Custom Musikraft - the order has been made!

piofusco

Inspired
Some of you have probably seen my posts over the past six months asking about bridges, pickups, neck profiles, etc. For the past two years, I have been quietly researching buying a new guitar versus building one from custom parts. Partially inspired from Guthrie Govan, I figured out exactly what I wanted and found a company that could do it all for me - Musikraft (no hard feelings, Warmoth - next time :encouragement:)

Today, I had the pleasure of placing my order with Scott. Over the neck couple of months, I will update this thread with pictures of my guitar to share with all of you. I hope my experience can help others feel more comfortable building a custom guitar or confirming what they want in a guitar. Here are the specs

The Neck - 2 piece (roasted)
- Dual acting truss rod at the heel
- Quarter Sawn Flame Maple base
- Flame Maple fretboard
- 6100 Stainless Steel fretwire
- Graphite Reinforcement rods
- Sperzel Locking Tuners
- 24 frets
- Black top/side dots
- Bone nut
- 1-11/16 nut width
- 12 to 16 compound fretboard radius
- Neck profile, I want a Modern Stratocaster neck (.80 x .85), but told them I would ensure the measurements tomorrow

The Body - 2 piece Basswood body with Birdseye Maple top (roasted)
- Humbucker-Single-Humbucker configuration (with custom pickups made by a friend right here in Auburn, Alabama)
- Wilkinson Tremolo (unless I can get my hands on a Floyd without fine tuners), will be non-floating for now
- 5 way stratocaster switch
- 1 tone, 1 volume knob
- football input jack installed below strap button
- high access to neck joint with recessed screws and washers

With this guitar, I hoped to make a counterpart to my Axe FX II. More to come soon.
 
my son has a early 80's none tuner floyd he is taking of a kramer even though I have been telling him not to. I am sure he would sell.
 
The Body - 2 piece Basswood body with Birdseye Maple top (roasted)
- Humbucker-Single-Humbucker configuration (with custom pickups made by a friend right here in Auburn, Alabama)
- Wilkinson Tremolo (unless I can get my hands on a Floyd without fine tuners), will be non-floating for now
- 5 way stratocaster switch
- 1 tone, 1 volume knob
- football input jack installed below strap button
- high access to neck joint with recessed screws and washers
Who cares about all of that! The important part: what color will it be!?!








Kidding. Looks like my kinda specs.
But seriously: what color?
 
Who cares about all of that! The important part: what color will it be!?!








Kidding. Looks like my kinda specs.
But seriously: what color?

Your post made me smile. Because all the body will be roasted, I imagine it will look pretty cool without paint. I will probably apply a thin lacquer for solidarity, but nothing fancy. Also, because I spent all my money on the other parts. I might give the pickups a red lipstick color though.
 
UPDATE

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE!

After a couple delays due to winter and all the custom features I asked for, Scott Smith finally called me with the news that my guitar parts would be shipped. They arrived a couple days ago! I immediately took them to my local guitar store, Spicer's Music, to have them put together. Most of the work will be done by Josh McKenzie.

Additionally, the pick ups are being hand wound by another employee at the store, Carlos Gonzalez - CG Pickups - Boutique Hand-Wound Guitar Pickups. . I'll be going with a H-S-H figuration with a 5-way switch, one volume and one tone with 500K pots. Apparently the pick ups are already made, but there are other things to be done first.

First order of business, the input jack. Similar to a Guthrie Govan Charvel, I am going with a football input jack just below the strap holder. Josh will rout out everything first. Next, we will apply a thin clear coat to seal the wood. After that, we can begin installing everything: pickups, bridge system, pots, strap locks, etc.

Basically, the guitar will be born at Spicer's Music. Stay tuned!

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Thanks guys. I originally asked for a Birdseye Maple top, but Scott didn't feel they had anything in stock that was really worth while. Instead, we went with Flame Maple until one day he called me about a new piece that came. Seems to be some wood between Birdseye and Flame. He was really excited about using it for this guitar. It almost has a 3D quality that these pictures cannot really capture.

How much longer until the finished product is ready to play?

Hoping to have it done by Friday. If not, early next week.
 
I missed the part about the 5-way switch: What does it do? For example, look at the "SWITCHING SYSTEM" section of Electric Guitars JEM/UV - JEM77 Steve Vai | Ibanez guitars

Nothing too fancy.

First position: neck humbucker
Second position: coil tapped neck humbucker and middle (just like a Strat)
Third position: coil tapped neck humbucker and coil tapped bridge humbucker (I might switch to just the middle pick up down the road)
Fourth position: coil tapped bridge humbucker and middle (just like a Strat)
Fifth position: bridge humbucker
 
UPDATES:

The bridge, pots and straplocks have been installed. The body now has a clear coat. The neck has been attached with properly sized grommets.


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Should be ready this week. I am beyond excited. The clear coat took much longer than expected, but turned out wonderfully. While it might look like a "paint job" this is just a side effect from wood being roasted. It's much more absorbent. The thing is mega light.
 

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