Last Partocaster (this time I mean it)

[P Thought]

Last summer I made a Douglas Fir strat body, outfitted it with Don Mare pickups, a nice Warmoth neck, and a 2-point trem. It turned out fine. I had left over a body I'd made for practice, from a 2x12 cedar board. I hung on to it because it was very light, and it had nice looking grain. After a few months, I looked for and found a "donor" guitar on Craigslist, and swapped the neck, tuners, pickups and other parts to the cedar body.

Then a friend kindly offered a very nice set of Strat pickups he'd had for some time but hadn't used, and I sent the guitar in to the shop for the pickup swap. It came back the other day. I'm playing it now, will play it a lot in the next couple days. I have several homebuilt teles as well as the other strat, all nice players. This strat is the lightest of the bunch at 7.2 pounds lock, stock, and strap. It sounds nice and feels great!

I know a lot of people don't, and I understand why, but I name my home-built guitars. This one's named Uncle John, after my brother in law from whom I got the cedar board.

 

[Killing Floor]

Looks rockin’! Can’t wait to see the next one. There’s always a next one.

 

[P Thought]

I know I've sworn it before, but....

 

[JL_LI]

Hi @P Thought . Is the last one the best? I like the cedar body. Enjoy playing with Uncle John.

 

[P Thought]

Is the last one the best?

Each of them has its high points, but this guitar holds its own with any of them. Its light weight will keep it in the front-line rotation. I'm still kind of "dialing it in", right now with my busking rig (a Fender Mini Passport, a pretty cool little SS modeler) in the living room while I have the house to myself a couple days. It sounds and feels great, might share travel duty with ol' Nonch Tidric. Mrs. Thought has been playing Dave Alvin music lately; I've heard a lot about him but hadn't heard him before. Of course I'm no Dave Alvin, but he puts a good model in my head for working this guitar.

The real Uncle John died a couple years ago. The guitar's name came to it well before the body was finished, so I really wanted to put it in service, as kind of a reminder of him, even though I have too many guitars already.

 

[ahiddentableau]

Very nice, P. And I dig the CBS headstock. Makes any guitar look extra straty!

Which Mare pickups did you put in it?

 

[P Thought]

The Don Mares--"Junior Watson" I think--are in the earlier strat build. Uncle John's pickups are Fender CS "Fat 50s".

 

[P Thought]

Is the last one the best?

Boy, maybe. . . ! Thang is sweet.

 

[Manual Slim]

Anybody want a peanut?

 

[Sax-son]

I am in the same boat. I have about 24 electric guitars, 18 I have built myself. None are disappointing, but I find myself gravitating to about 6 so no more partscaster project for me either. I am going through the painstaking process of elimination of thinning the herd, so I have some future options if I decide to go there.

 

[Thumper]

Lol,it’s a disease,or an addiction or some psychosis, who knows, but it does keep me off the streets!
I’m also trying to figure out which guitars I can’t live with out.
Seems like there is alway a core group of instruments that I always reach for… I got a feeling eventually those will stay and most of the others will go.

Downsizing sucks but just another part of life I guess.

 

[Sax-son]

Lol,it’s a disease,or an addiction or some psychosis, who knows, but it does keep me off the streets!
I’m also trying to figure out which guitars I can’t live with out.
Seems like there is alway a core group of instruments that I always reach for… I got a feeling eventually those will stay and most of the others will go.

Downsizing sucks but just another part of life I guess.

During the Covid lockdown, that was responsible for at least 5 of those, but I have some that kind of cover the same territory. The hard part is making the choice. They all have their merits in some form or fashion.