Gilmour Strat copy - opinions please!

grumpy old git · 03-06-2010, 06:46 AM

I'm finally starting the Gilmourisation of my '94 MIM Squier. It's in good order for it's age, and I've already upgraded the pups and trem to Wilkinson items. I'm doing the obvious, micro switch and black S/P guard, dropping an SSL-5 into the bridge, and upgrading the tuners to Wilkinson Vintage slotted, but should I relic it? I'm not gonna commit the headstock transfer sin BTW

I can't decide, and as the finish is poly even if I play it every day, all day I'm still not gonna wear it out before I'm in my box.

Relicing would include the XLR socket hole, badly filled by the jack, and some way of replicating the Kahler trem cutout and fill. I've already worked out how to take the backplate off. If you've seen the pics of my SRV #1 I can do this to a reasonable level...... I hope!

Opinions please!

Cheers,

Paul

Rockin Johny · 03-06-2010, 08:04 AM

Go for it!

Jimi Hendrix · 03-06-2010, 09:31 AM

Ultimately it's your decision Paul, personally i opted to not relic my 'Gilmour Tribute', different strokes for different folks i guess.

Good luck whatever you decide.

mijstratsq · 03-06-2010, 05:04 PM

that would be cool to try to relic it exactly like gilmours guitar, there are some realy good pics on the fender website.I cant stand to see peolple relic collectiblle guitars but no harm in doing what your talking about.If you do relic it try to be subtle to many people are over doing it, some relic jobs arent even ever going to look like they do, no matter what unless you play wearing a sand paper suit and use a putty knife for a pick ,sorry just my humble opinions God bless gilmour take care,jimmy

grumpy old git · 03-13-2010, 05:39 AM

Thanks for the replies guys, I've decided to leave it as it is, a few genuine knocks and scrapes here and there. I'm planning to carry on this weekend, after all the pesky cuts in the tips of my fingers from installing the copper shielding heal up

vaughndrix · 03-15-2010, 01:41 PM

picture picture pictures...PLEASE

grumpy old git · 03-22-2010, 05:40 PM

OK, I've been a busy boy over the last few days. First off, I did some copper shielding, plenty of overlap and solder on the connections. I had some copper left, so I did the bulk of the rear of the pickguard, then covered it all in aluminium.
I then aged the white bits, the Wilkinson WVS in the neck and middle were already cream, so 45 minutes in some hot real coffee did the job.
I left the Seymour Duncan logo on the SSL-5, I think it looks quite good there

Electrics next, 250K CTS, 0.47 drop cap, treble bleed kit, vintage cloth wiring and star grounding. Oh, and the neck on switch

grumpy old git · 03-22-2010, 05:51 PM

After several hours of wiring, the pickguard is ready to go in. I linked the pickguard on a short earth to a screw in the bridge cavity, and joined that to the wire from the trem and an earth from the jack cavity. I had to redrill 10 of the 11 pickguard screws, and tabs were extended from the cavity shielding to the screw holes to make sure of good contact with the pickguard shielding. It's in the body now, I need to do some more work on the neck, I've fitted Wilkinson vintage slotted tuners, straight fit into the standard bushes, and a bone nut needs finishing.

But that's for another day! Or maybe later tonight...............

Kyri · 03-22-2010, 06:36 PM

Looks really, really good!

Bullitt · 03-23-2010, 09:20 AM

Just play that beautiful guitar and it will naturally relic itself.

edandis · 03-23-2010, 09:33 AM

That is a really stellar job there, well done.

motoman45 · 03-23-2010, 02:47 PM

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

grumpy old git · 03-23-2010, 03:29 PM

Thanks for the comments, I've really enjoyed putting this together. I had a major

earlier, all assembled late last night, plugged into my mini fender twin I keep in the sitting room, NOTHING! I guess the shielding worked, nothing at all. Took it all apart, resoldered everything, tested on the bench, well kitchen worktop, signal from all pups in all positions. Reassembled, NOTHING!

I eventually found out that the live on the jack was touching the copper shielding in the jack cutout, and shorting it all out. Rest assured, it won't touch the shielding again, it isn't there!

Just finishing off the set up, can't wait to try it out

More pics of the finished article later

Jimi Hendrix · 03-23-2010, 06:12 PM

Looks really good Paul, nice touch with the recessed toggle switch, i was far too lazy and fixed mine directly to the pickguard

grumpy old git · 03-25-2010, 01:15 PM

Thanks for the comments guys

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimi Hendrix

......nice touch with the recessed toggle switch,....

It took me an hour and a failed attempt to make the bracket!

All done now, Wilkinson vintage slotted tuners fitted, bone nut, Wilkinson big block trem, trem bar cut off as far as the bend, I didn't want to try to straighten it and mess up the chrome! It's short enough for my big paws anyway. I used GHS Gilmour 10-48 strings, the lighter than normal B & G strings bend nicely, even the three fret bends, and the slightly heavier D, A & E have a great tone, especially on the bridge pup

That's all folks....... for now!

Paul

Kyri · 03-25-2010, 02:42 PM

Wow nice!!! Well done, looks great,
regards
Kyri

grumpy old git · 03-25-2010, 03:27 PM

Well thank you, I've seen your efforts on strat-talk as well, nice work! If only I didn't take so long doing them I might be tempted to try to make money out of what is turning into a hobby, I've made tributes out of all of my strats, going to think about a Peter Green / Gary Moore LP out of my Epi at some point as well.

Thing is, I spend more time playing with my guitars than playing them, which isn't good!

Kyri · 03-25-2010, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grumpy old git

Thing is, I spend more time playing with my guitars than playing them, which isn't good!

I used to worry about that a lot. Now I just relax and play them when they are complete, and normally I know its been a success if I can't put the guitar down for a bit. But its early days, I only got into this aspect of the hobby in the last year or so, its quite addictive.

What other tributes have you done?

Jimi Hendrix · 03-25-2010, 06:28 PM

Fantastic job Paul, looks greats!

AllroyPA · 03-25-2010, 08:06 PM

Sweeet, it's like the delicate sound of thunder ...

grumpy old git · 03-26-2010, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyri

......What other tributes have you done?

First, and probably the most work, was a 20th Anniversary Affinity to SRV #1, I got templates of the body wear from the net, cut the CBS type headstock to the smaller type, recut the trem to a lefty and infillled the hole with raw wood, Fender transfer so it looked right, Texas Specials and gold hardware.

Next off was a Hendrix tribute, I wanted to do a Woodstock or Monterey one, I couldn't decide so I combined the two. I bought a cheap lefty, flipped the nut so it could be strung right handed, added MIM Strat pups and painted with old model enamels, then distressed it a bit.

Then, late last year I did a Dave Murray, a cheap eBay Squier body, which was really good as it turned out, altered the HSS routing to the swimming pool, fitted a loaded HSH pickguard with 14K / 6K / 7K Wilkinsons, big block trem, vintage slotted tuners, again all Wilkinson, and an Axesrus.com '57 soft V neck with a bone nut. This one is a screamer

And then the Gilmour. I bought this one a couple of years ago, bought with the intention of working on it, I just hadn't done it as I coulldn't decide how to. I originally wanted to do it to the DSOTM era, which was pretty stock with a R/W neck, but I just love the black / maple combo.

There are a few (poor) pictures here but you'll get the idea I hope

mijstrat72 · 03-28-2010, 02:39 PM

Looks good!