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Building the Hollowcaster - Part 1 |
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Fender Custom Shop
MasterBuilt Thinline Set |
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No, these are not mine. I want to build a couple similar to them. These guitars were built by Fender Custom Shop Master builder, Art Esparza. Sam Ash Custom Guitars wants around $8500 for the pair. Click the images for larger views. (Warning: Large files) Click here for a link to the original guitars. |
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Specifications |
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The pics
below are basically what the guitar will look like. I'm going to put
the jack on the side bottom bout, like on a Tele, so I don't have to
cut up anymore of the good wood than I have to. |
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The center
part or core of the body is a warmer sounding tone wood, white korina.
We will start with a solid body Strat shape- standard thickness, and
hollow it completely out so that there is a 3/4 inch thick frame or
rim around the guitar,and a center line onto which the neck and pickups
are mounted.The wings on both sides are hollow. Then the top and back
will be glued to the frame. Finally, the guitar has ivoroid/black/ivoroid
binding front and back. |
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The little
program that they have on USA
Custom Guitars allows you to design a guitar right on the page.
Check it out. |
| This is a picture of one of USA Custom Guitar's hollow Strats with an ash body and a American Standard bridge setup. Mine will be a slab side with a vintage trem. It also won't have that forearm contour, the pup routing won't be a bathtub, and the jack will be side mount. |
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This isn't
mine, but the concept is similar. The picture above is a neck through
body, using an outside frame with a solid centerline concept similar
to the Hollowcaster I'm building. The rim around this body appeaers
to be about an inch, mine is 3/4 inch. The shot below is the above guitar
with thte top and back glued on. |
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I'm
going to use two different necks for this guitar. First is the Warmoth
rosewood/rosewood, shown below, and a birds eye/birds eye, shown further
down the page. The rosewood will produce a warmer tone. The birds eye
will produce a crisper, brighter tone.
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Tuners will be Kluson/Grover
| This is the Warmoth Birdseye/Birdseye with 1 and 11/16 nut width. I will vintage stain it before I use it. It will have jumbo frets for easier bending, giving and almost scalloped feel to it. Tuners will be Kluson/Grover. I'm going to give the maple neck a vintage treatment. Click the images for larger views. |
| Pickups are going to be a Lace custom shop version Lace Sensor Hot Gold Chrome Dome in a Chrome Dome format. This means the covers are chromed brass. The picture shows a single coil bridge. Mine is going to be essentially a bucker, what Lace calls a "dually." I got a great deal on them from Spider Gear. He deals a lot of Lace on eBay. I wrote and he gave me a super deal. List on these pups is $279, for the Chrome Dome Gold Sensors, but these are a custom shop treatment to the Hot Gold's, and Spider Gear he got them for me at $169. The pups are going to be augmented by a Clapton Mid Boost Circuit, shown below. |
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Click the image to view a larger picture
As to bridge and other hardware, I'm using a Callaham Guitars bridge setup instead of the Vintage six hole Fender Strat trem. I can get the whole setup, shown below, for $163.00. Separately, the parts are a bit more, so this is a good deal. The Callaham bridge is acknowledged by many as the finest vintage bridge on the market. Just the trem block alone goes for $50.00 if bought separately. |
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Callaham
Vintage S Model Hardware Kit |
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| Cost
Breakdown |
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| Callaham S Model Hardware Kit |
$163.00 |
| Warmoth Birdseye/Birdseye Neck |
$275.00 |
| Lace Sensor Hot Gold S/S/H with Chrome Dome treatment |
$169.00 |
| White Korina 3 piece body blank from Exotic Woods |
$62.50 |
| USA Custom Guitar Body as shown above with AAAAA quilt top |
$550.00
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| Lacquer and finish (estimated) |
$50.00 |
| Warmoth Custom Cream pickguard and Trem cover |
$36.00 |
| Estimated total cost |
$1305.00 |