Parts-o-caster 60's Strat copy build

[NXC1978]

Originally Posted by diceman

Coming along nicely... great project!

Thanks Dice! Not counting today, I have about 25+ hours of direct Texas sunlight on each side of the body. No fading yet, but Nicholasrivera had to fade his LP about 78 hours (I believe he said). Hopefully I will see some results within the next few weeks and the finish will be dry enough to check.

[NXC1978]

Originally Posted by shotgunlew

I wonder how that color would look on a tele

[NXC1978]

Ok, so I freeze checked it once and it worked perfectly. I won't have to use any razor blades.

Last night I put a few dings in it and started some arm wear. This arm wear is really tedious! I am going to add more tonight. It will take some time. You have to do it really, really slow if you don't want to go strait through the burst.

[NXC1978]

Ok, well I'm not quite done, but getting close... As you hopefully can tell, I am trying to make it resemble one of those Masterbuilt Ultra Relics.

[NXC1978]

It's kind of hard to tell in some of these photos, but the checking came out pretty good.

[NXC1978]

One more..



I will post more as I make more progress. My wife's grandmother passed so I will be out of town for the next few days. Hopefully I can get it finished up by the end of the week.

[kspeed]

My condolences on the loss of your grandmother-in-law.

But the guitar's looking great

[NXC1978]

Originally Posted by kspeed

My condolences on the loss of your grandmother-in-law.

But the guitar's looking great

Thanks! I may add some pick wear when I return.

[aidb]

Originally Posted by kspeed

My condolences on the loss of your grandmother-in-law.

Me too. Sorry to hear about your loss Nick.


Your relic is coming along nicely. I took a butchers at some Heavy Relics on the Music Zoo site.

Fender Masterbuilt @ The Music Zoo

[scottystrathead]

Sorry for the loss. That body really looks great.

[teeloh]

I could live to be a thousand, but I will never get used to people doing this to a guitar deliberately.

[FLICKOFLASH]

Take the body & put it in a box with dirty bolts ,keys, rocks & seal it & tumble it & shake it. Then Nicatine that baby & then sun it in the sun afterwards.

[FLICKOFLASH]

The pickguard can be dyed with Ritz clothing dye , Use sunset orange & yellow & then fade in direct sunlight

[NXC1978]

Originally Posted by FLICKOFLASH

Take the body & put it in a box with dirty bolts ,keys, rocks & seal it & tumble it & shake it. Then Nicatine that baby & then sun it in the sun afterwards.

Flick, you're a madman, LOL!! The reason I stopped sunning it was because it was starting to turn green. I am assuming that the clear was yellowing. If I kept it up it would probably become really green. Not that there is anything wrong with green, but want it to be blue so I think I will just add some pick wear and call it quits.

Thanks for the complements everyone. At first I wasn't really feeling it... Like, I think I was in shock from having destroyed a perfectly good finish. I am really diggin it now though.

Also, thanks for the condolences.. On a positive note, Grandma was about to be 92 so she had a long life and lived to see even a few of her great-great grandchildren. You can't ask for much more than that.

I will hopefully be done with the guitar and post some final pics on Monday.

[gishuk]

looks really good, although it kinda seems a shame to age it as that daphne blue looked so perfect

[NXC1978]

Originally Posted by gishuk

looks really good, although it kinda seems a shame to age it as that daphne blue looked so perfect

I agree, but this was the plan and the reasoning for the underburst.

I've been tempted to have to have Scotty make me another one. I wouldn't mind having one with just the closet classic finish with a bit of freeze checking.

[gishuk]

oh i can see why you wanted to do it this way and pressed on with it, had you not shown the before pictures i would have no reservations at all looks as good as the fender custom shop relic jobs

[NXC1978]

I understand sir, and thanks for the complements!

[jimmypage14]

Originally Posted by NXC1978

Wow that is awesome.

[beanoburst66]

I want one!!!!!!!!

[scottystrathead]

Originally Posted by NXC1978

I agree, but this was the plan and the reasoning for the underburst.

I've been tempted to have to have Scotty make me another one. I wouldn't mind having one with just the closet classic finish with a bit of freeze checking.

Well I can use all the work I can get.Good deals to be had.

[classic]

Originally Posted by NXC1978

One more..



I will post more as I make more progress. My wife's grandmother passed so I will be out of town for the next few days. Hopefully I can get it finished up by the end of the week.

Sorry for the loss, mate ...

... and, please, forgive me ... but I must confess that I don't like the final result ... it looks like you're having picked too much with a sharp thingy. Some natural wear wouldn't look like this - sorry for my plain opinion ...

[NXC1978]

Originally Posted by classic

Sorry for the loss, mate ...

... and, please, forgive me ... but I must confess that I don't like the final result ... it looks like you're having picked too much with a sharp thingy. Some natural wear wouldn't look like this - sorry for my plain opinion ...

No need for sorry, this is why I started this thread! I am glad you were honest... To tell you the truth, I find myself missing the guitar body when it just had the closet classic finish and some checking.

If I'm still not feeling it when it is completed, I will have Scotty make me another one with the closet classic finish and I will freeze check it and let the rest of it age naturally.

[scottystrathead]

Now that is road worn

[FLICKOFLASH]

Now it needs the brillo pad treatment ( those green scrubbing pads) & some fingernail buffer wear just to smooth some of the harsh breaks & give it a worn feel. Then to bring it home the bar room elements . Rub in on a welcome mat, sprince with coffee, beer & Winchester steak sauce. & Nicotine it. Dirty it up a lil ‘.

[aidb]

Originally Posted by FLICKOFLASH

Now it needs the brillo pad treatment ( those green scrubbing pads) & some fingernail buffer wear just to smooth some of the harsh breaks & give it a worn feel. Then to bring it home the bar room elements . Rub in on a welcome mat, sprince with coffee, beer & Winchester steak sauce. & Nicotine it. Dirty it up a lil ‘.

Agreed. The bare wood needs darkening, and the wear looks freshly done. (which it is...lol) Getting there though.

[NXC1978]

Cool, thanks for the much needed advise guys!

Lately it has been busy at home and on top of that I will be out of town again this weekend. As soon as I make some more progress I will post some updated pics.

[NXC1978]

Houston we have a problem!!.. I messed up the wiring some how, but I checked and rechecked and can't figure out where I went wrong. It's like it has a short somewhere or something??...

Here's the weird part... In the middle pickup selector position the tone knob acts like a volume. If you turn it, it doesn't change the tone, it just makes it more quiet. The volume knob still acts like a volume too incase that matters. Another thing is that the middle pu sounds thin like it has no low end.

The Bridge and Neck pickups sound fantastic and function as they should. The tone knob for the neck pu functions normally too.

Also, it doesn't sound "out of phase" when you put the selector in the in-between pickup settings either. Strange! I might see if I can temporarily rewire it bypassing all the tone knob stuff to see if the pu's sound ok, not sure what else to try.

[NXC1978]

Well, other than the wiring issue I am getting close to done. I will take some better pics, but I took this one real quick at lunch today and pasted it along side the Masterbuilt Fender that was my final inspiration for the body...

[kspeed]

Glad to see this thread bumped - lookin' good! I like Flick's advice about softening up the fresh cracks & breaks, and pumping some smoke in its direction to help wear the bare wood and plastics a bit.

As for the wiring issue it could be a number of things (real helpful comment, I know ) but a picture would help. If positions 2 and 4 on the switch don't sound out of phase the middle pickup is probably off in those positions. Resolder all your grounds and the hot lead for the middle pickup to the switch.