modding a strat from the loft.

markblack · August 2023

A while back a mate of mine was clearing out his loft and said he had an old guitar... and did I want it as a project.

It was a bog standard sunburst strat-type - all the electrics were playing up, the neck was a 'chunky' to say the least and I couldn't get it play without buzzing as it looked to me the neck was pretty out of shape... truss rod did nothing.

So it sat for a bit in my loft. Then yesterday I thought I know I'm going to mod that!

I had a few bits kicking around - a neck, a Creamery staple mini hum-bucker and some scratch plate material...

and this is what I ended up with... I do like my single pickup guitars, while I won't say it's the best playing guitar ever it's not too bad and kinda fun.

I'm quite please with how it turned out looks wise - which is the most important thing as I am shallow.

anyhow a couple of pics...

Jez6345789 · August 2023

Looking good. Although maybe a hint of Bigsby would spice it up ha ha ha.

markblack · August 2023

@Jez6345789 If I put a bigsby on a strat I fear I would be banned from here for life and hunted down!

but I could be tempted...

Image: https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/coodercaster-reverb@1400x1050.jpg

DrBob · August 2023

Does it say “KOWALSKI” on the headstock?

lovestrat74 · August 2023

Like it! Where did you get those knobs from?

SpoonMan · August 2023

Nowt wrong with that!

markblack · August 2023

@DrBob yep. I do like the movie vanishing point.

@lovestrat74 here you go... £5.99 for 10 bit of a bargin.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363510670354?hash=item54a2eca412:g:KBYAAOSwwGdfyUS5

BillDL · August 2023

I quite like the spartan industrial / technical look of the Torx head screws and the knobs. Do you work in IT and have a handful of old Compaq case screws in a jar? I'm curious about the "Kowalski - Noise Machine" logo with something that looks like "NS" after it. Is that your own logo or one that was already on the headstock? If not, have you researched to see its origins and age?

Going by the forearm body carve and the headstock shape it's most likely to be a budget OEM branded for retailers in the UK, but I suppose there's also a possibility it was made for a European distributor. I would be curious to know. What's the overall quality of the body and neck? It's obviously of good enough quality for you to spend money on the scratchplate and pickup. I have a budget "Strat" made for Lindo guitars when they were an eBay only seller of a range of Far East electrics with different contrived brand names like "Medusa", and it's actually one of my best necks and fretboards so I did spend some money upgrading parts.

I like the simplicity of single humbucker guitars with nice clean likes like that. A few years back I bought one of these cheap Fazley guitars for something like £65, and found it has a really nice neck and is very light and resonant. It now has an IronGear Dirty Torque zebra humbucker (16.4k Alnico V), cream surround and knob, and a push-push coil split on the single volume knob. It's a great guitar, and I like it for the same reason I like your guitar - clean lines and simplicity.

@lovestrat74 ; If you are interested in a couple of knobs like those used I think I may have some in my boxes of parts that were taken from some or other electronic thing in the past. I can look if you want.

lovestrat74 · August 2023

BillDL said:

@lovestrat74 ; If you are interested in a couple of knobs like those used I think I may have some in my boxes of parts that were taken from some or other electronic thing in the past. I can look if you want.

Cheers @BillDL that would be great. No rush.

BillDL · August 2023

lovestrat74 said:

BillDL said:

@lovestrat74 ; If you are interested in a couple of knobs like those used I think I may have some in my boxes of parts that were taken from some or other electronic thing in the past. I can look if you want.

Cheers @BillDL that would be great. No rush.

I'll have a look this evening. I can't recall exactly what knobs I hung onto "maybe for a rainy day", but I'm sure I remember keeping skirted Ritchie Blackmore Hat type ones. I'll PM you later.

lovestrat74 · August 2023

BillDL said:

lovestrat74 said:

BillDL said:

@lovestrat74 ; If you are interested in a couple of knobs like those used I think I may have some in my boxes of parts that were taken from some or other electronic thing in the past. I can look if you want.

Cheers @BillDL that would be great. No rush.

I'll have a look this evening. I can't recall exactly what knobs I hung onto "maybe for a rainy day", but I'm sure I remember keeping skirted Ritchie Blackmore Hat type ones. I'll PM you later.

markblack · August 2023

@BillDL The headstock logo is my own, just something that I made a load of as I think blank headstocks look a bit odd.

No don't work in IT just kind of like the torx screw look.

Not sure where it came from - the original neck has a more fender shaped headstock. No logos anywhere.

I was tempted to go single knob on this one, but i do like a tone control. That Fazley looks cool, I like it.

LionAquaLooper · August 2023

I'd take that single pickup strat over a Fender Tom Delonge signature any day

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

modding a strat from the loft.

Comments