Dylanwad Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 The bug to build a guitar has hit me again but after doing some maths it seems I'm going to have to wait to build from scratch because I can't afford to buy tools and wood/hardware! At the moment I'm greatfull that I have any money at all! I really want to give it a go but when you factor in space issues as well as money it's going to have to happen another day. At least it's something to work towards. So the plan is build a tele for around £200 without it being awfull! Something like this: I've manged to source an alder tele body for £41 and a maple strat neck for £48. I know the neck poket is slightly different on a tele to a strat but if I understand correctly the overhang of the 22nd fret should hide the small gaps pretty well. Am I right in thinking that the scale length is still ok, that it's not an issue? I want to stain the body a colour similar to walnut and then use some tru oil on it. Any recommendations? It's painted at the moment so I'll need to remove the paint somehow. Also, I was planning on staining the headstock to match the body. How difficult will it be to match the colours considering two different woods will be stained. How deep would the stain go? I only want the stain the face of the headstock, I don't want to see it on the sides. I'm also going to shape the heel of the body to aid with higher fret access, I'm nicking the idea from a Squire showmaster I bought cheap a few years ago. I've got a hacksaw and sand paper, there's not much wood to remove so I hope it'll be ok!!! That sounds so bad! Ideally I wouldn't have a pickup route at the neck but it's there so I had an idea but I'm keeping that a secret for now. I know, I 'm a tease! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 The body and neck arrived today, not up to Warmoth standards but for the price I paid I can't complain too much! The body is seriously light, somwhere around 3lbs, is that right? The necks alright, I've seen worse. The fret end are a bit rough though, something to add to the to do list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 On your mockup, it looks like the body has binding on it. Are you planning on doing this, or just sanding down the finish and leaving the rounded edges? I sure hope the figure on the wood is up to snuff for a stain and oil finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) It's light hitting the body, I never noticed it looked like binding! No, I don't plan on adding binding. It's fingers crossed all the way about the figure in the wood! I guess we'll see soon. Edited February 3, 2009 by Dylanwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 3lbs? My guess is pine or basswood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 I'm FINALLY getting the chance to strip the body today. I'm using something called Home Strip which is an eco friendly stripper, no nasty fumes. The first application left for 30 mins did next to nothing . I'm also using plastic scrapers (I'm sure I read somewhere I should use plastic ones). I'm off to B&Q to buy some sandpaper for later on (or maybe sooner if this stuff won't work!), I'll post some pics later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Well I've given the body 4 coats of stripper, one of them left over night. This Home Strip stuff does work but it's painfully slow, although it doesn't seem to work on the sanding sealer. I dug out a sander I got as part of a set of tools I bought years ago after hand sanding for a while before coming to the conclusion that I'd be there forever! After about 5 hours of sanding I'm getting there but the sanding sealer seems to be made of the hardest material known to man! Any tips? http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w223/Dy.../No-paint-1.jpg I was a bit worried about what I'd find under the paint but it's not bad. I did find this though. http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w223/Dy.../No-paint-2.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted February 15, 2009 Report Share Posted February 15, 2009 Oops, is that a knot in the wood grain or has someone dropped it on the floor and tried to fill it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2009 It looks like both Al. I'm just glad there's not more of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Where did you get the neck and body from? I got one off ebay for £28 including postage (admittedly it isnt amazingly good). £48 sounds like quite a lot to be paying for second hand strat style neck. Mind you I am a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to guitar guitar parts, I bought the wood for the body and neck on my current (telecaster shaped) build for £6 (thats not including the fingerboard which cost me £12 from stewmac.com). Anyway, good luck with the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Where did you get the neck and body from? I got one off ebay for £28 including postage (admittedly it isnt amazingly good). £48 sounds like quite a lot to be paying for second hand strat style neck. Mind you I am a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to guitar guitar parts, I bought the wood for the body and neck on my current (telecaster shaped) build for £6 (thats not including the fingerboard which cost me £12 from stewmac.com). Anyway, good luck with the build. I got them from Axesrus, they're new not second hand. I considered ebay but I've bought a couple of neck off it in the past and been a bit unluky! £6!!!! That's amazing, I really want to get into building from scratch when I sort my money/space issues out. I just bought Melvyn Hiscox book, seriously good stuff, it's going to be a very usefull tool. Where do you buy your wood then? I'm looking into suppliers for the future. Good luck to you too! Are you documenting your build here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 I've just come inside after being sanding again for 5 hours, the neighbours must hate me by now! I'm almost done, there's a little bit of sealer left on the horn to get rid of and I need to sand out the newspaper print that seeped into the wood when I was using the stripper. I tried using my dremmel to do the horns but the sanding drums I had for it was brutal, gouged the wood a bit, so I resortred to sandpaper around a pencil. Hopefully over the next week I can sort out the neck pocket to fit the neck and work out where exactly to put the bridge. Fun and games! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 I had a chance to get rid of the extra wood in the neck pocket yesterday. It was only about 1 1/2 mm from the top side of the pocket and I had to do it with stanley knife (it was that or sandpaper, all I had), it worked fine. I need to work on cutting in a straight line! I used a metal ruler but somehow still managed to be a bit off! O well. The neck now fits in the socket and I've drawn where I need to drill the screw holes to screw them together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted March 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 I had a chance to take a few pics. Here's the neck and body together. The heel marked for shaping. http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w223/Dy...ck-pencil-2.jpg Dodgy job on the neck pocket! http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w223/Dy...d/front-gap.jpg Even after getting the neck to fit there's still a little over hang. http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w223/Dy...Back-pencil.jpg Hopefully I can drill the holes and shape the heel during the week, and I can also give sanding one last go to finish off the last off the sealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolanski Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Don't worry too much about the neck... still beats the pants of my poor excuse for a neck pocket haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Thanks dude! At least its teaching me the importance of using the right tool for the job. When I've got some cash I'm definately investing in some tools, I'm just using what I've got at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolanski Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 yeah i hear ya. I need to invest in some new router bits before I start my summer project... I did all the routing on my project with (don't laugh) a dove tail bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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