DARRYL FULTON thanks for doing that. I’m very fond of that Strat - it’s a mongrel but a great guitar. Thanks for watching and the kind words. Best Matt

Nice one man - sounds like you have a very sweet guitar! Best Matt.

FNews so was the brownie

Except all the parts were from other vintage Fenders, not aftermarket stuff.

@@michaelwoods9005 that doesn’t really matter, still a partscaster

Coulda Woulda thanks for watching and the kind words! Matt

Hey Byron thanks and yes she's playing and sounding pretty sweet. Brenden has done a great job on this one:)

He would want a fall back option, cause his brother whoops his ass at guitar!

oldfartatplay1320 A Strat needs 3 pickups!

Thanks Chris - I'm a firm believer that you don't need to pay a fortune for a great guitar... sounds like you have a great Strat:)

from every person I've seen say mim strats are really an exceptional value. I bought one in 08 and love it and aside from little things every $1100 guitar i play at the local shop isn't massively better. I saw one with an exceptional fret job with rounded frets but aside from that (and pickup variations) it didn't strike me as say twice as good at twice the price. plus i plan to do some fret end work on my own and swap out the pickups making it even better (hopefully). And total it'll still come out at maybe $120 bucks more instead of $500. not to mention in 2008 the economy crap and the mim i bought new was at least $100 cheaper than they go for now and i've seen them even $200 more.

I disagree. When we got a closeup of the neck when he was playing, the finish looks awful, and not in a good “relic” way. It looked like a sloppy finish. And for some reason the pick guard looks cheap. I just ordered a cheap pick guard and now I’m worried it will also have an obvious cheap look to it. Maybe I’m just being weird and maybe I’m wrong. That’s just my opinion. That being said, the relic job on the body is a good look. It sounds nice.

I’m now looking up close at the pick guard. Paused at 4:11. I see why o don’t like the pick guard. It doesn’t have the black pinstripe around the edges to help separate the colors and lines. It throws me off. It need the black stripe. Again, just my opinion. And paused at 4:11 the neck looks a bit better. Maybe it was the lighting that made it look awful earlier. I bought some cheap parts to finish a partscaster that has some pricey bits to it. I hope I made the right choices on where to save money.

Haha good idea my advise is get one:) Matt.

You're confused about the term "profile" strat

@@muckyducky70 I stand corrected. Right you are! I thought you were alluding to Tokai's, my sincere apologies. *walks backwards slowly & awkwardly*

Not just Profile strat copies...pretty much any 70s Japanese strat copy made in Matsomuko are amazing guitars. I have a early 1970s CMI strat copy that is specced like a 50s strat. Bought it for £50, and put in £250 worth of upgrades (Jescar stainless steel frets, Tex Mex pickups, SuperVee Bladerunner bridge, Freeway 10-way selector switch) - and now its an absolute beast of a guitar.

Thanks for the kind words - I like the combo too:) Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! Matt.

Thanks for the kind words Rick - making a Partscaster is fun I highly recommend it:) Matt

Thanks for the kind words David and thanks for watching! Cheers Matt.

Thanks for the kind words and for watching Edan!

Hey there thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope your guitar works out well - my white Strat is a beauty:) Cheers Matt.

ha. a funny thing happened after this... i have an old green squier strat that i've dismantled years ago (which happens to be my first electric guitar). i get excited and say to myself ''lets make it new!'' i order a pack of seymour duncan single coils, get a nice neck from my buddy (now i owe him $$$ for that piece :( )..... and then figure out that affinity strats have a different size neck joints, so nothing fits.... needless to say, the mailman will bring new pickups this week and i have to put that on hold untill i get a new body. the moral of this story....everything doesn't fit, so when building these out of old parts be sure to double check the measurements. peace out! :)

Hey I hear your pain I've gone through the same type of issues many times too... very frustrating (and expensive)! Cheers mate Matt.

Hi Nathan that's a bit technical for my knowledge. I'm seeing Brenden on the weekend so I'll try to remember to ask him and let you know. Otherwise Brenden is Real Guitars in Melbourne he's very approachable so I'm sure he would tell you if you emailed him. Thanks for watching cheers Matt.

I totally agree Nathan - my white Japanese start has been built up and it's one of the best strats I've played and it only cost $1200 to make:) Thanks for watching cheers Matt.

as a novice researching such a project i think one hurdle (for a novice like me) is deciphering what is a good affordable piece of hardware that is still good quality and what is just cheap crap/pot metal as they say. It's not insurmountable, it's just takes a bit of work.

Quite right, Der Red. As I mentioned elsewhere, I quite like Guitar Fetish. Yes, they're sourcing Asian parts, I gather; but there's Asian and then there's Asian, it's often a case of "caveat emptor," y'know? So far I've found that their parts quality is generally quite good -- they're selling Wilkinson-brand trems with steel blocks, for example -- and the set neck/body combo I got from 'em had a nearly-perfect neck right out of the box. Sure, I'll get to do a complete fret job, but at those prices, one expects to do a certain amount of work. I hear the cheap necks should be avoided (they have two separate grades,) but the better-grade necks and all the bodies have gotten good reports, near as I can tell. A far cry from a guitar kit I got a year ago from BYO, that had every single hole and inlet done wrong. GFS pickups are inexpensive, but if ya check out a variety of You Tube vids, a lot of 'em sound great! Just a matter of personal preference. I'm sure I'd love Lollars and Lindy Fralins, and I'll get some as soon as I win next week's lottery. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to seeing how my GFS tele pickups sound, once my Tele project is done! Best thing a novice can do is learn, learn, learn. You'll see lots of conflicting info out there; take yer best shot, where some of that stuff is concerned. You DON'T need a thousand bucks worth of tools, as certain folks will try to tell you. Learn as much as you can, and your project is half done!

Get the most affordable strat(even a squier bullet will do) that you like the feel of when you hold and play it and change the crappy parts: ...put a tusq nut in there...new tuners and bridge or at least a new bridge block(brass or stainless steel) and deck it, and new electronics....you ll have a strat as good as anything.....if you spend the time to detail the frets to perfection(i would install new jumbo stainless steel ones) and set it up just right it, ll feel like a boutique instrument(sand the cheap poly and oil the guitar if that also bothers u)...presto...you can have a boutique feeling instrument for around 400 dollars.

Yep i did and it is very difficult designing and building by hand a guitar that sounds and look great.

I'm not sure I meant to sound like I'm playing it down... I actually kept that white japanese Strat and sold the US one to a mate. Thanks for watching! Matt.

TONE There isn’t any Japanese wood, they haven’t any natural resources so they purchase raw wood from America and ship it to Japan to mill there. This is probably a plus due to their quality control. ( A Nissan will last longer than a Chevy) I think he is probably referring to its monetary worth when finished compared to an American made one. This seems backwards from how it should be, but it’s just the way that it is.

Ya it's just a hunk of wood, same dimensions and it's not like the finish quality matters

Nathaniel Birthurth The Japanese sure have the quality control down to an art form.

@@michaelalbro6856 It has to do with their culture and their ingrained aversion to shame, or embarrassment, bringing shame to your employer or your family is like the worst possible wrong one can do in Japan.

Thanks for those kind words and thanks for watching too! Cheers Matt.

The reason I relic'd it was I couldn't be bothered respraying it after the previous owner had sanded it back:) It's super guitar that white strat:) Thanks for watching!

Hey Seth I don't know guitar fetish but I'll check em out. Cheers Matt.

Hi just under $1000 Australian - thanks for watching! Matt.

Hi there - I get a lot of Fender parts from the US website Stratosphere... thanks for watching!

Cheers mate thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! Matt.

Hope your well. With the strat!!! Lol

Divorce and a strat, you don't need anything else.

Unlikely but maybe

Might make it feel better to play though and could slightly change the tone. More important things to keep in mind are the friction on the string (at the nut, bridge etc.) And if the string can slip (stretching strings after a re-string can usually ensure that the strings are pretty stable.)

The main reasons squires have bad intonation is that they leave the factory with too much bend in the neck, so the customer doesn't complain about fret buzz on arrival. And also they tend not to cut the nut slots deep enough so it causes the notes in the first few frets to be wildly sharp. Once you solve these 2 problems there's no reason you shouldnt be able to perfectly intonate the guitar with intonation screws on the bridge.

it might, but it's better to change the nut and strings and get a proper full set-up done. CV's are usually playable from the shop, but everything lower than that should be getting a full setup

Oli C Im gonna buy a Fender neck for my body

Thanks it's a brown suede DSL strap: www.dslstraps.com.au/product/premium-straps/triple-ply-brown/

George Robinson He did, $1200! Not sure if that’s US or AUS though!

Hey Connor I bought the Custom Shop parts second hand at a heavily discounted price. The custom shop bridge and trem block I would highly recommend... the other parts are not so important. Thanks for watching!

TONE Thanks for getting back with me and putting out the video! It does look like a very smooth guitar

My pleasure Connor - good luck with your project. Cheers Matt.

The white Strat has a "50's Classic Player" I bought it from Stratosphere cheers Matt.

Hey it says it's a Crafted in Japan neck. Thanks for watching Matt:)

Grumbly One just under $1000 Australian dollars

Håvard .EF I didn't know that so thanks. My CS term block fitted in nicely with the older 6 screw type fitting. Thanks for your thoughts!

TONE its not a huge deal, But the block will interfere with the lid at the rear and springs will be a little exposed. I got myself a fender customshop tremolo with a mashined brass block. It was meant for fender USA, so it did not fit my squier build.

I honestly thought to be careful of which trem or bridge you get because a MIM strat has a shorter string spacing than say, a US-made one. I believe that the MIJ ("crafted" is a wonderful crap word once put on a machine-made guitar) string spacing is the same as US.

Michael Carey the custom shop term block fitted the crafted in Japan body perfectly. IMHO the crafted in Japan body and neck are really nice. The body is light and very resonate. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Matt

It's a good process to go through that's for sure. I certainly learned a lot. Thanks for watching!

Roman Dwalin yes indeed you're one of the few who has noticed:) Thanks for watching Roman cheers Matt

Very interesting comments Aris - I didn't know that! Cheers Matt.

And very interesting video plus positive comment from your behalf Matt. Cheers to you.

thomas huggins let me tell you when you finish the first one you’ll never stop.

dsayan How so?, is just CNC routed alder

All guitars are CNC routed. That doesn't exclude the fact that some are better than others. I've had my share of made in japan guitars and they always performed better than their western counterparts. And yes even cheap models such as the Strat played in the vid.

The difference between a California Series strat, which is pretty much a 62 reissue, and a Japanese 62 reissue is that after playing both of them back to back, you'd try to find the sucker to buy the Japanese one so you could buy TWO of the California ones. Sure, the Japanese ones might have been great for the value, but the California ones are even a better value, and better all-around quality.

Hey Wes, I guess I've always had the perception in the 1990's that the Japanese were a step down from the USA guitars. Perhaps with time this can perhaps be rightly questioned. I love my Crafted in Japan 90's Strat - especially the neck:)

Brenden does great fret work - the frets were just low to start with. The guitar is actually going in for new frets soon. Thanks for watching! Matt.

TONE Why would anyone dress frets that we’re worn badly anyway? They should of been replaced and levelled initially,your guitar tech saw you coming mate, you should look for someone else!

Marty- B Who might change the frets but not do a good job?

It came in just under AU $1000 so about US $800

Guitar Johhny A DSL brown chocolate suede my fave strap:)

It's a MIJ chunky 50's style maple neck with a 7.5 radius - ferts about 75%. I like it:) Thanks for watching! Matt.

Thanks for getting back

ostertag89 At last someone else who see’s it as it is,why would anybody spend 1200 dollars on doing up something like this?Iv’e just bought a Mexican Strat deluxe HSS for £700 brand new,with all the latest upgrades,locking tuners,2 point floating bridge,full access heel joint,S1 switching for the humbucker,noiseless pickups,mint scratchplate and aged knobs and switch tip,complete with Fender gig bag.Vastly superior instrument! Sheer lunacy in my book!!

thekingzepp yes they built a partscaster

Beeastman123 i

Ok cool thanks for the advise:)

That's absurd.

The earth is also flat, btw, want to buy some magic beans?

Teguvas Green Beans??? *wink wink*

Haha yes that's another way to get a Strat;) Its fun making them up too... thanks for watching! Matt.

It just means it comes from a strat made in Japan

Terry Hesticles c'mon, you know you love relicing. I like it if it's actually road worn and not bashed, thats dumb. Why would you spend more money on a bashed up guitar than a new one????