Hendrix Signature Strat talk with Mike Eldred

[Ydna]

Unfortunatley, what neck specs wont warmouth do?

[Brandon]

I wanted a late 60's neck from warmoth (2 piece maple, 7.25 neck radius, large headstock, heel trussrod) but they don't make that one.

I think someone said it's because of their machine, it can't make a large cbs headstock with a small 7.25 radius or something llike that.

BUT I did find this guy Joe Desperato on the Reranch forum who makes that neck and apparantly he does a good job for $200. That's the route I'm taking.

[basile865]

Yeah they basically can't make an exact 68 spec. It must be problematic or extra hard to do, considering even fender only did it for a short period. I'm having one built but it wont have the maple cap rounded over the neck it'll be more of a slab. So not perfectly identical but very close. We'll see how she turns out!

[Brandon]

Yeah they basically can't make an exact 68 spec. It must be problematic or extra hard to do, considering even fender only did it for a short period. I'm having one built but it wont have the maple cap rounded over the neck it'll be more of a slab. So not perfectly identical but very close. We'll see how she turns out!

Yeah that's probably true.

What's the difference between a cap and a slab? Is there any info floating around about maple cap necks? I want to understand them better.

[MacGaden]

Yeah they basically can't make an exact 68 spec. It must be problematic or extra hard to do, considering even fender only did it for a short period. I'm having one built but it wont have the maple cap rounded over the neck it'll be more of a slab. So not perfectly identical but very close. We'll see how she turns out!

Yeah that's probably true.

What's the difference between a cap and a slab? Is there any info floating around about maple cap necks? I want to understand them better.

Slab on the left, cap on the right.

[Brandon]

ooh nice pic, what website did you grab that from?

[MacGaden]

ooh nice pic, what website did you grab that from?

https://www.musikraft.com/store.php?pg1-cid52.html

[basile865]

Stay away from Musikraft...... I've been there and done that - bought a finished neck that was missing finish, my american pickguard didnt line up with both the pickup route/control cavity. The pots would hit the side of the cavity so I had to sand it out to make it fit. Same thing happened to a friend who was building a jazz bass from this company. No response to emails or calls. Thats right keep away from them!

Speaking of keeping away from, I'm keeping away from big companies who are lazy and relying on their name, and the brainwashed masses to keep them going. Fender and Marshall I'm looking at you. That conversation with mike was real eye opening. Not to mention all the people who chimed in and said hey! I spent 20K+ on a couple tribute guitars why should you have access to a set of pickups like them? It became painfully evident that we as a people are brainwashed into brand name loyalty. I'm guilty of it. It used to be that only a high end Fender and Marshall were good enough. Well sure if you only buy through Guitar Center and Sam Ash who are designed to take in mass produced products designed for mass consumerism. It was easy to say wow I've got a rig just like all the artists from the golden era of the 50's/60's. Truth is its just a plastic shell of what Marshall used to be and same goes for Fender. Its all about the money now. Not about sharing knowledge or dare I say it about making real music.

I was watching videos of aboriginal didgeridoo players lastnight.....These are piss poor people making instruments out of termite hollowed out tree trunks, and they're making music. Not music that recreates Jimi Hendrix or some other hero like many of us, but straight from their heart. They're not part of American consumerism. It made me re-evaluate the fact that I'm a musician. Not a Fender Strat with 69 custom shop pickups into a Marshall Plexi with NOS tubes player, or fill in the blank of other popular brands. But a MUSICIAN. I'm guilty of losing sight of that. Which is why I've come to the conclusion that I'm stepping away from these big boy brands like Fender and Marshall and all the other mass produced crap that people buy just to feel nostalgic. I'm into the stuff that gets the job done EXCELLENTLY, and is for the musician. Thats why I applaud George and his crew for making this forum available to seek, share, and gain knowledge, not to mention build a product that Marshall wishes it could.

[spaceace76]

you have to be honest here man. if you bought a guitar based on the idea that it was "limited", and was priced as such, you'd be kind of angry if the same company started selling parts off of it, especially the pickups.

on the other hand, it seems like more often than not, the pickup is the weakest link in these tribute guitars. for example, in the EVH 25k replica, his pickup was removed and upon examination didn't read properly on a meter because of defective wiring. if you read the [guitar player?] article, it almost sounds like they just gave up and threw in something else, which became the EVH pickup now available to the masses. whenever the guitar has pickups from another company like dimarzio, duncan, etc, it seems like they gloss over it in the ad copy and just mention that it's the same model. this is definitely true with the Gallagher tribute, as they mention him changing pickups for necessity but don't talk about recreating it in any detail whatsoever. you'd think it would be more important, considering how ape shit people go for accurate PAF clones and such, not to mention the wide variation in production of older pickups.

actually, fender did exactly what you wanted already with the EVH 25k. they even went as far as relicing a limited number of pickups and having Ed sign them. even if they are made by duncan under the EVH name, fender distrubutes them and certainly allowed Ed to sell these pickups while they produced the 25k replica. kinda strange that Mike forgot about this. maybe because the pickup and guitar were announced at the same time, and thus buyers knew about the pickup inside their $25,000 guitar being mass produced for everyone else to use, that made it alright.

either way, ive decided exactly what you have. these companies are famous for their milestone instruments. their sounds and playability made them a big name in this market. now the companies are all owned by bean counters and unfortunately have too many mouths to feed, too many people to please, and is too big to quickly respond to customer needs. that doesn't mean they can't deliver a good product and stand behind it properly, but it does mean that if you want something specifically tailored to your needs as a player, it's going to be tough to get what you're after. i just finished revamping my only fender guitar. the only original parts are the neck and body. even the nut is different! it plays and sounds great, just what i wanted. but no one can tell you what you want from your gear, and no one can produce something that will be what you want it to off an assembly line. everyone has different ideas of what a guitar should sound like. i personally think that if you have these sounds in your head, do the necessary research, and find out what will make the best guitar for you.

[basile865]

I agree basically. I still think making a pickup line doesnt change that you still have a limited guitar that is cut and relic'd exactly part for part as the original. If I owned a tribute guitar and Fender released a pickup line for those who couldn't afford the guitar itself I honestly wouldn't care. But the whole scene now is dominated by rich collectors and its become a thing of novelty to put in a glass case rather than a musical instrument. I'll never agree with how they do it now and oh well. As far as my american strat its the same thing - most of the stuff has been upgraded including the fret wire and nut. My thing is, for the money we shouldn't have to touch the frets or the nut on a new guitar, yet most of us do. It all goes back to big business and cutting cost. If you want a fender thats done the way its supposed to be done you have to spend 3 grand on a custom shop.

I've got an old catalog from the 70's of Fender's instruments. You didn't have 50 different strats it was pick your color and pick your fretboard. They just focused on building it how it was and left the modding to the aftermarket. I'm not demanding fender make some super personal guitar that fits me like a glove off the assembly line - I'm just saying why should we have to go well past 1000 before we see decent fret work? The PRS SE line can do it. But as I've said, I'm past it now. I realize they're too big for their own good and they've gotten it down to being adequate for the masses.

[spaceace76]

i definitely don't think that anything that costs $1000 should be the "standard" model for a guitar line. it doesn't really make sense that they can sell the custom shop 69 pickups at roughly $170, bragging that it's made by Abigail who has been with Fender winding pickups for decades, but sell a guitar with mid-range everything at a grand? if those pickups are top quality by fender standards why are they so cheap, or why is the guitar so expensive? it's never really added up for me. not only that but the american made guitars aren't 100% american made. many parts are made in mexico and they are just assembled/completed in the US. when you buy from big companies they inflate prices because of their name. they can say all they want in the ads, but that's what you end up paying for, and that's what they sell.

one thing that will always ring true for me, i bought my one and only Fender based on it's features, playability, and sound. over time i realized the guitar let me down in nearly every aspect i originally bought it for. liked the neck and body so I was forced to completely tear it apart or never plug it in again. kind of sad really.

[basile865]

Yea I agree. I was actually going to buy a lower model strat but none of them felt good until I picked up my american standard. It was one of those immediate just feel right situations - better then the other same models on the wall. But after about 2 or 3 months the frets started feeling horrible. Making a grinding feeling under the strings. One somehow even got a tiny nick in it that would make the string catch there during a bend. I got so fed up that I had the whole thing redone by a local luthier. Only after that he put a shim under the original nut to aid against buzzing. So later as money came a fresh cut bone nut was installed. Then I realized how bad my pickup tone was after playing other high end strats so out went the stock pickups and in went the 69's. I now could use all the pickup combinations and it be toneful. I did try the callaham block and bridge but it made the guitar unbearably bright so the stock trem remains. Now the volume pot is scratchy as hell so thats the next thing to go. Its only a 5 year old guitar but it does get a lot of use as its my only one. The knob's number paint went from gold to green to gone and its got rusty screws all over it. . Even the pickguard has faded to almost that mint green which really surprises me considering its not a 30 year old guitar. Outside of all that the neck carve is comfortable and the tuning pegs are strong.

I played one of those custom shop player strats I think they were called. Its just the custom shop version of the american standard and it was everything my guitar is now after 3-400 dollars in upgrades. The frets were perfect, the pickups were much nicer than the stock american standards, I think it has locking tuning pegs as well. Thats the kind of stuff they should be doing for a grand. I think that guitar was atleast 2 grand when they still made them. Honestly the only thing keeping me is that I'm mostly a single coil guy and anything shorter than the 25.5 fender scale makes me feel a little cramped in the higher registers.

The american specials are real cool guitars but they suffer from that same situation; crappy frets, in which case you might need a new nut cut for it, and pickups.

If you've ever played an Anderson guitar or Suhr their fretwork detail is stunning. It makes all the difference in the world to the point where anything sub par just feels like a toy, with that cheap grindy feeling. I don't even want to think about it

[Smokin Tone]

Fenders are "parts guitars". It's the sum of all the parts that make one special. Fender knows this but they will never be able to consistently deliver it. Whether it be a $4,000 or $80,000 Strat you are not guaranteed a great sounding guitar. The best guitars are a result of all of the right pieces falling into place on the assembly line. Best thing to do is keep playing them until you find a good one. Or build one from several guitars. The main thing is find a good neck. Find one that feels right in your hand but most important is find one that resonates well. Strum the strings open and see how well the neck vibrates at the back and at the head stock. You may want to snag the neck and part out the rest of the guitar. Find a body you like and the rest of the hardware IMO opinion is not as important except for pickups. Lots of choices there. Get something in the ballpark of the tone you're after and you will have a great guitar. After that it's in your hands. Jimi could have made a Squire sound killer.

I could care less about an artist signature or having the exact same thing as someone else. I want to own what I like and what motivates me to play. When you find the right guitar you should get lost in it. Everything kind of fades away and it's just you and the guitar. You know it when you find it. If you pickup a guitar and have to think about it for awhile, whether it's right or not, then it's probably not "the one".

Having said that I recently went on a Stratocaster hunt. I figured on buying something for $800 to $1000 dollars and doing some mods to it. I've been a Les Paul guy for several years and sold my Strat about five years ago. I went to a local shop here and played about 40+ Strats including CS's. I'm not wealthy but if I really had to have a $2500 guitar I could probably scrounge it up. After playing all of these I picked up a 2006 MIM Jimmie Vaughan Strat. I was blown away with it. Nice soft V-neck and great all the way around. $450 out the door and I don't have to touch a thing on it. The pickups even sound great. It smoked every other guitar I tried that day. I compared it to my friends CS and it sounded just as good. Sometimes better depending on what amp we played through. The point is to trust your ears and don't worry about what it is or how much it costs.

I agree with a lot of what you said regarding Fender. Musicians can't afford much of the nice gear that is out there. I'm not against some limited edition stuff being a bit out of reach but it's become ridiculous. A reproduction of something from the 60's that cost $400 dollars then should probably run $2000-2500 today with the cost of inflation but not $4000. I'm not playing that game. Like the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted.

[basile865]

Yep. At the end of the day you're completely right. I suppose what ticked me off was being such a hendrix fan and somebody has the extremely rare privilege of taking it apart and specing it all out down to the pickup output. I'm just so curious what that guitar was like. The frustrating thing was like who are they to say only they get to have the knowledge or you have to sell your car and house to buy it. I mean they only released ONE woodstock tribute and it went to john mayer who sold it and last he heard it was sold over $80,000. That just frustrates me why cant the guy say they were around X output give it a shot. Oh well.

At the end of the day its about sounding like you and only you I agree. I think fender uses cheap fret wire on 80 percent of they're product line though. I'm a real stickler for that now because once you play the higher quality metal, higher polished, and better dressed/crowned stuff it makes all the difference in the WORLD. It bugs me that you can spend 1000 dollars on a guitar and it not be the complete package, it needing something. My strat isnt the most resonate thing in the world but it plays like butter (of course after a refret).

Cool thing about Jimmie Vaughan was that he wanted to make it a point that his signature strat be affordable. An old friend of mine's Dad ended up on a plane with him once - said he was a really nice guy. They were both into Cadillacs so I think they talked a good bit about that.

[parkhead]

Mike Eledred can't talk too much about Janie hendrix, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that
the current Hendrix relationship with Gibson does not make any sense unless you think about the dollars
Janie is trying to extract from whomever will play ball.

I would speculate that F------ will not play ball at Janie's $$$ demand level.

After all they designed and built the strat not Janie or even Jimi... I don't think there are any magic non stock features of that guitar that will not be found on the regular 69 strat

Regarding what Mike can and can't talk about... he is in possession of valuable company secrets and under strict guidelines about what he can reveal ... no different than if he knew the "coke" formula or the secret of the caramilk bar or how Ferrari sets up their suspension for MONTE CARLO

p