Well, she's done! well, except for the headstock decal i messed up. I wanna firstly thank everyone on this forum for their help, and wealth of information archived here. I was an immense help. This one of the best forums of its type around, and i hope it stays for a long time to come. Well, here we go!!

Body is 1 piece Swamp Ash from Warmoth weighing in at 5lbs 7oz. After talking with some forum members it's likely that it is not "Swamp" Ash due to its weigh, but is is very resonant none the less. I have been impressed so far. I sanded the body to 220, then filled the grain with Birchwood Casey Sealer/Filler, lightly sanding in between fill coats. I then finshed with about 8 thin coats of Birchwood Casey Tru Oil, using 0000 steel wool in between coats. I used 3m finesse it polish after the last coat, then meguiars cleaner wax and then buffed with a piece of denim for a few hours while i watched TV then i applied Kit pure Carnauba wax with an orbital buffer. I actually filled the grain in a lil more than i wanted to. I was going for an old baseball look just goes to show that that BC filler works very well!

Neck is from Musikraft. Rock maple with 6150 Medium Jumbo frets, factory installed kluson vintage split style tuners, 57 V back profile, semi rolled fretboard edges, 2 way truss rod with head adjustment, factory installed and cut Tusq nut, and a light Birchwood Casey Sealer and Birchwood Casey Tru Oil finish with light sanding. The neck plays like butter. Pure and simple. The fretwork was perfect, the nut was cut perfectly, and even the truss rod was setup to provide the perfect initial relief. I only has to tweak it slightly to get it where i like it. The light Truoil finish is a dream to play on. The rear profile is super comfy. I got it because i like the slight v profile on my Jimmie Vaughn strat so much. It is even more comfy than that. I'm even thinking of getting one of their necks for the JV strat. Headstock decal was by Rothko and Frost. I thought it was dry enough to begin the tru oil burying process, i was wrong. Another one is on order.

Bridge is a standard fender vintage style bridge with Callaham enhanced vintage compensated brass saddles. It plays and intonates well. no complaints there.

I used Rutters Guitar parts for the input cap and knobs. Input cap is a Rutters Shallow Twisted Machined Jack Cup. Installs very easily, won't ever come out, and is shallow so i can use my angled coily cords. The switch knob is Rutters "NoCaster Switch Tip" it is nickel plated brass. it is the bees's knees The knobs are rutters "1953 TKnobs". They are dome topped and sharp knurled. no missed knob twiddling with these.

The control plate and neck plate came from acme guitar works. There are Fender pieces as well. Nothing special.

The pickup is one of Rob Distefano's Frettech Cavalier Lion pickups. This is the "New" Cavalier Lion. i'm sure we are all familiar but just incase from his site:
"The Cavalier Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 11600 turns of 42awg over A5 rod magnets for a very bold tone with lots of mid-range, for serious rock and blues, about 9.2k dcr if that matters. Butter smooth treble that's never shrill, major midrange and good bass end, not best for maximum twang but some can surely be coaxed out. This is typically used for rock and bluez and pop, and Esquires® that need an increased range of tone"
I have it wired to a wiring harness with pio caps and nos resistors. The harness has pos 1 Volume no tone, pos 2 volume and tone, pos 3 eldred mod for the cocked wah sound using a .0047 cap. i bought a variety of small value caps with the thought of experimenting with them but so far, the standard value is working well.

After getting the guitar up and running and having a day or so on it I have to say that the "New" Cavalier Lion performs just how Rob describes it. Very pronounced midrange and not ice picky at all. Very much what i was looking for on this build. Very ballsy and overdrives very well, very clear and the notes are well separated, even under heavy fuzz. the pickup is very balanced with a very nice wide range, and, again, not ice picky. my amp is not known for its twang as we all know. It is an HRM Bluesmaster thru 2 Weber Alnico 1265's... but with my strat or my Dano i can get some icepick, so the pickup won't do albert collins necessarily, but it will do albert king! also good for early zep, keef sounds, early fabulous thunderbirds, etc. just a good, all around overwound pickup that isn't muddy. sounds killer overdriven in the "cocked wah position". All in all i am very pleased!








Gregg