guitarnut Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Well, I went crazy this weekend. I've had the build bug for a long time but have been holding off until I finished current projects. I have them all done except for the prototype but it's getting closer all the time. So, while waiting on parts for it, I decided to dive in. I haven't built a Strat since I started making my own necks. The 2 Strats I built 8 years back have StewMac necks on them. So, it's time. The plan: 3-piece basswood body, flame maple cap. Flame maple neck/fretboard, black dots, 2-way Hot Rod truss rod. HSS, standard vol and tone, series/coil cut/parallel switching on the HB. Bleached white frost burst. I started with a 1.75" 3-piece basswood blank. I planed it down to 1.50", cleaning up the glue joints in the process. Here's the top glued up and rough trimmed. Ready for clean up in the planer. I used the same technique of taping it to the back of the body and planing the mating surface to not only clean up the glue joint, but also do final thicknessing. Clampzilla! Trimmed up and ready for edge sanding and routing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Some progress shots on the neck build. Mmmmm, flamey! Check those truss rods!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 This is the finish I'm considering. I came up with this during my StraTelecaster build but didn't use it. This is the mockup from that build. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Here's a more accurate Photoshop mockup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie H 72 Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I like that finish. will it be a little bit darker than that in real life, or no? Also, you might wanna consider no p/g, and then use black hardware, dome knobs instead of bell knobs, and black pickup covers. I think that would look pretty sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I like that finish. will it be a little bit darker than that in real life, or no? Also, you might wanna consider no p/g, and then use black hardware, dome knobs instead of bell knobs, and black pickup covers. I think that would look pretty sweet. I don't know for certain but I plan to bleach the maple first. I've had good luck getting almost white in the past and that was with very amber/golden quilted maple. This is much closer to white to start. I may need to use a bit of dark dye and sand back to get the figure detail I want...I'll have to see what happens. As for color scheme, I can see going that way, the contrast would be nice. But I'm thinking of a more ethereal look for this one. Sort of a white tiger or white velvet thing. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Without a pickguard is interesting, but I think it loses too much of the Strat vibe...starts to look like a Kramer or Jackson of sorts. Not a bad thing, just not what I'm going for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Go with a clear pickguard if you are going to put one on there, otherwise its a waste of a perfectly good flame top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Go with a clear pickguard if you are going to put one on there, otherwise its a waste of a perfectly good flame top. Hmm. I guess I would view a see thru pickguard like one of those body models or V8 engine things. It's designed only to show you stuff you wouldn't normally see. Not very attractive in my book. Just an opinion though. Using a pickguard worked out fine on my Strat Tele hybrid I built last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam_c Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 I say go with a pickgaurd, but maybe just a single white ply? Glad you are building again, I enjoy reading your threads! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Here's a more accurate Photoshop mockup. Definitely keep the scratch plate, that combination works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 I say go with a pickgaurd, but maybe just a single white ply? Glad you are building again, I enjoy reading your threads! Thanks. It's good to be back in it. The PG I have is w/b/w. We'll see how it looks. Single ply white might be the way to go though. Definitely keep the scratch plate, that combination works. Thanks. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 My goal last night was to get the front routed. I started off by making sure the neck fit the PG (this black one is a stand in). It only took a bit of sanding to pop it right in. Then I marked the center of the PG. I used calipers and a straight line on another piece of wood to do this. I measure the width of the HB route, halve that and slide the PG side to side until I have equal spacing either side of the line, front to back of the route. It's a quick, accurate way to find the center of an oddly shaped object. Then, with the back of the neck pocket marked at 3:, I set everything in place. The neck and PG had to be adjusted a bit after this pic but I got it dialed in. Then I traced the HB route onto the top. Using a HB route from another template I lined it up and centered it. After the first pass with the router, I checked to make sure it all lined up. Good to go. Then, using the first few passes as my template, I took it to just over .75". Then it was just a matter of using the regular Strat template to route everything else to depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 You know what would be really cool, is a flame maple pickguard, especially if you could get a veneer similar to the flame of the body, and laminate it onto a thin black pickguard, so you end up just seeing the black outline from a distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kammo1 Posted June 4, 2011 Report Share Posted June 4, 2011 Beautiful lumber there bro here in the UK we would get raped £££££ for timber like that, I guess you are in the US ? just curious what did the top cost ? that here in the UK we would be paying about £90 or $150 seriously! great build there and I gotta agree I would do that without a pickguard as that is a seriously beautiful piece of timber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Here's a more accurate Photoshop mockup. Definitely keep the scratch plate, that combination works. Agreed. I like the mockup as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Beautiful lumber there bro here in the UK we would get raped £££££ for timber like that, I guess you are in the US ? just curious what did the top cost ? that here in the UK we would be paying about £90 or $150 seriously! great build there and I gotta It was resawn from a larger billet. It's always cheaper to approach it this way vs buying a single top set. It probably cost $30 US when subtracted from the $200 I paid for the billet. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davieboy Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Beautiful lumber there bro here in the UK we would get raped £££££ for timber like that, I guess you are in the US ? just curious what did the top cost ? that here in the UK we would be paying about £90 or $150 seriously! great build there and I gotta It was resawn from a larger billet. It's always cheaper to approach it this way vs buying a single top set. It probably cost $30 US when subtracted from the $200 I paid for the billet. Peace, Mark Judging from the mockup it looks like a non tremolo bridge. Are you going with that or a tremolo bridge? I think it looks great just hope it's getting a trem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljib Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 i like the mock-up as is (with pickguard) but i would love to see the color scheme expanded to the beautifully flamed neck and fingerboard. i haven't seen it done before and i think that it would really make the most of your concept. Also, i really like orgmorg's idea of the somewhat disguised 2-ply pickguard. it would be very pretty to imply the iconic shape of the strat PG with a pinstripe of black. Perhaps if you cut it with the grain going a different direction so it would be able to stand out as it's own design element, without distracting too much from the overall impression. great job on your stratelecaster, btw. You see lots of people slap strat guards on tele bodies, but they always look shitty because of the the difference in lower bout shaping. It's nice to see someone else appreciates a perfect reveal. I've made a few custom bodies with tele upper/strat lower bouts and they've become my favorite shape due to the way the upper tele bout curves perfectly into the strat lower horn. i find the continuity of the lines more pleasing than in either of the original models. keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 Judging from the mockup it looks like a non tremolo bridge. Are you going with that or a tremolo bridge? I think it looks great just hope it's getting a trem. Thanks. You're right. The mock up and the guitar will have a string thru, hardtail bridge. I have 3 Strats with trems, I thought it would be nice to have one without. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 i like the mock-up as is (with pickguard) but i would love to see the color scheme expanded to the beautifully flamed neck and fingerboard. i haven't seen it done before and i think that it would really make the most of your concept. Also, i really like orgmorg's idea of the somewhat disguised 2-ply pickguard. it would be very pretty to imply the iconic shape of the strat PG with a pinstripe of black. Perhaps if you cut it with the grain going a different direction so it would be able to stand out as it's own design element, without distracting too much from the overall impression. great job on your stratelecaster, btw. You see lots of people slap strat guards on tele bodies, but they always look shitty because of the the difference in lower bout shaping. It's nice to see someone else appreciates a perfect reveal. I've made a few custom bodies with tele upper/strat lower bouts and they've become my favorite shape due to the way the upper tele bout curves perfectly into the strat lower horn. i find the continuity of the lines more pleasing than in either of the original models. keep it up! Thanks! I don't think I'll be bleaching the neck, It might look cool but then, if it's a bust, I'll be dealing with correcting the neck too. At this point, I'm going with the white PG...though I have changed the switching to something similar to the Stratelecaster. I'll have 3 DPDT switches but instead of them all being on/off/phase, the HB switch will be series/coil cut/parallel with an on/on/on switch. Peace, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 This build is coming along nicely. I've made good progress but don't have any pics since my camera is in for repair. I've inlaid and radiused the fretboard and fit the neck to the pocket. This was bit of a challenge since the templates are inaccurate. The maker has long stood by his decision to undersize the pocket to allow for various vintage and current combinations but I just find it a pain in the a@@. I used my Tele template, which is sized correctly, to open up the Strat template...I set it to the corners of the Strat template and widened the sides of the pocket without affecting the end. Worked great. I also had to slightly widen the top of the output jack bore so the plate would settle in. More soon, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 The tummy cut was next on the list for the body. I may have done it the hard way but even then, it only took an hour or so. Not having a factory Strat to go by, I guestimated the start and stop points, then used a band saw blade to draw out the curve. I had to pull it into an oval a bit to get the curve I wanted. You can see in the pic above that I started the process with a rasp but it seemed too slow so I went with an Ibex plane. I've used the plane enough for carving that it went really fast...carving basswood is a snap. After hogging most of the wood out, I laid out the curve with tape so I could have a good visual reference while using the rasp to flatten out the carved area and true it up at the edges. I finished the rough shaping with a 1" dowel and 80 grit. I used the same dowel to cut a bevel along the top of the carve. This works for me because the corners catch light and guide me as to how much to take off and where. Then it's just a matter of rounding out the corners left along the bevel...the dowel works great for this step too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarnut Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 Here are some shots of the carve from various angles. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Not Fender issue, but neither is my tummy. :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 It's looking great. How do you plan to address the two tearout spots on that top? That top really is gorgeous, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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