I owned a partscaster for many years. I was stationed in Germany and a fellow soldier found some guitars tossed in the garbage behind an Army recreation center. He found a decent Strat neck and attached it to a tele body. He also took a humbucker and installed it on the neck position. I bought it off him for around $100 (1984). I finally sold it for around the same price in 2004.
...I was a "Roadie" in the 80'& 90's and "I" removed from the case, HELD IT IN MY HAND"S and placed it in the stand, SRV's #2...About a year before his death...true story...My favorite Partscaster,no doubt...
My home put together partscaster is my ideal Stratocaster. I built it in homage to a long gone 63 Stratocaster that I owned for many years. I think I pretty close to capturing the looks, feel and sound that I was looking for and it is now my number one guitar.
I bought used cast offs from upgraded squier strats on ebay and assembled what I call the Scrapocaster. It plays and sounds surprisingly good, although I did change the pickups.
I agree......I probably would have replaced Springsteen with Ritchie Blackmore, personally. My "PartsCaster" is the only T-Style that I can see myself owning. I call it the TeleBlaster!
I have a partscaster strat made of warmouth parts mostly with a few fender parts on it. off eBay. the guy put it on for a starting bid of £100 I put a cheeky bid on it and got it for £102. The pickups are Fender silent ones.
IIRC Eddie’s Frankenstein was a B-stock Boogie/Charvel body and neck purchased locally direct from the firm and the humbucker was a PAF taken from his 335 - whether any pickup stayed in there for long is probably another question!
On partscasters, thank you very much for your recommendation of Agrajag Guitars. I plan to give them a shout as soon as I can make up my mind on the specs for the build. P.S. The back story of "Blackie" still blows me away. It was like a lottery that was set up and they won. I can't imagine buying 10 MIM Fenders now and "finding" a "Custom Shop" in the bunch.
Buckingham County,Va. saw Steve Morse an Tha Dreggs play his Fender Blonde Music Master along with black powder charges,1970'z, at JMU,Va. Nice Vidz ,Mate Keep on pickin Cowkidz
Steve Morse's Tele. The bridge pickup in the photo you've shown isn't the original Fender that Steve installed, that's a DiMarzio. The original was the oversized Fender Wide Range with the chrome cover. Also, The Tele neck pickup is NOT a "lipstick" pickup. This is a very common mistake. Lipsticks were originally in Danelectro guitars. The pickup wire was wrapped directly around an Alnico 6 bar magnet - no bobbin - then housed in actual surplus lipstick tubes, hence the name They were longer than Strat pickups. The Tele neck pickup has it's wire wrapped around 6 magnetic polepieces, anything from Alnico 2, 3, 4 or 5. Never an Alnico 6. Tele neck pickups were much shorter than lipsticks. David Gilmour's Black Strat. Had a Gibson pickup installed between the bridge and middle pickups. It was switched in using the "Gilmour Mod" switch - in doing so David lost the bridge/neck option.
Good list. As a Canadian I would be negligent if I didn’t mention Kim Mitchell’s Blue. It’s been through a variety of changes, just like Gilmour’s black Strat. It’s iconic that way. Mitchell is an underrated guitar player. Now, which guitar would Blue replace?
Would Ry Cooder’s “Coodercaster” qualify as a famous “Partscaster”? Ry’s Strat has a lap steel guitar pick - up (Valco?) at the bridge position, fitted to a metal plate with a hard - tail bridge.
Indeed man, because a bolt on neck and an easy approach to pickups are "fenderish". I think that's why there ist no Gibson on John's list... From Germany with best regards...
Dave Gilmour's black Strat. I love that he was able to auction it for a load of money that went to charity. I love that it was the guitar that he played on so many historic songs in the studio and live. I think it's sad that its worth is now defined in £/$.
Perfect timing John as I have a question. I've a partscaster with a vintage Strat neck (cbs 😢 but the best neck ever), great p/u's with a sunburst squier body. I'm thinking about having a refret with jumbo frets but I've never used jumbos. It's a really thin maple neck/fingerboard and I love it. What d'you reckon? Should I leave it as is or take the plunge?
Without seeing it, mate, it's hard to say. I'd advise you to try some guitars with jumbo frets & see how you get on with them. Then, if you like how they feel, go & see a good luthier and ask their advice about having the work done... Is it feasible? Would they recommend it? etc...
@@JRobsonGuitar I thought that's what you'd say to be honest. Makes sense. Being a guitarist I wanted a quick easy answer. You'd think I'd know by now.🙄 Thanks for your fast response though John. Class mate.
I was thinking the same too. Not necessarily a partscaster from various guitars, but definitely parts from all sorts of places - mantelpiece, knitting needles, buttons etc… the whole gamut.
![OhGeesy x Lefty Gunplay - What It Iz [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/L0yzW9t2ixk/mqdefault.jpg)
I owned a partscaster for many years. I was stationed in Germany and a fellow soldier found some guitars tossed in the garbage behind an Army recreation center. He found a decent Strat neck and attached it to a tele body. He also took a humbucker and installed it on the neck position. I bought it off him for around $100 (1984). I finally sold it for around the same price in 2004.
...I was a "Roadie" in the 80'& 90's and "I" removed from the case, HELD IT IN MY HAND"S and placed it in the stand, SRV's #2...About a year before his death...true story...My favorite Partscaster,no doubt...
When did we stop saying bitsocaster and start saying partscaster?
My home put together partscaster is my ideal Stratocaster. I built it in homage to a long gone 63 Stratocaster that I owned for many years. I think I pretty close to capturing the looks, feel and sound that I was looking for and it is now my number one guitar.
My Allparts Partscater is PHENOMENAL. The best part is, it is EXACTLY what I’m looking for in a Strat. Excellent Channel.
I saw Eric Clapton at the NEC Birmingham, playing "Blackie" on the "Pros and cons of hitch-hiking" tour.
I bought used cast offs from upgraded squier strats on ebay and assembled what I call the Scrapocaster. It plays and sounds surprisingly good, although I did change the pickups.
Danny Gatton' Tele with ThaDumasBox ,ThankzJR. Cheers Mate
I agree......I probably would have replaced Springsteen with Ritchie Blackmore, personally. My "PartsCaster" is the only T-Style that I can see myself owning. I call it the TeleBlaster!
I have a partscaster strat made of warmouth parts mostly with a few fender parts on it. off eBay. the guy put it on for a starting bid of £100 I put a cheeky bid on it and got it for £102. The pickups are Fender silent ones.
IIRC Eddie’s Frankenstein was a B-stock Boogie/Charvel body and neck purchased locally direct from the firm and the humbucker was a PAF taken from his 335 - whether any pickup stayed in there for long is probably another question!
On partscasters, thank you very much for your recommendation of Agrajag Guitars. I plan to give them a shout as soon as I can make up my mind on the specs for the build.
P.S. The back story of "Blackie" still blows me away. It was like a lottery that was set up and they won. I can't imagine buying 10 MIM Fenders now and "finding" a "Custom Shop" in the bunch.
Buckingham County,Va. saw Steve Morse an Tha Dreggs play his Fender Blonde Music Master along with black powder charges,1970'z, at JMU,Va. Nice Vidz ,Mate Keep on pickin Cowkidz
I'd only add Frank Zappa's SG into the fray.
Steve Morse's Tele. The bridge pickup in the photo you've shown isn't the original Fender that Steve installed, that's a DiMarzio. The original was the oversized Fender Wide Range with the chrome cover. Also, The Tele neck pickup is NOT a "lipstick" pickup. This is a very common mistake. Lipsticks were originally in Danelectro guitars. The pickup wire was wrapped directly around an Alnico 6 bar magnet - no bobbin - then housed in actual surplus lipstick tubes, hence the name They were longer than Strat pickups. The Tele neck pickup has it's wire wrapped around 6 magnetic polepieces, anything from Alnico 2, 3, 4 or 5. Never an Alnico 6. Tele neck pickups were much shorter than lipsticks.
David Gilmour's Black Strat. Had a Gibson pickup installed between the bridge and middle pickups. It was switched in using the "Gilmour Mod" switch - in doing so David lost the bridge/neck option.
Good list.
As a Canadian I would be negligent if I didn’t mention Kim Mitchell’s Blue.
It’s been through a variety of changes, just like Gilmour’s black Strat.
It’s iconic that way. Mitchell is an underrated guitar player.
Now, which guitar would Blue replace?
Would Ry Cooder’s “Coodercaster” qualify as a famous “Partscaster”? Ry’s Strat has a lap steel guitar pick - up (Valco?) at the bridge position, fitted to a metal plate with a hard - tail bridge.
Where would we be without Fender! 🎸🤔
Indeed man, because a bolt on neck and an easy approach to pickups are "fenderish". I think that's why there ist no Gibson on John's list...
From Germany with best regards...
In Murca we say Kay-ler.
Cruise control, my fav all time Dixie Dregs album....
Dave Gilmour's black Strat. I love that he was able to auction it for a load of money that went to charity. I love that it was the guitar that he played on so many historic songs in the studio and live. I think it's sad that its worth is now defined in £/$.
Although that Strat was a complete Trigger's Broom of a guitar
Perfect timing John as I have a question. I've a partscaster with a vintage Strat neck (cbs 😢 but the best neck ever), great p/u's with a sunburst squier body. I'm thinking about having a refret with jumbo frets but I've never used jumbos. It's a really thin maple neck/fingerboard and I love it. What d'you reckon? Should I leave it as is or take the plunge?
Without seeing it, mate, it's hard to say. I'd advise you to try some guitars with jumbo frets & see how you get on with them. Then, if you like how they feel, go & see a good luthier and ask their advice about having the work done... Is it feasible? Would they recommend it? etc...
@@JRobsonGuitar Good advice me thinks 👍
@@JRobsonGuitar I thought that's what you'd say to be honest. Makes sense. Being a guitarist I wanted a quick easy answer. You'd think I'd know by now.🙄
Thanks for your fast response though John. Class mate.
What about the Coodercaster?
What about Mr Mays Red Special
I was thinking the same too. Not necessarily a partscaster from various guitars, but definitely parts from all sorts of places - mantelpiece, knitting needles, buttons etc… the whole gamut.
Is 'partscaster' a derogatory term? I've never been quite sure.
Not to me, it isn't 😁👍
What about Fender Bitzercaster? Because they are bitzer this and bitzer that.