Cato's "making of a copy of Jay's strat" blog

[Cato]

yesterday I saw a group shot of his strats and one of those attracted my interest.





I liked it and decided to build a similar guitar for myself.

last night I ordered a strat body from an internet musical instrument store as soon as I logged out here, and it is supposed to arrive soon.
today, I bought a lefty neck in a guitar shop(I'm quick only when I do this kind of thing).



eh?

here I'm gonna write all the details I do to make it.
keep watching and feel free to find fault with my work.
mr badguy is a homo.

[jhale667]

I'm flattered.

[ELVIS]

I don't care for the purple burst color on a Strat...

The color itself looks cool, but I think Stratocasters only look good in correct (for lack of a better term) colors...

Know wum sayin' ??

[DeadMan1984]

Can't wait to see how your work progresses, Cato.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I don't care for the purple burst color on a Strat...

The color itself looks cool, but I think Stratocasters only look good in correct (for lack of a better term) colors...

Know wum sayin' ??

I would've thought the same thing until I saw mine. And pictures don't really do it justice. Plus there's a surprising bonus factor:

CHICKS DIG IT.

I wanna see a picture of the body you're getting, Cato....:p

[Jimmy Jingles]

Cool thread...

I love shit like this!

What kind of pups you gonna use?

[Cato]

the body has arrived. 3 piece alder. I paid about 100 bucks for this.





it's tight!



bump...looks bad. I need to do something for this...



um, what's the next step?

[jhale667]

Purple stain? You're gonna finish it yourself?

[Cato]

yeah I will. but it will not be purple.
I'm gonna make it any of the following colors

Orange(white pick guard)

Red(white)

Oil Finish(black)

vintage white(gold anodized)

[Golden AWe]

Kewl thread!

Just don't use MAN-Oil Finish.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I don't care for the purple burst color on a Strat...

The color itself looks cool, but I think Stratocasters only look good in correct (for lack of a better term) colors...

Know wum sayin' ??

Shell Pink
Surf Green
Daphne Blue

[Cato]

problem found

some holes on the headstock are straying off their course



need to fill up them with epoxy resin...

[rustoffa]

Check this out. Pretty comprehensive explanation of building an x-pensive strat. It goes on forever...keep scrolling down. I guess he left out the part where he smoked alot of reefer.


http://patsguitars.com/brownie.htm

[jhale667]

Originally posted by Jimmy Jingles
Cool thread...

I love shit like this!

What kind of pups you gonna use?

That's what I wanna know...

Originally posted by rustoffa
Check this out. Pretty comprehensive explanation of building an x-pensive strat. It goes on forever...keep scrolling down. I guess he left out the part where he smoked alot of reefer.


http://patsguitars.com/brownie.htm

...I gave that a quick read through and I'll say one thing: The dude's using a Callaham bridge, he is not fucking around...they kick ass!

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Originally posted by rustoffa
Check this out. Pretty comprehensive explanation of building an x-pensive strat. It goes on forever...keep scrolling down. I guess he left out the part where he smoked alot of reefer.


http://patsguitars.com/brownie.htm

That is a beautiful guitar!

[Matt White]

Excellent

can't wait to see the finished axe

[Cato]

this corner is a bit squarish.



so making it round

[Cato]

"bridge positioning"

I did it like this

[ELVIS]

Wow, I know my next purchase...

A Callahan bridge, that is, if a lefty version is available...

I'd heard of them but never paid any attention...

Thanks jhale...


And Cato, my buddy, my pal...

Keep sanding that baby...

[ELVIS]

Callaham!

With an M

[ELVIS]

Well, i've sent them an email...

There's no lefty information on their website...

Callaham Guitars

[Diamondjimi]

Originally posted by rustoffa
Check this out. Pretty comprehensive explanation of building an x-pensive strat. It goes on forever...keep scrolling down. I guess he left out the part where he smoked alot of reefer.


http://patsguitars.com/brownie.htm

That's quite the big ta do about one guitar.

Keepin it true to Claptons ,he should've gone with a 21 fret neck..

Id take any one of Jhale's strats over that one , any day....

[jhale667]

Originally posted by diamondjimi
That's quite the big ta do about one guitar.

Keepin it true to Claptons ,he should've gone with a 21 fret neck..

Id take any one of Jhale's strats over that one , any day....

Thank you, kind sir.

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by jhale667
...I gave that a quick read through and I'll say one thing: The dude's using a Callaham bridge, he is not fucking around...they kick ass!

This friend of mine sold that dude an amp. He sent me the link to that dude's site awhile back....it took me awhile to find it. Anyway, my friend said the fucker was weird, and I should probably ask him if he wanted to buy my piece-of-shit Danelectro.

[jhale667]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Wow, I know my next purchase...

A Callahan bridge, that is, if a lefty version is available...

I'd heard of them but never paid any attention...

Thanks jhale...


And Cato, my buddy, my pal...

Keep sanding that baby...

Not sure if they do leftys, but they are weighty, meaty bridges...the trem arm feels great, and they sound excellent. I put one on my friend's '73 Strat and it was like night and day. I've got Fender American vintage bridges on mine, and though I love them, were I ever to build my dream tone-beast (which will be an ash bodied two-tone sunburst relic'ed all to hell ala SRV w/an Ebony Fretboard) it's gonna have one of those....

[ELVIS]

Check out their replacement saddles for AM Standard...

[jhale667]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Check out their replacement saddles for AM Standard...

Nice. If I had an American Standard bridge I would swap those out in a heartbeat! I prefer the vintage 'S'-saddle. The Fender American Vintage one is pretty hefty too, as compared to the Mexi-"vintage" bridge, which feels as though it could blow away in a strong wind...they suuuuuuuuuuck......

[Cato]

this neck has thin frets that I don't like. so I decided to change them to the bigger ones.




these are the tools I use at this process







pulling them out




all done

[Cato]

next I do hit the new frets in the neck. this is the most important job at guitar building. so I asked my kitty to do it.






good job Cherry!

[Cato]

cutting off the frets sticking out of the neck.



and filing the edge



almost done.

[jhale667]

Good work! I hate skinny frets too.

[Cato]

new frets are big as much as Gibson's. to me, it's the most useful size.

[Cato]

today, I took 2 steps forward




heaping up epoxy resin here..




and sanding

[Cato]

[Matt White]

Excellent color choice

[Jimmy Jingles]

Excellent work.

What else can your trained pussy do?

[Cato]

Originally posted by Matt White
Excellent color choice

er...it's not a finish color. I'm still in the undercoating process.

I was rubbing polishing powder into the body yesterday.
and today, I finished it and sprayed primer.

[Cato]

Originally posted by Jimmy Jingles


What else can your trained pussy do?

relic work

[hillbillyhell]

Originally posted by Cato
today, I took 2 steps forward




heaping up epoxy resin here..




and sanding

I got to ask , Is your stain , paint going to stick to your resin ? If so is it going to have a tint to it ? And if it does gave a tint i can tell you a little trick i used for years in my wood shop ... If you use a good wood puddy you van mix your sanding dust in it and the stain will stick and not have any tint ..

[jhale667]

Originally posted by hillbillyhell
.....a little trick i used for years in my wood shop ... If you use a good wood puddy you can mix your sanding dust in it and the stain will stick and not have any tint ..

hmmm....good to know....:p