a dilemma..... (about scratchplates and active Strats)

As some of you may know, I've got a guitar which I call my Strat-a-like. This guitar has no markings of any kind, so it's virtually impossible to identify quite what it is. It's pretty old (3 position p/u selector, very old tuners, old wiring, well played neck) I bought it at a local auction house so there's no history there.... Despite all this it plays beautifully.

As one of my friends has a Clapton signature Strat, which I very much like the tone from, I bid for and won a Cornell Classic ST mid-boost circuit on ebay. The plan was to simply install this into my Strat-a-like (which already has Lace Sensors) and I'd get tones like the Clapton Signature Strat.

So I removed my scratchplate and that's when things started going off track. My Strat-a-like is a bit less stratlike than I thought. It transpires that the Vol/tone/tone controls on my guitar are not located in the same spacing as they are on a real Strat. This meant that the Cornell circuitry wouldn't fit onto my scratchplate. No big problem, I thought, I'll get a standard Strat scratchplate and use it. So down to Bandwagon, and borrow a scratchplate. However this is where problem two arose. Although the Cornell circuit fits perfectly to the std scratchplate, this combination doesn't fit the routed section of my Strat-a-likes body. As my Strat-a-like has a hardtail, there's also the problem of where to locate the PP3 to be solved.

Now I've got a dilemma, do I get a custom scratchplate made, or do I just sell on the Cornell mid-boost circuitry ?

Anyone got any rough ideas of the costs in getting a custom scratchplate made ?

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time............. but it's getting harder (and more expensive, which could be the real killer) to get it to where I want it to be.

all suggestions welcome.

cheers

Do it yourself, if you've got a router. http://www.stewmac.com sell the raw materials. Si

Rainbow Products will give you a quote, be surprised if it was much under £50 though...

speak to me :O)

Thanks for the offer Paul, however my wife reminded me that one of our near neighbours makes furniture, hence he has an exceptionally well equipped workshop with all the tools one could possibly imagine could be used on wood. So I took my Strat-a-like round to him this morning, and some routing and drilling followed. I then wielded a soldering iron this afternoon and am now the proud possesor of an active Strat-a-like. I've not yet put a set of strings on, so can't give a report on how it sounds. I've only wired the scratchpate with Cornell mid-boost circuitry up and tried gently tapping the pickups to test that they work. And they do. I'm off now to fit strings and will post later on how it sounds.

cheers to all

Andrew_S