Building my version of a MK Strat

[trundler]

Not sure what the rules are here and certainly not wanting to cause any offence or complaints but I had been looking for a long time to buy a MK Strat with no success (and now there are two for sale on EBay Grrrr!  ) so I decided while waiting I'd have a go at building my own version...anyone interested? If not, then no worries. Thanks

[trundler]

So, first the body. MK Strat is meant to be a '57 Ash body but is actually more like a '62 Ash body. Now Ash has such a lovely grain to it IMHO I find it a shame to paint over it so I chose an Alder light weight body.
When it arrived it needed sanding with 400 paper and the rear Tremolo cavity and the bridge pickup cut away needed slightly enlarging. I then sealed the wood using Sanding Sealer and rubbed it down with 1200 paper - it felt very smooth! I then pre-drilled the holes I'd need and let it rest for a week.


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[trundler]

Next came the painting of the body. Hot Rod Red is very hard to get hold of and I didn't want to use Fiesta red so fortunately for me I work at a car manufacturers so looking at what colours were available I chose St. James red which is a cross between Hot Rod red and Dakota red. Anyhow, I was very pleased with the result and comparing it with my original MK Strat it's very very slightly darker but only just.


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The photos aren't great but you'll see later that the result is perfect. There is no fading it's just the light and camera used, apologies!

[trundler]

After a couple of weeks to allow everything to harden and settle down I had managed to source most of the hardware. I was very lucky with the bridge as I found a cheap unused Eric Johnson bridge with the unpainted steel block, I know there's a lot of myth about tone etc. but having owned an EJ Strat in the past I always rated the bridge, paint or no paint! If you look carefully you can just make out the EJ stamped on the block 


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[trundler]

Before I could fit the bridge I needed to know if the screw holes were correctly drilled and for that I would need a neck. I spent a long time deciding whether to build one from scratch or look for a good one - in the end I found a '62 Mex RI that was in perfect condition which had also just had medium jumbo frets added! The soft C shape neck is gorgeous and felt just right. Obviously no Mark Knopfler signature on the headstock though!


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[trundler]

Fortunately for me the neck lined up beautifully using a set of strings and a long steel ruler. So, on went the bridge...


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[trundler]

All well and good so far  next came the Earth or Ground tag which sits in the "wormhole" of the bridge pickup cavity. This caused me a real headache trying to find one! Eventually I found one for sale in Germany but the postage was stupidly high for it Grrrr! Anyhow, in it went...


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[trundler]

In order to pre-drill the holes for the Tremolo Claw screws you need a very long 1/8" drill bit in order to minimize the angel (unless anyone has any better ideas?). Very gently I drilled the holes and the fitted the Tremolo Claw. I saw a clever alternative to soldering the Ground wire to the claw which instead uses a crimp or terminal ring which goes on one of the screws, very neat!


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[pete_w]

Nice work, man.

I don't like the sound of the MK strat that much. Don't know if it's the pickups. They sound a bit "raspy" to me (Red Bud Tree is a good example). What are you using?

[jbaent]

Very interesting, keep posting!

[H97]

Eww, vintage tuners  get these replaced before you spend hours and hours replacing strings 
Very interesting, keep posting!

[BloodGator]

I built my first guitar about 6 months ago, my cousin makes acoustics and inspired me to give it a go.

Good luck man, it's the most rewarding thing i've ever done and hope to make it my profession

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[trundler]

Next came the decision as to how many springs to fit - but I played it safe and went for 3 - I might change the configuration to a triangle in due course but wanted to keep everything simple at this stage...


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[Justme]

Great story, keep those pics coming! Is the axe finished already, do you have some soundfiles yet?

[trundler]

Right now for the tricky bit - the wiring and electrics! I managed to buy a correct 11 hole Mint pickguard (with the screw hole between the neck and middle pickups) okay and also a matching pickguard aluminium shield for it. The 5 way CRL switch and correct CTS pots were sourced without any difficulty as was the vintage cloth wire and pickguard screws. The pickup covers, switch tip and knobs were Fender aged white parts however I needed to find the correct counter sunk raised chrome mounting screws for the pickups and switch - again these were more tricky to find but eventually I found a source in the UK. The capacitor needed to be a 0.1uF although maybe I might change to a 0.45uF at some point just to see what the difference sounds like. I found a oil and paper Russian cap and decided to give it a go! So, that just left the pickups. As mentioned earlier the MK Texas pups can sound overly bright and on the harsh side so I contacted my friend at Shed Pickups. Spence makes some of THE best pickups I've ever played and he very kindly made me a set of perfection!! Huge thanks 
Anyhow, using leaded solder (I'm not the best at this) I put the pickguard together and waited a couple of weeks for the pups to arrive. The end result....


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