Body building.

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:18 pm

What company or luthiers are out there that can make me a full sized Stratocaster body retrofitted around my 24 fret Fender HM Strat necks?

demonufo · Post by **demonufo** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:21 pm

You could have a word with jcmjmp - Francois Meg of Lydian Guitars.

rgorke · Post by **rgorke** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:52 pm

What has to be done to retrofit?

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 5:36 am

Unfortunately my choices are slim to none when it comes to swapin' neck's & bodies.
Fender HM's are the widest production 6 string neck (other than the Ibanez 540p's - AKA UnOfficial Alex Scolnick)
which is over 2¼" wide closer to 2⅜" or 58mm.
So I'm shit outta luck in after market and in what I am looking for.

Need a guy with skillz, man !
....and to make it easy, I have an extra body that would be ideal to copy, but I'll send one of my HM's along for reference.

Also with this extra body that came off a Custom Shop "BudDry" promotional, I would want that also worked on.
Chop off and place new wings (Keeping the middle as a template) and building around that.
Gluing on new sides and then shape & contour.
So, actually 1½ bodies...

demonufo wrote:You could have a word with jcmjmp - Francois Meg of Lydian Guitars.

Thanks D !
I PM'd

Any others out there ?

somethin'else · Post by **somethin'else** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:06 am

Hey Jimi what is the scale length on those 24-fret HMs? 25.5? More? Haven't seen on in person, but if that's the case then all body routes should be same as standard strat. If different scale length, then new templates would be needed.
I set up shop in about 1-2 months if you got no fishermen by then

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:31 am

Awesome Dave !
Yeah, new templates would be needed; it's 25.1".
HM Specs
The difference in appearance is that the pups are squished together and there is no "fret lip" on the neck.

IIRC ErickC is also on this war path... betcha' there's even more guys who need just custom retro-work done...

I think it might be cool to make a recessed cover pickguard to be the Top control cavity like an LP's control cover, but shaped.
(One example would be the broken EVH pickgaurd) so you could have entire assemblies of different config's pre-made. (not an entire pickguard) and slap 'em in & out...

somethin'else · Post by **somethin'else** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:41 am

Just had a deep thought (besides 25.1" scale knocking me into the strat•o•sphere).

At your leisure, why dont you take some good straight-on pics of your spare HM body, with & then without the pickguard, neck, and bridge on. And send em to me. I'll superimpose them over my KnE strat, to scale, and start generating the virtual templates for print.

Howz dat for a start?

ErickC · Post by **ErickC** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 2:12 pm

JimiJames wrote:Awesome Dave !
Yeah, new templates would be needed; it's 25.1".
HM Specs
The difference in appearance is that the pups are squished together and there is no "fret lip" on the neck.

IIRC ErickC is also on this war path... betcha' there's even more guys who need just custom retro-work done...

I think it might be cool to make a recessed cover pickguard to be the Top control cavity like an LP's control cover, but shaped.
(One example would be the broken EVH pickgaurd) so you could have entire assemblies of different config's pre-made. (not an entire pickguard) and slap 'em in & out...

You are correct!
I had touched on this on another thread you made
http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=39269" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In my case, i just dont like the pointier superstrats a la Jackson Dinky or Ibanez whatever, I could easily find one of those bodies and fit my neck onto those bodies but i prefer the looks a regular strat, thus my search.
So basically as i show in my template i posted, all i'd need to do is take out some wood and make the heel pocket slightly longer but i dont have a the right tools to do it myself. Sure i could get a chisel and hammer out the shape myself but i dont think it would be all that pretty lol. Shit, i might get a cheap chinese body from ebay and try it out for fun!

As i said in the other thread, i know a guy in Canada, does great work and doesnt charge an arm and a leg for custom work.

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 5:15 pm

somethin'else wrote:Just had a deep thought (besides 25.1" scale knocking me into the strat•o•sphere).

At your leisure, why dont you take some good straight-on pics of your spare HM body, with & then without the pickguard, neck, and bridge on. And send em to me. I'll superimpose them over my KnE strat, to scale, and start generating the virtual templates for print.

Howz dat for a start?

Stratocaster '69ri

lined up at 12th fret __________________________________ Stock U.S.A. '88 HM Strat

somethin'else · Post by **somethin'else** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:05 am

Nice shots Mr Jimi. Looks like the bridge is back slightly too. Biggest thing I see is whether or not your gonna wanna modify the lower horn to get full upper fret access. Gimme a minute on the drawrings!

demonufo · Post by **demonufo** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:58 pm

JimiJames wrote:
demonufo wrote:You could have a word with jcmjmp - Francois Meg of Lydian Guitars.
Thanks D !
I PM'd

Any others out there ?

You might want to try and email him directly (should be a link on his site) as he hasn't been here in a long long time. Not sure if his notifications are switched on or not.

I know of a lot of guys who have been overjoyed with his work. Does some really nice Gibson scale length conversion Strat necks that I'm hankering for too, at very low prices. Gotta build up some funds first.

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:33 pm

Warmoth wrote: Hello,

As an owner of 2 HM strats, I understand the frustration. The main issue is that we have to build to Fender
replacement specs and the HM series was nothing like the HM series products in any way.
I have tried to get one of those necks or bodies made here and the tooling just won’t allow it.
Your best bet is to find more of a one-off, one guy shop to do the work.

Thanks for allowing us the opportunity to serve you,
Warmoth Guitar Products..."

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:31 am

I would like a Northern Ash HM body.. I have a black HM just like the one Jimi has. Or is his like mine? Bought mine in 88 or 89 direct from the Fender shop in Fullerton. Basicly it was a custom shop guitar for $400. Maybe we shouldn't share about these Jimi. Don't want these to get too popular and pricey.

Funny that your pic says Floyd Rose when it was a Black lawsuit Kahler Spider.

Also, I was checking out the HM Strat Wikipedia page, and it says the Scale was 25.15... Not typical Strat 25.5... All these years I thought it was 25.5... I'm go8ng to have to measure.

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:56 am

Greg Howe turned me on to them (HM Strats). They looked SO cool to me.I tried them out backin '89 or so, and found them not to my likeing. The neck was TOO wide at the nut and the tremelo (floyd lic. Kahler was it ) seemed 'cheaper' and not as solid as a floyd to me. Still, I think those HM strats sound real good and are very versatile. I think it wouldnt be too hard to make a custom neck for an existing body, or a full sized body for an existing neck.
I think the actual body shape of the HM strats is the coolest variation on the strat body. Cooler than a soloist, Dinky, Pacer, etc. Just a cool looking guitar.

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