# Strat build Guitar Fetish XGP!



## craigny (Aug 21, 2014)

Well GF just released the XGP line of bodies and necks and at the price i fugured why not....seemed like some pretty good stuff for crazy prices....ordered an XGP body in creme (they're poplar...very light feeling too), and a satin finished neck with bare maple board.....ordered a vintage style trem from GF as well to get the ball rolling...other parts to come later

So the parts arrived today and I must say i was impressed for the money i spent...the body is really nice!!! the finish to me looks no different than my MIM Fender.....the routes were cut nicley as was the pocket...these are routed for a Strat trem but no holes drilled for bridge mount.....

The neck is nice too...the frets are small...like vintage size...the profile is a thin c shape...thinner than my MIM standard...the back of the neck has the SLIGHTEST of a satin finish...almost bare, and just as they said the board is totally BARE!!! i dig it....frets seem ok as far as no sprout at all and it feels very smooth throughout..

so heres the body and neck with the bridge outta the box...(sorry the pics are lousy)




quick mockup pre drilling...looking good




Whipped out the old drill and went to work!!.....neck done for now...




Marked the claw next and drilled that out....looking good




Then mounted the bridge....took a few measurements and then whipped out the drill again.....moving right along







then installed the springs and all....nice




Placed a hacked up pickguard on there to just get a look to see how the pup routes look...(never mind the huge gap from the top of guard to the bottom of the neck...i cut that part out to use that guard on a guitar that it wouldnt fit under the board overhang so i removed like 1/2" from it....this guitar will have a mint guard with creme pups anyway...(although the black looks pretty cool!, if i didnt hack it up i may have used it!!) 




so i put her side by side to my MIM Fender and took some measurements...the scale lengths are right on....i dont have tuners for it yet but i put a straightedge from the outer nut slots to the saddles and the string alignment looks like it will be ok down the neck!!!







so far so good.....im gonna try to keep this on a decent budget....i will probably order the alnico mint/creme prewired pickguard from GF and then eventually swap the bridge pup with a Fast Track 2....willalso order the Wilkinson vintage tuners from GF.....need some time to scrape up more parts but im really digging it so far....ill keep yall posted!!


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## guitarmadillo (Aug 21, 2014)

Looks good! I got the email for those, and thought they would be pretty nice. Turns out, they are. That headstock should be reversed though


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## Daf57 (Aug 22, 2014)

Very cool project! Subbed for updates!


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## Mordacain (Aug 22, 2014)

Looks nice! I was curious if the XGP parts would be better than their old brand. Wish they had paddle headstocks though, can't say I like the headstock design all that much.

Routes look alot nicer than their old stock too.


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## Daf57 (Aug 22, 2014)

guitarmadillo said:


> That headstock should be reversed though



Like this!


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## craigny (Aug 22, 2014)

Thanks guys...like I said the routes are cut very well. The body is awesome overall. Couldn't find a flaw. Same with the neck. Couldn't find an issue. For the price if this goes well I'll be building a few of these. Yeah a reverse headstock would be great. I don't mind the headstock, it's strat like, it is exactly like a Peavey Predator.


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## Mordacain (Aug 22, 2014)

craigny said:


> Thanks guys...like I said the routes are cut very well. The body is awesome overall. Couldn't find a flaw. Same with the neck. Couldn't find an issue. For the price if this goes well I'll be building a few of these. Yeah a reverse headstock would be great. I don't mind the headstock, it's strat like, it is exactly like a Peavey Predator.



I just wish the headstock had enough meat on it so I could cut the traditional Strat headstock, like a USACG. I'm not sure why but I just have a hard time accepting the various strat-style guitars I've owned when the headstock doesn't have the strat shape. Weird quirk of mine.

On a side note, the point of the headstock on yours seems...well pointier than the stock pics on the GFS website.

Neck-related question, how does the finishing work on the neck seem (frets, nut slots and placement)? Headstock shape quibbles or no, it's hard to argue with a $60 neck if it can rival an MIM Fender neck in terms of finish and playability.


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## craigny (Aug 22, 2014)

Well like I said I can't see anything on the frets that would warrant any worry, not 100% sure if any leveling would be needed but it seems like no...zero sharp edges. The neck is light, very light. I went for the satin finish, which is practically bare, and the fretboard is completely bare. Feels nice. Hey like you said it's a $60 neck. It dosent feel as hefty as the mighty mite on my affinity but it's nice for what it is man. Yeah the headstock ain't the greatest for me but I don't mind much. The tuners will arrive this week and I'll be able to string it up and really see what's what. The nut seems cut ok. It's a typical cheap plastic nut but it looks ok. As far as a mim it has way less finish and it's a bare board. A gloss one might have compared closer to a mim standard. Let's put it this way if it plays and stays in tune when it's done it's an absloute win for less than 300 bucks I'll end up spending. The body is awesome.


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## Mordacain (Aug 22, 2014)

craigny said:


> Well like I said I can't see anything on the frets that would warrant any worry, not 100% sure if any leveling would be needed but it seems like no...zero sharp edges. The neck is light, very light. I went for the satin finish, which is practically bare, and the fretboard is completely bare. Feels nice. Hey like you said it's a $60 neck. It dosent feel as hefty as the mighty mite on my affinity but it's nice for what it is man. Yeah the headstock ain't the greatest for me but I don't mind much. The tuners will arrive this week and I'll be able to string it up and really see what's what. The nut seems cut ok. It's a typical cheap plastic nut but it looks ok. As far as a mim it has way less finish and it's a bare board. A gloss one might have compared closer to a mim standard. Let's put it this way if it plays and stays in tune when it's done it's an absloute win for less than 300 bucks I'll end up spending. The body is awesome.



Good to hear man. I'm very tempted to try one myself. Honestly, with the leftover hardware & pickups I already have I could see myself getting a couple


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## craigny (Aug 23, 2014)

Mordacain said:


> Good to hear man. I'm very tempted to try one myself. Honestly, with the leftover hardware & pickups I already have I could see myself getting a couple



Yeah if you wanted throw a mighty mite neck on there and still be under budget. When the tuners come in ill string it up and work out everything while I'm waiting on electronics.


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## op1e (Aug 23, 2014)

Great thread. Just getting back into sixers cause of all the drop C and D standard stuff in my band the last couple years. Wanna build but didn't really know what was out there aside from super-expensive Warmoth. Definitely gonna get everything from GF but the neck. Does Mighty Mite make a 22 fret CBS neck? Or who does for cheap?


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## Mordacain (Aug 23, 2014)

op1e said:


> Great thread. Just getting back into sixers cause of all the drop C and D standard stuff in my band the last couple years. Wanna build but didn't really know what was out there aside from super-expensive Warmoth. Definitely gonna get everything from GF but the neck. Does Mighty Mite make a 22 fret CBS neck? Or who does for cheap?



Yea, Mighty Mite makes 22 fret with CBS headstock. I've had a few Mighty Mite necks and they've all needed fretwork to play outta the box. They also need additional finishing work to seal the fretboard.

Honestly, for the money, if you want a CBS style headstock, I'd say just save up and go for USACG (it takes just a minor amount of sanding to make their headstock match a Fender's). As opposed to Warmoth or Mighty Mite necks, USACG come with excellent fretwork. Of course, like any partscaster, your build might still need additional work once you've got it together. In my experience though, that's only if one of the parts was not milled / machined correctly and is therefore not sitting properly.


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## op1e (Aug 23, 2014)

Any of the finishing I can have my guy do, he's super cheap. I've always wanted to build a back-routed HMT (tele) with a CBS strat neck. What problems would I run into the with bolt pattern and neck pocket? Sorry if threadjack.


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## Mordacain (Aug 23, 2014)

op1e said:


> Any of the finishing I can have my guy do, he's super cheap. I've always wanted to build a back-routed HMT (tele) with a CBS strat neck. What problems would I run into the with bolt pattern and neck pocket? Sorry if threadjack.



Main issue is that the tele and the strat have different neck pockets. The tele neck is a square back and the strat is rounded.

You can get a strat neck made with a tele-style back but that requires going through one of the specialty makers like USACG, Warmoth or Musikraft.

You can actually see that with the Tele vs Strat necks on the XGP parts. The necks are otherwise identical save for the neck heel / pocket fitting.


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## op1e (Aug 23, 2014)

I'll probly just go to Ohio Music when they reopen and have them do me up a Woody James to that spec. He already said he could. They had one on the wall that was archtop, flat black, white binding, white pickups and dual humbucker that I lost my mind over. Said he would just throw a strat neck on it for me but it sold.


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## craigny (Sep 11, 2014)

Ok update time...so after the tuners arrived i threw them on the maple neck and strung up the guitar...played decent...set it up a bit and only a little fretting out....for some reason i just wasant digging it....i look over to my wall and see my Affinity there with the Mighty Mite neck i put on it.....then i realize i hardly ever play it and its a shame cause its a awesome neck, and its got the true Strat headstock...so i said screw this and swapped it out....wow 10000x better......yesterday the pickguard came in as well as the GFS Lil' Killer pup....so i got to work......the guard wouldnt fit under the board overhang, and it would have taken alot of filing to get it down to fit so i marked it and cut it to go around the fretboard edge....looks fine.

I hardly ever use anything but the bridge pup TBH so i said screw it im going one pickup, single volume and move it to the center hole to give me some space....thats where id prefer the volume....give this an "Eddie" vibe....i had wired the pot, output, jack and soldered the ground to the claw prior so it was just a couple of quick connections for the pup and i was ready to go.....the black pickguard i had mounted previously had a slightly different hole pattern so i had to redrill a couple of the holes...no biggie..drilled and mounted the strap pins..strung her up and man this baby is pretty sweet....say what you will but my inital feelings on the Lil killer pus is great!! sounds good to me so far, nice metal toned out of it...and i got the 10k (modern)version not the 15k (lead) one.....i prefer 250k pots with my DiMarzio Fast Track 2 so thats what i used here......

The tuners are black the knob is white i like the hot rod kinda vibe with the different hardware and no other pups....but its all good i used all of the parts i already had availible to keep the cost way down.....if i had decided to use the Mighty Mite from the get go...(which was given to me by my lead guitarist) i would have even spent less.....bottom line i got a cool ass Strat here that cost me like under 200 bucks even after buying the neck and tuners i didnt need.....

Here are some quick pics...sorry they are lousy.....










I gotta say in pleased with the overall build...not bad for doing alot of it in my kitchen and laundry room/guitar lab with a hand drill and a ruler....i may build another soom....gonna set it up a bit today when i get home and the real test will be at band practice tonight!


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## skydizzle (Oct 7, 2014)

I'm considering ordering a tele body from them, so I'm glad to hear they're decent.


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## craigny (Oct 15, 2014)

the bodies are definatley decent...well worth the $70.


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