ChrisManuel
Member
Hi Folks,
I'm new to the forum and have done some searches to answer these questions but haven't found any - I hope they haven't been answered a zillion times already.
Anyway, I've been looking for a decent hardtail Strat for awhile and was thinking of building a Warmoth when I came across a used Albert Lee model hardtail. I've played it a few times in the shop and have started re-thinking the Strat idea. To the questions:
The current specs show a 10" fingerboard radius but the AL I've played seems to be much flatter. It doesn't look to be re-fretted, no sign of the fingerboard being planed. Did earlier models have flatter fingerboards? The shop-owner thinks its a ~2000 model. I didn't think to get the serial number.
There's no battery compartment so I'm assuming no silent circuit. Is that something that can be added with a coil and battery under the pickguard? I wouldn't want to route the body.
The body itself looks like it's one-piece ash - is that likely?
The unfinished neck worries me as I live on the west coast of Canada where the winter weather is wet and the summer is really dry (often two months of no rain in the summer). My other guitars require a minor trussrod tweak at the change of season - I don't mind that but I'd worry about permanent warping. The guitar in question comes from Calgary where it's dry all the time so, although used, may not have had much exposure to humidity changes.
Here's the strange part: the guitar is set up with flatwounds - the previous owner apparently put on D'addario Chromes and shifted them all up one string and added a .009 for the high E. It's hard to tell if it would have decent "cluck" on the 2 and 4 combinations. It's also hard to tell what it would feel like with a 9-42 set in terms of tension. It's the easiest guitar I've ever played for big bends (Amos Garret style). I wonder if the strings are more like an .008 set.
Thanks for reading this far. I'm probably just looking for someone to say: go ahead, indulge!
Chris
I'm new to the forum and have done some searches to answer these questions but haven't found any - I hope they haven't been answered a zillion times already.
Anyway, I've been looking for a decent hardtail Strat for awhile and was thinking of building a Warmoth when I came across a used Albert Lee model hardtail. I've played it a few times in the shop and have started re-thinking the Strat idea. To the questions:
The current specs show a 10" fingerboard radius but the AL I've played seems to be much flatter. It doesn't look to be re-fretted, no sign of the fingerboard being planed. Did earlier models have flatter fingerboards? The shop-owner thinks its a ~2000 model. I didn't think to get the serial number.
There's no battery compartment so I'm assuming no silent circuit. Is that something that can be added with a coil and battery under the pickguard? I wouldn't want to route the body.
The body itself looks like it's one-piece ash - is that likely?
The unfinished neck worries me as I live on the west coast of Canada where the winter weather is wet and the summer is really dry (often two months of no rain in the summer). My other guitars require a minor trussrod tweak at the change of season - I don't mind that but I'd worry about permanent warping. The guitar in question comes from Calgary where it's dry all the time so, although used, may not have had much exposure to humidity changes.
Here's the strange part: the guitar is set up with flatwounds - the previous owner apparently put on D'addario Chromes and shifted them all up one string and added a .009 for the high E. It's hard to tell if it would have decent "cluck" on the 2 and 4 combinations. It's also hard to tell what it would feel like with a 9-42 set in terms of tension. It's the easiest guitar I've ever played for big bends (Amos Garret style). I wonder if the strings are more like an .008 set.
Thanks for reading this far. I'm probably just looking for someone to say: go ahead, indulge!
Chris
