New Build starting now

[Oinkus]

 I got a GFS strat body on sale for 34.45 shipped , swimming pool rout going to get 3 mini humbuckers. Prewired pickgaurd with SDs in it is  $299.99. The moses graphite is biggest cost at $349.99. Pickgaurd has 2 push/pulls on it so you can get all 3 pups on at once. A Graphtech nut , Dunlop straplocks and PW machines and it is done under $700 should be better then anything fender makes by at least a million times. Better idea then routing out a 3rd pickup in the '81 LP Custom I am thinking? Looks like final cost is actually 905.51 , going to be a few months so just ignore me.

[karpathion]

Sounds like fun! I had a buddy who used one those graphite necks for a build, about 8 years ago. It was probably the truest neck I've ever seen. After we did the initial setup, it never changed. No matter what environment he had it in. 

What minis are you going with? That Dave Murray prewired gaurd, looks mighty tastey.

[Oinkus]

You missed my last build somehow ? At 369 it is pricey but I willwait and get it on sale. http://www.ebay.com/itm/111641084736?_tr...EBIDX%3AIT prewired pickgaurd. I for got the bridge in my cost analysis so it is going to be more then $800 dangit.

[Oinkus]

Body is badly painted with some shipping damage. I forgot that GFS sells cheap crap , not sure if I will use it or not. Wasn't paying attention and it has the jack opening on the bottom that generally uses one of those tube jacks that we don't like. Still cheaper then starting out with a $300 guitar that you only use the wood.

[karpathion]

Sand it up and refinish it.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with GFS, 3 times. The tele body I got from them last time had the pickup routes 3/4" off. That was just stupid.

[Oinkus]

Going to build a different Strat for a friend , parts come to $363.38 and I am going to charge him 100 bucks. Natural finish , maple neck. Rebuilding a guitar he got a great deal on in the 70s back at the local jam/party spot known as The Animal House. Was also the place where equipment and guitars went to die. Only big upgrades I am doing is some graph tech saddles ,PW machines , strap locks and a Tusq XL nut. Going to buy a cheapo premade pickgaurd from Dragonfyre on ebay 49.95 shipped high output ceramics 16k bridge humbucker and 6.5k middle and neck. I will probably go ahead and take the finish off the back of the neck because it will be here for a few weeks while he pays it off.

[Oinkus]

Got the natural clear coated Strat body today also from GFS. Awful finish, and it looks like someone never held a router in their life. Actually is just poor CNC programming I would imagine not looking forward to refinishing , and the neck pocket is overly large. Might just sand it down and leave it unfinished. The $89 canadian maple neck from Tricked out Guitars has a nice satin finish on it and the frets are acceptable.

[Oinkus]

After some sanding , down to the sealer coat not sure if I am going to go all the way to bare wood all over it. Got another project in the pipeline that actually will pay ! Going to upgrade that second 2014 SG into a 3 pickup monster , changing all the hardware routing for a third pickup and taking the entire guitar down to wood doing a natural refinish , most likely tung oil. I require a detail sander now going to break the bank then I will go all the way to wood all over on this.

[Oinkus]

And this is the one I am going to molest in a couple weeks.

[karpathion]

That Strat body is killing me. The back should have been the front. It still doesn't look bad for a 3 piece, at least that's what it looks like. 

Looks like a good candidate for one of those new transparent stains at Lowes. I saw a yellowish brown on a test piece of wood that blew my mind. About 15 coats of Tung Oil would would have looked great over it. 

Just how big is that neck route?