In Progress: The "strata-g"

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

Well, here it is, my current project. I took some of my favorite shapes of guitars and made a hybrid, turning out closest to a Stratocaster. The body is Khaya (African) Mahoghany purchased from Warmoth, the neck is Maple, with Wild Cherry-type figuring, with Ebony fretboard and SS frets (I might regret this... but I ordered it over a year ago...) with a Flying V headstock.

The hardware it will have wil be:

Schaller 475 Bridge (If anyone can comment on what it's like, please do so, but I own it already..)

Gotoh SG oval button tuners

making my own VERY original design Neodymium magnet humbuckers, hopefully they aren't TOO clear sounding...

Active circuit buffer; the one that can be found @ www.tubefreak.com is simple but works well, I expanded on it a little. I believe it's called a common source (common collector with a normal transistor) amplifier. It converts the high impedance of the pickups and such into low impedance by increasing the current but lowering the voltage slightly. It makes it so capatance in the input cable doesn't reduce the resonent freq or act as a low pass filter. (it's like a capacitor in parallel)

and maybe a two or three band EQ (wiring that myself), I think a parametric mid control might be most versitle

Knobs made from the scraps of wood from the body, so it kind of blends in (this is going to be clearcoated in brush on Polyureathane)

Not sure about the nut material yet. Just curious, has anyone here used actual Ebony for a guitar nut? I know they do it on violins. If so, would it sound as bright as freting the SS frets or not? I'm also thinking about Corian, Brass, or Carbon Composite or even maybe Stainless Steel to go along with the frets. I really don't want a real difference in timbre between the open and fretted notes.

I'm posting the current progress on the body for starters. I still have some more sanding to do on the edges (don't worry, I got power tools!) and plan to do some crazy contouring. Think something like a mixture of an Ibanez JS, a PRS, and a Strat.

I cut the body with a Roto-Zip believe it or not, because I don't have access to a bandsaw (I plan to buy one for future projects now!) and used drum, belt, and palm sanders to get the edges smooth and true. BTW, the camera, being so nice and all, accentuated the grain to about what it will look like with a finish on it! I've tested the finish on a scrap and made something interesting with the scrap. I think I might be banned or something if I said what it was or posted a pic, but I'll say this; my girlfriend sure thought it was cool! The finish has been put to the ultimate test and passed. Moisture resistant, non-stainable, and easy clean up...

Edited November 8, 2004 by Kyle Cavanaugh

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

I thought I'd also mention I'm building this for my senior (high school, not college!) project for my Electronics class. I'm like the teachers pet, and kind of made him somewhat confused when I explained to him how the electric guitar worked. LOL I hope to try my hand at building my own necks eventually, when I can afford some tools such as a fret press.

Oh yeah, I'm also going to be building my own amp to go along with it, probably Class A or AB solid state. I actually invented a new clipper circuit involving a bridge rectifier that basically eliminates cross-over distortion, although I wonder if that's whan Mesa Boogie uses... it would make sense, although I've never heard of clipping diodes uses in a tube circuit. Crap, this should be in the Electronics section! LOL

[hyunsu]

hi..

good.. wood..

"Think something like a mixture of an Ibanez JS, a PRS, and a Strat.",

it really some like your comment.. ^^

good luck..

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

OK guys, today I took the drum sander and made some contours around the cutaways. It was intended for the following reasons:

1. Reduce the weight, because it's some pretty dense stuff and I'm not going through the trouble of planing it down from the 2" it is

2. Look cool

3. Allow better upper fret access; great for shredders although I doubt I really needed it for only 22 frets.

and 4. I found it actually helped the resonance, it's tap tone in other places is quite dull at the moment, but I think that will change once I add the contours.

Thought I'd mention, the camera really brings out the imperfections on the contours, although in real life it's not really visible, nor can it be felt. I'm working on getting the misshapened sides out as I go. Regardless, I'm surprising myself how quickly this is going and how well it's turning out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/kor...le/DSC00239.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/kor...le/DSC00240.jpg

Thought I'd mention, I'm waiting on a shipment from Stew-Mac. I ordered some stuff to help out, like routing templates for the pickups, neck pocket and control cavity.

QUESTION: Should I route the neck pocket before or after I countour the AANJ into it? I'm assuming before, but what do I know?

[jay5]

I wouldnt do ANYTHING else until you rout the neck pocket. From the looks of it your carves in the cutaways might have already cut into neck pocket territory. Im just making an observation from the pic so I could be wrong. Have you mapped out where everything is going to go? Also, I dont see any kind of centerline on there. If you dont have one already get on that before your stewmac stuff arrives. If it looks like your contour cuts are going to interfere with the neck pocket I would SERIOUSLY try to find someone to plane it down to 1 3/4". If you took most (if not all) of that off the top it might give you some more neck pocket real estate.

[!!METAL MATT!!]

Well I agree with jay5 It look's to be geting a bit tight around that neck pocket

if I were you I would plane it down by the look's of it you have a thick slab of wood there so takeing out the contours wount reck any thing.

so route first then contour and get a centerline you will need it!!

!!METAL MATT!!

[Dugz Ink]

... but I'll say this; my girlfriend sure thought it was cool!

You made a hat rack for her? You're such a sweet boy!

As for the contours... be patient. The wood will still be there after you do the rest.

Start drawing out your neck pocket, bridge, pickups, and controls. Since you're going to shape and sand it later, you can draw right on the wood with a pencil... just do it lightly because you'll want erase various lines and re-draw them at least 3 times.

Then cut out your neck pocket.

After you have all of that sorted out, you will have a better idea of where the contours have to go to avoid hardware, and where they ought to go to compliment the complete design.

D~s

[demon]

has anyone here ever used actual Ebony for a guitar nut

I used ebony for a nut on a five string bass, and on a nylon strung acoustic. The one on the acoustic worked pretty well (and looked stunning) but the one on the five string ended up splitting with the string tension when it was tuned up. dunno what an elec guitar would be like though. I should imagine it would be ok anyway. I carved those ones from old piano keys.

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

OK, I got the stuff from Stew-Mac yesterday and mapped it out (yes, I drew a centerline). There's actually enough room for the neck pocket on it (I did trace a Strat neck pocket and modify it slightly). However, where I plan to put the neck pickup, the corner of the mounting ring (if I used one) would overhang slighty over the lower cutaway's scoop. I could easily fix this by taking about an 1/8" off the top. I think I'd take the othe 1/8" off the back, because it's kind of gotten all scratched up from working with it anyways. I'm thinking instead of risking having the wood all chewed up by a planer though, do you guys think maybe I could use my belt sander? Would I be able to retain having a square surface? It's got like a 40 grit belt on it at the moment, so obviously it's require being run over quite a bit with the palm sander.

You made a hat rack for her? You're such a sweet boy!

I guess you could hang things on it, it can shake the dust off, too!

[jay5]

I wouldnt advise using a belt sander. It will be very difficult to keep things level, ie. no more square sides. You're also gonna end up rounding over your edges, no matter how hard you try not to. I would sand the back to get out the scratches and take wood off the top with a planer. As long as it cuts in small enough incriments you should be ok. How did you "modify" the neck rout? What kind of neck do you plan on using?

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

I wouldnt advise using a belt sander. It will be very difficult to keep things level, ie. no more square sides. You're also gonna end up rounding over your edges, no matter how hard you try not to. I would sand the back to get out the scratches and take wood off the top with a planer. As long as it cuts in small enough incriments you should be ok. How did you "modify" the neck rout? What kind of neck do you plan on using?

How did you "modify" the neck rout? What kind of neck do you plan on using?

I simply traced the strat heel onto it, found the width, and used half of that as the radius. I took a compass and used the middle of the top of the heel and as the center. Voila, instant AANJ.

I wouldnt advise using a belt sander. It will be very difficult to keep things level, ie. no more square sides.

I figured that. Anyways, the only place I know of where I can have access to a planer is my high school's wood shop. Unfortunately, I remember taking Woods a few years ago, and the teacher would always make me rush. He also didn't trust me, in particular using large machinary like that, so he always ran it through for me. And when he did, he'd always chip it up really bad, even it was something easily workable, like Poplar. He also made me use twice as much wood than I needed to because of that, and because he like wasting wood. I spent $40 on some Cherry to make a breadbox. I am considered one of the "Special" ones at my school I plan to have the last laugh... I got this far without dismembering myself... ALONE with NO help. Sorry I hate ranting, but I think you guys can tell I'm kind of pissed off that I didn't have a very good childhood...

Anyways, I'll talk to the wood shop teacher and see if he'll help me out by letting me use the planer and maybe see if we could take our time while we're at it. Of course it's tough because I'm only spending 3 periods at that school then it's off to my vocational program (2 of which are study halls, luckily). Otherwise, I'd rather risk it with the belt sander or spend a little money to have a REAL woodworker plane it somewhere. I can't have it all chipped up like I've seen him do, especially if I plan to clear coat this gorgeous piece of wood!

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

OK, well I talk to the Woods teacher today. He said he'd be willing to help me out, HOWEVER he said that the planer itself has some sort of problem where it chews the last couple of inches up. So, would puting some wood behind it while it's run through help prevent this? I'd be willing to get some cheap stuff like poplar and glue it to get the desire 2" thickness if this will help it any. I also have some 2" thick MDF that I don't really care if it's beaten up, but it's not very hard to work with so I doubt it's as likely to have this happen to it.

Last case scenario: What if I made some sort of jigs that allows me to run the belt sander over the body like those huge things the pros use? Would I be more able to get a flat surface if I mounted the belt sander upside down in a vise and ran the body over top of it?

[jay5]

I think you would be wasting your time building a jig for the belt sander (if you could even design such a thing). I dont really know what would make a planer chew up the last few inches of a piece. I have never heard of anything like that. I guess if thats the problem your solution should work fine. Good luck.

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

Well, I give up, I'm just going to go ahead with it being as thick as it is, I think with the SS frets and Ebony fretboard, it will have plenty of treble, and the extra thickness will be good for the meat, kind of like a Les Paul if you guys know where I'm coming from. Trust me, I know what I'm doing, and I'll tell you it's getting plenty light for me with all the contours. I'll try and take some pics tomorrow.

BTW, I screwed up the Ebony faceplate because I couldn't get the face of the headstock square enough. That and I wasn't thinking when I glued it up to clamp it properly. I'm currently working on removing it, I think I might just spray paint the face with black like a lot of companies do. That means I gotta take a trip to the auto parts store. Oh well, I got two guitars that need paint for their refinishing, anyways.

Edited November 18, 2004 by Kyle Cavanaugh

[jay5]

Oh well, I guess at least you will learn some things from this project. I think that if you really have access to a planer (do you?) it is essential that you plane the body down. You're gonna have trouble with the neck pocket otherwise. Also I think you're moving too fast. You wouldnt have messed up the headstock inlay if you were taking your time. Spray paint? Reranch paints arent that much more. Anyway, I dont mean to sound negative but I just feel bad when people start projects and then cut corners and end up with subpar results. I think if you slow down you have the ability to still make a good guitar. Good luck man!

[crafty]

I'm kind of curious as to what you mean by "the planer chews up the last couple of inches of wood"?

Anyways, it's kind of late to plane the wood. It should have been done before you cut the shape out. I would suggest carving an arched top. It would remove a lot of heavy material and would look very nice with that wood. If you did want to risk planing the wood now, it does look like you could stand to cut another two inches off the end of the body. It looks just a little too long, proportion wise.

Also, I'm curious as to how you're going to build the pickups with neodymium magnets? They are incredibly powerful and may dampen the strings so much that you lose sustain. I'm not trying to stifle your innovation, but how much planning and design work have you really put into this project?

[jay5]

how much planning and design work have you really put into this project?

I agree. I'm also not trying to rip on you or your guitar but if you want to have a nice instrument when youre done stop now and make sure EVERYTHING is planned out and written down. Do you have all the hardware? I didnt think that was important but I learned very quickly that down to the # of pickguard screws everything must be thought out ahead of time. There is a TON of great info on this board. No excuse to "wing it".

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

Well, I went against everyone's advice about using the belt sander to reduce thickness. I mounted it in my vise upside down and had it rigged to be one when the surge protecter was. I went real slowly and carefully and it came out true and didn't make divots! The only real issue is you have to make sure it's a fine enough grit on the belt that it doesn't really scratch up the wood. I used 80 grit and it wasn't much trouble at all palm sanding it out. Good think I took the 40 grit off, now that would have been a b*tch!

I also got the stuff from Stew-Mac and Schatten (there was a lot I already had) to help out with the project. I did map out the component placement and it all works out to look really cool. I need to buy some template routing bits and some extra bearings before I try making any routes. Luckily, both I and my dad have previous experience in this type of routing. (That breadbox taught me a lot! LOL)

I wound a prototype coil with a bobbin made from some scrap wood and a doll rod to the same dimensions to what the 12 coils in my design will be. I was surprised at the clarity and linearity of it! I got about 5500 winds of #44 on it and it read out at 1.5K. I tested it with a ceramic magnet attached to a humbucker\P-90 adjustment screw through the middle. It also has a lot less noise than the average single coil, I think it's due to a lack of air pockets.

Hopefully I can talk to one of my friends who takes the CAD class if he could use the CNC lathe to mass-produce me some bobbins out of plastic, as what I did required a lot more work and looked crude! LOL. I don't own a lathe or otherwise I'd turn my own out of some maple, I kind of have a lot of it right now. *cough* firewood *cough*

As for the neck, I think I might give up on screwing with this poor thing, I was thinking of getting the neck Carvin sells because it's basically everything I want in a guitar neck. However, doesn't it seem like a little bit of overkill having a Maple neck, Ebony fretboard, and Carbon Fiber reinforcement? It sounds like it might be TOO stiff to be able to get any relief. That Does anyone have any experience with these necks? Oh yeah, how thick is the fretboard? It looks like a full 1/4" but I could be mistaken. From what I've heard, it's not a good idea to ask Customer Support... Really, though, when I look at the money I saved making so much of this myself, it's not a big deal wanting a second neck. Let's just say I might want to save this neck I got right now for a Steinberger copy... Damn faceplate! Don't worry, I know what router bit to use now.

Edited November 27, 2004 by Kyle Cavanaugh

[jay5]

Any pics Kyle?

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

Not tonight, maybe tommorow, the Triptophen from the turkey gave me a nasty hangover! It's looking good IMO, though!

[AlGeeEater]

Not tonight, maybe tommorow, the Triptophen from the turkey gave me a nasty hangover! It's looking good IMO, though!

Oh, i dont think it was the triptofan

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

Not tonight, maybe tommorow, the Triptophen from the turkey gave me a nasty hangover!  It's looking good IMO, though!

Oh, i dont think it was the triptofan

I'm only 18 buddy, I don't touch that stuff, although my mom DID use white wine in these stuffed mushrooms she made!

[AlGeeEater]

...just a joke man

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/kor...itarbody001.jpg

OK, you guys asked for an update. The whole thing is mapped out on the front and back, but I mad sure not to mark too dark because I don't want this to be heavily visible and this IS supposed to be a transparent finish. I figured out the neck by seeing where the end of the neck lines up and matches with the contour, traced it, and went from there. I took measurements for where to put the pups and the bridge from another guitar.

How much more slack should I give this thing for the scale length? It's going to be 25 1/2." How's about 1/4"-1/2" inch or so when the saddles are pulling back their least sound? It's going to be medium-low action with 46-10's so I know I won't need a ton more. Sorry, but this is my first real bridge installation from scratch.

[xebryusguitars]

I like the body a lot and the curves and contours but if i may ill give some constructive critisism . The curves of the body in middle are a little too long. It might be me cause everyone thinks im on drugs