A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Hello All!

Hoping to get some suggestions on this project. I have a 15 yr old family member who is beyond simply a 'good guitar player' at this point. He's into the really fast and heavy stuffy (Megadeth, Lamb of God) and bands i've never even heard of. He has a 'thing' for darker looking natural wood type finishes. From what i can tell anything that kind of looks like Ash. Long story short we had tickets for Megadeth two weeks from now- but that won't be happening. So as an early bday gift i figured i'd put together a superstrat for him.

So far i have
- What i believe to be a Charvel body
- Nice Warmoth neck (ebony board no inlays)
- Looking for a nice bridge (if anyone sees a good deal on a floyd or something of good quality let me know)

In terms of pickups- we did another build for him about a year ago. He has a full shred and something more high output in that one and likes it. Would love to get some ideas on pickup combinations for him.

That's going to be one hell of a birthday present. You're in the top 5 of uncles of all time.

What you've put together so far looks amazing. I'm guessing the body doesn't have a battery cavity for active pups?

Correct, no active pickup battery.

that's too cool! he's gonna flip

if he's a seymour duncan guy, you can't go wrong with a jb/jazz or 59 set. also a fan of the black winters for heavy stuff

dimarzio deactivators or a crunch lab/liquifire set would also be killer

zisme wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 10:54 am dimarzio deactivators or a crunch lab/liquifire set would also be killer

Yeah! Good suggestions. I was going to say Dimarzio X2N.

zisme wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 10:54 am that's too cool! he's gonna flip

if he's a seymour duncan guy, you can't go wrong with a jb/jazz or 59 set. also a fan of the black winters for heavy stuff

dimarzio deactivators or a crunch lab/liquifire set would also be killer

Can't go wrong with those suggestions. You might also consider a Railhammer Chisel set.

As for the bridge, look into the Gotoh ge1996t.

I’ve got a set of BN Holy Divers without pickup covers if you’re interested.

For the bridge, the Guitarfetish Heavy Duty bridge is a steal. It is reuotedly the same bridge Peavey used for the USA Wolfgangs,and it is very solid. The Gotoh is excellent too, but the string lock scres are about 4 mm longer than standard Floyd screws, and the post bushings are wider, so you might need to drill if you want to use the Gotoh posts.

You won't go wrong with either one in terms of quality.

As for actives, you don't need a battery box, just enough room to put a battery in the elecctronics cavity.

Even then, D-Activators, X2N, Black Winter, Duncan Distortion, etc.....

And you'll want to cut for a Floyd nut on that neck.

Thanks Guys,

All good suggestions! And certainly understand the neck will need a floyd nut.

What are people's thoughts on the Gotoh GE1996T bridge? I seem to see good stuff about them online.

Just want to make sure it would actually fit on this body.

Also- for pickups a buddy of mine donated a set of 81/60 he had (free!).

Sorry- i just noticed a few people suggested the Gotoh- may go with that to keep cost down a bit.

NOW- the neck. It does not have a floyd nut, how hard is that to install?

The neck needs to be routed to accept the nut. Look online at necks with a Floyd cut, and you will see what I mean. The nut can be mounted with screws from the top (screws down into the neck) or from the bottom (screws through the neck into the nut) -- this is important, because the Gotoh nuts are not either/or: they give you the option of a top or bottom mount nut, where a Floyd Rose nut lets you mount from the top or the bottom.

If you haven't done this before, and don't have the gear, I would suggest letting a pro do it.

You could also go with a Tusq XL nut and good locking tuners, but it won't work quite as well, and kind of negates the point of a double locking trem.

As I noted earlier, the string lock bolts on the Gotoh trem are about 4 mm longer than regular Floyd spec. The GFS Heavy Duty trem (reputedly made by Ping Weil) is cheaper and won't have this issue.

That said, EBMM used the Gotoh in the past, and John Suhr swears by them.

The true and tried JB/Jazz or JB/59 set.