Whoops! Squier CV Starcaster project

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JSett
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Whoops! Squier CV Starcaster project

Post by JSett » Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:01 am

After reviving this old thread here I went down to my local shop (Guitar Village in Farnham, UK) to drop off the MessStang for a fret dress and decided to test one of these out while I was there with an open mind and try and not succumb to the instinctive badge-snobbery . Needless to say it came home with me. Fit and finish is lovely, neck nice and comfortable. Frets well dressed and smooth. Tuners aren't much cop, that's no surprise. It does, however, appear to have full-size pots in there though (hard to see clearly but they do look like it and feel like it - as far as I can get my stumpy fingers into the F-hole).

The pickups, well, they're alright... but they're no WRHBs that's for sure. None of that trademark sparkle and roundness to the sound.

So, I got a little bit of money off, plus some strings and picks and the usual thrown in with it and I bought it with the full intention of modding it. For less than £400 it'll make a good base for an almost-Starcaster.

Got it home, slapped on some heavier strings and tweaked the truss. Plays pretty good. I've just ordered a set of replacement pickups from Jaime over at The Creamery and I think I'll look at whether to change the other guts when they arrive. I've also got a Les Trem on the way - there's no way I can keep reaching for a vibrato arm and coming away denied hahaha

You all know what these look like by now so I wont bore you with a load of pictures, but heres a couple....

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Last edited by JSett on Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by Dok » Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:25 pm

I wish Fender would make one of these with a not-maple neck, and then I would buy one.
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:02 pm

Dok wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:25 pm
I wish Fender would make one of these with a not-maple neck, and then I would buy one.
Yep. I fell in love with this last year and still think about it...

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I have ordered one of these cheap 22-fret overhang necks to test out on it too. The headstock isn't correct but I can live with that...

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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by manwithtitties » Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:46 am

Congrats! These come with 500k volume pots and 250k tone pots which might diminish the potential and sparkliness of the stock pickups as well. Im gonna swap them out for for 1 megs on mine at some point before id change the pickups, but to be fair i think they already sound pretty decent.

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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:13 am

manwithtitties wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:46 am
Congrats! These come with 500k volume pots and 250k tone pots which might diminish the potential and sparkliness of the stock pickups as well. Im gonna swap them out for for 1 megs on mine at some point before id change the pickups, but to be fair i think they already sound pretty decent.
Ahh, in that case I foresee some new pots when the pickups arrive!

I had a quick mockup on my iPad and I think I might aim for this as a final product...

Image
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by Interludes » Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:36 am

This would be very interesting, do you have already an idea where to buy the neck?
I think I read somewhere starcaster reissues have a longer/deeper neck pocket than other fenders
if you're into offsets, take a look here!

https://www.instagram.com/offset_digest/

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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by vistavision » Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:04 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:02 pm

I have ordered one of these cheap 22-fret overhang necks to test out on it too. The headstock isn't correct but I can live with that...
I thought the classic issue with Starcaster necks is that they are 22 fret no overhang, so a 22 fret with overhang will never intonate.
I'm sure some Fender dealer in '64 looked at the new Duo-Sonic II and thought, "That's not a Duo-Sonic. That's a Mustang".

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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:07 am

Interludes wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:36 am
This would be very interesting, do you have already an idea where to buy the neck?
I think I read somewhere starcaster reissues have a longer/deeper neck pocket than other fenders
vistavision wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:04 am
I thought the classic issue with Starcaster necks is that they are 22 fret no overhang, so a 22 fret with overhang will never intonate.

Yeah, they're 22 fret long with a longer pocket. I've got a neck here I can try on but it'll leave a gap...

Image

The overhang necks are still designed for a normal pocket but you just mount them in the right place and the overhang covers the gap from the front. Theoretically.
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:47 am

So I bolted on the normal neck. This is the gap...

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Measures up like it will intonate well here...

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I'm going to quickly knock up a little black pickguard filler in this rough shape and see what it looks like

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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by BTL » Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:19 am

Do the existing mounting holes in the replacement neck line up like that? if so, the pickguard filler will be a pretty slick trick.
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:01 am

BeeTL wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:19 am
Do the existing mounting holes in the replacement neck line up like that? if so, the pickguard filler will be a pretty slick trick.
They do line up perfectly. And the filler looks okay IMHO...

Image

That's with a standard JM 21-fret neck
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by BTL » Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:08 am

I'd say that's better than OK. A little double-sided tape and you're good to go.

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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:48 am

So here's how it stands...

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I think the cover plate looks pretty good all told...

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And I've even managed to fit a spare Mastery on there!...

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The Les Trem should arrive Monday/Tuesday and I'll string it and give it a setup, see how things are looking. Then I'll pull the neck again and quickly paint the headstock. I have some black & clear in stock so shouldn't take long
Pickups will be 3-6 weeks as Jaime is oversubscribed these days. I might give it the 5th pot/master volume control while I build a new loom. We'll see
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by Maggieo » Fri Jul 23, 2021 3:41 pm

johnnysomersett wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:13 am
manwithtitties wrote:
Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:46 am
Congrats! These come with 500k volume pots and 250k tone pots which might diminish the potential and sparkliness of the stock pickups as well. Im gonna swap them out for for 1 megs on mine at some point before id change the pickups, but to be fair i think they already sound pretty decent.
Ahh, in that case I foresee some new pots when the pickups arrive!

I had a quick mockup on my iPad and I think I might aim for this as a final product...

Image
That looks brilliant. I've got a Rivolta with the Les Trem and it works the business.
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Re: Whoops! Another NGD: Squier CV Starcaster

Post by JSett » Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:34 am

Minor update.

The Les Trem arrived (very nice bit of kit actually: solid and well made) so it all got out back together. The Mastery conversion worked a treat and the whole thing intonates perfectly

Image

Image

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Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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