I decided late last year I wanted to get back into playing guitar, after about a decade away from the practice. In revitalizing my old guitar, an entry level Squire Affinity Stratocaster, I fell deep into the rabbit hole of guitar building and modding. I decided to build a proper guitar, to my taste (known as a “Partscaster”).
I just finished it, and am super happy with how it turned out. It’s a bit of a Frankenstein, almost like a hybrid between a Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Les Paul. I generally privileged ergonomics and playability above all else, though the pickups are pretty killer.
Here are the details, hopefully useful to those endeavoring on their own projects.
Neck: Warmoth. Modern Construction. Maple shaft wood, Rosewood fretboard. 43mm nut width with GraphTech Tusq nut. 10”-16” compound radius. Narrow & Tall stainless steel frets. Clear satin nitro finish.
Tuners: Fender locking tuners.
String Tree: Guyker roller retainers.
Body: Warmoth. Solid Alder. Universal route. Hardtail bridge route. Sanded and finished with Rubio Monocoat, bourbon.
I think of myself more of a Tele guy than a Strat guy, but Strat bodies are just so much more comfortable than a Tele body. I do have plans for a Tele build in the future though, adding both a belly and forearm contour.
Bridge: Fender American Standard Flat Mount.
I value tuning stability over having the tremolo system, so I went with a hardtail body and bridge. No regrets, this thing is rock solid.
Pickguard: Warmoth. .09” black matte. Routed for P-90s, two knobs, and a selector switch.
Pickups: Lollar P-90 soapbar, neck and f-spaced bridge. Black covers.
I don’t love middle pickups, as they are right in the main strumming area, so I went with a two pickup configuration as opposed to the traditional 3 pickups in a Strat. This also allowed me to only have two knobs instead of 3, which cleared more space where my hand sometimes rests.
Potentiometers: 500k split shaft, short, from Lollar.
3-Way Switch: Oak Grigsby.
Capacitor: Orange Drop .022.
Wiring: Art of Tone cloth pushback.
Neck plate, jack plate, jack, dome-top knobs, and screws: Warmoth.
Copper tape for lining cavity: Kirecoo.
Here are a couple videos and documents that helped me along the way:
Wiring diagram (this is for a Telecaster but the wiring is the same).
Wiring a Telecaster walkthrough.
It’s been a really fun project, and I suspect it won’t be long before I have the itch to make another.
