Love how Leo's original concept of interchangeable parts went completely to hell. A dozen different lines all seemingly a few millimeters off from each other
Assembling parts guitars is literally my favourite part of the job. I'm not even joking. I love to see what kind of crazy ideas people have and I'm more than happy to make their vision come true.
Years ago, I bought a neck and a body and all the other parts that’s necessary for a guitar to work. It took a very long time before I had everything assembled, tweaked and fine tuned but in the end, the guitar sounded quite good. I created my own logo on the head stock, carved out a unique pick guard and painted it. It was soo much harder than I thought it would be. The satisfaction was enormous, I can’t tell you how many fellow guitar players came up to me after gigs to ask where I bought my guitar. It was definitely one of a kind. 28 years later, I’m still playing it regularly.
I appreciate you helping this guy out with his partscaster, I built one for myself a few years ago. It was challenging especially getting the finish acceptable, many hours went into it. I’ve been a carpenter for over 40 years and had most of the tools already, it’s probably not worth getting those tools just for a one off build. Great work and video as always.
Once a "partscaster" is put up by a skilled luthier, rather than the player him/herself, with tons of manual adjustments, it's no longer a partscaster. It becomes a custom shop and should be charged accordingly.
My thoughts exactly. The question then becomes value versus cost. The strat job was way past a simple setup and involved a professional skill set and notwithstanding any “friend” discount the billable amount could be substantial.
@@bobjohnston3984 yeah, maybe it's a good idea to only charge a nominal fee and wish the friend a speedy recovery. Obviously it depends on many things...
Yeah, $450 at least. You're not just paying for the actual work to fit the pieces together, you're also paying for Ted's experiece and knowledge so that the pieces are put together correctly/optimally. You're also paying for Ted's knowhow to deal with problems like the problem with the height adjustment on the humbucker. I'm thinking that the strat mods should have been more like $600. At that point you're looking at just going out and buying a Squire that has the look and features that you want. I apprreciate Ted sharing this content and going into the difficulties of building a partscaster. This helps people go into a partcaster build with their eyes wide open.
This is not an Honest assessment of a parts caster. What he dealt with, was a customer that did not order the correct parts. Parts are sold stating the correct diminsions and notices for what the part fits, as in American Made Fender, mexican made Fender, Overseas Squire, et cetera and so forth. He could have just as easily told the customer that the customer ordered the wrong parts, suggest that the customer Return the wrong parts, and order the Correct parts. Now, he has plugged the Original drill holes in the Headstock and Back Side of the Body, and added New Drill Holes in Each of those, and scraped the Pick Guard, so that None of the Original Parts can be Replaced without having to do ALL of that "work" Again ! I find that Very Irresponsible of him. I doubt very seriously that he didn't know that, and it was his repsonsibility to Inform the Customer before he started Ruining the Original Parts, Body, Headstock, and Pick Guard. Yes. It is a Squire, but ALL of those parts could have been Replaced with the Proper Parts without having to do Any Drilling, Plugging, Sanding, or Scraping. This Video, and the Squire guitar, was a Complete Travesity of Unnecessarity !
@@EwetoobSucks You are entitled to your opinion. My experience of partscasters is closer to Teds. Yes, you CAN get parts that fit but the whole idea of the partscaster is to put together parts from various sources and there is nearly always some "easement" needed. You presumably noticed that the pickups were not new (or indeed of any obvious provenance - ceramic bar magnets???). Who knows how long the customer has taken to assemble the bits and who knows how much Ted has discussed the progress with the customer.
@@PeterWasted Well, as I appreciate you having your opinion, I also appreciate value, and I am certainly not alone in that, but, sure, absolutely. Destroy any Resale Value of the Base Parts by cutting into them so that some other parts of questionable value may be put into them. Yes, you can always Recover the questionable parts that were put Into the Base Parts, but, then the Base Parts are as Valuable as Fire Wood at that point. OR, now, I am just spitballing here, you could put in the Proper Parts, that Do Have Resalable Value, Including the Base Parts, and Start over with another project a little further on down the line, if you so desire. The point being, that in the Second Scenario, there is Real Value to be Recouped, and the First Scenario has Little Value to be Recouped. But, Ok. You know what you are doing.
@@EwetoobSucks you have great insight , I did not think of this in that way, I agree he should have said no and let the guy send the wrong parts back and not drill new holes in the guitar and plug the old ones
Partscasters are great fun to do for a weekemd or two myself - working on guitars helps relieve stress from my regular job. That said, I'd imagine this would cost $300-400 to have someone do it for me. I'd use the money to buy some tools and do it myself :) Love the videos!
I spent most of my life repairing brass and woodwinds. Did a fair bit of guitar work too but that wasn't my forte. That being said, my term was, "starving jazz musician discount", or something similar. Fortunately I was blessed in that I wasn't self employed so I got paid every two weeks. It can be a real tough call at times. Especially when the instrument belongs to a child who just loves playing. Once had a case where the father quit paying for his daughter's clarinet rental/purchase because he was mad at his wife. In that case I got lucky in that we had to identical clarinets. One with a broken upper, the other a broken lower joint. The only noticable thing was each joint had a serial number and they didn't match. When I repossessed the clarinet I explained to the lady what I'd done and gave her the other no charge, get's to keep, she broke down and cried. Did a similar thing with a snare drum kit. I guess what I did was technically stealing from the store but in each case the broken instruments had been written off of the books so everything balanced. Those are the times we learn giving is far better than receiving. I once had an A hole of a boss you gave me shit because I gave a little over a buck to a kid who was short wanting to buy a 5 way Strat switch?!?! When he cared I have no idea. The money came out of my pocket. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it's only a very small percentage of people in the music business that actually get rich let alone pay the rent and feed themselves. In the end, we do it because we love music and the joy it brings to others. Hopefully we can charge the stockbroker or banker hobbyists a little more to make up for the odd really needy person who deserves a break. Thanks for sharing. There's a lot of techs out their in all sorts of fields who prefer to keep everything a dark secret and won't share anything as they might lose a nickel.
@@plainolded5030 in situations like that, I feel like I don't have a choice. I've also seen the reverse situation. Almost every instrument has its Holy Grail so to speak. Like a Mark 6 Selmer saw or pre CBS Fender. Was brought a Mt Vernon Back trumpet that the kid had thrown through a basketball hoop?!?! He'd bought it for $20 off his neighbor and had no idea what he had. Because he got it cheap he assumed it had no value. Another time a lady brought me an almost new student Conn alto sax. Beat to hell. She went on to tell me she'd bought 2 so the little darling wouldn't have to carry it to and from school. I suggested one of her classmates got jealous and vandalised it. I was then told the sax in question was the one she kept at home!?!?! Needless to say, I didn't give her any special discount.
You may have disliked putting it together, but it was a nice change of pace and very informative to see you do it, the challenges others are likely to face, and how to solve them.
Thank you sir. 750$ partscaster assembly and setup seems about right...... That price seems fair, would likely dissuade most and maybe encourage only those showing up with very high end parts (parts of higher quality then found on custom shop fenders). If you are bringing a bag of parts to a specialist you should show up with high quality parts and be ready to pay specialist prices.
Hello, though Ted’s time is valuable, what do you think a non luthier person would do I’d you said $750 for labor on a $300 guitar? Serious question. I believe Ted’s in a bad situation here.
With staggered tuners the shorter ones are for the thinner strings farthest away from the nut. Staggered tuners can eliminate the need for string trees.
These are not "real" staggered tuners! They are just two kinds of tuners fender produces right now and Ted's final arrangement is how Am Std and Am Pros have been for the last 20-22 years. The real problem with the short tuners are that you can not get any winds on the post like the tall ones and, imo, a cleanly wrapped tuner works just as fine as the best set of staggered locking tuners...
ABSOLUTELY!!! Too much work, but assembling parts-casters with Jr. High kids is a nice hands on experience ...for Kids learning to spend their summer break adjusting all the "fiddly Bits" (huge smile) Respect.
I used to mess around with this stuff when I was younger. Different pickup arrangements and pickguards. My coolest creation was a baritone made from a Strat body and a Warmoth conversion neck, wired with dual outputs (guitar/bass amps) and full controls for each. The middle pickup was a coil tappable hot rails which had its own vol/tones then the output to a bass amp, while the guitar's standard output was wired to a single coil in the neck and another hot rails in the bridge, which was coil tapped and operated with the standard 5 way switch, which actually worked like normal if you imagine the bridge pickups north coil acted like the middle pickup in terms of switching. The guitar was a lot of fun, but playing in drop A was super annoying and I sold it and back to my regular 4 string Ibanez. Nowadays I save up and buy a nice guitar and play it as it is.
The going labor rate. I've built a number of guitars over the years and I can tell you I spend most my time making sure the parts I order are correct/compatible as far as fitment. I had a friend dump a $125 Flying V kit guitar that needed a complete rebuild, these lower cost kits need lots of work.
as someone with the absolute weirdest partscaster (jazz bass with a precision neck and guitar humbuckers) I agree that I’d never take it to someone. I literally threw this thing together in my basement and the paint is nail polish. It was a fun learning experience and it turned into a gnarly bass and I’m probably not going to learn my lesson and build several more.
@@madgeniusmusic Sounds gnarly. Just remember that more likely than not there’s going to be a lot of fiddling and it’s probably not going to be on the level of a guitar off the assembly line. That being said, your first partscaster is magic, I still have mine. It’s a 50s style precision bass with a jazz bass neck, squier and warmoth particularly. None of my partscasters play as nicely as my MIM Mustang, but they all have a special vibe and place in my heart.
@@jan-a26 when I get around to finally building a traditional jazz that’s what I’m going to be doing. I might add a Rickenbacker pickup betwixt the jazz pups though
A Parts-Caster assembly with your skill of 5 hours would be ay more than its value. ($500.00 to $600.00) If I put one together at twice the time with a lot of colorful language, I wouldn't do it unless it was for a favorite family member. I built on for our son, it was too many hours to count as he bought parts from "anywhere" for a couple of years including used stuff. Thank you once again for taking the time, great work.
I hope a lot of people learned some valuable lessons from this week's episode. The only trouble-free partscaster build I've done was by ordering essentially all new parts, and this was after having decades of experience to know what parts were compatible. Trying to build a guitar our of a bunch of random parts you have laying around is going to be frustrating...and probably a lot more expensive than you bargained for. It can be done. but the title of the video says it all.
Exactly. When I built my PartsCaster, I made sure of all the measurements I wanted, and spec'ed out US standard parts for the entire build. Consequently, the only things I needed to do were to install the tuners ( I used Gotoh's, and had the holes pre-drilled to spec ) the LSR Roller Nut slot was pre cut and screw holes drilled, the bridge mounting holes were spaced properly, and the electronics were all CTS pots and switch. Fret leveling and dressing was actually the easiest thing to do. I wound up with a great Strat style guitar that I play regularly
Seeing you chisel away the corners of that tusq material made me appreciate it's integrity. Subsequently, I always appreciate your integrity! Thanks for the upload!! 🍒
I just want to thank you sir for doing all you do and still making the time to help out guys like me who own small music stores and really do this stuff for a living. You're the man. Please keep up the great teaching. Those who don't understand, never will. Try it as a job... lol.
I've built dozens and dozens of 'partscasters', both Strat and Tele styles, over the last 20 years or so. I've learned that each attempt is a unique set of issues that need resolution. Fortunately, these assemblies have resulted in a pretty huge variety of all kinds of parts, from bodies and necks to electronics to tuning machines, bridges, pickguards, etc. While there have been many frustrations with parts not wanting to play together well, I have learned a lot. Frustration and satisfaction... You can buy a box of 250 stainless #4 X 1/2 screws for about the same price that Fender gets for 24 pickguard screws. These stainless screws have a head that is about a millimeter smaller in diameter than the standard Fender screw, so they will fit just a tiny bit lower in the pickguard, but I actually like that. A medical cotton swab wood handle is the exact diameter of a #4 screw, so I use those to fill the pickguard holes, as it's been very rare to simply trade out a pickguard and have the holes match. Back in the day I would buy Squire Bullet guitars just for the necks and a few hardware items. I couldn't get a decent Fender spec neck that cheaply anywhere else. It should be noted that Squire tuning machines are not the same as their Fender cousins, although they look very similar. I find that pretty weird - the two 'bumps' on the back side of the tuners don't match. Who would have thought... I learned a lot, and I made a lot of silly mistakes, but, overall, I did enjoy my efforts. It should be noted that a box of parts will not be happy together at first, so it's up to you to make them teammates. Finally...everything that Ted did in this video I have done a bunch of times. I learned to lower my expectations for the assembly of partscasters, so when things went a bit more smoothly than anticipated, I was happy, and the frustrations were manageable...mostly.
I have come to learn that most of those frustrations turn out in challenges, that's what we builders like to do, solving the puzzle. Most frustrating to me is making the same mistake several times, and that happens.
Indeed! I've built enough Partscasters, that I now have a flow chart of pitfalls and things that need to be inspected, measured, and adjusted before things meet up. What an exercise in frustration in many cases.
I’m making a custom guitar from scratch right now. It’s actually surprising just how much really goes into designing and building an instrument. Cutting it out was the easy part, after all the maths and more maths and then even more maths. Very excited though, it’s being made from solid hard-rock maple; neck and body with an ebony fretboard.
Great job Ted, very thorough. I love how you didn’t let the problems lie (misaligned screw holes) and also didn’t attempt to tackle mods that didn’t make sense (trem block). The second I saw that Trem block I thought “no way that lines up!” When I do repairs like this I just warn customers that I am going to start the clock and charge them my hourly rate. If they are ok with it, then the job proceeds.
I'm in shock, truly.....Just yesterday, I put upgraded pickups, electronics and bridge on a brand less telecaster copy. The idea, of course, was to get a much better sounding guitar for less money. Now, I've done this kind of thing before and I wholeheartedly agree with you about the business of these things NEVER work out as planned. The various parts from various suppliers never all fit together as they "should". Except this time, they did. Every part was drop in and screw together easy. I did the whole thing in less than an hour including soldering and testing. Thus, the shocked response. Didn't even have to file or trim something to fit. (clutches hand to chest in mock heart attack).
It's always reassuring when you get to watch someone else go through similar challenges, it was like starting a book I already knew the ending before finishing the first chapter. Almost every time someone brings in something like that pile of parts it goes exactly the same way. No matter what you charge it is never enough but I certainly appreciate the ones that go smooth because of those that dont...Thanks for sharing your skill and demeanor for us to enjoy...
I highly agree with Febo, first of all, I wouldn’t even do what you did for myself personally let alone a customer for a partscaster, the way it was was good enough. I would just set it up and that’s it. Now that being said, sometimes we do more for a friend than we would ourselves. Anyway, I watch your channel because you are the best luthier I’ve found on TH-cam. I really enjoy watching your work. I only work on electric guitars and basses but very little on acoustics, just setups. I really learn a lot from you. I buy used guitars and rework them to good playing instruments and resell them and give them away to children that can’t afford one. Sometimes I get acoustic guitars in but if they need work done other than a setup I can’t do it. I do try and starting to be more successful now after watching your videos. I just need more and more practice. I want to thank you for taking time to record your work. Who knows, maybe when I get good enough, I’ll start recording. I’m 60 years old and decided to do my passion.
Indeed, a partscaster is usually fun for learning, as a hobby. I bought an old Samick strat last year and have switched out the pickups several times, with different experimental switching configurations, coil-splitting, etc. A bit maddening! But fun to learn if one has some woodwork and electronics experience.
Hear hear! Partscaster are totally worth it _if _*_*you*_*_ are going to do the work_ as a hobby or learning experience. It can be fun to see how cheap you can go too (it is to me at least). Especially if (like a good friend of mine) you're not patient enough to do all the finishing (an arguable point).
Great video as always! Concerning how much to charge for the kit assembly I'd say let the customer know ahead of time the likely cost based on your experience and I'm sure most folks will decide not to proceed (win for you). If they do give the go ahead than at least you won't take a loss on the work. Cheers, John
I always find these projects super fun. The modifications and improvisations are a big part of the satisfaction of building one of these from disparate parts.
I feel like part of the whole mystique of the parts caster is the fact that you did it yourself. Sorta like crafting your lightsaber at the end of Jedi school. It's like buying a model airplane and having your older brother make it for you. Obviously, you gotta recoup at least the opportunity cost for the time spent finessing the thing together. This feels like the kind of project you take on for your buddies when you're first starting out. The time frame is indefinite and the pay is in beer or other barter. In other words for jackasses like me. A seasoned tech who can successfully differentiate asses and elbows like yourself... not so much. It's tough. You don't wanna be a dick, but it's also like he hired a surgeon to clip his toenails. It's gonna be expensive.
While I like the idea of getting "exactly the guitar I want" by mixing and matching parts, that's definitely a thing to do myself and not bother a professional with. You're doing this for a living, you deserve not to be having to deal with my ignorant mistakes. With this video, I was more interested in the palate-cleansing interludes; that bass bridge looks like a fun design when retrofitted with better material for the saddles, and the mandolin gave me a fair bit to think about in planning my own build that I'm sure I'll get to on or around the 32nd of next month. And for the fellow commenters who are wondering how the piano repairs are going, very nicely thanks. I've filled, stained, and sealed the worst of the dents, and next up is a couple more coats of shellac, a gentle level sanding, one final coat of shellac that I'm going to do with a 1# cut instead of the 2# I've been sealing with, and then paste wax and hand buffing. It's still very clearly a piano that's had some damage done, but it looks cared for. That's good enough for me.
Thanks, I found this really informative as I am about to start a similar strat project. Also I think you do some great work keeping it real, down to earth and entertaining.👍
Partscasters are great fun, teach you a lot and allow you to modify anything you want guilt free! I bought a Fender Strat and have never modded it at all but my partscasters are constantly evolving, I love it but my wife thinks I've got too many guitars, which I have, one day she'll find my secret guitar stash hidden in the back of the wardrobe and then I'll be in serious trouble!
A person cannot have 'too many guitars'. It's impossible. That's my working theory. Not my wife's however. She casts a jaundiced eye upon my purchases constantly.
I've got two partscasters and love them dearly. I'd never be able to get anything like them off the shelf. That said, if you don't intend to spend a lot of free time getting them assembled and have enough cash to pay to fix any mistakes, don't do it. Just swap pickups and call it a day.
Yep. I go into a project expecting many issues that will need resolution. If frustration mounts too much, I go to another build for awhile. My rule is NEVER work on any project if you are angry. Stop, and cool down.
I have a parts-caster with hand picked stuff that I collected over 6 years. The Strat plays and sounds better than most Strats I’ve played. I payed a little extra for the assembly but so worth it.
Put one together myself. Every part hand picked. roasted maple neck, grease bucket wiring harness, hand wound pickups, the works. If done right, you can get a great guitar.
I would never ask someone to assemble a partscaster. A customer must understand that a $100 guitar + $100 parts + $300 labor is still a $100 guitar. It's a fun project for when you're hanging out in your garage on the weekend, but that's about it.
$100 for all the parts? A set of pickups, tremolo bridge, tuners, electronics, pickguard, neck plate, screws, knobs, strap buttons, output jack, strings... all for $100? And $100 for a painted body and a finished neck with a nut installed? How many partscasters have you actually put together?
@@regularjim3193 Those parts shown in the video aren't $100 - the Squier neck and fender branded tuners would be close to $200 by themselves. I assume you buy the cheapest junk kits from China because the dollars you're quoting, that's about all you would get. A guitar built from a junk kit is virtually worthless but saying a partscaster built from quality components is worth the same as a partscaster built from cheap junk components is wrong... and a pretty dumb argument. I agree the money spent on labour doesn't increase the guitar's value but I doubt the owner upgraded his guitar to make money.
@@captainobvious9668 I'm not suggesting that the stuff shown in the video costs that much. The point is throwing money at a cheap guitar doesn't increase it's value. This doesn't bother some people, but some people get hurt when they try to get $500 for a Squier Affinity because they paid somebody to upgrade the pickups.
Partscasters can be a lot of fun to put together, and it's a good way to learn how to work on your own guitar as a player. I'm thinking if you need to pay a professional to put it together, you should budget $400- $500, and it should be under advisement from the professional. When it's all done, you'll have a great playing guitar that looks how you want, but you never will really know what it sounds like until after it's built...maybe you get lucky, maybe not.
I agree, but I don’t see how you surprise a non luthier owner with a bill that is more than the guitar. I don’t see that going well, even if Ted did all the work. I don’t have a good answer, but this is an issue.
I think partcasters can get very expensive too... Last year I was wondering about putting together a Jazzmaster, with warmoth body and neck. I'm lefthanded, so I have often very few, if not at all any choices. I did some calculations and quotations first, to estimate the cost of the instrument. But in the end I decided to get an already factory assembled made in Japan Jazzmaster! Why? It costed me as much if not less than the warmoth with all the parts, Japanese fenders nowadays are top notch instruments, so I already had a fine guitar to start with. After few weeks playing it I only decided to upgrade pickups and the bridge. And bam I have now a wonderful lefthanded Jazzmaster!
MIJ fenders are def worth every penny. But i gotta say, you don’t need warmoth if you’re going in on your first partscaster. I got the body and neck of mine for 215 bucks. All parts neck for 150 and a random finish-less strat body from a luthier in Colorado for like 75 bucks. Allpart necks are great if you just do a teeny bit of work on em. The guitar was a 54 strat replica and the whole thing ended up costing me 550-600 bucks. It’s now my favorite.
@@xbmpr Yes that may have been my first full warmoth partguitar. I got once a baritone conversion neck for an old strat I used to have, that was a fine piece of a neck! In the end I'm super happy I got the MIJ! Note I live in Switzerland... so in my calculation I had to had all the customs expenses, which would have made the partcaster def. more expensive.
exactly, after all the money the customer spent getting it set up the way they want, it's still a Squier partscaster with no resale value and who knows if it'll even sound good. This is 100% someone who has much more money than sense if they're making it worth Ted's while, but that's the way it is with money
@@SchnappM I don't think it sounded good in the sound sample. Wish we could have heard the "before" sound...right now I'm betting it sounded better. Those looked like used pickups going in?? Maybe I'll watch that part again. One of my many guitars is a 2000 Squier and it sounds better than this.
I have learned that throwing time and money into a budget item, leaves you with an over priced, budget guitar. Too many variables as our host said. A wonderful job on the Coronado bridge, Ted.
For the bridge, I would've gone for Delrin/Acetal as it has great wear resistance and is hard enough to not damp the resonance of the string. As always, great work on everything.
@@peachmelba1000 Programming, setup and running - about 15 minutes for a shop used to varying tasks. And in that time frame you could run three or four sets. When I worked as manager a couple of years ago I would likely charged about 10€ for that.
I had a machine shop in Houston make a bunch of guitar slides from that material - light, but with a cool tone. Thin sheets make pretty good guitar picks.
@@sharg0 I suppose on a turning center with live tool capability these things could be faced, milled, and parted off fairly quickly. I'd use acetal or Teflon.
I like partscasters for the price point and the fact I don't feel bad modifying it. I really enjoy the fact that you show your work, especially the plugging and redrilling. It really helps
Watching Ted's work on acoustic instruments always make me go "good I have only electrics, those are simple". Then things like above remind me I actually bought wrong sized "standarized" part multiple times. Getting a new trem then discovering the block is too large to let it move much in your guitar is fun.
Random player: "Partscaster, assemble!" Ted: "No" BTW always wanted to ask, what happens if you agreed with a customer on a certain price, but it turns out to be much more work than initially projected?
@@twoodfrd Good policy. In my own (non-guitar) business, I charge whatever estimated and figure I'll know better next time. In extreme circumstances I'll tell the customer that won't be able to do the work that cheaply again.
@@allenhanford that's the only right way to do it. Things don't go right sometimes, and unless something way out of your control happens and the customer is informed in real time and a new plan is put together, you take the L, let em know and move on. Most people will be a return customer solely based on doing the right thing. I fix cars, and it's just what you do to have an honest buisness.
When someone wanted an exact quote, I always added 30 to 40 % just to be safe. My regular customers trusted me enough and knew I wouldn't rip them off and just told me to fix it and call if I thought something was going south in a hurry.
Incredible puzzle for fixing a Squier strat when it's so easy to just pick up a great MIM or MIJ guitar for the same price (due to the extensiveeffort to convert it). Definetely not worth the effort (to my taste it looks also very ugly)
In the staggered tuning pegs, aren't the lower heads designed to be the ones further away from the bridge for the higher strings? At least that's what I've seen being done so far
This is correct. The idea is not to increase the break angle of the bass strings with the shorter posts. It’s to reduce or eliminate the need for string trees on the treble strings, with the shorter posts. Nobody knows everything. On some Fender style replacement necks you can completely eliminate the string trees. I have one guitar with only the E+B string tree and a Tele Parts-caster with no string tree, and it’s perfectly clear in the open position.
@@TheMasonator777 yeah, the critical distance is from the back of the headstock to the string hole. getting rid of the string trees is the key to strat tuning stability. i've found a few import strats that have enough headstock relief to work without trees. but staggered are a good solution. also, i think some models of two hole locking tuners can work tree-less if you use the bottom hole......
@@twoodfrd Your instincts were right though IMO. On locking staggered tuners, I often prefer the short or middle height posts on the E/A string since you don't have the extra string wraps to get the proper break angle behind the nut.
I thought the whole point of a partscaster was the fun of doing it yourself. I don't think I'd ever ask anyone to do this work for me. Is my own partscaster a hideous amalgamation of freehand routed pickguard holes, a PAF that doesn't belong, and wired like a Tele? Sure, but it's mine.
But Strats are sooooo easy... I feel your pain! This is a testament to what the mere mortals don't & won't comprehend: ~70 years of constantly changing specs for every single part, spacing & alignment on a Strat. Even if you know, say, the string spacing you need at the bridge & you order a part specifically saying it matches, but its from an unknown or budget vendor, its STILL a gamble... And the cheaper the parts, the bigger the gamble. Start mixing & matching parts from multiple, questionable vendors and all bets are off. It takes a certain level of experience & ingenuity, if not sorcery, to make it all work together without rage-quitting or having some sort of breakdown. Going into it with the naïve assumption it will all go together smoothly, like legos, almost guarantees you're gonna have a bad time! Caveat Emptor! Know your specs, know your parts, know your vendors & you'll have a better time.
Your frustration is totally understandable, and I agree, "your skills are needed elsewhere". Like the awesome work you did on that bass bridge with the Tusq nut blanks. Superb!
Fiulcrom bridges are a PITA to get truly low action, many impossible. I have switched many to a floating 2 point strat style tremolo into a recessed cavity, and that not only solves the problem but I get more dive and climb than floyds and most any other style tremolo.
I put together my own partscaster. it did take me a long time. most of that time was spent searching for parts that were the correct string spacing ect. financially it did not make sence but I enjoyed the process but it is just a hobby
The advantage of a part guitar is you get exactly what you want. The sky is the limit. I made a 7/8th size strat with 24" neck. Modenr trem, compound radius neck, master volume/tone, and normal wound, unpotted pickups.
In my opinion, after buying many production and some custom shop guitars , I believe a quality parts caster guitar is the best. Just dont buy cheap parts. I prefer warmoth . Just take the time to learn proper assembly and setting up of a guitar. With many videos sharing knowledge how to do this it is actually pretty simple with patience and practice. Having said this I have also seen how assembly can go wrong from all the "project guitars" i have purchased or fixed for others. Great video 👍
Good on you for helping the guy out. I for one love the idea of throwing together a Frankenstein having just recently done my own partscaster. It's now my favorite guitar! Nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction when it all comes together just right at the end. I've always customized or tinkered on my guitars. To each their own I guess.
Thanks to watching you I gathered the guts to replace the broke nut on my 2020 gibson lespaul standard 50s. Took my time with fine sand paper for a good fit. A couple drops of fine super glut in the slot installed strung it up and it's damn near perfect to me. Great videos thanks for all of them.
I have so been there. My epitaph will be "No good deed goes unpunished." Having said that, it gladdens me as a new guitar player that you are local! Nice work as always.
Building parts caster in a world pandemic is priceless because of the songs that accompany your intense love to have and to hold a replica Fender Stratocaster that you and only you made.
Ted I come back to this video the most because I do these type jobs on my cheap guitars that I love to tinker with them all the time. I know I’m having fun but your a real professional person and I don’t mind telling you that your work is excellent and Canada should be proud of the accomplishments you have provided here helping hobbyists do better tinkering on their cheapie guitars. Just wish I would have seen this episode about three years ago. It would have really schooled me but I watched you do exactly what I did with my cheap guitar.
As a mostly computer geek that has been thrown into the repair of instruments due to work, I learn a lot from these videos. And while I understand all your gripes about partscasters, seeing how you deal with parts not fitting together is wonderful learning for me. And then there is the moments where I see you do something that i TOTALLY forgot to do on a customers guitar, and all I can think is: oh damn...
I spent a lot of money taking my guitar modifications to a tech until I decided to learn how to do it myself. I’ve never looked back. I’ve made mistakes but learned from them. There are some things I won’t attempt but my limitations have become very few. Band mates call me McGiver, lol… I have a few parts casters that I play daily. None of which are perfect by any stretch but they play good and sound good and their mine. I don’t own a guitar that I haven’t modified or upgraded in some way. They all have their quirks like anyone else’s do as well. Thanks again for the reality of what really takes place during repair work or a simple mod or a set up. An adjustment here can affect things you didn’t even know existed. That’s how I got completely consumed and bought books and tools and still learn something new everyday.
Have spent many an hour over the past few weeks watching your repair videos which I find very informative and entertaining. A decade ago I built myself a Hank B. Marvin (of the Shadows) replica strat. from scratch, i.e. from bare planks of wood (birds-eye maple neck and swamp ash body), and even made my own truss rods! Took about four months to build and finish (nitro) but a lot of that time was spent making templates and jigs and of course, overcoming a steep learning curve, so I fully can appreciate the time, effort and expertise you put into your patients. Pity I cannot post a picture of my final build.
It’s only worth what one is willing to pay for your expertise, time and materials for your services to have it done as correct as can be made… God Bless Ted & thanks for the wonderful content. Keep Em Coming
Oh my god, you're just the best! The fact that you actually took on the work says so much about the generosity of your heart. I spent the best part of 3 years obsessed with Strats and partscasters, starting from the cheapest rubbish, and working my way up to quite high quality examples. The guitar you have assembled started out as bottom of the barrel, but the parts supplied are all of a similar quality, with the possible exception of the brass block, but you couldn't use it anyway! This video is hilarious, such attention to detail paid to a guitar where the sum of its parts is about $300. I love it :)
I sure hope this was a great friend or a good customer (or both) because your skill level rates on that "Strat" would have far exceeded its actual worth !! well done none the less Sir
Having built a and/or modified a fair number of my own partsocasters, I feel your pain. However, on those rare instances when the pickguard holes line up, the joy is immeasurable.
I do a lot of pawn shop partscaster builds and love every minute of them. I look forward to the challenge that each problem brings as an opportunity. Of course, I'm retired so my time is free. I love guitars and enjoy working on them to make them 100%. My problem is that I end up with lots of great guitars that look, sound, and play great.
Watching this makes me feel lucky for how smoothly my partscaster went together. It has some small problems from me being inexperienced but I didn't have to fuss with the parts that much at all.
I learnt a long time ago to set the tail end of the guitar on the floor between my boots ...the back center if the neck against my left knee and as I tighten the truss rod I push back on the neck instead of just tightening the truss freehand without helping with the tension as it is tightened. Great Video THANKS FUN stuff.
I love working on my guitars. I enjoy the challenge of "making it work" enough for my needs. I'd never pay to have those things done, takes the fun away.
Love how Leo's original concept of interchangeable parts went completely to hell. A dozen different lines all seemingly a few millimeters off from each other
not to mention Leo's original concept that Strats and Teles were supposed to be cheap mass produced affordable guitars for the masses.
Assembling parts guitars is literally my favourite part of the job. I'm not even joking. I love to see what kind of crazy ideas people have and I'm more than happy to make their vision come true.
Dude, you are a saint.
Something tells me you are a hockey goalie because they are all insane.
Years ago, I bought a neck and a body and all the other parts that’s necessary for a guitar to work. It took a very long time before I had everything assembled, tweaked and fine tuned but in the end, the guitar sounded quite good. I created my own logo on the head stock, carved out a unique pick guard and painted it. It was soo much harder than I thought it would be. The satisfaction was enormous, I can’t tell you how many fellow guitar players came up to me after gigs to ask where I bought my guitar. It was definitely one of a kind. 28 years later, I’m still playing it regularly.
I loved "he said please, I say myehhh." This is both a comedy and repair work channel.
They both made compelling arguments.
I appreciate you helping this guy out with his partscaster, I built one for myself a few years ago. It was challenging especially getting the finish acceptable, many hours went into it. I’ve been a carpenter for over 40 years and had most of the tools already, it’s probably not worth getting those tools just for a one off build.
Great work and video as always.
More tools is always better.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate you acknowledging both ways of saying 'solder'.
Once a "partscaster" is put up by a skilled luthier, rather than the player him/herself, with tons of manual adjustments, it's no longer a partscaster. It becomes a custom shop and should be charged accordingly.
My thoughts exactly. The question then becomes value versus cost. The strat job was way past a simple setup and involved a professional skill set and notwithstanding any “friend” discount the billable amount could be substantial.
I think that when you want a part caster u just say that and leave it to the luthier to propose a plan accordingly to a budget.
Its a shame Tom's mate has sight problems........
@@bobjohnston3984 yeah, maybe it's a good idea to only charge a nominal fee and wish the friend a speedy recovery. Obviously it depends on many things...
you could've just said "the player themselves"
Ted, I love your videos and your production. No clickbaity thumbnails, just good information presented articulately.
I sooooo wish I could get my Martin D62 to this guy for a neck reset.....Im in Brazil...kkkkkkkk. I can still dream.
Amazing how extensive the work required was for a simple “parts swap” job, probably $450 worth of labor that got heavily discounted, I bet!
Yeah, $450 at least. You're not just paying for the actual work to fit the pieces together, you're also paying for Ted's experiece and knowledge so that the pieces are put together correctly/optimally. You're also paying for Ted's knowhow to deal with problems like the problem with the height adjustment on the humbucker. I'm thinking that the strat mods should have been more like $600. At that point you're looking at just going out and buying a Squire that has the look and features that you want. I apprreciate Ted sharing this content and going into the difficulties of building a partscaster. This helps people go into a partcaster build with their eyes wide open.
This is not an Honest assessment of a parts caster.
What he dealt with, was a customer that did not order the correct parts.
Parts are sold stating the correct diminsions and notices for what the part fits, as in American Made Fender, mexican made Fender, Overseas Squire, et cetera and so forth.
He could have just as easily told the customer that the customer ordered the wrong parts, suggest that the customer Return the wrong parts, and order the Correct parts.
Now, he has plugged the Original drill holes in the Headstock and Back Side of the Body, and added New Drill Holes in Each of those, and scraped the Pick Guard, so that None of the Original Parts can be Replaced without having to do ALL of that "work" Again !
I find that Very Irresponsible of him.
I doubt very seriously that he didn't know that, and it was his repsonsibility to Inform the Customer before he started Ruining the Original Parts, Body, Headstock, and Pick Guard.
Yes. It is a Squire, but ALL of those parts could have been Replaced with the Proper Parts without having to do Any Drilling, Plugging, Sanding, or Scraping.
This Video, and the Squire guitar, was a Complete Travesity of Unnecessarity !
@@EwetoobSucks You are entitled to your opinion. My experience of partscasters is closer to Teds. Yes, you CAN get parts that fit but the whole idea of the partscaster is to put together parts from various sources and there is nearly always some "easement" needed. You presumably noticed that the pickups were not new (or indeed of any obvious provenance - ceramic bar magnets???). Who knows how long the customer has taken to assemble the bits and who knows how much Ted has discussed the progress with the customer.
@@PeterWasted
Well, as I appreciate you having your opinion, I also appreciate value, and I am certainly not alone in that, but, sure, absolutely.
Destroy any Resale Value of the Base Parts by cutting into them so that some other parts of questionable value may be put into them.
Yes, you can always Recover the questionable parts that were put Into the Base Parts, but, then the Base Parts are as Valuable as Fire Wood at that point.
OR, now, I am just spitballing here, you could put in the Proper Parts, that Do Have Resalable Value, Including the Base Parts, and Start over with another project a little further on down the line, if you so desire.
The point being, that in the Second Scenario, there is Real Value to be Recouped, and the First Scenario has Little Value to be Recouped.
But, Ok. You know what you are doing.
@@EwetoobSucks you have great insight , I did not think of this in that way, I agree he should have said no and let the guy send the wrong parts back and not drill new holes in the guitar and plug the old ones
Partscasters are great fun to do for a weekemd or two myself - working on guitars helps relieve stress from my regular job. That said, I'd imagine this would cost $300-400 to have someone do it for me. I'd use the money to buy some tools and do it myself :) Love the videos!
Partscasters “relieving stress”? Do you do bomb disposal? (Ah, just a person who likes the results of a “job well done”.)
Tools cost money I have planes that cost close to £400 each
I spent most of my life repairing brass and woodwinds. Did a fair bit of guitar work too but that wasn't my forte.
That being said, my term was, "starving jazz musician discount", or something similar.
Fortunately I was blessed in that I wasn't self employed so I got paid every two weeks.
It can be a real tough call at times. Especially when the instrument belongs to a child who just loves playing.
Once had a case where the father quit paying for his daughter's clarinet rental/purchase because he was mad at his wife.
In that case I got lucky in that we had to identical clarinets. One with a broken upper, the other a broken lower joint.
The only noticable thing was each joint had a serial number and they didn't match.
When I repossessed the clarinet I explained to the lady what I'd done and gave her the other no charge, get's to keep, she broke down and cried.
Did a similar thing with a snare drum kit.
I guess what I did was technically stealing from the store but in each case the broken instruments had been written off of the books so everything balanced.
Those are the times we learn giving is far better than receiving.
I once had an A hole of a boss you gave me shit because I gave a little over a buck to a kid who was short wanting to buy a 5 way Strat switch?!?!
When he cared I have no idea. The money came out of my pocket.
I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it's only a very small percentage of people in the music business that actually get rich let alone pay the rent and feed themselves.
In the end, we do it because we love music and the joy it brings to others. Hopefully we can charge the stockbroker or banker hobbyists a little more to make up for the odd really needy person who deserves a break.
Thanks for sharing. There's a lot of techs out their in all sorts of fields who prefer to keep everything a dark secret and won't share anything as they might lose a nickel.
Bless you !! I have done sames and similars myself and I LOVE hearing from others who do the same.
@@plainolded5030 in situations like that, I feel like I don't have a choice. I've also seen the reverse situation.
Almost every instrument has its Holy Grail so to speak. Like a Mark 6 Selmer saw or pre CBS Fender.
Was brought a Mt Vernon Back trumpet that the kid had thrown through a basketball hoop?!?!
He'd bought it for $20 off his neighbor and had no idea what he had. Because he got it cheap he assumed it had no value.
Another time a lady brought me an almost new student Conn alto sax. Beat to hell.
She went on to tell me she'd bought 2 so the little darling wouldn't have to carry it to and from school.
I suggested one of her classmates got jealous and vandalised it.
I was then told the sax in question was the one she kept at home!?!?!
Needless to say, I didn't give her any special discount.
You may have disliked putting it together, but it was a nice change of pace and very informative to see you do it, the challenges others are likely to face, and how to solve them.
Thank you sir. 750$ partscaster assembly and setup seems about right...... That price seems fair, would likely dissuade most and maybe encourage only those showing up with very high end parts (parts of higher quality then found on custom shop fenders). If you are bringing a bag of parts to a specialist you should show up with high quality parts and be ready to pay specialist prices.
Hello, though Ted’s time is valuable, what do you think a non luthier person would do I’d you said $750 for labor on a $300 guitar? Serious question. I believe Ted’s in a bad situation here.
With staggered tuners the shorter ones are for the thinner strings farthest away from the nut. Staggered tuners can eliminate the need for string trees.
Ted addressed this in another video. Turns out, the short posts are not quite short enough for the proper break angle on the treble strings.
These are not "real" staggered tuners! They are just two kinds of tuners fender produces right now and Ted's final arrangement is how Am Std and Am Pros have been for the last 20-22 years. The real problem with the short tuners are that you can not get any winds on the post like the tall ones and, imo, a cleanly wrapped tuner works just as fine as the best set of staggered locking tuners...
Only if the shafts are long enough to do the job. These weren't.
@@Three_Eyed_Willy o no teds wrong i can't live any more
ABSOLUTELY!!! Too much work, but assembling parts-casters with Jr. High kids is a nice hands on experience ...for Kids learning to spend their summer break adjusting all the "fiddly Bits" (huge smile) Respect.
I used to mess around with this stuff when I was younger. Different pickup arrangements and pickguards. My coolest creation was a baritone made from a Strat body and a Warmoth conversion neck, wired with dual outputs (guitar/bass amps) and full controls for each. The middle pickup was a coil tappable hot rails which had its own vol/tones then the output to a bass amp, while the guitar's standard output was wired to a single coil in the neck and another hot rails in the bridge, which was coil tapped and operated with the standard 5 way switch, which actually worked like normal if you imagine the bridge pickups north coil acted like the middle pickup in terms of switching. The guitar was a lot of fun, but playing in drop A was super annoying and I sold it and back to my regular 4 string Ibanez. Nowadays I save up and buy a nice guitar and play it as it is.
The going labor rate.
I've built a number of guitars over the years and I can tell you I spend most my time making sure the parts I order are correct/compatible as far as fitment. I had a friend dump a $125 Flying V kit guitar that needed a complete rebuild, these lower cost kits need lots of work.
as someone with the absolute weirdest partscaster (jazz bass with a precision neck and guitar humbuckers) I agree that I’d never take it to someone. I literally threw this thing together in my basement and the paint is nail polish. It was a fun learning experience and it turned into a gnarly bass and I’m probably not going to learn my lesson and build several more.
Planning my first Tele build. A 50's style Tele with a P90 at the neck.
@@madgeniusmusic Sounds gnarly. Just remember that more likely than not there’s going to be a lot of fiddling and it’s probably not going to be on the level of a guitar off the assembly line. That being said, your first partscaster is magic, I still have mine. It’s a 50s style precision bass with a jazz bass neck, squier and warmoth particularly. None of my partscasters play as nicely as my MIM Mustang, but they all have a special vibe and place in my heart.
@@moonchild4806 Cheers dude.
Jazz bass with P bass neck is the best thing a bassist could have. It was Anthony Jackson's #1 before he got his Fodera.
@@jan-a26 when I get around to finally building a traditional jazz that’s what I’m going to be doing. I might add a Rickenbacker pickup betwixt the jazz pups though
A Parts-Caster assembly with your skill of 5 hours would be ay more than its value. ($500.00 to $600.00) If I put one together at twice the time with a lot of colorful language, I wouldn't do it unless it was for a favorite family member. I built on for our son, it was too many hours to count as he bought parts from "anywhere" for a couple of years including used stuff. Thank you once again for taking the time, great work.
I hope a lot of people learned some valuable lessons from this week's episode.
The only trouble-free partscaster build I've done was by ordering essentially all new parts, and this was after having decades of experience to know what parts were compatible. Trying to build a guitar our of a bunch of random parts you have laying around is going to be frustrating...and probably a lot more expensive than you bargained for. It can be done. but the title of the video says it all.
Exactly. When I built my PartsCaster, I made sure of all the measurements I wanted, and spec'ed out US standard parts for the entire build. Consequently, the only things I needed to do were to install the tuners ( I used Gotoh's, and had the holes pre-drilled to spec ) the LSR Roller Nut slot was pre cut and screw holes drilled, the bridge mounting holes were spaced properly, and the electronics were all CTS pots and switch. Fret leveling and dressing was actually the easiest thing to do. I wound up with a great Strat style guitar that I play regularly
Seeing you chisel away the corners of that tusq material made me appreciate it's integrity. Subsequently, I always appreciate your integrity! Thanks for the upload!! 🍒
Yeah, that Tusq material is hard. A very cool way to restore that unique bridge.
I just want to thank you sir for doing all you do and still making the time to help out guys like me who own small music stores and really do this stuff for a living. You're the man. Please keep up the great teaching. Those who don't understand, never will. Try it as a job... lol.
Thanks for playing them for us Ted.
I find it satisfying and calming to watch you work. Much respect for your wealth of knowledge, skill and care for these instruments.
I've built dozens and dozens of 'partscasters', both Strat and Tele styles, over the last 20 years or so.
I've learned that each attempt is a unique set of issues that need resolution. Fortunately, these assemblies have resulted in a pretty huge variety of all kinds of parts, from bodies and necks to electronics to tuning machines, bridges, pickguards, etc. While there have been many frustrations with parts not wanting to play together well, I have learned a lot. Frustration and satisfaction...
You can buy a box of 250 stainless #4 X 1/2 screws for about the same price that Fender gets for 24 pickguard screws. These stainless screws have a head that is about a millimeter smaller in diameter than the standard Fender screw, so they will fit just a tiny bit lower in the pickguard, but I actually like that. A medical cotton swab wood handle is the exact diameter of a #4 screw, so I use those to fill the pickguard holes, as it's been very rare to simply trade out a pickguard and have the holes match.
Back in the day I would buy Squire Bullet guitars just for the necks and a few hardware items. I couldn't get a decent Fender spec neck that cheaply anywhere else. It should be noted that Squire tuning machines are not the same as their Fender cousins, although they look very similar. I find that pretty weird - the two 'bumps' on the back side of the tuners don't match. Who would have thought...
I learned a lot, and I made a lot of silly mistakes, but, overall, I did enjoy my efforts. It should be noted that a box of parts will not be happy together at first, so it's up to you to make them teammates.
Finally...everything that Ted did in this video I have done a bunch of times. I learned to lower my expectations for the assembly of partscasters, so when things went a bit more smoothly than anticipated, I was happy, and the frustrations were manageable...mostly.
I have come to learn that most of those frustrations turn out in challenges, that's what we builders like to do, solving the puzzle.
Most frustrating to me is making the same mistake several times, and that happens.
@@raffaguitars The very worst mistakes are the ones you repeat. I do agree on that. There's a humiliation in that.
Indeed! I've built enough Partscasters, that I now have a flow chart of pitfalls and things that need to be inspected, measured, and adjusted before things meet up. What an exercise in frustration in many cases.
@@OpSic66 True, but there is a certain satisfaction in overcoming the many obstacles, and producing a nice guitar.
I’m making a custom guitar from scratch right now. It’s actually surprising just how much really goes into designing and building an instrument. Cutting it out was the easy part, after all the maths and more maths and then even more maths.
Very excited though, it’s being made from solid hard-rock maple; neck and body with an ebony fretboard.
Great job Ted, very thorough. I love how you didn’t let the problems lie (misaligned screw holes) and also didn’t attempt to tackle mods that didn’t make sense (trem block). The second I saw that Trem block I thought “no way that lines up!”
When I do repairs like this I just warn customers that I am going to start the clock and charge them my hourly rate. If they are ok with it, then the job proceeds.
I'm in shock, truly.....Just yesterday, I put upgraded pickups, electronics and bridge on a brand less telecaster copy. The idea, of course, was to get a much better sounding guitar for less money. Now, I've done this kind of thing before and I wholeheartedly agree with you about the business of these things NEVER work out as planned. The various parts from various suppliers never all fit together as they "should".
Except this time, they did. Every part was drop in and screw together easy. I did the whole thing in less than an hour including soldering and testing. Thus, the shocked response. Didn't even have to file or trim something to fit. (clutches hand to chest in mock heart attack).
Wow, man, your work is immaculate!
It's always reassuring when you get to watch someone else go through similar challenges, it was like starting a book I already knew the ending before finishing the first chapter. Almost every time someone brings in something like that pile of parts it goes exactly the same way. No matter what you charge it is never enough but I certainly appreciate the ones that go smooth because of those that dont...Thanks for sharing your skill and demeanor for us to enjoy...
I highly agree with Febo, first of all, I wouldn’t even do what you did for myself personally let alone a customer for a partscaster, the way it was was good enough. I would just set it up and that’s it.
Now that being said, sometimes we do more for a friend than we would ourselves.
Anyway, I watch your channel because you are the best luthier I’ve found on TH-cam.
I really enjoy watching your work. I only work on electric guitars and basses but very little on acoustics, just setups.
I really learn a lot from you.
I buy used guitars and rework them to good playing instruments and resell them and give them away to children that can’t afford one. Sometimes I get acoustic guitars in but if they need work done other than a setup I can’t do it. I do try and starting to be more successful now after watching your videos. I just need more and more practice. I want to thank you for taking time to record your work. Who knows, maybe when I get good enough, I’ll start recording. I’m 60 years old and decided to do my passion.
soon as i seen the neck pocket i wouldn't touch it plus i agree was good enough to begin with....friends
It’s making me feel a lot better about my parts caster projects in front of me while I watch your videos!
Absolutely love your content, so, so interesting and well explained. Thank you for your time.
Indeed, a partscaster is usually fun for learning, as a hobby.
I bought an old Samick strat last year and have switched out the pickups several times, with different experimental switching configurations, coil-splitting, etc. A bit maddening! But fun to learn if one has some woodwork and electronics experience.
Hear hear! Partscaster are totally worth it _if _*_*you*_*_ are going to do the work_ as a hobby or learning experience. It can be fun to see how cheap you can go too (it is to me at least). Especially if (like a good friend of mine) you're not patient enough to do all the finishing (an arguable point).
Great video as always! Concerning how much to charge for the kit assembly I'd say let the customer know ahead of time the likely cost based on your experience and I'm sure most folks will decide not to proceed (win for you). If they do give the go ahead than at least you won't take a loss on the work.
Cheers, John
Wow. Just, wow. Excellent job (s) as always. Amazing patience you have.
I always find these projects super fun. The modifications and improvisations are a big part of the satisfaction of building one of these from disparate parts.
I feel like part of the whole mystique of the parts caster is the fact that you did it yourself. Sorta like crafting your lightsaber at the end of Jedi school. It's like buying a model airplane and having your older brother make it for you. Obviously, you gotta recoup at least the opportunity cost for the time spent finessing the thing together. This feels like the kind of project you take on for your buddies when you're first starting out. The time frame is indefinite and the pay is in beer or other barter. In other words for jackasses like me. A seasoned tech who can successfully differentiate asses and elbows like yourself... not so much. It's tough. You don't wanna be a dick, but it's also like he hired a surgeon to clip his toenails. It's gonna be expensive.
While I like the idea of getting "exactly the guitar I want" by mixing and matching parts, that's definitely a thing to do myself and not bother a professional with. You're doing this for a living, you deserve not to be having to deal with my ignorant mistakes. With this video, I was more interested in the palate-cleansing interludes; that bass bridge looks like a fun design when retrofitted with better material for the saddles, and the mandolin gave me a fair bit to think about in planning my own build that I'm sure I'll get to on or around the 32nd of next month.
And for the fellow commenters who are wondering how the piano repairs are going, very nicely thanks. I've filled, stained, and sealed the worst of the dents, and next up is a couple more coats of shellac, a gentle level sanding, one final coat of shellac that I'm going to do with a 1# cut instead of the 2# I've been sealing with, and then paste wax and hand buffing. It's still very clearly a piano that's had some damage done, but it looks cared for. That's good enough for me.
Thanks, I found this really informative as I am about to start a similar strat project. Also I think you do some great work keeping it real, down to earth and entertaining.👍
You’re a good man Ted!!
Partscasters are great fun, teach you a lot and allow you to modify anything you want guilt free! I bought a Fender Strat and have never modded it at all but my partscasters are constantly evolving, I love it but my wife thinks I've got too many guitars, which I have, one day she'll find my secret guitar stash hidden in the back of the wardrobe and then I'll be in serious trouble!
A person cannot have 'too many guitars'. It's impossible. That's my working theory.
Not my wife's however. She casts a jaundiced eye upon my purchases constantly.
@@perihelion7798 The number of guitars one should have is calculated via the formula n+1, where 'n' is the amount of guitars you already have
@@nowheretocollapsethelung Great math! I'll make a note of that.
I've got two partscasters and love them dearly. I'd never be able to get anything like them off the shelf.
That said, if you don't intend to spend a lot of free time getting them assembled and have enough cash to pay to fix any mistakes, don't do it. Just swap pickups and call it a day.
Yep. I go into a project expecting many issues that will need resolution. If frustration mounts too much, I go to another build for awhile. My rule is NEVER work on any project if you are angry. Stop, and cool down.
The amount of painstaking labor is nearly priceless. The owner owes you big time.
Amazing quality! Thanks for your videos
I have a parts-caster with hand picked stuff that I collected over 6 years. The Strat plays and sounds better than most Strats I’ve played. I payed a little extra for the assembly but so worth it.
Put one together myself. Every part hand picked. roasted maple neck, grease bucket wiring harness, hand wound pickups, the works. If done right, you can get a great guitar.
That would be $750 thank you very much.
Appreciate your work sir.👍
$500. You went above and beyond. I did a Tele partscaster and there was quite a bit of alterations to be made.
I would never ask someone to assemble a partscaster. A customer must understand that a $100 guitar + $100 parts + $300 labor is still a $100 guitar. It's a fun project for when you're hanging out in your garage on the weekend, but that's about it.
Concur. If money is not an issue then it's fine. Otherwise, it really doesn't make much sense.
$100 for all the parts? A set of pickups, tremolo bridge, tuners, electronics, pickguard, neck plate, screws, knobs, strap buttons, output jack, strings... all for $100?
And $100 for a painted body and a finished neck with a nut installed?
How many partscasters have you actually put together?
@@timsamuel4723 Several. The point is that throwing parts and money at a cheap guitar doesn't increase its value.
@@regularjim3193 Those parts shown in the video aren't $100 - the Squier neck and fender branded tuners would be close to $200 by themselves. I assume you buy the cheapest junk kits from China because the dollars you're quoting, that's about all you would get. A guitar built from a junk kit is virtually worthless but saying a partscaster built from quality components is worth the same as a partscaster built from cheap junk components is wrong... and a pretty dumb argument. I agree the money spent on labour doesn't increase the guitar's value but I doubt the owner upgraded his guitar to make money.
@@captainobvious9668 I'm not suggesting that the stuff shown in the video costs that much. The point is throwing money at a cheap guitar doesn't increase it's value. This doesn't bother some people, but some people get hurt when they try to get $500 for a Squier Affinity because they paid somebody to upgrade the pickups.
Parts casters are great learning tools for working on instruments, that's about it in my opinion
yes it is an interesting hobby but not financially viable for a professional luthier
@@phililpb definitely. and that's not to say you can't make a great parts caster, one of my best guitars is from a few different origins.
Partscasters can be a lot of fun to put together, and it's a good way to learn how to work on your own guitar as a player. I'm thinking if you need to pay a professional to put it together, you should budget $400- $500, and it should be under advisement from the professional.
When it's all done, you'll have a great playing guitar that looks how you want, but you never will really know what it sounds like until after it's built...maybe you get lucky, maybe not.
Plus, even if it's a totally awesome guitar when you're done, it's still just a kit guitar. If you go to sell it, its only value is as used parts.
@@allenhanford great point
Having it done right is priceless. I can’t see you charging less than $500. If the owner lives that guitar it is worth it.
I agree, but I don’t see how you surprise a non luthier owner with a bill that is more than the guitar. I don’t see that going well, even if Ted did all the work. I don’t have a good answer, but this is an issue.
all that work paid off, nice job, also nice color palette
I think partcasters can get very expensive too... Last year I was wondering about putting together a Jazzmaster, with warmoth body and neck. I'm lefthanded, so I have often very few, if not at all any choices.
I did some calculations and quotations first, to estimate the cost of the instrument. But in the end I decided to get an already factory assembled made in Japan Jazzmaster! Why? It costed me as much if not less than the warmoth with all the parts, Japanese fenders nowadays are top notch instruments, so I already had a fine guitar to start with.
After few weeks playing it I only decided to upgrade pickups and the bridge. And bam I have now a wonderful lefthanded Jazzmaster!
MIJ fenders are def worth every penny. But i gotta say, you don’t need warmoth if you’re going in on your first partscaster. I got the body and neck of mine for 215 bucks. All parts neck for 150 and a random finish-less strat body from a luthier in Colorado for like 75 bucks. Allpart necks are great if you just do a teeny bit of work on em. The guitar was a 54 strat replica and the whole thing ended up costing me 550-600 bucks. It’s now my favorite.
@@xbmpr Yes that may have been my first full warmoth partguitar. I got once a baritone conversion neck for an old strat I used to have, that was a fine piece of a neck! In the end I'm super happy I got the MIJ! Note I live in Switzerland... so in my calculation I had to had all the customs expenses, which would have made the partcaster def. more expensive.
I think it would be worth the price of the kit to learn how hard it is to really build a guitar. Thanks for the video. As always it is appreciated.
exactly, after all the money the customer spent getting it set up the way they want, it's still a Squier partscaster with no resale value and who knows if it'll even sound good. This is 100% someone who has much more money than sense if they're making it worth Ted's while, but that's the way it is with money
This is true. I started with a kit from a reputable source, and went on from there. See my comment above.
@@SchnappM I don't think it sounded good in the sound sample. Wish we could have heard the "before" sound...right now I'm betting it sounded better. Those looked like used pickups going in?? Maybe I'll watch that part again. One of my many guitars is a 2000 Squier and it sounds better than this.
Awesome! Enjoy your style!
You're a master luthier man. Your work is impeccable
I have learned that throwing time and money into a budget item, leaves you with an over priced, budget guitar. Too many variables as our host said. A wonderful job on the Coronado bridge, Ted.
For the bridge, I would've gone for Delrin/Acetal as it has great wear resistance and is hard enough to not damp the resonance of the string. As always, great work on everything.
And talk to a machine shop, making blanks in a CNC mill would be a very easy for them.
@@sharg0 Not worth it to make just four of them. 4000, sure.
@@peachmelba1000 Programming, setup and running - about 15 minutes for a shop used to varying tasks. And in that time frame you could run three or four sets.
When I worked as manager a couple of years ago I would likely charged about 10€ for that.
I had a machine shop in Houston make a bunch of guitar slides from that material - light, but with a cool tone. Thin sheets make pretty good guitar picks.
@@sharg0 I suppose on a turning center with live tool capability these things could be faced, milled, and parted off fairly quickly. I'd use acetal or Teflon.
I like partscasters for the price point and the fact I don't feel bad modifying it. I really enjoy the fact that you show your work, especially the plugging and redrilling. It really helps
Watching Ted's work on acoustic instruments always make me go "good I have only electrics, those are simple". Then things like above remind me I actually bought wrong sized "standarized" part multiple times. Getting a new trem then discovering the block is too large to let it move much in your guitar is fun.
Random player: "Partscaster, assemble!"
Ted: "No"
BTW always wanted to ask, what happens if you agreed with a customer on a certain price, but it turns out to be much more work than initially projected?
My assumption is he stops at the budget and calls the customer 🤷🏻♂️
I almost never go over my estimate, unless it's something really unforeseen.
@@twoodfrd Good policy. In my own (non-guitar) business, I charge whatever estimated and figure I'll know better next time. In extreme circumstances I'll tell the customer that won't be able to do the work that cheaply again.
@@allenhanford that's the only right way to do it. Things don't go right sometimes, and unless something way out of your control happens and the customer is informed in real time and a new plan is put together, you take the L, let em know and move on. Most people will be a return customer solely based on doing the right thing. I fix cars, and it's just what you do to have an honest buisness.
When someone wanted an exact quote, I always added 30 to 40 % just to be safe.
My regular customers trusted me enough and knew I wouldn't rip them off and just told me to fix it and call if I thought something was going south in a hurry.
Incredible puzzle for fixing a Squier strat when it's so easy to just pick up a great MIM or MIJ guitar for the same price (due to the extensiveeffort to convert it). Definetely not worth the effort (to my taste it looks also very ugly)
Tough words, but I have to say, I agree. The chromed plastic bits really look cheesy!
@@hydorah and then sounded tinny and cheap. Squier pickups are better than these were.
What I wouldn’t give to have your skill!!! Great video
You do great work.
In the staggered tuning pegs, aren't the lower heads designed to be the ones further away from the bridge for the higher strings? At least that's what I've seen being done so far
This is correct. The idea is not to increase the break angle of the bass strings with the shorter posts. It’s to reduce or eliminate the need for string trees on the treble strings, with the shorter posts. Nobody knows everything. On some Fender style replacement necks you can completely eliminate the string trees. I have one guitar with only the E+B string tree and a Tele Parts-caster with no string tree, and it’s perfectly clear in the open position.
thats what I thought also
@@TheMasonator777 yeah, the critical distance is from the back of the headstock to the string hole. getting rid of the string trees is the key to strat tuning stability. i've found a few import strats that have enough headstock relief to work without trees. but staggered are a good solution. also, i think some models of two hole locking tuners can work tree-less if you use the bottom hole......
Yes, you're right. I had them on backwards. D'oh.
@@twoodfrd Your instincts were right though IMO. On locking staggered tuners, I often prefer the short or middle height posts on the E/A string since you don't have the extra string wraps to get the proper break angle behind the nut.
I thought the whole point of a partscaster was the fun of doing it yourself. I don't think I'd ever ask anyone to do this work for me. Is my own partscaster a hideous amalgamation of freehand routed pickguard holes, a PAF that doesn't belong, and wired like a Tele? Sure, but it's mine.
Exactly, think of Eddie…make it your own.
But Strats are sooooo easy... I feel your pain! This is a testament to what the mere mortals don't & won't comprehend: ~70 years of constantly changing specs for every single part, spacing & alignment on a Strat. Even if you know, say, the string spacing you need at the bridge & you order a part specifically saying it matches, but its from an unknown or budget vendor, its STILL a gamble... And the cheaper the parts, the bigger the gamble. Start mixing & matching parts from multiple, questionable vendors and all bets are off. It takes a certain level of experience & ingenuity, if not sorcery, to make it all work together without rage-quitting or having some sort of breakdown. Going into it with the naïve assumption it will all go together smoothly, like legos, almost guarantees you're gonna have a bad time! Caveat Emptor! Know your specs, know your parts, know your vendors & you'll have a better time.
Your frustration is totally understandable, and I agree, "your skills are needed elsewhere". Like the awesome work you did on that bass bridge with the Tusq nut blanks. Superb!
Fiulcrom bridges are a PITA to get truly low action, many impossible. I have switched many to a floating 2 point strat style tremolo into a recessed cavity, and that not only solves the problem but I get more dive and climb than floyds and most any other style tremolo.
"Partscasters: NOT worth it!" One of the clearest, hardest truths in electric guitars world.😂
I sure like mine though. :)
I put together my own partscaster. it did take me a long time. most of that time was spent searching for parts that were the correct string spacing ect. financially it did not make sence but I enjoyed the process but it is just a hobby
Why would it not be worth it? It sure worked well for Gilmour??
@@beppelantz8169 we are probably not Gilmour..
The advantage of a part guitar is you get exactly what you want. The sky is the limit. I made a 7/8th size strat with 24" neck. Modenr trem, compound radius neck, master volume/tone, and normal wound, unpotted pickups.
You are a true master of your craft, thanks for sharing your skill and knowledge .
In my opinion, after buying many production and some custom shop guitars , I believe a quality parts caster guitar is the best. Just dont buy cheap parts. I prefer warmoth . Just take the time to learn proper assembly and setting up of a guitar. With many videos sharing knowledge how to do this it is actually pretty simple with patience and practice. Having said this I have also seen how assembly can go wrong from all the "project guitars" i have purchased or fixed for others. Great video 👍
Great work as ever. Your buddy owes you one now ;)
Good on you for helping the guy out. I for one love the idea of throwing together a Frankenstein having just recently done my own partscaster. It's now my favorite guitar! Nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction when it all comes together just right at the end. I've always customized or tinkered on my guitars. To each their own I guess.
Frankenstrat
Thanks to watching you I gathered the guts to replace the broke nut on my 2020 gibson lespaul standard 50s. Took my time with fine sand paper for a good fit. A couple drops of fine super glut in the slot installed strung it up and it's damn near perfect to me. Great videos thanks for all of them.
I have so been there. My epitaph will be "No good deed goes unpunished." Having said that, it gladdens me as a new guitar player that you are local! Nice work as always.
Building parts caster in a world pandemic is priceless because of the songs that accompany your intense love to have and to hold a replica Fender Stratocaster that you and only you made.
Ted I come back to this video the most because I do these type jobs on my cheap guitars that I love to tinker with them all the time. I know I’m having fun but your a real professional person and I don’t mind telling you that your work is excellent and Canada should be proud of the accomplishments you have provided here helping hobbyists do better tinkering on their cheapie guitars. Just wish I would have seen this episode about three years ago. It would have really schooled me but I watched you do exactly what I did with my cheap guitar.
I agree completely. It actually did turn out looking better than I would have guessed
As a mostly computer geek that has been thrown into the repair of instruments due to work, I learn a lot from these videos. And while I understand all your gripes about partscasters, seeing how you deal with parts not fitting together is wonderful learning for me. And then there is the moments where I see you do something that i TOTALLY forgot to do on a customers guitar, and all I can think is: oh damn...
I do repairs too and leant to avoid these jobs the hard way. You’re tone of voice says it all. God bless.
That is a very nice thing for you to do. Impressed.
Great work. You’ve got a lot of patience. 👍
I spent a lot of money taking my guitar modifications to a tech until I decided to learn how to do it myself. I’ve never looked back. I’ve made mistakes but learned from them. There are some things I won’t attempt but my limitations have become very few. Band mates call me McGiver, lol… I have a few parts casters that I play daily. None of which are perfect by any stretch but they play good and sound good and their mine. I don’t own a guitar that I haven’t modified or upgraded in some way. They all have their quirks like anyone else’s do as well. Thanks again for the reality of what really takes place during repair work or a simple mod or a set up. An adjustment here can affect things you didn’t even know existed. That’s how I got completely consumed and bought books and tools and still learn something new everyday.
Your the best luthier I watch.
Have spent many an hour over the past few weeks watching your repair videos which I find very informative and entertaining. A decade ago I built myself a Hank B. Marvin (of the Shadows) replica strat. from scratch, i.e. from bare planks of wood (birds-eye maple neck and swamp ash body), and even made my own truss rods! Took about four months to build and finish (nitro) but a lot of that time was spent making templates and jigs and of course, overcoming a steep learning curve, so I fully can appreciate the time, effort and expertise you put into your patients. Pity I cannot post a picture of my final build.
In all fairness it looks gorgeous 😍
It’s only worth what one is willing to pay for your expertise, time and materials for your services to have it done as correct as can be made… God Bless Ted & thanks for the wonderful content.
Keep Em Coming
I really like how the strat looks ! (And sounds)!
Oh my god, you're just the best! The fact that you actually took on the work says so much about the generosity of your heart. I spent the best part of 3 years obsessed with Strats and partscasters, starting from the cheapest rubbish, and working my way up to quite high quality examples. The guitar you have assembled started out as bottom of the barrel, but the parts supplied are all of a similar quality, with the possible exception of the brass block, but you couldn't use it anyway! This video is hilarious, such attention to detail paid to a guitar where the sum of its parts is about $300. I love it :)
I sure hope this was a great friend or a good customer (or both) because your skill level rates on that "Strat" would have far exceeded its actual worth !! well done none the less Sir
Haha now I see why you refused my tele parts caster! Awesome work again!!!
Having built a and/or modified a fair number of my own partsocasters, I feel your pain. However, on those rare instances when the pickguard holes line up, the joy is immeasurable.
I do a lot of pawn shop partscaster builds and love every minute of them. I look forward to the challenge that each problem brings as an opportunity. Of course, I'm retired so my time is free. I love guitars and enjoy working on them to make them 100%.
My problem is that I end up with lots of great guitars that look, sound, and play great.
Watching this makes me feel lucky for how smoothly my partscaster went together. It has some small problems from me being inexperienced but I didn't have to fuss with the parts that much at all.
You said it man. Great/fun job for a hobbyist
Humbucker in a strat still makes me gag, even after all these years.
I learnt a long time ago to set the tail end of the guitar on the floor between my boots ...the back center if the neck against my left knee and as I tighten the truss rod I push back on the neck instead of just tightening the truss freehand without helping with the tension as it is tightened. Great Video THANKS FUN stuff.
Thanks for sharing you knowledge
I love working on my guitars. I enjoy the challenge of "making it work" enough for my needs. I'd never pay to have those things done, takes the fun away.