Latest parts build (double-bound thinline sparklecaster content!)

[Matthias]

So here's my latest parts build, a sort of early Christmas present to myself. And it sparkles enough to hang on a tree. This was built to alleviate several different types of GAS. We'll see how that lasts...

The body is one of the sparkle HB/SC thinline bodies that you can buy from several sellers on eBay at the moment. I suspect it's the same factory cranking these out. The finish is great with the only flaw being three tiny specs of glitter on the binding. The F hole edging was a little messy, so I painted the edge flat black. The fit for Fender parts is also very good, and the only work I had to do was sand some finish out of the ferrule holes.

The neck is a Fender American Performer neck. I used an American special neck on a Strat build and for the quality/price ratio (if you can get them below RRP) they are very good. I love the satin finish and the fret work/nut are pretty much ready to go on these. I could do to file the top of the nut down a little but it’s not causing any serious binding at the minute. Tuners are staggered American pro tuners. I’m getting better at putting the US-style string trees on but it's still my least favourite job... It's straight enough to make it out of the factory, put it that way.

The bridge plate is the cheaper-end Fender vintage job. The saddles are Gotoh In-Tunes, which function well and have a classic look to them.

Pickups are Lollars - J-Street (8.7k) in the bridge and a standard wind Imperial (7.6k) in the neck. Both sound great and very vintage, as you'd expect. The wiring puts a 470k resistor in parallel with the bridge pickup, so the 500k volume pot is seen as about 240k on middle/bridge positions. Usual CTS/CRL/cloth wire insides along with one of the cheaper-end NOS Eastern European 0.0022uf capacitors for looks (I will post a pic later). Finally, it has an electrosocket-style jack cup.

I'm very happy with how this one went together. Everything fit well. No mistakes or accidents. Electronics worked first time. Plays great with about as low action as you'd get without a fret level. Just about 7lb.

 

[RobRiggs]

Beautiful guitar. I love ‘em double bound. Enjoy!

 

[Hodgo88]

Very nice! You put some great parts together and the end result looks fantastic.

Also, welcome to the eBay Sparklecaster club!

 

[Matthias]

Insides! Probably my favourite part of the process.

The bridge is likely grounded well enough by the baseplate and pickup screws, but a ground wire doesn’t hurt. I used an eyelet trapped between one of the pickup springs and the plate.

Work-in-progress wiring. I like to make builds pretty on the inside. I always run the main ground wire through the volume ground lug and solder to the pot back. It’s easier to get a mechanical connection than bending the lug back and wire management is much easier with both Jack wires coming from the same place. I wired the ground for the tone from the same ground lug but but sure I’d do that again. Lots of heat shrink here, even on the unused tone lug, as everything is so crammed together on a v1 Thinline. The shielding is just aluminium tape cut to size.

Complete harness waiting for the pickups. I always wire the caps this way as I only like to run wire between pots. If a pot comes loose, I don’t need to worry about putting strain on the cap legs. You can see the 470k Allen Bradley resistor here. That and the old Eastern European PIO are just for show over cheaper components. They don’t really add a lot functionally. They are cheap enough parts and give a boutique feel to the harness. As with all my pot connections, the resistor is spliced to a short piece of wire to add a little give if the pot works loose.

…And of course as soon as you add the pickup/bridge grounds and a four-connector humbucker, things get a lot less tidy! Lots more heat shrink on the humbucker leads to make things more manageable. I did clip that excess resistor leg, btw!

It’s a simple circuit… Three-way switch, no coil split, just the resistor there to make the 500k pots act as (near enough) 250k pots when the bridge pickup is in the circuit.

 

[Matthias]

Very nice! You put some great parts together and the end result looks fantastic.

Also, welcome to the eBay Sparklecaster club! View attachment 1063750

Looks great! I considered going for gold hardware but went for chrome in the end. Works great with the red flake.

Thinlines look so much better bound IMHO… it really goes with the semi-hollow aesthetic.

 

[d barham]

Very very nice. Love the sparkle.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Insides! Probably my favourite part of the process.

The bridge is likely grounded well enough by the baseplate and pickup screws, but a ground wire doesn’t hurt. I used an eyelet trapped between one of the pickup springs and the plate.

View attachment 1063757

Work-in-progress wiring. I like to make builds pretty on the inside. I always run the main ground wire through the volume ground lug and solder to the pot back. It’s easier to get a mechanical connection than bending the lug back and wire management is much easier with both Jack wires coming from the same place. I wired the ground for the tone from the same ground lug but but sure I’d do that again. Lots of heat shrink here, even on the unused tone lug, as everything is so crammed together on a v1 Thinline. The shielding is just aluminium tape cut to size.

View attachment 1063758

Complete harness waiting for the pickups. I always wire the caps this way as I only like to run wire between pots. If a pot comes loose, I don’t need to worry about putting strain on the cap legs. You can see the 470k Allen Bradley resistor here. That and the old Eastern European PIO are just for show over cheaper components. They don’t really add a lot functionally. They are cheap enough parts and give a boutique feel to the harness. As with all my pot connections, the resistor is spliced to a short piece of wire to add a little give if the pot works loose.

View attachment 1063760

…And of course as soon as you add the pickup/bridge grounds and a four-connector humbucker, things get a lot less tidy! Lots more heat shrink on the humbucker leads to make things more manageable. I did clip that excess resistor leg, btw!

View attachment 1063761

It’s a simple circuit… Three-way switch, no coil split, just the resistor there to make the 500k pots act as (near enough) 250k pots when the bridge pickup is in the circuit.

Wow! As someone whose soldering work looks like I’m a disciple of Dr. Frankenstein, I’m blown away by those gut shots. Very tidy and impressive! I am envious of those skills. Nice work, man!

 

[39martind18]

Love it a bunch! Here's mine!

 

[Matthias]

Wow! As someone whose soldering work looks like I’m a disciple of Dr. Frankenstein, I’m blown away by those gut shots. Very tidy and impressive! I am envious of those skills. Nice work, man!

Thanks! I have definitely improved over the years... I’ve made lots of messes. I’m still not sure how to make those neat little blobs on the back of pots!

 

[VintageSG]

It's double bound
It's a gorgeous colour
It sparkles

Damn!, I'm in love.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

Love it a bunch! Here's mine! View attachment 1064012 View attachment 1064013

So where did you find the neck?
And what are the 3 knobs for?
I'm looking at another build someday, and thinlines are my favorites.
I built Linda Lou starting with an eBay chinese body.
Neck is Mighty Mite, but it's a little thin for my tastes. Plays OK though.

 

[39martind18]

So where did you find the neck?
And what are the 3 knobs for?
I'm looking at another build someday, and thinlines are my favorites.
I built Linda Lou starting with an eBay chinese body.
Neck is Mighty Mite, but it's a little thin for my tastes. Plays OK though.
View attachment 1078707

I'm pretty sure the neck is an Asian internet special, the body is a Guitar Fetish, the pickups are a mixed bag. The minihum is a Gibson out of an early 70s LP Deluxe, and the bridge, I think, is a GF as well. The three-knob controls came from evilbay and have individual volumes for bridge and neck pickups and a universal tone control. I find this setup gives me an infinite number of tonal variations in the middle position- that's where these controls live 95% of the time.

 

[stratisfied]

Those bodies off ebay are really nice. I prefer the double bound ones for that crisp look they have. Yours turned out great.

I'm amazed how nice the bodies are for the money. I've got a bunch of them waiting for to start as winter projects. I posted about a mahogany one I bought. It's not a bound body but that's OK for the look I'm after on it.

I got this one the other day though, ash top, alder body and a nice sunburst finish. Should make a nice guitar also.

 

[Matthias]

Those bodies off ebay are really nice. I prefer the double bound ones for that crisp look they have. Yours turned out great.

I'm amazed how nice the bodies are for the money. I've got a bunch of them waiting for to start as winter projects. I posted about a mahogany one I bought. It's not a bound body but that's OK for the look I'm after on it.

I got this one the other day though, ash top, alder body and a nice sunburst finish. Should make a nice guitar also.

Agreed! The quality and fit on mine was great with only a few stray specs of glitter. And for me all Thinlines and most teles look better with binding.

Very happy with this. I have an aged pearl pickguard arrive recently. That’s going on next string change. I am tempted to do a bound/flame sunburst custom too, one day.

 

[Matthias]

Slight change of style. A Thinline without pearloid seemed a little strange to my eye and the previous pickguard screw placement meant it lifted up next to the HB. After some deliberation, I filled the screw holes and went with this to embrace the bling. I didn’t buy a blue sparkle body to go classy. Part of me regrets not going with gold hardware for that super tricked-out look…

Now I’ve spent some time with the J-Street I’ve really warmed to it. I‘m not used to bridge pickups being this bitey without being shrill. Real vintage sort of tone. The Imperial has a really sweet lead tone to it, too. Very usable pickups but definitely more towards classic sounds than modern, to my ears.