Fentona Jazzmaster Partscaster

Description

nice one - and the builder says: Super cool one-of-a-kind creation of mine, made up from: Basswood surf green offset body Squier Starcaster maple neck and tuners, refinished in aged nitro tint GFS Surf 90 Pick ups with metal ring surrounds Fender amp style knobs on a tele style plate White three ply pickguard and collar guard between neck and neck pick up. I put this together during lockdown after buying the original guitar which came with a quite average tele neck and a pair of regular humbuckers and black pickguard, rings and knobs. I was lucky to find a brand new, unused Squier Starcaster neck, who's serial number shows it to be a 2019 Indonesian Squier Affinity model. The pick ups sound great through any setting you can throw them at... Shimmering cleans to rocking drives and filthy fuzzes. Here's GFS' description - The Surf 90 is our version of the classic 1950's Rockabilly pickup. We were trying to get the big, fullbodied "Dearmond Dynasonic" sound, with a richer low end and a crisp, tight, dynamic high end. Oh yeah- it's gotta fit into ANY standard humbucker mounting slot. the old Dynasonics sounded fabulous, but their complicated "Elevator" mechanism for adjusting the alnico rod magnets height is very large, making it impossible to mount in a humbucker equipped guitar, in many cases, without serious routing. (not to mention kind of expensive to make) No such problem with the Surf 90s- they fit! The magnetically charged A2 rods have no stagger to them, and we find this to be ideal for most modern string sets. The small nickel plated steel adjusting screws can be raised or lowered to provide correct string balance. We've spaced the bridge at 52mm and the neck at 50mm- With the extra large 6.5mm Slugs- this means the Surf 90s can easily accommodate string spacing as narrow as 47mm and as wide as 56mm. That's everything from a Harmony Meteor to a Floyd Equipped Strat. We've wound them full and firm, but decidedly vintage. Bridge pickups are 7.8K, neck pickups are 7.2K. The result is a warm and VERY rich single coil sound- not unlike the bigness of a P90 soapbar, but without the amp searing midrange. The Surf 90s have a relaxed, harmonically rich midrange with a crisp but never harsh high end. These are spectacular for 50's rockabilly, amazing at surfy 60s stuff, dynamic and snappy enough to do a convincing Hendrix vibe, big bodied and rich enough to drive a Marshall head for a very articulate classic rock sound. I think you'll find the quality on the Surf 90 is equal to that of ANY handwound pickup out there. We use non-magnetic German Silver baseplates, chromed German Silver shells, USA made plain enamel coil wire, USA made push-back braided leads, genuine fiber bobbin formers, and the whole shebang is carefully potted in genuine beeswax. The neck Surf 90s are Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity, so when both pickups are on at the same time you have a true humbucking setup... That's their words. Me, I think they look and sound the business and really are boutique quality at around £100 a set (including our ridiculous import taxes in the UK!), great sounding pick ups! The metal rings are standard, flat hb rings but the pickguard and neck collar were custom cut to perfection to complete the look. Throw in the Fender amp style knobs and I think you'll agree, this is one special guitar that will turn heads on any stage. Once I started work on the guitar, I knew it needed the work of a real luthier to do it justice. Jack's instrument services in Manchester married up the neck and neck pocket to perfection, shimming the top side for a snug fit, leveling the pocket a couple of mm lower and adding stronger neck bolts, crowning the frets to a tee and cementing the intonation at set up. There are three tiny cosmetic things which would take someone ages to notice if they weren't pointed out. 1. When I fitted the neck, my lack of technical skills came to the fore and I accidentally went pierced through the 18th and minutely, through the 22nd fret right next to the wire. I've tried to take a pic which exaggerates the actual visual negatives (the 22nd fret you can hardly see, in person the 18th looks less obvious than the photo. Both were professionally plugged and are completely solid and do not affect playability one bit. On the inside of the upper horn, there is a tiny black spec in the original finish. This was on the guitar when I got it. You need to twist and turn the guitar to find it, it's not really visible to an audience. Ditto, under the top side of the Pick up ring, there is what looks like a tiny chip touch up repair, which was on the guitar at purchase, which is inexplicably a slightly different surf green. It's tiny but just peeks out of the edge, if you look for it. None of these detract from just how super frickin cool this guitar is. I've sold a few of my one off "creations" and always use a private joke of a hybrid of my surname as the logo, in a similar style to another popular name. It's a bit of fun, but gives it another little unique twist. I'm sure I'll get the usual messages of derision from the know-nothings and tyre kickers who lurk around here but the price I am listing it at does not represent its true worth - and cost if I'm honest but hey, I've made the guitar I wanted to make and enjoyed a few twangs on it during the few weeks of sitting around waiting for the world to resume! A lot of love and Mojo was put into it and I think this will pass on to the owner! EU countries I've added the necessary shipping on as its become costly to insure mailing stuff these days.

SOLD

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