Dylanwad Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 This has been a loooooooong time coming! Welcome to my first build thread! Spec Walnut body Maple neck Maple fretboard 24 frets 25 1/2" scale length AANJ Locking wheel tuners (black) Hardtail strat bridge (black) Volume pot - Push/push for coil tap, tele knob (black) Three way switch Roller string trees (black) Straplocks (black) No fretboard inlays Side dots - Black or black with glow in the dark centre (not sure yet) Neck pickup - Seymour Duncan '59 Bridge pickup - Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Wood mount pickups Rolled fretboard Graphtec nut Scallop top four frets Jescar Fretwire 47104 Tru Oil finish all over There's no tone knob since I don't tend to use it although I did consider putting one in so I could have one of those kill switch pots but I probably wouldn't use that much either! Thanks to iluvteles for the templates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 Hi Gron. I thought I recognised the walnut body blank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted April 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 Hi Lee. I just love the colour of walnut, when I had the opportunity to buy it I just had to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chennik Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 This build reminds me very much of a guitar I got as a pawnshop find in Kentucky several years ago. Mine has a walnut neck and a Khaler Spyder trem, but otherwise very similar, and definitely not factory made. The tone is unreal, something about walnut in a strat body... best 80 bucks I ever spent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted April 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 $80! Bargain. I've never found a good pawn shop guitar, just cheap rubbish being sold for way too much money. There's always that hope of finding something awesome though, I can't help it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 I have spent many hours touring the local charity shops to find that 60's Gibson or Fender thats been part of a house clearance when sombody dies. Never found a sausage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I put the Tuff Saws blade on the bandsaw today, it took a while though! I had to take the table off to get to the blade, there was a piece of the casing in the way, then I couldn't reach the bolt to take it off, I needed a socket wrench but don't have any. I was almost on my way back to B&Q when I realised the bolted piece of metal just swung to the side so you could get to the blade! :-[ As it turnred out it was much easier to set the guide blocks without the table there so it wasn't actually a waste of time. Yay! I set the blocks too close to begin with and just got a huge grinding sound, a little adjustment though and everything was fine. With that done I could start properly on the build. The blank marked up ready for the bandsaw. The blank marked with a chalk pencil when I realized I coulndn't see the pencil line! The body cut out on the bandsaw. I enjoyed this bit, it felt very natural. The bandsaw performed quite well for a small one, the only time it ground to a halt was when I tried to turn a corner too quickly. Note too self - don't do that again. The template stuck down with some vinyl flooring adhesive tape. Just a few strips around the edge as I wanted to make sure it came off! No problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 The top half of the routing went ok but when I lowered the bit for the bottom half I lowered the bit a bit much and the collet hit the body. Balls! Should be covered by the roundover though. I found the horns rather awkward to do. Any tips? The collet once again attacks. I'll have to put my thinking cap on for this one (if I can remember where I put it! ) This one is in the belly cut area so no problem here. Routing done, not bad for a first timer but not perfect. I get the feeling that a router table would make this job easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I'm looking forward to seeing this finished! My workshop looks like there was an explosion in a Cadbury's Flake factory! So far so good, nothing too bad went wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I tried drilling a hole with my hand drill and a brand new bit from Axminster but found it very difficult. It took ages to get through the blank and it burned the wood, there was smoke! What's going on with that? The bit should be fine, the drill maybe? It's a shitty thing I got from B&Q to put up some shelves years ago. I found the smell of Walnut being cut very familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. My friend came round last night, he smokes Golden Virginia, it's the same smell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mender Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I tried drilling a hole with my hand drill and a brand new bit from Axminster but found it very difficult. It took ages to get through the blank and it burned the wood, there was smoke! What's going on with that? The bit should be fine, the drill maybe? It's a shitty thing I got from B&Q to put up some shelves years ago. I found the smell of Walnut being cut very familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. My friend came round last night, he smokes Golden Virginia, it's the same smell! I just posted a reply to this at Simo's place, but I'll copy it here as well Question; were you dipping/pulling to allow the wood to clear from the flute? With a twist drill, you should drill in about 3 or 4mm, then lift the drill out of the hole (still spinning) and the flutes should clear. Repeat as often as needed until the hole is completed. If you don't do that, the drill flutes jam up with the sawdust, binding in the hole creating friction, and you'd be like a boy scout trying start a camp fire, wood rubbing against wood will make it burn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted September 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 I finally got back into the workshop! I tried my planer out for the first time and it worked a treat considering how cheap it was! Once I got everything flat I marked out the truss rod channel. I set up the router. And then I cut one ugly ass route! I didn't leave enough space at the heel end to clamp it properly, I also need longer clamps. The first pass wasn't bad (about 1mm) then I routed to the final depth when I should have kept going with several passes instead. This woodworking lark sure lets you know if your doing it wrong! Will it be ok like this? The rod is pretty snug in most of the route. I noticed after routing that I had placed the nut in the wrong place but I put it in the right place and I can still reach the rod with an Allen key. I cut to the line on the bandsaw and then the template was then stuck on with some vinyl flooring tape. I then tried to use my router table for the first time and quickly realized that the router supplied with it doesn't stay on unless you are manually holding down the switch, why supply a router for a table that won't stay on unless your holding it? Some electrical tape solved the problem. I then realized that the wings weren't flat with the table and spent the rest of the day taking the bloody thing apart and by now I'm half way to putting it back together! I'm having a bit of trouble setting the router to the correct height on the table due to the insanely stiff springs. Is there anything I can do about that? I have to admit that my least favourite tool so far is the router, it's brutal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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