First ever build, 60's Strat

[steve1556]

Thanks for saying you both think the Triton style oscillating sander is a good thing to have. I just tried the sanding disc set I bought to use with the drill press, and bobbin sanders are definitely the way to go with sanding the templates, so I've just ordered the Triton sander. It comes with the 80g bobbins, but I've just bought the 150g and 220g bobbin sets as well, and it will be in stock tomorrow for me to pick up. Quite excited about finally being able to finish the templates after suffering with a lack of time to be able to do them.

Tomorrows plan, get up early, tidy the garage up and cut out the cavities in the templates. I should be able to pick up the sander from 12 onwards, so the afternoon will be spent sanding the templates down, and hopefully getting them transferred to the 15mm templates. I'm back to work on Tuesday so won't get much done for the following 5 days.

[Rockhorst]

Hey Steve, it's funny to see how we are sort of running in parallel. The same day you posted you're belt sander options, I had been researching the exact same options. I thought the disc sanders with angled table would be great to finish up scarf joints without a router...

[Prostheta]

Whilst I'm sure that some people succeed as using them for scarves, I find power sanders too fast and aggressive for perfect results.

[steve1556]

Hey Rutger, I'm still looking at maybe getting one of those belt sanders, still undecided on it at the moment and I'll also need to wait until it's more necessary as I seem to be spending a fortune lately! I see where you're coming from with making it quicker and easier to do the scarf joints with, could definitely be worth a try. I really like the Ibanez style necks, both the thinness of them and also the angeled heads. so I'm planning on learning how to do scarf joints at some point, just not brave enough for a first build. I think you should get one to let me know what it is like though

Not too much of an update, didn't get hardly anything of what I wanted to do done yesterday.

I picked the Triton sander up, noticed that there was a guy sanding a guitar body using it, then I looked closer and realised it's Ben from Crimson Guitars! He is the one to blame for getting me to build a guitar because I've watched far too many of his videos on YouTube. I'm planning on booking his 5 day guitar building course once I've done this build.

I forgot to take more pictures from this point on, so this is the last one of the sander from when I was getting it out of the box.

Decided to buy myself a proper mask as mine isn't teh greatest and I think it's past it's best. I'll wait until this cold clears up before I use it though.

Started to use my stepdads new drill and smoke started pouring out of the motor straight away, so decided to buy my own one. Just got a cheapy one for now, I'll maybe upgrade it in the future.

Templates are nearly done! I plan on setting up a router on the router table shortly and transfer the 6mm template onto the 15mm one. I'm guessing that using the router table will be easier then doing it by hand. I am kinda wishing that I bought pre-made templates though as it would have sped things up a lot at the expense of learning.

It's currently looking like I don't have to start work until 4pm tomorrow, so the plan is to try and finish up the templates then if I can.

I had to use the spindle sander in the garden, but I'm going to invest in a dust extraction unit for it soon, and I'll use it with other tools as well so I can work in the garage if need be. I'm thinking of something like this, as it's small and cheap here

Edited June 28, 2016 by steve1556

[Prostheta]

I love how they cropped out the Fisher-Price head tattoos.

[steve1556]

But the tattoos make him him. I remember when I first started watching his videos and being taken aback when he started talking as his voice/accent don't match his look, especially with the tattoos. I phoned them at the start of my project after ordering a couple of bits from them, ended up speaking to Ben and he was extremely helpful. 

[Prostheta]

Sure. I mean, I can't knock sharing of knowledge however there is a degree of responsibility that needs to be observed when placing oneself in the position of an "authority" which Ben often does. People more often than not will take information onboard verbatim, and there are a good many things which he preaches as fact when they are just not so, or are simply poorly qualified. You simply cannot do that when it's other people's safety at risk. Fingers can't be regrown through apology, etc. More than anything, I just don't like pomposity or narcissism. I have trouble with people that have built-up egos and a lack of self-awareness....

Anyway. That's a whole other discussion right there. At the very least we can take the fact that head tattoos are not a method of buying into badass-ness from all of this.

[psikoT]

I could tatoo my head if necessary in order to have that drum sander,

[Prostheta]

They're pretty cheap as it turns out. Paying is the better choice.

[steve1556]

I think the problem with the internet is that everyone is an overnight expert. I've watched hours of guitar building videos on YouTube (one of the many reasons that this build is going slowly), and I just try and take all the information in the videos as just that, information, and not the way you HAVE to do it. Just because a technique works well for someone, doesn't mean that it will work well for someone else. I appreciate what you're saying about pomposity, big egos, narcissism, arrogance, etc, as when I have to deal with customers at work like that, I really don't like them.

PSIKOT - get the tattoos, it will be funny! Seriously though, the sander wasn't too expensive. it came in at £119, and to be completely honest with you, if it was any more I probably wouldn't have bought it just yet. I think I'm glad I got it, but it need some more practice to get lines sanding straight!

[Prostheta]

I couldn't agree more. That's the downside of sharing knowledge, is that it is often subjective....rarely qualified with reasoning and evidence. Absorbing information from many sources and running it through your own mental filtering mechanisms is a good habit. One thing that many people fail to realise is just how much they take for granted....imagine the two ways of playing Fmaj in the 1st position, right? A barred version (133211) and the one held "more like Cmaj" (x3321x). If you've been playing it "properly" for years....so many that it is simply second nature, then how do you begin to objectively describe that to a fundamentally "barre player"? Muscle memory for working practice.

I could tell you some stories about those negative personality traits....people never fail to surprise me with new and ingenious ways of frustrating those around them whilst simultaneously thinking they are 100% in the right. When it's a teacher with a duty of care towards disabled teenage children that has those personality flaws....yeah....patience tends to wear thin very quickly....the passive ones, you can just roll your eyes about since they're obviously just fools. When they affect other people detrimentally, pass on ignorant poor advice, yeah....amusement at fools gets boring really quickly! When I lived in the UK, I worked in a retail store many many years back in Newark (anagram of Wanker, or "Rewank"...."the first one wasn't good enough") and credulous idiots that somehow got in through the front door on those high horses....man oh man....

I bet that sander would be good at removing tattoos in the harder to reach places. I priced it up here at JE-Nettiverstas and it's €210! Perhaps the decimated value of the pound means I can get one sent over....? This is maybe the one thing that Ronnie Pickering-level voters can be thanked for....

Yeah, I'd like to review it and do a proper teardown.

[steve1556]

Completely forgot to reply to your post! Sorry about that! Just had a lot going on at home and very long days at work. The good news is that my Nan shall be out of hospital sometime this week, just waiting on the paperwork to be arranged with the care company.

Good news, according to Google, the sander should cost around 140 euros, but I can't imagine the shipping being too cheap as it's fairly heavy. Is the reason you want to try one because you have several tattoos that you got when you were too young and after too much drink? Haha.

What winds me up more then negative personality traits (apart from people that I work with that have them, and make up their own rules!), is the ignorance and selfishness of the general public. In my line of work, I can be with 600 of them a day, it only takes 1 or 2 of them and the whole thing falls apart!

I've not managed to get anymore done on the body due to having no time, but I decided that I needed a nice set of chisels. I'm hoping it may help with the templates as well as closer finishing work on the bits for the guitar. I'm not convinced the weather is going to hold out this week, and there is a 100w old style bulb in the garage that isn't very good, so I bought one of those work light floodlights. I've tested it, it gives off a massive amount of light, so it should enable me to work in the garage when need be.

I'm also getting far too ahead of myself and started thinking far too much about the bass that I'm going to be building for my friend. I've ordered P Bass design plans, and got them photocopied today. Planning on a twist with the body to make it more updated, but more on that when I start building it, although it won't be for several months yet. I've also been debating about custom pickups for it, I mean it can't be that hard to make them compared to a guitar, which made me think I could also make custom single coils for this guitar as well. I've done electronics at school and college, and I've been building effects pedals for several years now, and even got to the point where I design my own circuit boards, originally with through hole components, and more recently with SMD components. The only issue is pickup winders aren't cheap, the only ones I've found have been on the Stew Mac site. I started watching videos and got taken to a forum link whereby someone built their own. At first I thought the build guide missed a lot of bits, but it's just where it doesn't explain the steps and that. I've started sourcing the bits for it, looks like several bits will have to come from China so it will take a while to do. I've found the display panel, reed switch and rare earth magnet, just looking for the motor and motor controller now. I'll post a full build report and step by step guide to it when I get it built.

[Prostheta]

Have you seen the P-bass I made last year?

[Rockhorst]

2 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Have you seen the P-bass I made last year?

Link?

[Prostheta]

http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/47669-lumi-custom-1951-5-p-bass/?page=2

 

[steve1556]

That's a nice bass, I really like that! May I ask why you used another another 2 screws for the neck? My friend is using his 5 string bass more then the other 4 string bases he has, so I am toying with the idea of adjusting the plans to make a 5 string bass, but I'm not confident enough to change the building plans that much yet.

I haven't been able to do any work on the guitar as I've been spending a lot of time away from home, but I have done some more research on the pickup winder. I've sourced all the bits apart from 2 little bolts, and about to order it now. I've spent several hours researching a different route for a near automatic one. I'm thinking of using either a Raspberry Pi or Arduino, whereby I can set the number of turns, it spins up slowly, then when it's say 100 turns away from finishing, it's starts slowing down rather then coming to a complete stop suddenly. I'm hoping to have it so you can select from pre-programmed settings as well as custom settings. I'm guessing the best way would be to use a stepper motor, as it should be more precise then using a normal motor, and won't need an RPM counter. It's going to be several months away (most likely towards the end of the year) as I will need to learn some coding for it. I've seen a company that do one that's fully automated, and you use it in conjunction with a laptop, including a automatic wire feeder, but it's £630. I'm planning on not having the automatic wire feeder though. It's going to be a slow project which I'll work on when I'm away from home and can't work on the guitar. I'm expecting a steep learning curve with having to learn how to code though.

[steve1556]

Forgot to add, I had an order from Guitars and Woods turn up, got a 25.5" scale ruler in metal, a 9.5" fretboard radius sanding block and a depth gauge for a fret saw, although that maybe redundant if I decide to get a mitre box from there, just trying to weigh up the cost of it to how much it will be used at the moment. I was planning on getting fret files from Crimson, but decided I'm going to order them from G&W as they are a lot cheaper, and at my current level I don't think it's worth justifying spending more on what may or may not be a better file.

I also checked the fret board the other week, it's more then long enough and the split part can just be cut off and it will be fine.

[Prostheta]

The additional two screws were added to increase neck to body coupling. I doubt there is any measurable benefit, however if there is....that's how you'd do it. The space under the pickguard was just screaming for a longer neck tenon. I couldn't waste that opportunity! I put them through the front simply so it maintains the four-bolt look whilst being a sleeper hotrod under the hood.

Agreed on the money aspect. G&W are cheaper but certainly "just as good".  I value the fact they're more economical to buy from than other suppliers, and the owner is a good guy who values his customers. I'm working with him on a few ideas for PG also, which he genuinely didn't have to do. Like us, he's a grassroots enthusiast. That counts and I think we need to foster things like that.

Oh, Carlos also added double-sided tape to his inventory. I suggested that he stock the 3M tape that StewMac sells since nobody this side of the Atlantic does so. Expensive stuff, but a roll will last forever.

[steve1556]

Wow, you weren't joking when you said that double sided tape is expensive! I've currently got some sellotape double sided tape, but when that runs out I may invest in some of his. I'm going to apologise if my post came across as that Crimson stuff is far superior to Carlos stuff, I wasn't trying to say that at all. I saw one of the Crimson videos the other day, and for instance he was talking about his fret leveling file, saying he uses the best file, 4 piece truss rod to keep it completely flat, etc, and by what I said I meant it in the context of if I ever became a really good luthier (extremely unlikely) and that sort of thing may possibly make a small difference to me then it maybe worth it. And I would always prefer to buy stuff from someone who is either a small company or enthusiast rather then a big multinational company.

What I have been impressed by with Carlos, is how well packed things are when they arrive! For instance, the scale ruler came with a bit of wood attached to it to reduce the chance of it being bent in the post, which itself is unlikely because it's so thick (I was expecting some thin piece of aluminium like I've seen 1 meter rulers made out of). Any small chance you one if the notches on the fret ruler clip into the miter box like I've seen on the StewMac one?

So you've done the longer neck into the body because it could help vibrations transfer between the neck and body? Weren't you tempted to look at maybe cutting a small hole in the pickguard to show them off? I must admit, I do like the idea of the longer neck, it my head it makes it seem a lot more stable.

Update on the pickup winder, unless I went for a fully automated machine, I'm not sure stepper motors are the way to go. The one I said about in my other post from CNC dudes is here. I'm tempted to try something along these lines so it will be fully automatic, but I wouldn't be able to build the style of computer program that they use it with on the laptop, and instead use an Arduino. From my research so far, the Arduino would be easyish to program X amounts of winds, speed up and speed down slowly, X amount of bobbin thickness (for an automatic wire feeder), etc. I can see it being a very long and slow project. It looks like I may be sent away with work next week, so I'll do more research on it then.

Off out to finish sorting the garage out so I can carry on working on the guitar body then the neck.

[Prostheta]

Well, it's actually far cheaper than StewMac....just that the rolls are longer and wider. It'll last way longer! I've got to get some in myself for the pantograph routing tutorials I'm working on....

Ben at Crimson treats tools like toys, which is why I don't like that whole hot air thing or the general rambling fool part. It really doesn't help anybody make better choices when you're pushing your own horse in the race. What it all comes down to is raising people's awareness of what constitutes a good tool, or how to get the most out of the one that you have on hand. That's all it is. I mean, when I review things I try and draw comparisons to the wider range of alternatives or at least broach subjects so that people can be more aware of the subject in general. I reviewed the Colt Five-Star FCE drill bits this week, and they're not something everybody will spring for. Regardless, knowing what constitutes a good tool or where the top end lays whilst describing comparative properties raises general consciousness on the subject. I don't sell those tools and don't have a horse in the race. I write so that everybody has something they can take from the review, not simply generating sales leads!

I totally agree about the small company aspect, however plain honesty always wins the game for me. A fret hammer is a hammer. Not a Super Hammer or a Stunning Hammer (however it might). Marketing bullshit (or the plain old transparent kind) doesn't make up for hard work and a reputation built off a strong developing product lineup. Marketing sells in the short term, but ultimately people aren't stupid.  It's not sustainable. Well, some people are. Hey, let's not go there. hahaha

The last package I got from Carlos was bombproof too. I had to go digging around the wrapping to find the small bits and pieces! I'm going to spring for a 12" radiusing beam and a number of other items soon. I'm planning on sacrificing my existing fret press to the great Hydraulic Press Channel when Lauri and I can hook up, so I might need a new one....

I was thinking of making a pickup winder based on an Arduino or RPi too. Those are more or less the exact things I was wanting to dial in there. I believe that the real trick with the traverse is to figure out how to make it scatter wind without biasing the coil to either side or the middle. Simple limited left-right-left-right is a bit soulless! Being able to set it to do both would be a trick indeed.

I did the longer neck mostly because I could. I don't think there is that much of a return for the extra length. It certainly can't hurt though! Everybody that has played it tells me that it's "alive" or some other positively tangible thing. It is solid though, but then again so is a four-bolt with threaded inserts. It's just wood screws that I'm not too convinced about....

I never really wanted the bass to look like something other than a '51. The electronics and the neck mods are all invisible. A proper hot rodded sleeper car!

[steve1556]

Sorry for the slow reply, I went away for the week with my 2nd job and couldn't seem to post on the forum through my phone. The good news is that because I was away, I got paid a nice daily rate, which helps fund the purchase of a lot of new tools for the build. I've decided that I'm definitely  going to buy the miter box for the fretboard, so that's been added to my list of parts that I need to order. I think the majority of the tools that I need will come from Carlos, they are much cheaper then Crimson and Stew Mac, but with the last order of bits that came in, I'm so impressed with the quality of them. The downside is that as I've been away, the work on the guitar body has been nothing, but I finish by mid day all next week so I'm hoping to get the body finished then. I'm in the process of setting up a router on a router table as I figured that would be the best way for the body.

The hand controlled pickup winder is coming along nicely. I cut some pine that i bought with my dads saw, although the wood is warped slightly so I may try and change it for another type of wood if I can find some decent cheap stuff locally. I'm still waiting on parts from China to arrive so I've got time. You should definitely get the new fret press, mainly because you can never have enough tools, or if your existing one breaks then you've got a spare!

I also have to agree with the sales and marketing, it's great if it's backed up by a great product, but if it isn't then the sales won't last.

Haven't really got an update on the guitar as I've been away, but I watched a great tutorial on neck carving, which is the one thing that I'm really worried about. This tutorial was really good on how it explained it all, so if the neck carving goes well, then I'll probably save money and not do the guitar building course. On the plus side, I've had some new toys arrive! On the downside, I could have probably get the pickup kit cheaper if I had hunted around, but for once I didn't get hit by import tax on the stuff from America!

The new shelving unit arrived for the garage so I can finish getting it fully tidied and organised, and the majority on the wood is cut for the pickup winder.

FYI, be careful not to stick the magnets together, they are a pain to release! I've also got the small magnets for the reed switch for the pickup winder.

For the pickups, I've got 1 with Alnico 2 magnets, and 2 with Alnico 5 magnets.

For the inlay logo, I'm thinking of something like this. Although my drawing if absolutely awful, you can get an idea. There is a girl at work who does book illustrations so she is going to have a go at doing it for me.

[Prostheta]

Toy time! Congratulations.

[steve1556]

Halfway through writing this update post, I decided to completely change my plans as I've got a bit grumpy after trying to do the template today, and just ordered the Strat template set from G&W.

To cut a long story short, I just can't seem to make templates. The original one is rather good if I do say so myself, however, the thicker template that I've cut out to transfer the template onto seems to be smaller then the original template in places, not sure why this has happened though as I cut outside of the template line. I've decided that I've already spent far too much money on MDF, and I've got absolutely no idea how I'll get a straight line done on a template for a neck, hence the order of the template. I'm pretty sure I messed the neck pocket up on the template, but the plan was to redo the neck pocket part of the template. I'm annoyed at myself for doing it as I wanted to do everything from scratch, but it's the issue of the templates that has been the reason why I haven't had any progress on the build lately and started on the pickup winder.

The templates will take a week or so to arrive, so the plan is to get the fretboard slimmed down as it needs several mm taken off it, so I'll take that to the guy down the road in the next day or 2 so he can run it through his thicknesser, and to try and get the fretboard radius done. I'm going to order the miter box and saw shortly as it looks like the best way to do the frets. In the meantime I'm tempted to do the edge of the guitar body on the spindle sander, rather then routing it, not sure if it's a good idea of not though. I haven't got a truss rod either, so I can't get the truss rod channel routed out either, so I think I'm relatively stuck on what I can do towards the build until the templates arrive, so in the meantime I've started cutting out the paper plans to get ready to make a P Bass template. The plan is to not use the scratch plate, and to create a rear cavity for it. The only issue is the weather is stupidly hot for the next few days (30-33'C) and I absolutely hate the heat so I can't see too much happening. If I can get the templates roughly cut out, I'll be happy, any more then that will be great.

[Prostheta]

Huh, well that is weird. I have a few tactics for routing straight lines onto templates, however if you've got a set coming from G&W you should be fine. It is a good idea to copy acrylic templates to MDF or plywood anyway and keep the originals as "masters" rather than working templates. Not sure if you're up for that if you're having troubles copying. It would be worthwhile figuring out why that's happening though.

The spindle sander is a good way to reduce material, but they're not ideal for shaping. I'd take the body and draw the border around your template in thick pen. Bandsaw outside of that line and maybe use the spindle sander to remove wood to within 4-5mm or so. Your router can remove that lot without drama as long as you're using a shorter bit. My own small bit for that task is only 15mm in depth however I tend to remove shallower amounts than a 4-5mm thick acrylic template would allow, hence why I copy to thicker 15-16mm stock. Being able to remove less than a third of the cutter's depth at 4-5mm remaining wood on the piece is a magnitude safer than a bit 1" bit removing half an inch of stock you know?

[Prostheta]

I hate the heat also. Really screws me up.