Tylercaster C

There are not too many shots of us working on the inner electronics. To be honest, I had to help out a lot there so I didn't grab the camera. Here's a quick pick of Tyler soldering up the output jack. This is his first effort in soldering, so I thought he couldn't mess up a jack. (I had a spare handy just in case.) The worst thing we'd need to do would be to cut a half inch off the wires and start this part over. As it turns out, he did just fine. Note that the jack is sitting on top of a small can of solder flux. This kept the mat we are using here safe.

Here's one of the final assembly steps, the installation of the output jack escutcheon. This is probably the only thing we messed up, I never knew a Strat had a particular angle that the jack tip had to be at for things to work. We had this thing on and off about three times. Tyler got comfortable with this step.

Taking off the protective plastic from the pickguard must have been his favorite step of all. At first you don't really notice the plastic. However, with each component that you add, the plastic gets blistered up and pushed aside. Some guitars come from the factory with components mounted OVER the pickguard plastic protective layer. This is madness because you have to unscrew a lot of things to get that plastic out. I taught him to push the plastic aside, but keep it on as long as possible.


All of a sudden, the major part of this build was over! I strung up the guitar and it was even in decent condition for intonation and setup. Look at that dining room table! It took me 15 minutes to clean that up this evening. The guitar, as you can see, is pretty complete. I through all five tremolo block springs in the back and the bridge plate is resting on the body even with the six strings on there. It will take me some time to figure out what needs to happen with the setup. The springs are there to balance the string tension, and you can adjust the number of springs (3-5), as well as the tension on the springs. The bridge can rest on the body (as it is now), or "float" up a little, perfectly balanced between the springs and the strings. Of course, the neck's relief will need to be looked at (truss rod), in about a week. The microtilt might be the next adjustment. Then, the saddles will be moved to match the neck profile and set the intonation as well as the string height (action). My goal is 4/64" or so.

This thing really is a knockout. I need to take some daylight pictures, because this is a guitar that would stop me in my tracks if I saw it hanging on the wall. It was built as the cousin to my Telecaster. Specifically, it has the following in common: alder body, 3-tone sunburst, American Deluxe body, parchment pickguard, full cavity shielding, Seymour Duncan stack pickups, a vintage feeling and looking tinted neck, and a vintage shoulder strap with Schaller straplocks. There's probably more. I played around with it for ten minutes or so and I can tell that this thing will be a dream guitar in a few months. The neck is a little sticky (it is a 2007 nitrocellulose finish), but the feel of it is great. The neck radius is like a Les Paul, and the frets feel like Dunlop medium-jumbo. With absolutely no setup it feels better than a lot of guitars hanging on the shelf at many music stores. I don't think this is the store's fault, it's probably due to people misusing them. (Of course, it is the store's job to keep up with that stuff.)

I've already gone over the set up issues that need to happen next. I don't think I will document that process. However, it is the important last step of any parts build. The other thing that we need to start working on is the amplifier. There is a couple of board feet of poplar in the basement, as well as some transformers, tubes, and other various parts that will slowly turn into a tiny terror of 11-15 watts.

--gh