Harmony Str@t copy (a.k.a. "Flaky")


     I bought this guitar on 9 October 1992 for the princely sum of $110, from a pawn shop near metro Atlanta. This was my Suspect Device guitar (whooo! better call the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame for this 'un!), and my first real guitar. It's basically a plywood copy of a very popular Fender guitar, with a one-piece maple neck, a black body/pickguard, and gold hardware. For an imported, ersatz Fender knock-off, it must have been one of the nicer ones when it was new.

     Two things that make it different from a vintage Strat are its neck radius, a very flat-feeling 10" (instead of 7 1/4"), and the pickup polepieces match the neck radius (instead of being staggered or flat). I named it "Flaky" because the outer layer of acrylic(?) lacquer was flaking away from the rest of the body's finish. The gold has also flaked off the bridge and many of the pickguard screws as well.

     Over the years, I've put a lot of stickers on it and a lot of work into it (see below), but unfortunately it doesn't see much action anymore. Ever since I bought my second real guitar in October 1994 (a since-sold Epiphone G-310) and subsequent guitars, it's seen progressively less playing time. Its dubious status as the only 25 1/2" scale guitar I owned and the only one without a humbucker in the bridge position contributed to this inactivity, and I sold it in Fall 2005. (I kept the pickguard as a trophy, though....)




[ body, front | back view ]

Vital statistics:

  • Body: plywood

  • Neck/fingerboard: 1-piece maple, with "skunk stripe"
    Scale length: 25 1/2"
    Neck width:
    - at nut: 1 5/8"
    - at 12th fret: 2"
    Neck radius: 10"

  • Electronics:
    3 single-coil pickups; polarity/DC resistance:
    - Neck -- north/7.79 kOhms
    - Middle -- north/7.57 kOhms
    - Bridge -- north/7.80 kOhms
    Controls: 5-way switch; master volume, 2 tone (wired for neck, bridge pickup)



Modifications

As received:

  • Output jack plate had been replaced with a chrome aftermarket unit.

  • Neck pickup has a curious "melt" mark in its cover, as if it had been used as an ashtray or something. I've never removed the cover, so I don't know if it affects the pickup windings, but I've never had a problem with that pickup or its tone.

  • Non-original whammy bar.

Work I've had done:

  • Frets (allegedly) dressed and leveled shortly after I bought it, for the amazing low price of $30.

  • A piece of the nut broke off on the low "E" side (two songs from the end of Suspect Device's last show in July 1994!). My no-budget solution (a super-glued piece of pen cap) didn't hold the "E'" string in place very well, so eventually I had the nut replaced with a new Tusq nut at Consignment Music (Memphis, TN). It cost ~$60, but the work was near flawless. And because the nut slots were intentionally not cut as deep, the open strings didn't fret out any more.

Work I've done:

  • Replaced every wire, pot, and capacitor of the electronics with newer ones, giving it all-working electronics (it came with a dead tone pot, and the other tone pot controlled the bridge pickup).

  • Replaced the vintage-style but very noisy 5-way switch with a newer model.

  • Using 5(!) coats of StewMac's (relatively crappy) carbon shielding paint (stock no. 29), I fully shielded its interior routs. Although not entirely hum-free when plugged in, the results weren't bad: the hum heard when not touching the strings is largely gone. Unfortunately, the paint seemed to increase the weight of the guitar, and the "capacitance effect" (slightly attenuated higher frequencies) was noticeable when plugged in. I should have used a metallic based paint (available from Allied Electronics?) or metallic foil, for a higher-conductivity shielding material (and thus fewer coats and less weight). If you ever decide to shield your Strat, check John Atchley's web page for detailed instructions.

  • Re-wired stock Str@t wiring setup so that the bridge pickup (and not the middle pickup) had its own tone knob. The unrestrained treble of the bridge pickup was a bit too much to my ear, and I never use(d) the middle pickup by itself anyway.
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