Build Your Dream Partscaster Guitar!
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- Building a partscaster is a great way to get the customized guitar you've always dreamed of, and learn essential lutherie skills along the way. In this video, our guest Dan Petrzelka shows how to build a custom t-style partscaster, step-by-step, so you can follow along at home.
0:00 Gathering Parts
3:09 Body and Neck Considerations
6:11 The Truss Rod
7:08 Choosing Tuners
9:33 Installing Tuners
17:47 String Ferrules
19:53 Strap Buttons
21:56 Body & Neck Alignment
25:06 The Bridge
26:56 The Bridge Pickup
30:27 Approximating Intonation
31:29 The Neck Pickup
33:52 Control Plate Selection
37:41 Wiring the Control Plate
44:06 Installing the Pickguard
50:15 The Output Jack
52:28 Final Wiring
54:59 Knobs and Switch Tips
57:07 Fret Buffing and Fretboard Cleaning
57:42 Final Alignment
58:15 The String Tree
59:00 Setup
1:05:51 Pickup Height
1:07:00 Sound Demo
Photos used with permission from Getty Images and Nina Raj (@ninaraj).
Check out Dan's article on our website, with even more information about building partscasters: www.stewmac.com/video-and-ide...
Parts and tools featured in this video include:
Fender Deluxe Telecaster Body
www.stewmac.com/item/6576-B
Fender Classic Series 50s Telecaster Neck
www.stewmac.com/item/5931-M
Kluson 6-In-Line Deluxe Series Tuners
www.stewmac.com/item/5177-N
Vintage-style Tuner Bushings
www.stewmac.com/item/3461
Luthier's Digital Caliper
www.stewmac.com/item/0447
StewMac Shop Rule
www.stewmac.com/item/4905
Tuner Bushing Press
www.stewmac.com/item/0460
Depth-stop Drill Bits
www.stewmac.com/item/1710
GuitarSlinger Aged Strap Buttons
www.stewmac.com/item/100825
Fender 3-Saddle American Vintage Telecaster Bridge with Brass Saddles
www.stewmac.com/item/3228-C
Compensated Bridge Saddles for Tele
www.stewmac.com/item/5167
Saddlematic
www.stewmac.com/item/4462
TV Jones Classic Pickup
www.stewmac.com/item/6536
Golden Age Pre-wired Harness for Telecaster
www.stewmac.com/item/1931
CTS Control Pots
www.stewmac.com/item/0116
CRL Lever Switch
www.stewmac.com/item/2000
Fender Vintage Tele Control Plate
www.stewmac.com/item/10087
Tele Pickguard
www.stewmac.com/item/0061
Electrosocket Jack Mount
www.stewmac.com/item/4284
GuitarSlinger Aged String Tree
www.stewmac.com/item/100823
Digital Nut Slotting Gauge
www.stewmac.com/item/12203
String Action Gauge
www.stewmac.com/item/0670
Neck Relief Gauge
www.stewmac.com/item/2004
Gauged Nut Slotting Files
www.stewmac.com/item/0821
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StewMac has everything you need to repair, build or maintain your guitars.
Everything we sell is backed by our Lifetime Promise, and we offer fast worldwide shipping.
Shop StewMac: www.stewmac.com
Instagram: @StewMac_Guitar
Facebook: / stewmac - Jak na to + styl
You’ll never love a guitar more than a partscaster you assembled yourself !
I have a lot of partcasters but I love my firefly G3 copy the best it plays like butter. Action is so low.
I have 3 I've put together my favorite guitars
For me this Is so true! Call me crazy, i would never change my
partscaster for a custom shop either. Why? Because I LOVE IT SOOO MUTCH! As i would never change my wife with any top model worldwide. Because i love her!
I fully agree. Love mine.
Just finished my first and I already have it in my will to be buried with it.
This is the best THE BEST video tutorial on building a guitar on CZcams. The Most educational and informative video on CZcams. And trust me I have seen many guitar builds.
I've built dozens of partscasters thus far and I was enthralled by this video. It's always fun to brush up on the essentials and even pick up a few new ways of doing things as well. Great content as always.
Glad you enjoyed it!
in
as someone who has experience in building partcaster, could you tell me, is it possible to build a les paul junior dc with a strat neck?
This has to be the BEST guitar build/setup video I have ever watched. Clear explanations and demonstrations, chapters for each step, loads of "tips" for getting around potential problems. Great job StewMac! 👍👍👍
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
As a tradesman across multiple disciplines, i appreciate all the pro tips. It takes years to learn all these types of techniques without a pro sharing what they learned the hard way. Even in my apprenticeships, i rarely had journeymen so willing to help a newb make professional choices
The timing of this video couldn't be more perfect! I'm working on a parts caster right now!
Killer! Good luck with your build! Hope this video can be of help.
Me too!
Every single guitar player should watch this video. So good !!! Kudos to this guy!! I stopped missing Dan for a while 😁
This is without a doubt one of the best setup videos ever made. Kudos Stew Mac. Great tools, great videos.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment.
I absolutely love these longer videos! Please do more! Thank you StewMac!
We like them too, they take a lot longer to make though. We have several more in our queue, as well as a few projects that will be multi part series. 😎
@@stewmac 🤟😝🤟❤️🎸
A friend of mine taught a soldering course for the USAF. I took his class, and one major takeaway, briefly addressed in this video during the jack plate install, is to ALWAYS crimp your wire for a solder joint. Make a good mechanical connection, then flux and solder as per normal. The likelihood of a cold solder joint (not shiney when cooled) goes down considerably, and it will help you manage gilding everything together while soldering....as often we wish for a 3rd hand. Also, tinning your wire and the connection point gelp make professional results. Merely flux and put a dab of solder on each connection before you connect them
I've been building and repairing guitars for over 20 years and I will say, this is a great video! Very thorough!
This video is a complete course on not only building a partscaster or kit but also setting up any guitar. Very detailed and easy to follow! This this is pure gold!
Thank you, so happy you found it useful
Built my parts caster over 20 years ago with Stew Mac parts still my favorite.
SO glad to hear it!
Man, you just cant dislike this awesome video. So completed! He even makes examples of worst scenarios we may meet to teach us how to deal with. Thank you sir!
Been loving these in depth long form tutorials you guys have been putting out lately
Thanks.
Best tutorial for a guitarbuild out there!
This is the most informative build video on the tube.
StewMac produced videos are so pleasing to watch. First I thought it was the way Dan Erlewine spoke. But I noticed that all the people who appear in StewMac videos have this very pleasing to the ear way of speaking. So props to the Dans and also to the producers, especially the editor. You make the best videos, and I really enjoyed the music for the "Wiring the control plate" section.
Thanks so much. We really appreciate your comment! We try to put a lot of love into these videos. Cheers!
Back in the day of paper cataloges I called stewmac with questions. I asked to speak with Dan and believe it or not he picked up. He was a gentleman and patiently answered my questions. He is one cool guy without the ego. That was back in the 1980's. I am still at it and still appreciate people like Dan.
This is the way to show how to do things....clear as clear water. Great demo video indeed !!!!
This is very cool! I've never built one and am getting excited about doing it. Appreciate you guys spending the the time to produce this. The editing was long and tedious on something this length. That's what I do for a living and appreciate the job you guys did on shooting, producing and editing. Its very well done. Kudos! Thanks for making this.
Really appreciate the feedback! It definitely takes some hours making it happen, as you know, but it's also a ton of fun. Good luck on your build!
Did you do it? :)
I have found that working on guitars/basses you need to have a similar approach like in kit model building, kind of. It's a mixture of woodworking and model building approaches and skills.
@@janneboman8573 not yet. Been really busy with work. Soon!
Reverse engineer a stratocaster
best solder job I've seen done in many a year
I don't think instructional videos get any better than this. 10/10. THANK YOU!
thank you
He’s so passionate about luthiery.
Really enjoyed the video!
Thanks!
Couldn't believe I watched the whole vid in one sitting, this was a great video
I love how excited he gets about guitars!
Dude. You the Bob Ross of guitars. So calming 😌 😆
LOL I am at 22 minutes and totally hooked on this vid.
I was just about to built a complete telecaster myself, and this was just the video I needed!! THANK YOU SO MUCH
Killer! Hope it can be of use to you. Good luck with your tele build!
@@stewmac thanks a lot! already started with the neck, going for a matt black finish. hope my vision checks out!
This is so relaxing and cool. Partscasters are so rewarding.
That was an hour and ten minutes of pure joy . An incredibly well produced and thought out build video...
I recently tried my first time at guitar modding with a complete hardware refresh and this video came in handy! I now have a p90 strat with a tune-o-matic. Love this video 👍👍
this is what I've been needing for my Stewmac Telecaster kit I've been putting off building
I built my strat/partscaster. I love it and loved doing it
This is the best instructional video I have ever seen. You make me want to build my own partscaster and I dont even need one. Thanks
thanks for doing this step by step video, it answers so many of those little questions i have never seen answered in guitar build videos before. extremely helpful. now i feel confident to start my own oartacaster build.
Awesome! Best of luck with your build!
Oh great…I’m already so time poor … and yet you have enthused me so much that I have to add a partscaster to my workload.
I thought this video would offer me nothing new. How wrong I was. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
Fantastic! Definitly gonna built a partcaster following precisely your instructions. Thanks a lot for this masterwork of video!
I’ve searched for days to find a video like this, thank you! I’ve got all the parts in the post for my very first project next week. Nervous and excited all at the same time!!
Good work.
Finally someone who can solder and uses good quality tools.
keep it up thanks.
That control plate was done so clean 🤌🤌
This guitar is a gem!
Bloody brilliant loads of help and tips I would not have thought of. I’m building my first tele parts caster at the moment so thank you very much 😄
I've been planning to build my next guitar, and this has been the video I've seen with lots of great tips on issues that I hadn't considered before. I particularly appreciated the segment on electronics, which is the part that is scaring me the most. Great video, Thanks!
this is the best video about putting a parts caster guitar everybody should watch this video
Thanks so much! Really appreciate that.
I learned via trying to do wristwatch repairs that you’ve always got to get the best quality tools for the job.
most educational video ever. Especially the setup is the most valliuable for me.
Wow, and then Dan shows up.
I learned from his books.
Thanks for all the tips.
I started building electric guitars when I was a kid. 1973 I was 14. The body shop at the local Chevy dealer painted my bodies. Fenders were easy to assemble. Your methods and techniques have a lot more finesse then the way we used to do it. Thank you for the lesson. Excellent video.
Looks and sounds amazing
Wow, what a video. This must have taken a tonne of work. Thanks for making this for us!
One day when I have a workspace large enough.. I will come back to this video haha. But it's fun to watch anyway. Very informative
That was the most informative guitar build and set-up video I have ever watched. I have a frankencaster... looks like a 70's strat (with a drop-dead gorgeous 2 tone sunburst body and a very less than average maple neck with the big 70's headstock) but it has no identifying marks whatsoever. I've owned it for 36 years (actually it was my first guitar!). After gathering dust for a very long time I decided to have a go at making it into a nice guitar... electrical clean-up, neck relief, fret leveling and filing the sharp edges, action, intonation, and it's already way better than it ever was before. I can't swap the neck out for a nice new one sadly as the neck pocket on the body is non-standard. Nothing will fit apart from the one its got. So new pickups next... and maybe a refret and take the laquer off the fretboard while I'm at it. Now I've watched your video I may have another go at the neck relief and action... Thank you!
Start to finish. No dull moments. Even though the actual wiring for the pick ups selection were not shown (trade secret), one can get the feel of how it is to do wiring on a guitar.
It is very satisfying. Once the guitar was plugged in and works, so precious.
There's so much good information I hadn't even considered in this video and so much I didn't know. I had 2 buillds turn into 3 and then 4 because I kept swapping out parts or didn't want nice hardware gathering dust, and didn't plan ahead. I finally decided to do a baritone offset tele, a early 60s strat, a strat modded to the gills and a more conventional tele (with specs to be determined).
What an amazing Video of the technique in building a Partscaster! Applause, Applause 👏 👏 👏 Congratulations 🎉
Fantastic video! I just finished my partscaster tele yesterday! The StewMac videos with the Driftwood guys helped me refinish the body!
Huge congrats to you! We're so glad these series have been helpful resources. Enjoy your new tele!
One of the most interesting and informative vids I've seen on CZcams. Loved it!!
Fantastic video …superbly produced … thankyou very much!
Wow! I was riveted to the screen the entire time! Just amazing!😊
Thank you
I have 3 guitars, 2 are "Fenders" and they came out great! I started building them to get the specs I wanted and am glad I took the plunge.
I learn whole lot of new things like tools, Technics, secrets.. this documentary(if I call it you-tube video your great effort is under estimated) is worth watch again... really inspirational. thanks.
I didn't know I could ever watch the entire video.That was great information.
I love me some flipped controls on a Tele! First thing I do on mine! ✌🏼❤️🥩🦞🍻
Great timing. Been thinking about this project for a while. Thanks!
Viewed this video and was very impressed in several ways. The man in the video spoke very clearly and precisely. The assembly was nicely done and the results were fantastic.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you so much for all the info!! What a great video!! So i just turned 40, and I played for a year or so as a teen then my immature impatience took over. Now I’ve got back into playing guitar and it’s been so much fun and has been great for the soul/well being! Videos like this and all the other amazing guitar/gear channels on CZcams have made this round of playing guitar so much more user friendly and informative!! I just received a seafoam green bullet Tele today and I’m going to do my first partscaster (HotRodcaster) 😜 and this video will help immensely!!! Thanks again for all the great videos and Info all you guys share!
Great guide, I have some experience with partscasters but I didn't know some of your tricks
Great video. I have become addicted to building parts casters. It's fun and doesn't require me to be a master luthier. Honestly, I enjoy them more being that they are built to my liking. . 🤘
Yeah, building them can be quite addictive.
wow ! it really does sound great ! that bridge p-up is pure gold
When I assembled a baritone Jazzmaster partscaster I was hooked. Did a 2000s jazz bass body with a sadowsky preamp and 70’s jazz neck from allparts. Beats anything off the assembly line!
Great instructional video with a fantastic host. What a beautiful guitar. Thanks!
Delighted to see someone NOT recommending sanding the back of the pots for the ground wire. Alcohol to prep the surface is really all you need.
Thank you - I sometimes see people recommend sanding the back of pots, but not cleaning them after sanding-this just introduces all of those contaminants to the solder joint. Cleaning off oil and oxidation with alcohol, for a good clean contact is my preferred approach, and you can see how beautifully it solders.
Great video post by Dan Petrzelka and StewMac. The only thing I would add is:
1. Bundle all the parts and weigh the assemblage. That way if you can route under the pickguard area to reduce weight.
2. Copper foil cover the routing (bottom and sides) and the underside of the pickguard. Make sure all the foil is electrically connected by leaving little tabs for contact and add a soldered copper ground wire connected to ground. This assures hum cancellation.
Great video in the right time for me. Thanks!
My Stratocaster is only the second one I've owned. The first was a Selder, and this second one started as a Squier Bullet I bought in a thrift shop in Japan.
At that point I had only been playing guitar about four months but I've been a musician since I was eight. There are just as many options on a sax, but I never got into customizing the vintage tenor probably because it was a top of the line instrument when I bought it, so it was more about what I could mess up rather than what I could upgrade. But the Squier, every part could be changed out, and over the next two years I changed everything but the body.
In the beginning I was determined to make it 100% Fender, Made in the USA parts, but that very quickly changed as I learned.
I'm originally a ski and bicycle mechanic, so I already had some skills. But guitars are a whole other set of tools.
First thing I did was change the tuning machines to Fender locking tuners. I think when you don't know which one is best, choose the standard, but I also wanted those Fender logos on everything at first. This is when I first learned everything on a Squier is 2mm smaller, so I had to ream the holes and also add two more little holes for the posts that hold them in place. This wasn't all that different from skis, but I was still nervous about it, made a big mess, fixed the mess the same as I would do on skis, and finally got them in.
Next I changed the nut and bridge saddles to GraphTech. So already I had three sets of part that weren't made in the USA, but I got over it because all the parts were top of the line, which was my real goal.
All in all, I spent over a thousand dollars on parts, and probably a few hundred on tools. Many of the parts are Fender, but far from all of them. My guitar has parts from about ten different countries.
When you DIY it you can really nuance the tone. A lot of people think it's all about the pickups, but that's absolute nonsense. If that were true, then you could put Stratocaster pickups in a Les Paul and it would sound like a Stratocaster. That's obviously wrong. Every part matters. Eliminating pot metal for example, and getting a quality roasted maple neck that's a bit wider were both huge differences. I changed the block, switched out the claw and springs in the back to big brass ones, and those made obvious differences in tone, as did literally everything else. Even fresh strings sound different (mine are 10 to 52 and it makes a very big difference). On a sax, even the lacquer and the material the mouthpiece is made of makes a difference, so this was obvious to me.
I leveled and crowned the frets, rolled the edges, and most importantly have played the crap out of this thing. Any instrument, if it's well played, and played a lot, that's way better than a fresh from the factory instrument. Especially if it's you who put that wear and tear on it, it's custom.
The last thing I did was change the neck plate to one which says 'Fender, Corona, California' not because I wanted to fake it, but because that's what inspired me to build an even better guitar than I could order from the Custom Shop.
I don't know If I will ever make a guitar by myself, but what I do know is that I learned so much about and electric guitar from this vedio, the parts, the alignments, the connection all that was a great stuff!
Such an amazing DIY
Love it! What an amazing build!
Thanks!
Excellent narration and demonstration. 😎👍
On the fence on doing my own build, this pushed me over. Great job.
Go for it! It's such a fun project.
Excellent video! You inspired me to build my own Tele! 🤗
I am filling my shopping cart @ Stew Mac while I watch this video.
Yes, a 3-saddle bridge is more challenging to intonate than a modern 6-saddle.
But, the three-saddle design allows the "partner string" on the shared saddle to resonate when the other string on that saddle is plucked. This contributes to that "Tele-twang" we all know and love! 🤗
Great looking Tele!!! and Dan Erlewine is so cool!!!, stay up until the end guys!!
You make that wiring look so clean and easy. Kudos!
Thank you.
Seriously. That wiring was a work of art. 🤯
@@Snowness thank you, I do try to take my time making the layouts clean and beautiful.
Outstanding Video. Such a sweet build thanks.
man this video is GOLD thank you!
A couple years ago I built a strat from the ground up. Ordered each part one by one. And it was all assembly from there 😁
I like how Stew Mac just lets random dudes wander the warehouse, and employees will just give them whatever parts they ask for.
Adjusting pickup height, I always use
Bill Lawrence’s spec. He was the
man!
I don't get the relic hardware matched with the shiny black body
This video was sooo well done! 👏
Stewmac for president(s)!! Just love these videos! I have started to build my first guitar, a telecaster, and went in here to get more education and information about different things. Now I can finish my guitar with confidence. SNUG is my new word to use when I build guitars from now on! THANKS as always!
Robert
Sweden
Excellent video you do everything I do on my build except I use copper shield inside the pickup cavities and the control cavity and I use a puretone output jack. You are very informative and you built a very beautiful guitar
Thanks for the lively yet comprehensive guide. Lol back then i have to trial and error everything!
Watching this back over a second time. Originally it was just an interesting video but this time I’ve finished a Strat body and neck and am ready to build
Great video! Your instructions and pro tips were outstanding! Encouraged me to be try to do my own setups…the right way!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for the help Hassan
I love to build my own partscasters because the guitar has everything that I want and dont want. When installing the string ferrels I use a small rubber mallot,that way no damage to the ferrel the finish or the body occurs. My partscasters are my favorite guitars by far,they have that special feel that cannot be obtained by buying a "shelf guitar". Great video👍
Awesome, thank you!
Amazing video with all the chapters - it's been thirty years or more since I built/modified a guitar. I really want to build a custom Tele and modify two of my Strats this video will be invaluable ✌️👍💜😊
That's great! Good luck and have fun!
@@stewmac 😊💜👍✌️
Excellent video. Best I’ve ever seen!
Wow that´s very impressive - great stuff! 🎸 🎸🎸