The Jolly Roger - My strat build

[MetalManiac]

Theres just something about a Black Pearl pickguard on a Oly white body! Check out my Predator;

[GuitarDoc]

Love the "Jolly Roger Wench" decal.

[MisterE]

Very nice indeed but I'm with Kam on this, natural would look killer also.

[CTN]

You know, I thought about it for quite a while, cuz it does look good in natural, but I am reasonably sure that it will look KILLER in white.

Also, it's update time!

I have more parts - this is pretty much just stuff from GFS.

Tuners


Some electronics/knobs. I bought a couple of extra pots for other guitars.


Strap buttons, string ferrules, pickguard screws, and a jack plate


I also got this black bridge

As you can see above, the dimensions of the baseplate are slightly different than the chrome (warmoth) one, which sent up red flags in my head when I first saw it. I decided to test fit all the hardware just to make sure I get a chance to make any adjustments now, before any paint.

May as well start with the bridges. Ok so this is the chrome bridge:


and this is the black GFS one. It's actually pretty good, almost as thick as the warmoth one, and a nice matte black finish.

Too bad it doesn't line up with the string thru or mounting holes when the neck and pickguard are in their correct positions.

I figured out a cool solution, cuz I really wanted to stay away from the fully chromed hardware look.

But that glossy finish on the chrome needs to go. I'll give it a good scuffing/scratchig before I mount it to the painted body.

Moving on, the tuners mostly fit. A couple of the tuner holes were a bit tight so I had to sand the inside of them very carefully. I do need to drill pilot holes for the locating screws on the tuners.



I was playing around with the tuners and came up with some cool ideas. I had originally planned on going full black with the hardware, but seeing as I had to compromise on the bridge, and seeing as any visible nuts (like on the jack, and switches) will be chromed anyway, I figured I could try to use chrome as an accent. On the headstock, I will be using the stock string retainer, which is chrome.

Which one of these do you like?


And last couple things for today

String ferrule holes are a perfect fit, but I do not want to install the ferrules yet as they will be difficult to remove/reinstall. I'll only reinstall them after finishing all the paintwork.


Jack plate mounting holes are drilled a bit wonky - they are slightly to the right of where they should be. Gonna have to fill them and redrill cuz the hole is way too close to where I need to drill the new pilot holes. Also gonna have to do the same for some of the pickguard holes which are misaligned.


Here's the body all mocked up


And here's the whole thing (minus jackplate)


Tomorrow I fix the misaligned mounting holes. Might also tackle the sharp fret tang edges or at least see if I need to get a proper fret file.

[TheLivingDead]

****ing nice, dude!

Too bad about that bridge. Still looks good. All black would be pretty sweet though.

And I vote for all black for the tuners.

[CTN]

yeah I was kinda bummed about the bridge, but this is kinda good, cuz remember, I wanted to get into some light relicing on the hardware?

I think I still wanna do that, just a little bit so the surfaces get scuffed a bit and lose that glossy "new" sheen.

I do have an alternative to the chromed bridge though. I do have some leftover semi-gloss black paint and primer to go with it from when I painted my pedalboard, so I could just refinish the chrome. I'm just not sure if I'd be able to spray it over chrome as opposed to bare metal. It is rustoleum though, so it might just be fine.

[Aceman]

I love theme guitars!

I'd put a skull & Crossbones guard or graphic on the pick guard. Needs a Sailor Jerry Rum sticker somewhere...

I like the bare wood. More "Walk the Planky" feel...

[GuitarDoc]

I'd still plan on using that all black bridge. Just trim a little bit off the pickguard so the bridge can slide forward to where it lines up. So easy to do with a Dremmel tool or even a metal file. The all black hardware theme is pretty cool.

[CTN]

I thought about putting a graphic or stick or something of a sailing ship on the pickguard. Hard to find that though. Maybe I'll have another look.

As for modifying the pickguard - i don't really want to do that right now, cuz I simply don't have the right tools for the job. The last time I tried to modify a pickguard without the right tools, it became sort of a disaster. I think I'd rather refinish the chrome plate.

[GuitarDoc]

Pretty tough to refinish chrome. It's a VERY hard metal, not like nickle or steel. Even harder than stainless steel.

You only need a flat and rattail file to fix your guard. Very easy.

[CapoFirstFret]

You see, when you claim something is a "Cutlasscaster" I expect something more along the lines of this:





Yes...I'm aware that this "sword" is not a cutlass, but you get the idea.

[CTN]

I'm not a fan of mashing things together in the hope that it yeilds something cool. It very rarely succeeds.

only successes I'm aware of:

Dean Cadillac (LP + explorer)
Dean ML (V + explorer)

so, I'm not going to make a sword that can double as a guitar or a guitar that can double as a sword.

[guitarkid4143]

Dude, I REALLY like this! I vote Black Tuner with the Chrome Nut, btw.

-gk

[CTN]

I did no work on the guitar this weekend

also, good call, guitarkid. I think that's my favourite combination too, followed closely by the chrome knob/chrome nut on the black housing. Only thing about that is that I feel it might be too much chrome.

[guitarkid4143]

I did no work on the guitar this weekend

also, good call, guitarkid. I think that's my favourite combination too, followed closely by the chrome knob/chrome nut on the black housing. Only thing about that is that I feel it might be too much chrome.

DX for no work, (whatcha gonna do, such is life) for the nice comment. I'm actually going to be starting a build soon too, btw.

-gk

[CTN]

DX? you have to help me out here. I think I'm starting to get to the point where I have no idea what kids are saying these days

[TheLivingDead]

It's like a sad face.

Tilt your head to the right. The D is the mouth. X is the eyes. Like this >__< kinda face.

[CTN]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm used to emoticons being oriented L-R, like back in the good ol' days, instead of R-L.

kids these days. yeesh!

[guitarkid4143]

Lol, sorry. I didn't mean to confuse anyone.

-gk

[CTN]

tiny little update.

totally disassembled it to prep it for final adjustments and paint prep.

First I took off the bridge and gave it a quick shake in my homemade "tumbler" a.k.a. an empty Boss box filled with screws and bolts and things.

After that, I wetsanded the crap out of the chrome with 220 grit sandpaper. Has a nice dull look now, and doesn't shine as much.


Then I started masking up the fretboard cuz I need to file the fret ends down a bit. Figured I may as well mask the whole thing and get it ready to paint so I don't have to do it later.