BB-Built Partscaster Shetland White 2024
BB-Built Partscaster, Shetland White, made in Australia 2024. Vintage Topshelfers mnight be familiar with our friend Barry: some of the coolest modified Strats we've had through the shop over the years have come from this fine gentleman. This one is next level: it's a full parts build by Barry, and he's really outdone himself. Back in the 1990s in Melbourne, a pair of luthiers were importing blank, unfinished necks and bodies in F-style shapes from USA. The neck and body here were new-old-stock leftovers from that past project, so they've been sitting in a workshop, air drying slowly for a decade or three. First up, the finish: dang. The two-piece Alder body is painted all over in a 1980s Honda motorcycle colour called Shetland White. It's then been sealed up with 'thin skin' style gloss nitro, similar to the best AVRI or Custom Shop builds. The neck is finished in clear gloss nitro to match. Now friends, finish work is fiddly and difficult, and even our friendly pro-luthiers down here don't tend to do much in the way of high gloss, thin nitro solid colour finishes. What Barry has acheived in his shed is remarkable: consistent colour and cover, perfect gloss on top... it's just starting to check around the place, and it looks amazing. It took many months of waiting to cure properly between coats, but the result is outstanding. The neck is awesome too: it's a 60s style C, relatively slim but not tiny, with a Rosewood slab style board, and topped with a set of medium jumbo frets with a modern style 9.5" radius. It's resonant and responsive in the hands, springing to life at the lightest touch. The hardware is classy too: high end Gotoh stuff mostly, with a Fender AVRI pickguard and shield and a Callaham neck plate. The pickups are by USA maestros Lollar. The Blonde set are flat-pole, alnico-V single coils voiced to match the mid-50s original Strat pickups, and they're some of the best out there. They're scooped and fat, but super smooth and breathy; it's a lovely set of sounds. The controls are set with a tone control for neck/middle and the second tone for the bridge pickup, all wired up with classy components. This is one a very classy guitar, it really does punch well above it's weight: it's as good as many Custom Shop examples we've had through, surely. One other thing: the headstock has an 1961 F-brand original factory decal with the patent numbers etc, but that's against our rules, so Luke stickerbombed the headstock... it's still under there though... mysterious.
Model: BB-Built Partscaster
Made: Australia 2024; neck and body c1995 USA
Serial: NA
Finish: Shetland White, gloss nitro
Body: Alder, two piece centre join, made in USA c1995
Neck: Maple, Indian Rosewood fretboard, 25.5" scale, 9.5" radius, medium jumbo frets, medium C shape, made in USA c1995
Weight: 3.5kg
Mods: built from parts, headstock stickerbombed
Pickups: Lollar Vintage Blonde single coil x3 (more here)
Electronics: CTS 250k pots, CRL switch, vintage Fender .05 ceramic disk tone capacitor, Switchcraft jack, cloth wiring, Fender AVRI mint green guard and metal pickguard shield
Parts: Gotoh 101TS vintage bridge steel block tremolo bridge, Gotoh SD91 tuners, Callaham relic neck plate with serial number
Accessories: trem arm, basic gig bag
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has no major marks; note there's an 'F-brand' 1961 style decal under the stickers. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor rub wear on the back only. The back has minor rub wear. The sides have dimples near the jack. The front has checking around the jack area and some play wear on the guard and horns.
Overall: excellent condition (9/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 10/46 Moonshiners strings.
Fret life: 9/10, minor wear only