You should not be moving the back end of the drill in a circular motion while drilling out the hole. It causes the hole to be wallowed out, which you can see that on the first hole. If the drill bit is not big enough, go buy the right one. You don't use a brad point drill bit for increasing a hole size. It has no way of centering itself in the existing hole and can really chew things up. Use a regular tip drill bit for this operation. The tuners should all be in line with each other. You should be able to lay a straight edge against the edge of those tuners, on the back side, and have the straight edge be flush with all six tuner edges. These are all out of alignment with each other. I would have used some wood chisels to clean up those pickup cavities, and they would have turned out less chewed up looking. These observations are only for people that are really picky about how mods/builds turn out. Everyone is not as picky as me and this is not intended to criticize Jake or anybody else. We all have different ways of doing things and as long as it turns out good enough for you, that is all that matters. This guitar sounds great and works fine the way it is. It looks good, also. And Jake is super happy with it. I am just an extreme perfectionist, and maybe only other extreme perfectionists should be heeding my observations. A lot of times, good enough is good enough. I just repainted a guitar with $178 worth of paint, and it did not turn out perfect. Some areas I did not get the paint thick enough and the sanding/buffing made some areas where the underlying paint layers showed through. They at least look like normal wear or fading. But there is no easy touch-up in candy paints, and I am satisfied enough with the way it turned out that I am not going to spend that much again to try and get it perfect. I figure the guitar brought its own mojo to the paint job. Others have liked it also, the way it is. Even an extreme perfectionist can be happy with imperfection. I am learning to be. So, everybody, do what you do in your own way. That is what this hobby is all about.
Awesome video Jake! Huge fan of the previous black label legend video. I managed to get hold of a mint 94 black label. Did the few obvious upgrades. Full block mexican trem, AM pro 2 machine heads and the rewiring. Original mexican pick up's left in it and by far its the best strat ive played. The neck is amazing. In fact mine has clear evidence of being finished by hand. Ive noticed they are going up in value. Great vid, great partscaster Jake. All the best mate
I love a hardtail Strat. Mine is not all Fender; it's about 2/3 Squire and 1/3 Fender. I decided to spend on a loaded Rober Cray pickguard from Stratosphere, plopped it in a Squire Bullet body and added a classic vibe neck. I can't say that it plays as well as the Fender Robert Cray Strat because I never played one, but it plays great. I'm into it for just under $350 with almost half of the budget spent on the loaded pickguard.
Thanks Jake.
You should not be moving the back end of the drill in a circular motion while drilling out the hole. It causes the hole to be wallowed out, which you can see that on the first hole. If the drill bit is not big enough, go buy the right one. You don't use a brad point drill bit for increasing a hole size. It has no way of centering itself in the existing hole and can really chew things up. Use a regular tip drill bit for this operation. The tuners should all be in line with each other. You should be able to lay a straight edge against the edge of those tuners, on the back side, and have the straight edge be flush with all six tuner edges. These are all out of alignment with each other. I would have used some wood chisels to clean up those pickup cavities, and they would have turned out less chewed up looking. These observations are only for people that are really picky about how mods/builds turn out. Everyone is not as picky as me and this is not intended to criticize Jake or anybody else. We all have different ways of doing things and as long as it turns out good enough for you, that is all that matters. This guitar sounds great and works fine the way it is. It looks good, also. And Jake is super happy with it. I am just an extreme perfectionist, and maybe only other extreme perfectionists should be heeding my observations. A lot of times, good enough is good enough. I just repainted a guitar with $178 worth of paint, and it did not turn out perfect. Some areas I did not get the paint thick enough and the sanding/buffing made some areas where the underlying paint layers showed through. They at least look like normal wear or fading. But there is no easy touch-up in candy paints, and I am satisfied enough with the way it turned out that I am not going to spend that much again to try and get it perfect. I figure the guitar brought its own mojo to the paint job. Others have liked it also, the way it is. Even an extreme perfectionist can be happy with imperfection. I am learning to be. So, everybody, do what you do in your own way. That is what this hobby is all about.
Super bad ass. Really digging that finish color too. Nice.
Awesome video Jake! Huge fan of the previous black label legend video. I managed to get hold of a mint 94 black label. Did the few obvious upgrades. Full block mexican trem, AM pro 2 machine heads and the rewiring. Original mexican pick up's left in it and by far its the best strat ive played. The neck is amazing. In fact mine has clear evidence of being finished by hand. Ive noticed they are going up in value.
Great vid, great partscaster Jake. All the best mate
I love a hardtail Strat. Mine is not all Fender; it's about 2/3 Squire and 1/3 Fender. I decided to spend on a loaded Rober Cray pickguard from Stratosphere, plopped it in a Squire Bullet body and added a classic vibe neck. I can't say that it plays as well as the Fender Robert Cray Strat because I never played one, but it plays great. I'm into it for just under $350 with almost half of the budget spent on the loaded pickguard.
Did the fender neck fit the squire pocket without having to mod anything?
You should use painters tape instead of towels when routing.
Just thinking the same..I would have doubled up on painters tape for a better look and evenness
Cobalt Blue on Black.
I am with Jake on this; give me too much treble because it's easy to get rid of....
@bigjake music-killer strat..always wanted a hardtail myself.. what do i look for to make sure i have "full size " pots?..thanks
looks like a Tele switch