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An original composition... kind of! The backing track is one of those free ones you get with the mags... " Rock & Metal Backing Tracks (That You Don't Really Dig)! I chopped it up, re-arranged it and dropped it down to E-flat.
I didn't really rehearse this as much as I should have... the tune was aching to get out of me man! So, I just set up the camera and went for it... this was the first complete take... without fucking up too badly!
The guitar is my 1990 Ibanez 540S... thru a Line 6 Pod Pro... line out straight into the Mac.
This project set out to satisfy my craving for a Vintage Strat, namely one of the Pre-CBS guitars. The originals are well out of reach of my pocket...
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This project set out to satisfy my craving for a Vintage Strat, namely one of the Pre-CBS guitars. The originals are well out of reach of my pocket these days, so the natural direction to look in is one of the Custom Shop Reissues. Unfortunately, when you look very deeply into Fenders attempts at re-making the 50's Strats, it turns out that a lot of corners are being cut and many elements of the build design, the techniques and materials used and certain small fussy details just aren't the same as they were in the 50s. (Gibson are the same with their Reissues) I decided that the only way I was going to own a Strat that really was the same as an original, was to commission a build by a skilled luthier and have them follow the exact specs Id gathered through extensive research. The main build, nitro paintwork, weather checking and the bulk of the paint ageing was done by Mike Bowes at 'OperationStrat'. Mike is very knowledgeable when it comes to vintage Strats and runs a small one-man service building vintage inspired guitars. Being as fussy as I was with this project though, I did want to take the whole vintage acuracy thing a bit further with him and gave him a list of very particular additional details that I wanted him to include in his part of the build, some that wouldnt even notice or be seen (but I would know were there). I wanted no small detail overlooked, right down to date markings in the pickup cavity and at the body end of the neck (which would tally with the serial number on the neck plate). The hardware and plastics were all supplied and aged by the very best, Mark Foley at Fatboy Guitars. Marks ageing work is second to none, as you'll see from the pictures and he supplies some really excellent vintage repro parts for both Fender and Gibson (including those fantastic 'Pat Pend' saddles). The 'Apache' pickups were made and aged by Tim at Bareknuckle, they're wound by hand to vintage specs using original materials and techniques.... and sound sweet !! I had him supply them with the middle pickup 'stock wound' , like the originals (another fussy little touch). I finally sourced some Japanese Ghoto tuners that had the 'Kluson Delux' stamp on, having tried 2 sets of genuine Klusons (which are made in China now... and are crap !) from Rockinger guitars in the US, they were then aged by Fatboy too. The fret work, nut and set up were all done by Charlie Chandler and his 'Fret Plek' machine, his work is world class, as you'd expect from the guy who's serviced David Gilmours guitars. Finally, I did some fine detail work myself; the finger wear on the fretboard (which took forever but was worth it), the ageing and fitting of the waterslides and also some additional staining of the plastics, particularly the scratchplate. The result is a truly fantastic guitar, it really looks and feels like an old one and is as close as you can get to an original without having to saw the barrels off a shotgun. Interestingly enough, the whole project still cost less than you need to shell out for a 'Master built' (far less acurate) Custom shop Reissue...... go figure ! ? !
Anyhow, I hope you like it , the whole project's been a pleasure from start to finish. Im happy now..... as far as Strats go anyway !!
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