{"id":1736,"date":"2019-12-16T10:09:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T17:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1736"},"modified":"2019-12-16T10:09:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T17:09:20","slug":"the-amricaster-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1736","title":{"rendered":"The Amricaster (v1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One of my goals this year was to learn more about how to set up, repair, and maintain my guitar collection. I had some successes over the summer, and by August I wondered: Could I now build an entire guitar from parts, custom to my preferences? Amazingly the answer was yes — with help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a few criteria: First, I prefer hardtail Strats, which are uncommon. Second, I love the sound of mini-humbuckers, which are also uncommon. That combo alone is something I could not buy off the rack, so it was worth building. And third, since my confidence was low, I wanted everything as cheap as possible, because if I screwed it all up, it would not be a big financial loss\u2026but I also wanted it to be high enough quality to be worth keeping. Tricky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I found a very attractive, very cheap combo at Guitar Fetish: a blueburst, hardtail basswood body and an unusually (for the money) figured maple neck from Guitar Fetish. This was not their high-quality XGP line — this was the “Basics” line, which is a step above generic factory closeout. That was mistake number one, as the neck pocket and string holes were incorrectly cut at the factory, which I didn’t know until after I’d drilled the neck with the assistance of Kat’s dad, Herm. Assembling was enough of a challenge, so I needed Brian Poedy<\/a> and his woodworking skills to fix that for me. But after a brief delay, that was sorted. I was able to level the frets early on in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While I cheaped out on the body, I invested in any hardware that I could re-use. I went with high-quality Hipshot hardware, so the bridge cost more than the body and the tuners cost more than the neck! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the pickups, “Mad Al” Nash<\/a> steered me toward Wilkinson, a well-regarded value brand from the UK I’d read about in magazines. Their mini-humbuckers were a third of the price of just one US boutique pickup, so I got three! They were generically voiced so I didn’t have to worry about which one went where. I wired them as standard Strat pickups on a 5-way switch just to see what it would sound like — again, what’s the point of remaking something I can buy off the shelf? Let’s turn left at all intersections, because it’s an experiment. Meanwhile, Kat prepped by body by painting shielding into the pickup cavity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn’t want to use them with the P90-shaped surround rings, so that meant making my own pickguard on the Glowforge out of 1\/16th acrylic. I got lucky and found a vector file on the internet which I was able to modify in Illustrator. I went through six cardboard prototypes before I got it right\u2026ish. The pickup cutouts and moutning holes are not perfect, but it’s more okay than not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that cardboard phase, I started questioning the control layout — the volume knob is traditionally uncomfortably close to the bridge pickup. I didn’t really care about the second tone control, so after Poedy asked “Why not just remove it?” I had no retort. This was custom anyway, so I simplified and went with one volume and one tone. Good call, Poedy! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So $50 for the body, 35 for the neck, 90 for the pickups, 25 for the wiring harness, 60 for the bridge, 50 for the tuners, 20 for the fancy knobs, $10 for the pickguard material, plus various shipping costs\u2026this was around $350, about the same as it would cost to buy a used Squier and upgrade it with better parts. But I was paying for the experience. Truth? It could be better. The neck shape and radius aren’t my favorite (I am very picky), but hey, it plays! And I made something I couldn’t find anywhere else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The unexpected part was the weird mix of pride and disbelief when I finally put strings on it last night. I made this? It plays? It actually\u2026feels good? I got a little emotional. I don’t get this warm sense of accomplishment when I build a PC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Amricaster version 1 complete; who knows if there will be a v2. But if there is, I’m stealing the tuners and bridge\u2026! \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my goals this year was to learn more about how to set up, repair, and maintain my guitar collection. I had some successes over the summer, and by August I wondered: Could I now build an entire guitar … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1745,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions\/1745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}