Going to make some meteoras!

[mystixboi1]

Absolutely fantastic. Congratulations and great job.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

That’s really nice!

 

[Denverdave]

Sweet!

 

[Gorgon90]

Great job!

 

[tiger roach]

Really nice work.

 

[Elias Graves]

Thanks everyone! I’m very pleased how it turned out. I can’t see how it comes up short in any area.

Customer took delivery last night. He was floored.

 

[Elias Graves]

A little color added to mine. Another yellow guitar? Yeah I like yellow. Woodstock is pale yellow similar to Fender graffiti yellow. This is more marigold.

 

[Elias Graves]

Let’s not forget this one. I left it behind because I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do with it. Telecaster of some sort was on my short list and this morning I came across a good deal on a Hipshot three saddle stainless bridge so I ordered it up. I believe I will use TV Jones Starwood tele pups, which are a hybrid of tele pup and dynasonic magnets and wire.
The body is a medium weight ash. I do have a mahogany/wenge neck for it but IDK. An ash tele just screams for a maple neck, but since I usually paint necks, I don’t know it matters.

 

[Elias Graves]

My Hipshot tele bridge arrives the same day I got contacted about a new commission build and I ended up selling the ash body to go with it lol.
So my tele project goes to the back burner and I shift gears towards turning this body into an HSH strat.
Got a deposit yesterday and began ordering parts.
Hipshot trem. Hipshot locking tuners.
Suhr Thornbuckers and a V63 for the middle. Five way switch and coil split.
I ordered a Warmoth one piece maple neck with a mix of vintage and modern specs. 10-16 radius, stainless frets and so forth.
Stand by as all my new hardware trickles in.

 

[Elias Graves]

Paint is on these two. Time to start polishing.

 

[Elias Graves]

Beginning to see some parts come in for the HSH Strat project. A Hipshot contour bridge. Suhr Thornbucker and V63 pickups.

 

[Elias Graves]

A little teaser on the gold top. @Guitar Heel

 

[Elias Graves]

Wiring up the gold top. All the paint is done and looking good!

There’s a 1950s style wiring scheme. 4x CTS 500k pots. Mallory 150 tone caps .022 mf. Three way toggle. Pure tone output jack.
A little unusual in that the copper foil shielding is actually my ground bus. Nothing tied off to the back of the volume pot like you usually see.

 

[Elias Graves]

Woot! Gold top is playing!!! A little more setup work to do and install some string trees but it pretty much sounds like a les paul. 8 1/2 pounds so it doesn’t feel like a les paul lol.

 

[Elias Graves]

 

[Elias Graves]

Just about got all the supplies for the green ash monster.

 

[Bob411]

View attachment 84000

I really, really suck at making pickguards, can you go into the specifics of making the templates? Material and thickness please.

 

[Elias Graves]

I really, really suck at making pickguards, can you go into the specifics of making the templates? Material and thickness please.

Well, a pickguard template came with my meteora set. It was cut for two humbuckers. I bought several other templates from the same maker and all his are designed to be compatible with one another. They all use the same registry pin locations.
So I make a new template based on my original then modify it using my other templates. I make the templates from whatever is at hand, either some Baltic birch plywood or some MDF. 1/2” or so thickness seems to work well.
From there, I use my new template and router bits to cut the final pickguard. I attach the pickguard blank material to the template with either double sided tape or (preferably) the masking tape and super glue method. I make the initial cut with a flush trim router bit then switch to a 45 degree bevel bit to do the slanted edges.
Now I have templates for humbuckers, mini humbuckers and P90s. About to make another for HSH configuration.

 

[Bob411]

Thanks EG. 1/2" I was afraid of that. Tried 1/4" because, I didn't want to be sanding it forever after rough cutting it.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

That goldy is beautiful!