Mymozika Frankenstrat Build | Part Two

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

In Part One of this series, the pickguard electronics were installed and tested. That was the easy part. Right off the bat I'd noticed that the pickguard, output jack "football" plate, bridge, and neck weren't fitting as they should. Alignment was way off, and you could not push a jack plug all the way into the NYS229 socket. To make matters worse, the neck pickup end of the pickguard was laying on top of the neck heel. Moving the neck further out in the neck pocket did little good; as the pickguard still would not lay flat.

I first tackled the output jack problem by using my trusty Pro's Kit Rotary Tool (aka "Cremel") to enlarge and deepen the cavity sufficiently. Thankfully, I was able to plug in a guitar cable after a few passes. Next, I determined that the pickguard anomaly was due to the neck pickup not being able to fit in its cavity. So out came the chisels and Cremel, and the pickguard was finally laying nice and flat.

Following this was a rough-fitting of components with the aid of a long steel ruler. I managed to get most everything aligned with the center of the bridge mounting screws 24-1/4" from the inner nut face; as recommended by StewMac.

The pre-existing bridge mounting screw screw holes were unusable in the new setup, so they were plugged and sealed. The end result was a little messy, thanks to the stickered face of the body. I could not get the plug ends flush without damaging the sticker. Well, you can't win 'em all. Meanwhile, I'd already discovered that the current neck mounting screw holes would not align with those of the new neck plate. As such, these were plugged and sealed.

That's where I'm at now with this Mymozika Frankenstrat Build. I reckon the next step will be accurately marking the positions of the bridge and neck mount screw holes, and drilling them with my drill press. Yes, I'll also have to drill mounting holes in the neck heel. Thanks for checking in, and till we meet again; stay safe :)

Note: Fender®, Stratocaster®, Strat®, Telecaster®, Tele®, P Bass®, Precision Bass®, and the distinctive headstock designs of these guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

 

Mymozika Frankenstrat Build | Part One

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

I seem to have a number of regular clients who are not only into run-of-the-mill kit builds; but also mix-and-match "Frankenstein" mutants. Fine with me, always give the client what he/she wants. I do get a thrill putting together one-of-a-kind instruments; such as the Frankenstrat Partscaster and Yamaha EG112C - OLP MM1 Hybrid.

So here we have an old Applause Strat copy, the body of which has been decorated front and back with Mymozika head honcho Wan's own sticker design. For those who aren't familiar with Mymozika, they're an up-and-coming local rock band. Do check out their Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

Back to the Applause, then. The sticker design is pretty intricate, and reminds me of the '60s for some reason. The body is all Wan wants retained. To complete this build, he's brought me a custom '70s Strat-style reverse-headstock Canadian hard rock maple neck, black pickguard, gold hardware; and three pickups. The neck and middle are from a Japanese Fender Stratocaster; while the bridge pickup is a used Fender SCN ST-BR Samarium Cobalt Noiseless.

As the leads on all three pickups are woefully short, I've removed them and soldered on longer hot (+) and ground (-) leads. And, for simplicity's sake, I've bridged the triangular and square solder terminals of the SCN for a common ground (black lead), and maintained the round terminal for the hot lead (white). 

At the owner's request, the stock black pickup covers on the neck and middle pickups have been swapped out for a pair of StewMac Parchment Pickup Covers for Strat. They do contrast nicely with the black pickguard, and more or less match the aged white SCN cover. Okay, that's taken care of. Now, on to the wiring.

I've upgraded the electronics with Alpha A250K pots, a Russian K73-16 0.022uF tone cap; and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. The neck and middle pickups work together well, and the middle is RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse-polarity) -- nice! So far so good; or so I think. Then, when I kick in the bridge pickup; all hell breaks loose. There's only the faintest of signals, drowned in hum and noise.

What do I do, what do I do? I decide to reverse the leads on the SCN. Now the square and round terminals are the common ground (black lead), and the triangular; hot (white lead). And, who would've guessed; the SCN is behaving as it should. No more weird noises and annoying hum. I heave a huge sigh of relief!

We've settled the wiring issue, but there's still lots more to be done. Do stay tuned for future updates on this Mymozika Frankenstrat Build. See ya real soon :)

Note: Fender®, Stratocaster®, Strat®, Telecaster®, Tele®, P Bass®, Precision Bass®, and the distinctive headstock designs of these guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

 

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Four

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

This is the fourth and final installment of a series of posts on a lovely custom neck-through Telecaster-style guitar I've been working on since the beginning of this year.

Now that the job is done, I have time to reflect on the many fine features found on this custom instrument. Among these is the use of quality wood and sturdy construction. The body is of dark-stained wood, while the chunky neck (think: baseball bat) is a five-piece sandwich of maple and the same wood used for the body. This neck extends through the center of the body right to the butt end -- definitely a neck-through build.

The body feels solid and is of good weight, somewhere between that of a Strat and Les Paul. The top is capped by a rather thick layer of attractively-grained veneer; stained darker than the rest of the body for good contrast. I just can't get enough of the wood grain pattern -- it's raw yet sophisticated. Initially harboring the thought that this was a quarter-inch solid wood cap as on Les Pauls and the like; I was disappointed upon closer inspection of the sides.

Stringing is through-body, a feature that definitely enhances sustain. The only let down here is the haphazard arrangement of the string ferrules. Surely the person who handled this task could have done some research online, and then practiced on scrap wood beforehand.

I suspect that he or she simply used a hand-held power drill and bludgeoned through the body in one go. In any case, here's a step-by-step video tutorial by Fletcher Handcrafted Guitars on how to get the job done right. Key word: drill press!

The maple fretboard features a bone nut, 12" radius, 25.5" scale, 22 medium-jumbo frets, black plastic binding; and intricate abalone inlays. Abalone has also been used for the gorgeous floral inlays along the butt end of the body and in between the pickups. A classy touch indeed!

This custom Tele came to me in rather poor shape, silent testament to the various ill-executed mods, rough handling and neglect suffered over the years. I'm blessed to have been part of its rehabilitation and return to a giggable state. Well, that's about it for this post. Stay home, stay safe; and do enjoy the pics :)

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Three

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Well, let's see here. I've already refinished this Tele in Tru-Oil and installed the electronics. Now it's time to string it up and do a proper setup for maximum playability. Easier said than done, huh?

The maple fretboard's already as straight as an arrow, so I reckon there won't be much truss rod tweaking needed. So on goes the Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys, I tune up, and then realize the first issue: excessively-high action at the nut. Boy, are you going to have problems fretting barre chords such as F or Bb major!

In case you're wondering just how I determine nut action, it's pretty simple. With the guitar tuned to pitch, press any string at the 3rd fret and eyeball the distance between the bottom of that string and the top of the first fret. There should only be a tiny gap, a hair's width; one might say. I know there are more scientific ways to measure the gap using feeler gauges and what not; but eyeballing it works just fine for me. If there's just a tiny sliver of light shining through; you'll be good to go.

Anyway, out come the fret and torch nozzle files; and away we go. Now I've lowered the nut action to where I like it, the strings are sitting way too deep in their slots. And then there's the fact that this bone nut is really gnarly and needs a face lift. A nut reprofile job should kill these two birds with one stone, methinks.

I start by filing the top of the nut down to where about half the diameter of the wound strings are visible, and then do a cleanup and polish with successively finer grits of 3M Flexible Polishing Papers. I really like these polishing papers as they're flexible, durable; and offer a degree of control you won't get with regular sandpaper.

So now the nut's been taken care of. The fretboard's still relatively flat with the strings tuned up; and there's only the tiniest bit of relief in the 7th to 9th fret area. Nice, but fretting any string at the 21st and 22nd frets produces the same note. This means that the 22nd fret is way too high -- when you fret a note at the 21st fret, it's actually fretting at the 22nd!

The solution is to do a really minor fret dress on just the 22nd fret to lower it. I do just that; problem solved. Of course there's lots of fine sanding and polishing to do after lowering the fret height; but that's life. I've finally got the action and intonation just right, so I'm calling it a day on this job. Here's a YouTube video of yours truly trying out this Tele straight into my Fender Champion 40, no effects; no nuthin.

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Two

Related Posts    

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

To date, I've completed the Tru-Oil refinish, fabrication of a control cavity cover, and slight neck pickup cavity enlargement to fit the new humbucker-sized P90 clone. Conductive shielding paint, copper foil and grounding tabs have also been utilized to reduce rogue interference as far as possible. 

I've also adjusted the neck pickup in its cavity for optimal string/polepiece alignment with the help of "dummy" low and high E strings. Electronics-wise, the guitar has been rewired with a new 3-way switch, Alpha A500K pots, poly film 0.022uF cap; and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. 

Everything works as it should, thankfully. All that's left now is to string this guitar up with a set of Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys (10-46) and do a full setup. I think I'll take care of that tomorrow; now it's time to take a break and listen to some Nat King Cole. Thanks for reading this, and I'll see you soon :)

Custom HSH S-Style | Refret and Bone Nut

Here's a custom HSH S-style build featuring two Ibanez humbuckers and a single-coil; plus genuine Fender hardware. After years of heavy use it needs a full refret, new nut; and setup. As per the owner's request, I've installed Dunlop Accu-Fret 6000 fretwire and a bone nut; and refinished the maple fretboard in Tru-Oil. Now, while I actually completed this job in 2019, I'm only blogging about it now as I misplaced the majority of the pics I took; and the ones you see here are all I could find. A thousand apologies, folks.