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Alex's black Strat on the GUP DVD

_pete_

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_pete_

_pete_

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What the heck does it say on the headstock?

I have the parts to build one like it and I'd like to get the logo correct.

I've freeze framed the video but I can't make it out. It does not say Hentor Sportscaster like the white one does.

 

It looks like the first four letters are...P O R K?

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DiscipleofLerxst

DiscipleofLerxst

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QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 10 2008, 01:41 PM)
What the heck does it say on the headstock?
I have the parts to build one like it and I'd like to get the logo correct.
I've freeze framed the video but I can't make it out. It does not say Hentor Sportscaster like the white one does.

It looks like the first four letters are...P O R K?

Say...where are you getting the letters for the headstock...I have been planning a similar guitar but I can't find the right font for the letters....in the old days they sold these rub on letters in a million different fonts, but they don't seem to sell them anymore, and I've looked for them....I read somewhere that that was how the lettering was done on the Hentor Sportscaster.

 

I gotta check out the black strat.

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_pete_

_pete_

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QUOTE (DiscipleofLerxst @ Nov 10 2008, 03:46 PM)
QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 10 2008, 01:41 PM)
What the heck does it say on the headstock?
I have the parts to build one like it and I'd like to get the logo correct.
I've freeze framed the video but I can't make it out. It does not say Hentor Sportscaster like the white one does.

It looks like the first four letters are...P O R K?

Say...where are you getting the letters for the headstock...I have been planning a similar guitar but I can't find the right font for the letters....in the old days they sold these rub on letters in a million different fonts, but they don't seem to sell them anymore, and I've looked for them....I read somewhere that that was how the lettering was done on the Hentor Sportscaster.

 

I gotta check out the black strat.

I found a similar font in Windows that I used on my white Hentor.

 

Here's mine:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/Hentor3.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/My%20Guitars/Hentor2-1.jpg

 

And here's the original:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/graceunderpressure-7.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/cap248.jpg

 

 

I had built a red one but sold it:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/twins.jpg

 

Now I have the itch to build the black one.

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DiscipleofLerxst

DiscipleofLerxst

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QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 10 2008, 05:15 PM)
QUOTE (DiscipleofLerxst @ Nov 10 2008, 03:46 PM)
QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 10 2008, 01:41 PM)
What the heck does it say on the headstock?
I have the parts to build one like it and I'd like to get the logo correct.
I've freeze framed the video but I can't make it out. It does not say Hentor Sportscaster like the white one does.

It looks like the first four letters are...P O R K?

Say...where are you getting the letters for the headstock...I have been planning a similar guitar but I can't find the right font for the letters....in the old days they sold these rub on letters in a million different fonts, but they don't seem to sell them anymore, and I've looked for them....I read somewhere that that was how the lettering was done on the Hentor Sportscaster.

 

I gotta check out the black strat.

I found a similar font in Windows that I used on my white Hentor.

 

Here's mine:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/Hentor3.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/My%20Guitars/Hentor2-1.jpg

 

And here's the original:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/graceunderpressure-7.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/cap248.jpg

 

 

I had built a red one but sold it:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/twins.jpg

 

Now I have the itch to build the black one.

AWESOME!!!!!!

 

One more question, how did you transfer the letters to the guitar.

 

Nice guitar!!!

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_pete_

_pete_

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QUOTE (DiscipleofLerxst @ Nov 11 2008, 08:40 AM)

One more question, how did you transfer the letters to the guitar.

Nice guitar!!!

Inkjet waterslide paper.

You print it out, spray it with a thin clearcoat, soak it in water, apply it, then clearcoat the entire headstock.

You can buy the stuff at most hobby shops.

 

Thanks for the compliment!

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Riv

Riv

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Posted (edited)

Saw this on the Gibson forums.... not sure if it helps. (I now know this doesn't help)

 

QUOTE
Doh, I totally forgot about the Hentor from the Grace Under Pressure days. Good one!

I guess the joke at the time was that the Hentor was named after the album producer, Peter Henderson, who's nickname was Hentor the Barbarian, given by the members of Rush of course. I believe Alex put Hentor in Letraset on the headstock of a Fender Sportcaster and once everyone saw a picture of it, they asked..."Where do we get one?"....Too funny Crappy! Nice one!

(The excerpt below is taken from the 'Grace Under Pressure' tourbook)

Alex Lifeson
So another tour, huh? Well let's see. I've got these great new guitars. You may have heard of them; they're Hentors. They're named after Devidip Hentor who was a very interesting character. He was born some years ago and grew to amazing lengths. Instead of body hair he grew a kind of green woolly substance all over his upper torso which resembled a sweater. He was a brilliant man who could sit in a chair all day and think of a million great things to do without actually doing them.

He was an inspiration until his unfortunate accident whilst jogging in three feet of snow wearing cheap snowboots and light summer cottons. Two models were built and I'm lucky enough to have them both. One is a "Sportscaster" and the other is I'm not going to tell you. (Hey, check Geddy's page and see if he mentions his Hentor Barbarian bass!)

Anyway, these guitars look a lot like the guitars I had on the last 47 tours. So much so that if someone was really stupid they'd think they were different guitars. I also got a new Jimmy Johnson and I haven't seen one of those in at least eight years.

Otherwise everything's the same. So, here we go...I use amps! And magic guitars that have no long black wires; and talk about strings! I have at least six on all my guitars. I also use expensive boxes with knobs and lights on them and instructions in more than five languages except English. I also have these piano-like things but I'm not sure on how to switch them on. You have to use a special Jack for that. Finally, all the equipment I use is made in factories.
Edited by Riv
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DiscipleofLerxst

DiscipleofLerxst

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Today I was looking through some old guitar type magazines with articles about 2.gif and the very first page I opened to was one in which you can clearly see the headstock of the guitar in question. At the time the picture was taken, there was nothing written anywhere on the head...a blank canvas if you will. That's not to say something wasn't later put on there.

 

While looking through 2 other magazines from the same time period there is talk about the "Hentor Sportscaster", which is mentioned by name numerous times as well as discussion on its tone, and what components it has. The black strat and the red strat each get similar attention however they are never nicknamed, like the Sportscaster. I am under the impression the Sportscaster was the only one of the three to get this distinction. Evidently, the Sportscaster is a Fender Elite Strat modified and renamed. The red, and black strats were each modified and have a neck made by a company called Shark, out of Ottawa which might explain the blank headstock.

 

I think I have a picture of the black strat in question taken from the first row during a show in Hartford, CT Dec. 1985. I took it with a disc camera (remember those? nice and small but crappy pics) which would be after the P/G show on the video. Unfortunately I can't find the original and all I have on hand is this one http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/Discipleoflerxst/Lerxst-1-1-1-1.jpg and you can't make out a thing....If I find the original (I have an idea where it is, but it'll take some time to locate) I'll see if that photo reveals the answer to this mystery...but don't hold your breath.

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_pete_

_pete_

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I have just about all the parts I need to start building this one. I was missing a couple small parts so I went ahead and ordered them today. It won't be exactly correct since I don't have a Lawrence L500 black humbucker. It will be getting a black, open coil Tonerider Alnico IV. It's a great sounding pup that is similar to a Gibson PAF. Since Alex had a Gibson pup in it originally, it will be close enough for me.

A while back I picked up a second Floyd Rose tremolo like the one on my Hentor (no fine tuners) very cheap on Ebay just to keep around for spare parts. I'll be using that along with a Graph Tech graphite nut.

I'll get started on it sometime next week and I'll try to remember to take some pics of the process.

 

As far as the logo, I got this in a PM:

QUOTE
I have found after studying it that the first three words are Pork, Fork, Spork. After that I am pretty sure he just keeps rhyming the words with pork

 

I think I'll just go with this and make up something goofy.

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1-0-0-1-0-0-1

1-0-0-1-0-0-1

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QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 23 2008, 11:58 AM)
I have just about all the parts I need to start building this one. I was missing a couple small parts so I went ahead and ordered them today. It won't be exactly correct since I don't have a Lawrence L500 black humbucker. It will be getting a black, open coil Tonerider Alnico IV. It's a great sounding pup that is similar to a Gibson PAF. Since Alex had a Gibson pup in it originally, it will be close enough for me.
A while back I picked up a second Floyd Rose tremolo like the one on my Hentor (no fine tuners) very cheap on Ebay just to keep around for spare parts. I'll be using that along with a Graph Tech graphite nut.
I'll get started on it sometime next week and I'll try to remember to take some pics of the process.

As far as the logo, I got this in a PM:
QUOTE
I have found after studying it that the first three words are Pork, Fork, Spork. After that I am pretty sure he just keeps rhyming the words with pork

 

I think I'll just go with this and make up something goofy.

laugh.gif

 

Pork, Fork, Spork, Mork, Dork

 

The first three are food-related, though. I wonder if the rest of it about food too, but I can't think of any other food items that rhyme. tongue.gif

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hunter

hunter

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QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Nov 23 2008, 11:21 AM)
QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 23 2008, 11:58 AM)
I have just about all the parts I need to start building this one. I was missing a couple small parts so I went ahead and ordered them today. It won't be exactly correct since I don't have a Lawrence L500 black humbucker. It will be getting a black, open coil Tonerider Alnico IV. It's a great sounding pup that is similar to a Gibson PAF. Since Alex had a Gibson pup in it originally, it will be close enough for me.
A while back I picked up a second Floyd Rose tremolo like the one on my Hentor (no fine tuners) very cheap on Ebay just to keep around for spare parts. I'll be using that along with a Graph Tech graphite nut.
I'll get started on it sometime next week and I'll try to remember to take some pics of the process.

As far as the logo, I got this in a PM:
QUOTE
I have found after studying it that the first three words are Pork, Fork, Spork. After that I am pretty sure he just keeps rhyming the words with pork

 

I think I'll just go with this and make up something goofy.

laugh.gif

 

Pork, Fork, Spork, Mork, Dork

 

The first three are food-related, though. I wonder if the rest of it about food too, but I can't think of any other food items that rhyme. tongue.gif

Cork Bjork? tongue.gif

 

Your member level makes me wanna play Tempest. And I think I'll fire up the playstation and do just that. smile.gif

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1-0-0-1-0-0-1

1-0-0-1-0-0-1

Posted
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QUOTE (hunter @ Nov 23 2008, 02:57 PM)
QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Nov 23 2008, 11:21 AM)
QUOTE (_pete_ @ Nov 23 2008, 11:58 AM)
I have just about all the parts I need to start building this one. I was missing a couple small parts so I went ahead and ordered them today. It won't be exactly correct since I don't have a Lawrence L500 black humbucker. It will be getting a black, open coil Tonerider Alnico IV. It's a great sounding pup that is similar to a Gibson PAF. Since Alex had a Gibson pup in it originally, it will be close enough for me.
A while back I picked up a second Floyd Rose tremolo like the one on my Hentor (no fine tuners) very cheap on Ebay just to keep around for spare parts. I'll be using that along with a Graph Tech graphite nut.
I'll get started on it sometime next week and I'll try to remember to take some pics of the process.

As far as the logo, I got this in a PM:
QUOTE
I have found after studying it that the first three words are Pork, Fork, Spork. After that I am pretty sure he just keeps rhyming the words with pork

 

I think I'll just go with this and make up something goofy.

laugh.gif

 

Pork, Fork, Spork, Mork, Dork

 

The first three are food-related, though. I wonder if the rest of it about food too, but I can't think of any other food items that rhyme. tongue.gif

Cork Bjork? tongue.gif

 

Your member level makes me wanna play Tempest. And I think I'll fire up the playstation and do just that. smile.gif

In case you haven't seen this... Classic Arcade Game Thread

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DiscipleofLerxst

DiscipleofLerxst

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QUOTE (DiscipleofLerxst @ Nov 16 2008, 04:11 PM)
Today I was looking through some old guitar type magazines with articles about 2.gif and the very first page I opened to was one in which you can clearly see the headstock of the guitar in question. At the time the picture was taken, there was nothing written anywhere on the head...a blank canvas if you will. That's not to say something wasn't later put on there.

While looking through 2 other magazines from the same time period there is talk about the "Hentor Sportscaster", which is mentioned by name numerous times as well as discussion on its tone, and what components it has. The black strat and the red strat each get similar attention however they are never nicknamed, like the Sportscaster. I am under the impression the Sportscaster was the only one of the three to get this distinction. Evidently, the Sportscaster is a Fender Elite Strat modified and renamed. The red, and black strats were each modified and have a neck made by a company called Shark, out of Ottawa which might explain the blank headstock.

I think I have a picture of the black strat in question taken from the first row during a show in Hartford, CT Dec. 1985. I took it with a disc camera (remember those? nice and small but crappy pics) which would be after the P/G show on the video. Unfortunately I can't find the original and all I have on hand is this one http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/Discipleoflerxst/Lerxst-1-1-1-1.jpg and you can't make out a thing....If I find the original (I have an idea where it is, but it'll take some time to locate) I'll see if that photo reveals the answer to this mystery...but don't hold your breath.

I found that pic...no help at all although it loks as if there is something more than just a 4 letter word written there although it may just be a shadow or dirt.

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Crockettsonny84

Crockettsonny84

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Posted (edited)

The black strat alex used on the GUP tour is, of course, his 1977 standard strat. If you watch "Walking on the Moon" by the Police, Sting's strat is pretty much what alex initially bought. In 1979 he put in a 57 classic humbucker and added the "new" floyd rose tremolo without the locking nut. This generation was seen on the Limelight video. That was in late 1980. He stated in the "Success Under Pressure" book that he experimented with different necks because he wanted a strat with the feel of a Gibson. He chose to use these guitars because he didnt want to damage his beloved Gibsons again. This is a reference to the little stint that happened with the Cherry 1275 and his brown sunburst 335. So between the recording of the Moving Pictures videos and the tour itself, he changed the necks from maple to rosewood. Then during the signals tour he changed pickups in the black strat from the 57 classic to a white bill lawrence humbucker. If you didnt notice, he didnt even seem to use the White strat on that tour at all, just the black and red one. During this tour as well, he settled for "Shark" necks to put on both the white and black strats. Also, he took the white Bill Lawrence L500 and placed it in the white strat and had another one put in the red one, while he put a black one in the black strat.

 

A note on the white strat. The white strat was also a 1977 strat but upgraded with the black strat's modifications except for one thing... he kept the standard bridge. The white strat had a standard bridge for the whole moving pictures tour and was changed to the original Floyd Rose in late 1983. Also, all three of the strats initally had those big 70's headstocks

 

 

Excerpt from "Success Under Pressure"

 

Alex Lifeson says:

 

"When I got my first Fender, it was just a replacement for my original Gibson 335, which I'd had since 1968," he explains. "We were doing a show with Blue Oyster Cult and the rigger who set up the baskets for the PA system didn't tie down the horns sitting on top of the bass cabinets. What then happened was that they vibrated themselves off the cabinets and fell down on top of my double-neck guitar, shearing the pick-ups off and gouging the body. Then, the speaker fell on my 335.

 

"I couldn't care less about the double-neck -- that was easily replaced -- but the 335 was very special to me. So I took it off the road and got a Fender to replace it. But I couldn't play with it. The neck, the body and the balance were totally alien to me.

 

"Over the last few years I've started to use it a lot more. I put humbucking pick-ups in the back position and managed to get a sound that was closer to the body of a Gibson, but yet still had the bright character and clarity that Fenders are renowned for. I'd also kept the two front pick-ups as they were, in order to retain that special Fender sound. Gradually, I got used to it. I put on a couple of different necks and now find it very comfortable to play.

 

"The ironic thing is, though, that I now find the Gibson's feel a little strange at times. They seem a little stiffer, although I still enjoy playing them very much. I was brought up on them and I think my change to Fenders was basically a technical progression."

Edited by Crockettsonny84
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DiscipleofLerxst

DiscipleofLerxst

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Found another pic of the strat....still nothing on it.

 

As for the L-500...I went through my achives of mags from that time where the strat was discussed and all that is ever mentioned is merely an L-500...nothing else.

 

http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/Discipleoflerxst/LerxstBlackStrat.jpg

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_pete_

_pete_

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It's done.

Here's a few pics of the process.

 

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2613.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2612.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2614.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2611.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2616.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2632.jpg

 

As far as a logo, I just came up with something else:

 

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/pete2112/DSCN2615.jpg

 

 

I'm reall shocked at how good it sounds and plays. For a cheapo Squier Affinity it really is nicer than the Fender MIM's I've owned. The frets are perfect with no sharp ends, the neck fits the neck pocket so thight that I had to pound it in, and the body is a very resonant piece of alder. The stock pickups look and sound the same as MIM Fenders, the electronics were crap, and the plastic nut was so bad the strings snapped into the slots. I doubt the thing ever stayed in tune.

With the graphite nut and the Floyd it stays in tune great now.

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