My next Strat...a pictorial 6-17-23 Update

I'd really like to try one of the "Wudtone" kits. They sound pretty cool.

I just don't have the patience for nitrocellulose lacquer. Plus I don't have a spray booth.
 
MichaelW said:
I love the sound of Tron's as well. Just not too sure if I want that in a Strat.

I've always hated the sound of a Strat bridge pickup too until I discovered two things. First was the Lollar "Special S" pickups. These are a little hotter wound but not super hot (7.6k DC) I've used this pickup in my current Strat and the Tele version in both of my Tele's. This has really opened the door for me on using the bridge pickup on a Strat. They're fatter and hotter, as expected but most importantly, they have "character" which is something missing in most overwound Strat bridge pickups to me.

The second thing I discovered was the Eric Johnson Strat wiring. (It's not exclusive to him, other people use it as well) But it puts the bridge on its own dedicated tone control and uses a .01 or .015 tone cap. The middle pickup by passes the tone stack and is wired directly to the switch.
Master volume. The .015 rolls off the treble a little slower and gives you a wider sweep and range of tone roll off and you can pre set the bridge to where it sounds the best. Rolled all the way down you can get into that warm tone that EJ favors. I usually have mine set around 50% ish on the bridge pickup. You can hear how this sounds in my Pink Floyd pedal demo. The last solo is played on my Strat bridge pickup (Lollar Special S), tone rolled off about 50% through my Gnat Fuzz. You can really hear the harmonics jumping out (or trying to jump out). That's mostly the pickup doing that. Same with the earlier solo with the Lollar P90's.

The upper tone control is for the neck only. In the middle pickup position it acts as a "blow switch" if you want a full bore solo sound.
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I fitted a baseplate to the bottom of my strat bridge pickup after reading about Matt Schofield using them on his strats. Unbelievable how much difference it made. It still sounds like my strat but the bridge now has some thickness and balls that it didn't have before. It took a few steps towards a tele bridge sound but still sounds like my strat.

I really wish I'd done before and after sound files.
 
MichaelW said:
I'd really like to try one of the "Wudtone" kits. They sound pretty cool.

I just don't have the patience for nitrocellulose lacquer. Plus I don't have a spray booth.
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Checkout crimson guitars stunning stains and finishing oils. They seem to have a higher success rate than the wudtone kits with anyone I know who's used them in the UK. They have a range of different finish options on there.

www.crimsonguitars.com

Search: 21 results found for "Oil"

Crimson Guitars, based in Dorset, is the premier UK manufacturer of both production and bespoke guitars to the highest of standards. We also manufacture a range of fine luthiers tools and have the largest purpose built guitar building school in the world.
www.crimsonguitars.com www.crimsonguitars.com
 
SillyOctpuss said:
Checkout crimson guitars stunning stains and finishing oils. They seem to have a higher success rate than the wudtone kits with anyone I know who's used them in the UK. They have a range of different finish options on there.

www.crimsonguitars.com

Search: 21 results found for "Oil"

Crimson Guitars, based in Dorset, is the premier UK manufacturer of both production and bespoke guitars to the highest of standards. We also manufacture a range of fine luthiers tools and have the largest purpose built guitar building school in the world.
www.crimsonguitars.com www.crimsonguitars.com
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I've seen some his videos before. He's got an interesting approach to some stuff, like fret dressing. Not the way I'd do it.
I've never heard of this finishing stuff before though. Looks interesting. It' all oil based?
 
MichaelW said:
I've seen some his videos before. He's got an interesting approach to some stuff, like fret dressing. Not the way I'd do it.
I've never heard of this finishing stuff before though. Looks interesting. It' all oil based?
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NVM, I see he has both oil and water based finishes....interesting....
 
MichaelW said:
NVM, I see he has both oil and water based finishes....interesting....
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Yikes, his oil based finishes contain MEK......(methyl ethyl ketones). I've been exposed to enough of that crap the 7 years I spent building boats to last a couple of lifetimes.....
 
That really looks quite nice, I might have to give their stuff another look... I tried out a cheap GFS body probably 10 years ago and found it really disappointing at the time. Drilling was very inaccurate and it felt like it was made out of balsa wood - it'd dent if you looked at it wrong and the body felt like it must've weighed 2lbs, tops :P
 
MichaelW said:
Yikes, his oil based finishes contain MEK......(methyl ethyl ketones). I've been exposed to enough of that crap the 7 years I spent building boats to last a couple of lifetimes.....
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I have no idea what that is but from your repsonse it's obviously not good. I find Ben to be an 'interesting character' to be nice and have never managed to sit through any of their videos tbh.

I just know a few builders who had problems with blotchy or patchy finishes and not getting the depth of colour they wanted with wudtone who all had much better results with the crimson guitars stuff.

One thing I can recommend at wudtone though is their strat bridge. It's pricey but fantastic.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
I have no idea what that is but from your repsonse it's obviously not good. I find Ben to be an 'interesting character' to be nice and have never managed to sit through any of their videos tbh.

I just know a few builders who had problems with blotchy or patchy finishes and not getting the depth of colour they wanted with wudtone who all had much better results with the crimson guitars stuff.

One thing I can recommend at wudtone though is their strat bridge. It's pricey but fantastic.
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MEK is used (amongst other things) to catalyze fiberglass resins. It's pretty toxic stuff. The water based stuff looks interesting. I'll check out the strat bridge....I'm in the market!:). I usually assembly my own. I'm a huge fan of the Highwood Strat saddles. I have them in two guitars. I also like to try different sustain blocks. I have steel in one and brass in the other.
 
MichaelW said:
MEK is used (amongst other things) to catalyze fiberglass resins. It's pretty toxic stuff. The water based stuff looks interesting. I'll check out the strat bridge....I'm in the market!:). I usually assembly my own. I'm a huge fan of the Highwood Strat saddles. I have them in two guitars. I also like to try different sustain blocks. I have steel in one and brass in the other.
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Good to know. Like I said I've not used it yet. I know a few builders in the UK who all recommended their stuff for ease of use at home scenarios and warned me off the wudtone finishes (that was my first option).

As I said I do love their strat bridge though. The quality's excellent and it's easily the smoothest strat trem I've ever used. I've been dithering over trying one on my prs for ages but it's a lot of money for an experiment on a guitar I already love.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
Good to know. Like I said I've not used it yet. I know a few builders in the UK who all recommended their stuff for ease of use at home scenarios and warned me off the wudtone finishes (that was my first option).

As I said I do love their strat bridge though. The quality's excellent and it's easily the smoothest strat trem I've ever used. I've been dithering over trying one on my prs for ages but it's a lot of money for an experiment on a guitar I already love.
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ok cool, looks like I can get the Wudtone trem parts here in the US from BYO. not cheap. All I want is the bridge plate and trem arm. Looks like that's where most of the action comes from. I've seen this trem before (and forgot about it hahaha). Looks pretty cool. I'm not a huge trem user these days so it's not the MOST critical for me. But still, looks like I can build off of the Wudtone baseplate.
 
MichaelW said:
ok cool, looks like I can get the Wudtone trem parts here in the US from BYO. not cheap. All I want is the bridge plate and trem arm. Looks like that's where most of the action comes from. I've seen this trem before (and forgot about it hahaha). Looks pretty cool. I'm not a huge trem user these days so it's not the MOST critical for me. But still, looks like I can build off of the Wudtone baseplate.
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Yeah the saddles, springs and block are pretty standard parts. You'll also need the 'wacker' plate (I think that's what he calls it from memory) unless that comes with the baseplate?
 
MichaelW said:
I "think" according to this, the bridge plate comes with the "whacker".
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Yeah certainly looks like it. I bought my trem secondhand from someone who'd bought it for a project and never got round to finishing it so it the complete trem was all still in it's packaging.

I was skeptical but it's honestly been fantastic and I wouldn't bother looking at other trems now.
 
I have been putting off ordering an SG kit to build (bolt-on neck), and I think this thread has inspired me to finally order the kit. I've been stressed about having to paint/stain and finish. My artistic abilities are limited...I peaked at fingerpainting. I'm terrified I'll mess it up and it'll look like Gibson did the finish...
 
Coda said:
I have been putting off ordering an SG kit to build (bolt-on neck), and I think this thread has inspired me to finally order the kit. I've been stressed about having to paint/stain and finish. My artistic abilities are limited...I peaked at fingerpainting. I'm terrified I'll mess it up and it'll look like Gibson did the finish...
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Which one are you getting? I've been thinking about an SG too, I was either going to buy a Harley Benton and mod the F out of it, or build a kit.
 
Seeing your comments on the gfs bodies really makes me want to try one. I was saving my money for a warmoth but if it's $300 less and almost as good...?
 
almondcity said:
Seeing your comments on the gfs bodies really makes me want to try one. I was saving my money for a warmoth but if it's $300 less and almost as good...?
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No it's not as good as a Warmoth. Those things are usually gnats ass perfect. But is the Warmoth $300 better? No. (Actually more like $400 more with a finish.)

All depends on what you want. If you want a premium instrument, then Warmoth is the way to go. I have zero negative to say about them, every single Warmoth product I've ever used I've not regretted. But you do pay for it.

On the other hand, the GFS is easily 95% of the Warmoth. (At least the 2 examples I've had). The dimensions are all period correct, radii are all correct, neck pocket is cut correct and straight and cleanly. Bit of a crapshoot if you're concerned about weight. But this Strat came in pretty good at around 4 and change. I remember a few years ago folks complained about GFS alder and ash bodies coming in over 5lbs. That tells me the wood wasn't being dried correctly. Seems like they've addressed that issue.

The Burgundy Mist on my Tele and this Candy Apple Red finish were gorgeous and well done. Can't speak for any of the other finishes. I don't like any of their sunbursts, so I personally would avoid them. They don't look right to me.

I will say this, last year I ordered an Allen Eden (or Eden Allen?) body. Which is another low cost body. It was total crap and I sent it back.
These GFS XPG bodies are in a completely different class.

I will also say, the whole point of me buying and using the GFS body was because I was experimenting with dulling the finish. And on my tele I was experimenting with routing pickup cavities. So I went with something more affordable in case I totally messed it up.

If I were starting from scratch to just build a killer guitar, I'd probably get a nitro body, probably an MJT body from JV Guitars.
 
MichaelW said:
No it's not as good as a Warmoth. Those things are usually gnats ass perfect. But is the Warmoth $300 better? No. (Actually more like $400 more with a finish.)

All depends on what you want. If you want a premium instrument, then Warmoth is the way to go. I have zero negative to say about them, every single Warmoth product I've ever used I've not regretted. But you do pay for it.

On the other hand, the GFS is easily 95% of the Warmoth. (At least the 2 examples I've had). The dimensions are all period correct, radii are all correct, neck pocket is cut correct and straight and cleanly. Bit of a crapshoot if you're concerned about weight. But this Strat came in pretty good at around 4 and change. I remember a few years ago folks complained about GFS alder and ash bodies coming in over 5lbs. That tells me the wood wasn't being dried correctly. Seems like they've addressed that issue.

The Burgundy Mist on my Tele and this Candy Apple Red finish were gorgeous and well done. Can't speak for any of the other finishes. I don't like any of their sunbursts, so I personally would avoid them. They don't look right to me.

I will say this, last year I ordered an Allen Eden (or Eden Allen?) body. Which is another low cost body. It was total crap and I sent it back.
These GFS XPG bodies are in a completely different class.

I will also say, the whole point of me buying and using the GFS body was because I was experimenting with dulling the finish. And on my tele I was experimenting with routing pickup cavities. So I went with something more affordable in case I totally messed it up.

If I were starting from scratch to just build a killer guitar, I'd probably get a nitro body, probably an MJT body from JV Guitars.
Click to expand...

Yeah I kind of want to try a Tele with a Filtertron in the neck so I may try to get one of these and rout it myself. I'd go MJT but I'm not sold on the relic thing
 
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