper purchase is a new speaker - so I'm just doing all the cheap bits on this guitar first

 

[JDOD]

Thanks, Jimi. The lower-priced Allparts necks are about £30 (£40-odd dollars) more than the Mighty Mite, which is just getting a little pricy for a guitar that's mostly a backup. Having said that, I may well play it more when the neck is sorted.

Yeah, I'm not willing to spend much money on what is basically a shit guitar. That's why the pickups will have to wait till last. I'm not spending 80 quid on a JB until I know that it'll work right and play well.

 

[JDOD]

My HSS pick-guard has just arrived think I'll start ripping apart this old strat later today.

 

[Bubba po]

My HSS pick-guard has just arrived think I'll start ripping apart this old strat later today.

Ace. It's great fun modding something that you basically feel it's impossible to ruin. My No.2 is a Chord Telecaster, worth every penny of £40. I've put a great-sounding Japanese humbucker in the bridge, cut a chunk off the bridge plate with my grinder to make room, recently fitted a big, clunky kill switch, sprayed it black with a cheap rattle can of cellulose, carved a big chamfer on the upper rear bout with a belt sander as a forearm rest and attacked it with graffiti.

The neck plays like utter shit, though. It's never had a fret level in its life, it has a slight twist, the action is quite high but still chokes on some bends or buzzes where it shouldn't. It gets me through a string break but it could be so much better.

Yeah, I'm not willing to spend much money on what is basically a shit guitar. That's why the pickups will have to wait till last. I'm not spending 80 quid on a JB until I know that it'll work right and play well.

Good plan. The body has very little impact on the overall quality compared to the other stuff like electrics, pickups and neck. Almost any body can be a good base to build a serviceable electric guitar. AAA carved flame tops are just set dressing.

 

[JDOD]

Pick guard is a different shape to my current one... this could be interesting. It appears to be made for a 21 fret guitar with a smaller neck pocket... nothing a cutting tool of some description won't cure.

 

[Bubba po]

Pick guard is a different shape to my current one... this could be interesting. It appears to be made for a 21 fret guitar with a smaller neck pocket... nothing a cutting tool of some description won't cure.

Hmm. You don't want to be left with gaps when you buy your replacement neck. I wonder if your current neck and pocket are oversized?

On some necks the 22nd fret is on a fretboard overhang. Is that the case with this, do you think?

 

[JDOD]

Hmm. You don't want to be left with gaps when you buy your replacement neck. I wonder if your current neck and pocket are oversized?

On some necks the 22nd fret is on a fretboard overhang. Is that the case with this, do you think?

I'll find out when I start stripping it. I'm working from home today - but I want to leave it until at least 4PM before I start cocking about with that guitar. Its an old Encore strat copy from either the late 80s or early 90s fuck knows where it was made. The pickups on it are a slightly funny shape too. They're a little shorter and wider than a normal strat pickup. I doubt they'll fit through the new pick guard. And even if they did, they'd leave big gaps at each end of the holes.

Just found this from a wedsite called "planet botch" seems fitting.

Early 1990s Encore E76 'Strat' Guitar | Planet Botch

The fact that the body isn't an exact strat shape doesn't fill me with much hope for this project. I'm certainly gonna learn something.

 

[Bubba po]

The fact that the body isn't an exact strat shape doesn't fill me with much hope for this project. I'm certainly gonna learn something.

If it isn't the right shape, the pick guard is going to look a right cow's arse. But you know that, anyway.

 

[JDOD]

If it isn't the right shape, the pick guard is going to look a right cow's arse. But you know that, anyway.

Indeed. I knew that the body was slightly thinner than a strat as it was always a little thinner than my mate's Squire. I'll rip it to bits shortly and post up a few pics.

 

[Bubba po]

Indeed. I knew that the body was slightly thinner than a strat as it was always a little thinner than my mate's Squire. I'll rip it to bits shortly and post up a few pics.

I'll look forward to it. I'll do the same with my Twatocaster.

 

[JDOD]

Oi! I was gonna call mine the twatocaster! Looks pretty cool though, Bubba.

Mine will have to be called Stratotwatter. Just stripped it. Not looking good. Might be salvagable - but its not gonna be pretty.

 

[JDOD]

OK, here's a few pictures.

Here you can see where the wire comes through the back of the cavity to earth it where the trem springs are attached... appears to just be a hole smashed through the back of the body. The body is only a millimetre or so thick here.


Weird - the interior of the body is just minging - no idea why it appears to have loads of white paint all over it? Shit job with the primer?


The trem block is cracked - can't be arsed to spend money on a new one, guess I'll just hammer a piece of wood in behind it again - the saddles actually aren't that bad.


This is the problem with the pick-guard. When its in the right place it partially covers up the neck pocket (by about 6mm). The shape difference between it and the original pick guard is actually quite a lot. So much so that this one barely covers all of the holes in the body.


I'm assuming the new pick guard is for a standard strat shaped instrument - the way it sits, partially obscuring the neck pocket would imply that this guitar had a slightly shorter scale length - more like a Gibson scale length. Which is interesting and odd... but I don't suppose it matters that much.

 

[Bubba po]

What's the deal with the scuffed fretboard? Did somebody stain it brown at some point? I have NO advice to give regarding the scratch plate. Some measurements need to be taken. It looks to me as if the plate needs to go about 10-12mm towards the headstock; it might match the curvature of the body fairly closely, then.

How many frets on the old neck?

 

[JDOD]

What's the deal with the scuffed fretboard? Did somebody stain it brown at some point? I have NO advice to give regarding the scratch plate. Some measurements need to be taken. It looks to me as if the plate needs to go about 10-12mm towards the headstock; it might match the curvature of the body fairly closely, then.

How many frets on the old neck?

LOL, the scuffed fretboard is wear and tear! I played this fucker to death. It was originally all stained black. The old neck has 22 frets. I think I'm gonna keep it. It'll need a fret job on it but I think I'll be able to avoid re-fretting... although I do have slight groves in the frets towards the bottom.

Its not as much as 10-12mm, its more like 7-8mm. However this will then obscure the neck pocket so I'm gonna have to cut into the scratch plate to make the area where it surrounds the neck pocket deeper.... ah, well. If it was simple I wouldn't learn anything.

 

[Bubba po]

LOL, the scuffed fretboard is wear and tear! I played this fucker to death. It was originally all stained black. The old neck has 22 frets. I think I'm gonna keep it. It'll need a fret job on it but I think I'll be able to avoid re-fretting... although I do have slight groves in the frets towards the bottom.

Its not as much as 10-12mm, its more like 7-8mm. However this will then obscure the neck pocket so I'm gonna have to cut into the scratch plate to make the area where it surrounds the neck pocket deeper.... ah, well. If it was simple I wouldn't learn anything.

I had a couple of my guitars stoned and crowned a few years ago. It's worth doing - it gives a guitar a whole new lease of life.

 

[JDOD]

Gonna be ordering some pots later this week. Given that it's a HSS set up should I be going for 250 or 500k pots?