NGD: Partsocaster

  • Thread starter Thread starter grooveHT
  • Start date Start date
grooveHT

grooveHT

Well-known member
As some of you know, I'm not in country right now, but I saw this guitar on TGP being blown out, and I couldn't pass it up:

Strat-Front-1.jpg


Strat-Front-Close-Up.jpg


Strat-Headstock-Front.jpg


Strat-Headstock-Rear.jpg


Strat-Rear.jpg


here are the stats from the original owner:
Body: USA Custom Guitars alder in thin trans white finish
Neck: Maple in clear satin
Fretboard: Pau ferro with 10-13" radius and 6105 fretwire
Tuners: Sperzel locking
Bridge: Gotoh 1055 with custom Callaham steel block
Pickups: Lindy Fralin - Unbucker (neck), Vintage Hot (middle), SP43
(bridge)
Electronics: 5-way switch (standard strat wiring), CTS pots (Volume, neck pickup Tone, Bridge pickup tone), Mini-switch (coil cut on neck
humbucker)


Now since I'm out of the US for the time being, and I'm sure my folks would LOVE to have one of my guitars lingering in their house (har har), I had it sent to my good buddy Vlad...figured he could check it out for me too. Vlad says it kills, so I'm pretty stoked about it! Hopefully he'll chime in here with his take on it!
 
Beautiful guitar USACG FTW!!! I have the same neck, materials and frets. I don't know who did the build for you, but IMO the frets look like they need to be dressed. They come from Tommy looking just like that, edges are finished real well and the 6105 wire almost looks too thin, but I'm assured that when they are dressed down a little they will look "normal".
 
Copperhead":1ebz96dp said:
Beautiful guitar USACG FTW!!! I have the same neck, materials and frets. I don't know who did the build for you, but IMO the frets look like they need to be dressed. They come from Tommy looking just like that, edges are finished real well and the 6105 wire almost looks too thin, but I'm assured that when they are dressed down a little they will look "normal".
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Thanks! I believe it was assembled by the last owner's local guitar tech? I'll talk to V about it; again, unfortunately, I've not played it yet, so I have to go to him to ask about my guitar :lol: :LOL: He said the part quality was fantastic though, and that it sustained like a champ; great acoustic tone as well as amplified. Guess I know who I'll go to in the future for builds!

-Jeff
 
Copperhead":2azk3ppf said:
's okay. I fixed it so we won't get 'em confused.

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Nice work...btw, really dug the dye you had going on the body...thinking of maybe doing a fixed bridge tele-body like that someday, maybe with a 3+3 headstock and a nice trans dye like yours. But the decal would have to say something like Notacaster or something :D
 
Tommy's quality is outstanding and I'm sure you will really love it. I'm sure I will like mine, once I get it done!!! I had a four day weekend to work on it, but this week has been killer back at work. Two three day workweeks back to back and the general "Holiday Spirit" since Thanksgiving has really taken it's toll. I've had angry purchasing agents calling all week and haven't been home much. Oh well -after work tomorrow I'll do a little more, I can't wait to play it, but I don't want to rush and screw anything up either!
 
Juggernaut":11g057qy said:
your pick-ups are backwards.... :confused:

:lol: :LOL: :thumbsup:
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Oh shit that explains why it was cheap... ;)

supposedly the unbucker coil-shunts to a real sngle, so if it sounds good tapped, the humbuckeriness is just an added bonus! Vlad says he's not sure about how he likes the neck bucker; however, he really digs the middle and bridge pickups.
 
Copperhead":2ptjhxoe said:
Tommy's quality is outstanding and I'm sure you will really love it. I'm sure I will like mine, once I get it done!!! I had a four day weekend to work on it, but this week has been killer back at work. Two three day workweeks back to back and the general "Holiday Spirit" since Thanksgiving has really taken it's toll. I've had angry purchasing agents calling all week and haven't been home much. Oh well -after work tomorrow I'll do a little more, I can't wait to play it, but I don't want to rush and screw anything up either!
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depending on how this guitar plays, and from Vlad's accounts it kills, it may change how I buy guitars from now on. I understand your pain with waiting to get to play, but I'm relatively sure the wait will be well worth it! I forget, what pickups are going in yours?
 
Bareknuckle; Cold Sweat in the neck, Nail Bomb in the bridge.
 
Copperhead":114jha83 said:
Bareknuckle; Cold Sweat in the neck, Nail Bomb in the bridge.
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Nice! But do you think they'll have enough output? ;)
 
Ok. So I got the guitar on Tuesday and first off, as far as fit and finish, the pics don't do it justice. It's beautiful.
As soon as I took it out of the gig-bag and held it, I knew it was going to be interesting. I spent a good 2 hours playing it before I even plugged it into my amp. It was very loud and resonant. Almost acoustic-like. The action was a tad on the high-side for my tastes, but it was still very comfortable to play. Now, the pickup configuration is not what I would pick for my guitar, but they sounded great! This isn't a shredder guitar by any means, but it's terrific for blues, classic rock etc. It's a freaking tone-machine. I would change the pickup configuration to something a bit more conventional. Maybe HSS or SSS (my preference would be HSS). Nothing too high-output. Hot-ish PAF in the bridge and perhaps even keep the singles that are in there already because they're really great pickups.

All in all, it's one of the best-sounding guitars I've played in a LONG time!
 
Good to hear the quarter-sawn maple neck and pau ferro board is working well. This is my first experience with that material, I wanted a maple board but Tommy talked me into the pau ferro, he says the tone is superior and consistent all over the neck.
 
I love Tommy's work, he really is great guy too. Congrats on the Reverse-o-caster! :lol: :LOL:

Ive always wanted to try an unbucker, let me know if you ever get rid of it. :rock:
 
Vlad: Thanks for posting man! I still can't wait to get my hands on it! I'll bring my black strat when I come over in feb, we can run it against the kinmans and see what you think.

Valtiel: I'll keep you updated on the unbucker, if I part with it, you have first dibs.
 
grooveHT":29mqq8ee said:
Vlad: Thanks for posting man! I still can't wait to get my hands on it! I'll bring my black strat when I come over in feb, we can run it against the kinmans and see what you think.

Valtiel: I'll keep you updated on the unbucker, if I part with it, you have first dibs.
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Cool... :D

I'd like to hear the Kinmans again. I remember really liking them. I'd seriously do an HSS in this guitar with some nice medium output PAF pickup that can split well. It would be a monster. I think my next guitar may have a Pau Ferro fretboard too. It's got that closed-grain feel of maple. It's got spank to it, but looks a bit different. I dig it.
 
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