Conference napalm::guitar

    
    I should have read this note before writing note #39.  I was just
    in McDuff's Music in shrewsberry the other day and they Warmouth
    necks (strat-style) for $105.  this neck was solid birds-eye maple
    with no finish on it, and it was slightly wider at the nut than
    most standard strats (which are usually 1 5/8").  Looked like
    a good quality neck.   they also had, JB Bradley necks which were
    only about $75-$85.  these were nice as well.  some of the strat
    versions of these had the big frets on them, which i've heard
    give you better sustain?...
    
    paul
    

    The best replacement necks that I've ever tried were Kubricki.....I've
    heard that they aren't made anymore (anybody know for sure??),
    schecters seem to be a bit big and not all that great to me, fenders
    have a problem with consistancy, and I'm not sure about the others.
    
    I've always wanted to build a kit type guitar and use superior
    companants...I may do it yet, a strat with a kubricki neck, walnut
    body, duncan alinco pickups......kahler whammy, who knows maybe
    I'll even go active on the preamp.....
    
    dave

    RE .1:
    
    That's 'J. B. Player', not 'J. B. Bradley'. They make a neck-thru
    the body Strat-type guitar that is UNBELIEVABLE. I'm gonna buy one
    as soon as I get the money together. I'm sort of thinking of selling
    my Les Paul to do it. They have an 800 number you can call and order
    the guitar directly from the factory, and save yourself about 40%.
    I saw one in MacDuff's for $360, and the factory price is $204.
    
    High frets make for easier string bending and Eddie Van Halen style
    finger tapping stuff. They make it harder to climb up the neck,
    especially in the upper frets, where you feel like your fingers
    are climbing hurdles.
    
    ESP and Schecter also make custom and replacement parts for guitars.
    Both are excellent quality.
    
    -dave

    
    By "climbing up the neck" you mean sliding/glisses, or just normal
    fretting up there in the high register?...
    
    pc
    
    

My guitar is homemade.  I made the body out of two pieces of ash glued
end-to-end, and made the necessary indentations (for pickups and electronics)
using a router.  The body is very heavy and gives the guitar a nice sound 
(in my opinion).  I stained it with Minwax stain, and put many coats
of polyurethane on protect it from dents, etc.  I highly recommend putting
at least 5 coats of urethane on it - its well worth it.  The neck is an 
Aria neck off of an old Aria guitar (stratcopy) that I stripped with a 
sander and restained to match the body (different kind of wood, so it doesn't
exactly match - but close enough).  I installed (2) Super II pickups and
the necessary electronics (a three position switch, four pots, caps, etc.)
I am not particularly happy with the performance of the tone controls,
but then again, I don't use them much (I use external EQ, so I usually leave
the tone controls wide open).

Complaints:
The hardware is very chinsy - I got cheap stuff because that was all I could
afford at the time.  Go for good hardware.  I will replace mine sometime soon.
Also the frets are very worn and buzz in one or two places.  I plan on 
replacing the neck sometime soon too, so any comments regarding replacement 
necks is appreciated.

If there are any questions, I will be happy to answer them to the best of
my ability.  Also if anyone is interested in building a guitar, and wants 
to see mine, they are free to come over to the house sometime and have a 
look/listen.

Todd.

    
I have built several "guitars" in my time!! I started offin the late
    1950's pestering my father for a guitar, so that I could join in
    the beginning of the rock-and-roll era!!  Being somewhat classical
    in his musical outlook, he compromised by buying me a kit one
    Christmas. 
    	This consisted of two pieces of plywood, one for the face, and
    one for the back, some very thin plywood for the ribs, and a part
    shaped neck. The other bits and pieces were also included.
    	It took about three months of hacking sanding and glueing to
    produce something that looked vaguely like a guitar. the finish,
    by todays proffesional standards was awful!! The fret intonation
    was only accurate to 1/16 of an inch!! (The best ruler we had!)
    and produced a whole new set of scales, nothing to do with chromatic
    or harmonic!!...BUT...and its a big but!!!...I was proud of it because
    I had been involved in its production... and what is more, I learned
    to play on it!
    	I have now been playing guitar/bass guitar for nearly 36 years.
    It is only in the last few years that I have owned a "factory made"
    guitar, and that is only an "Echo Ranger" country style acoustic
    guitar for home practice. I am currently using a solid instrument
    which is a totally rebuilt "Hofner" Futurama II dating from about
    1963.  I have refretted the neck, and completely replaced the pickup
    plate assembly with a polished aluminium plate, home built pickups,
    and a home grown switching/tone/volume control circuit.
    	I started playing in bands in the days of real rock and roll,
    around 1962 onwards. In 1967 I became involved with a bunch of local
    jazz musicians, and gradually converted to playing jazz. I have
    played solid guitars all the way through this period, and now that
    time is becoming a bit more available, (Son is growing up!) I am
    contemplating sharpening the old chisels again! I reckon I know
    what I want in a guitar now!  I would be pleased to keep in touch
    with anybody who has built an acoustic (cello) guitar from scratch!
    
    			Dave Clark...(One of many!!)
    

    
    
    	Yikes...  I just ummm... priced some stuff to convert my Mustang
    to a Strat and it looks ummm... kind of expensive... do you folks
    have any ideas on cutting down the price....???
    
    
Fender Mustang to Strat Rebuild
 Part #            Description                Supplier          Cost
------------------------------------------------------------------------
     430 Strat Body No Tremolo          Stewart-Macdonald       $70.00
    1144 EMG Select Pickup              Stewart-Macdonald       $17.50
     137 Strat Wiring Kit               Stewart-Macdonald       $16.00
      75 Strat Pickguard BL/WH/BL       Stewart-Macdonald       $12.00
     134 Strat Jack Plate Chrome        Stewart-Macdonald        $6.00
     173 String Anchor Gromments (2)    Stewart-Macdonald        $8.00
     508 Strat Volume knob (2)          Stewart-Macdonald        $3.00
     510 Strat Tone Knob (1)            Stewart-Macdonald        $1.50
     577 Schaller Strat Bridge          Stewart-Macdonald       $35.00

         Miscellaneous

     883 Nut File .042                  Stewart-Macdonald        $8.00
     642 Guitar Stand                   Stewart-Macdonald       $15.00
      29 Conductive Shielding Paint     Stewart-Macdonald       $28.50

                                                       Total   $220.50

    Buddy, nobody ever said it was going to be cheap, in fact to create
    your own guitar is almost always *more* expensive...
    
    I think if you check other parts houses you'll also find at least
    10% of the cost tagged onto each part as well...
         
    $220.00 isn't bad considering all the parts you're getting...
    
    You can't find a decent strat under $220, and yours is going to
    be to all your specs, like a custom...              
    
    Sorry, but that's the way it is...
    
    I'll check your note again, and see if you can leave any parts out.
    Hold on.
    
    

    You need those knobs?  Go to a guitar store and get 'em for .50
    each.  
    
    How about the wiring kit?  Does the Mustang have a 5 position on
    it already?  How are the wires on your existing axe? 
    
    Do you have a local repair shop?  I bet you can pick up a nut down
    there, for a small fraction of the cost of getting a file.  What
    are you going to do with a file afterward?  It's going to gather
    dust.
    
    A coupla suggestions.
                   
    Craig
    
    PS:  Hey, what about that body?  Whattaya need a body for???  =)
    
    
    

    
    Re: .8
    
    What's a guitar stand for?
    
    How many *gallons* of paint does $28.50 buy????  Seems pretty
    expensive.
    
    Also, what do you need string trees for, doesn't the Mustang neck
    have them already?
    
    

    Here's a few suggestions for eliminating some of the expense you
    mentioned.  A lot of it depends on how much of the work you want/are
    able to do yourself.                        
    
    For instance, you should be able to save well over half of the $70 for
    the body by getting a slab of your favorite wood (basswood, ash,
    poplar...) and making your own body.  It's more work, in that you have
    to cut out the shape yourself and route out the pickup and control
    cavities and neck slot, but could save some bucks.   The pickguard
    hides a multitude of error in this dept.  The neck slot is the critical
    thing.  Of course, it may cost you more in tools, if you're not equiped
    for woodworking...
    
    The wiring kit could be eliminated, there are lots of Strat wiring
    diagrams floating around.  There's been several over the years in
    Guitar Player.  I think there's even one posted in here somewhere. 
                                                 
    Use the jack plate off the Mustang, (may be easier if you cut your own
    body).  You probably will want to upgrade the Mustang bridge though. If
    you have knobs on the Mustang, how about using them (add a matching
    one, if I remember the Mustangs only have 2). 
                                                
    Incidentally, you didn't mention any of the stuff necessary to finish
    the body.  Paint, thinner, spray gun, sandpaper and all that stuff will
    add to your cost.  (Sorry)                  
    
    Also, you mentioned a nut *file* but not a nut blank...  I wouldn't get
    the nut file from S-M (even though their stuff is very good), if it's a
    one shot deal.  You can buy an Xacto needle file *set* from your
    favorite hardware store for about the same price, since one large nut
    file is not going to be real effective anyway. (.042 will be way too
    big for the unwound string slots).  As someone suggested, get one
    from a dealer pre-slotted (or have them do it).  Don't get those
    cheap plastic nuts, the strings cut grooves in them over time and
    bind up.
    
    As someone else mentioned, you must be getting a huge amount of
    that shielding paint for that price.  Copper foil is a lot less
    expensive, or you might be able to find the paint in smaller quantities
    somewhere else.  Perhaps your local repair shop has some they'll
    just charge a little to paint your cavity for you.
            
    I guess it basically comes down to how much are you willing to spend
    for the convenience of having the parts pre-fabricated for you (wiring
    kit, body, nut...), this is where you can cut back.
    
    Greg                                              

    
    
    	Thanks folks...  Conductive paint goes for 19 bucks a quart
    now... My dealer will let me "dip" into his can, ditto the nut file!
     I'll be moving the Mustang neck over to the Strat body.... yeah,
    I'm starting to get nervous about finishing... maybe I'll spring
    for a finished body instead.  Nope, don't really need a guitar stand,
    but do need grommets for "through the body" non-tremolo Strat body.
    
    	Do you think the heavy duty shaller bridge is worth the extra,
    or will their standard non-trem strat bridge be OK.  This fun!
    
    	Actually the nice fellow from Zorkon was right, with my budget,
    I couldn't even whisper "Strat" but with a little patience and $300
    or so I cold be playing one.
    
    
    
    Steve

     Re- .8
    The Mustang and the Strat have two different scale necks
    and unless you make sure that the bridge on the new body
    is exactly where the bridge is on the Mustang, you're
    going to have a major intonation problem. On the Mustang,
    measure the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge, this
    dimension has to be the same when the Mustang neck is on the
    Strat body and is critical for correct intonation. Bodys/necks
    are interchangable on most Fender guitars with the regular
    scale, but are not interchangable with the short scale guitars;
    i.e., Mustang, Bronco, DuoSonic.
    
    Neal

    
    
    Thanks, Neil... do you see any other problems (fit or action) that
    might result from putting my Mustang neck on a Strat Body...???
    
    
    	Let's see, the 12th fret is the first harmonic, so the distance
    from the nut to the 12th fret should equal the distance from the
    12th fret to the bridge, like this:
    
                                    ---------------------------/
                                   /                          /
    nut                 12th fret /              bridge      /
    -----------------------------                  |         |
    |                       |                      |         |
    -----------------------------                            \
                                 \                            \
                                  \____________________________\
                                                               
    |-----------A------------|------------B---------|
                                                         
    
    
                                A=B Right????
    
    
    
    	Nice body design, huh, s'pose I should get a patent on it??
    
    
    Steve

    Wow, I didn't realize there was a scale difference between the Mustang
    and a Strat.  Maybe you'd be be better off springing the extra $100
    for a Strat replacement neck (and keep the whole Mustang as a spare).
    
    btw: I really like the Schaller bridges.  It's worth the $$, IMO.
    
    Greg

    re: .15
    
    No, not equal.  There's a little fudge factor to allow for bending
    the string to fret a note and other subtleties.  The distance from  
    the twelfth fret to the saddle is slightly greater than the distance 
    from the nut to the twelfth fret.  Somebody will supply the exact
    data, I'm sure.  If not, I'll look it up.

    Bob

    
    
    	Thanks... I really need the info (jeeze, I can't understand
    how a string can have a first harmonic at any other point but it's
    center, but what the heck, I'm just learning) hate to find out that
    I've got to place the bridge in the middle of the pickguard <grin>..
     I haven't ordered the body yet, but I have ordered the shaller
    bridge....  And a coupla dozen sets of shaller strings for 2.60
    a piece (hey, no compusive spending here, right?)....
    
    
    Steve
    
    Apprentice Guitar Builder
    "Pass me the hammer, Ed"

    There's some more info on fret placement in 9.nn
    
    Edd

    re: .18
    
    Well, the harmonic is at the center, but the twelfth fret isn't.
    There's a slight compensation to allow for the change in pitch
    resulting from depressing the string.  If X is the distance from
    the nut to the twelfth fret, then the distance from the twelfth
    fret to the saddle is X+Y, where Y is some small fraction of an
    inch.  I just wrote myself a note to look it up tonight.  Y is greater
    for a fatter string of a given material.
    
    Bob

    The only reference I can find is for a classical guitar.   The
    compensation is about 2 mm or 5/64 in.  A steel stringer is compensated
    differently for each string.  I just made a quick and dirty measurement
    on my D-35 and it goes from about 1/32 in. on the first string to
    about 5/32 on the sixth.  
    
    Bob

    
    
    	Ohh.. OK so If the Mustang neck is the same, I need to place
    the bridge in such a way that I take MAX advantage of the adjustment
    that's available... looks like I'll measure both guitars... My Mustang
    and a Strat at my local music store THEN decide how the bridge ought
    to be placed... dang, I thought this stuff would be easy <grin>
    
    
    Steve

>    	Actually the nice fellow from Zorkon was right, with my budget,
>    I couldn't even whisper "Strat" but with a little patience and $300
>    or so I cold be playing one.
    
Steve,

	Your Mustang should be worth at least $150 unless it's really beat.
	Add that to the $300 you're thinking of spending to modify it (not
	even considering the 40 hours or more it'll take you to finish it)
	and you've got $450. I've seen lots of nice used Strats for that
	price.

Larry

    
    
    	Yes... Thanks, Thanks, Thanks... as a result of some of the
    advice here, I feel like I'm saving myself a ton of money.  I tok
    the plunge last week-end and completed a successful fret dressing
    job for the Mustang.. the neck turned out well enough, that I feel
    like I'd be happy with it for the long haul... really low action
    and no buzzing... but dang, is it scary watching the old brass flake
    off those frets...  (thanks again to the fellow who advized me to
    check the neck... the mustang is about two inches shorter, so the
    strat bridge would has wound up in the middle of the pick-guard...
    not nice).    I'm going to add a new bridge and a couple of new
    pickups, but I'm feeling like for $50 I'll have a guitar that I'll
    really be happy with and I can watch for a good deal on a used Tele
    or Strat rather than going through the building process.
    
    Steve
    
    Retired Guitar Builder

    
    
    	Whew... finished my re-building project this last weekend and
    thought I'd share some thoughts....
    
    1. Replaced the bridge on my Mustang with a Shaller from Stewart-
       MacDonald.  Outstanding bridge, really massive (#577), sustain
    is improved dramatically, but my previous bridge was a little loose,
    so take this with agrain of salt.  The bridge is everything they
    say it is, though.
    
    2. Successful fret dressing... it's really not that tough, if one
    take's one's time, but it is SOME OLE SCARY watching the brass dust
    come of the frets.
    
    3. Pickups... installed two of their Select pickups... and I have
    mixed feelings.  They are very quiet, and I don't miss the hum.
     The bridge pickup is excellent, bright, powerful and distorts nicely
    (gotta remember, when I talk about distortion, I'm talking Clapton).
     The neck pick up is nice, but not as "toney" and "harmonicy" as
    my old single coil Fenders.. I may put one of these back in at the
    neck position...... BUT... both PUs running in phase sound better
    than before, AND... out of phase stuff is much neater than before,
    soooo... I may leave well enough alone.
    
    4. Filled old bridge (BC RICH... anybody interested??) holes with
    dowels and elmer's then sanded with #600, filled, sanded and painted
    with testor's gloss balc epoxy.... if I'd tried I could have made
    this repair virtually invisible.
    
    5. Wired string ground to switch... I find this handy, cos I can
    open the strings when I want to.
    
    
    6. Replaced fender switches with 3 way mini-toggles from Radio Shack
    (added solder lug to bring switches to ground, even though some
    pins were wired to ground anyway)... I guess I see a difference
    here (in ease of switching, not in sound) but it was a tough job
    for me and required some patience... guess I shouldn't use my propane
    torch for soldering anymore, huh.
    
    
    	That's it!  I spent about 75 bucks and have a guitar that is
    truely a breeze to play, and sounds just the way I wanted to.  This
    note saved me about 300 bucks... thanks for the advice.
    
    
    Steve
    
    I love it when the kids at the music store say "Hey man, is that
    a Strat or somethin'?"

I found this coupon in a package of Martin guitar strings:

The 1833 Shop / A Woodworker's Dream
The Martin Guitar Company offers a winde selection of guitar parts, kits, and 
accessories plus exotic woods, and Martin memorabilia through our 1833 Shop /
Woodworker's Dream catalog.  Please send $1.00 and allow 4-6 weeks delivery.
Rush orders send $2.00 to:

1833 Shop / Woodworker's Dream
P.O. Box 329
Nazareth, PA 18064

I sent my order in today.  I will post comments on what I get.

Jim

Well it took Martin three days to have this catalog in my mailbox from the time
I sent in the request.

There is a lot of stuff in here.

Accessories
Stinger Amps
Books
CAses
Electronic accesssories
Guitar kits and parts
Harmonicas
Cords
Pickups
Strings
Straps
etc., etc., etc.

The wood products section was very interesting.  About 40 types of exotic wood 
sold by the square foot with lots of speciality woodshop services.

Zebra wood
Teak
Walnut
Rosewood (many varieties)
etc.

Also of interest were the guitar kits - everything you need to make your own
guitar (except tools) including prebent sides.  All parts are sanded and ready
to glue.  Prices start at $310 for the D-18, $350 for D-28, $595 for D-45.  
Other sizes are available.  They also list all of the individual parts such as
slotted ebony finderboards $30, mahogony necks $26, rosewood head veneer $5.
Gold Grover tuning machines $42. pins packs $5-10, etc., ....

An interesting catalog.  I will probably order a couple of books
Martin Guitars, A History
Martin Guitar Catalog
Martin Tonal Comparison

and a couple of t-shirts.

I work in ZKO, if anyone wants to stop by and take a look at this.  It's worth
a buck if you are into Martin guitars or if you are interested in exotic wood
or guitar parts.