maryhillrat

Well, I didn't do any real wood work other than drilling the holes, so all the time was spent on finish and wiring, probably a total of 15-20 hrs, spread over a month for drying time. The final assembly and wiring took about 3-4 hrs. oh, and if your talking about putting a Floyd in a pre-routed body like mine, it's a simple thing, just screw it in...

Thanks for the good words guys!! The Strat is a solid black korina body with a simple clear finish, really brings out the grain.. The Alumitones have an awesome tone. The only gripe I have is that since the neck and body are both really warm woods, along with the pickups being on the warm side, it's impossible to get a real good "strat" sound out of it... I think that linked up with a maple neck they would howl...

FINISHED!!!!! With it's brother, my first project...

You don't need a whole lot of experience, I went and bought some chunks of figured maple at the lumber store, did about 10 color tests before I found out which color combinations I liked, did a full finish on the samples to see the end result. It's going to be an all rosewood, unfinished reverse jackson neck... jumbo stainless steel frets.

Ok, here's the step by step photos, by the way, I have to give Warmoth props, the mix of slightly quilted wings with flamed center is AMAZING looking. Especially when you consider the low price for the body... First, the raw wood, wiped with mineral spirits to clean it and show the figure... Next a coat of "black cherry" dye over the entire body. It's a mixture of black and crimson red analine dye... I then washed as much of the dye off the maple top as I could, but not the mahogany back... Next I coated the maple top with a strong concentration of yellow dye. After that, start laying on your clear... I used Tru-oil... After 20 coats, level sand and 10 more coats, then wiring and assembly. Now I just need a neck and it's done... Oh... here's the mahogany back with an unwashed black cherry dye and tru-oil... And here's what I do for fun while I'm waiting for all this crap to dry... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iCGCN-KJo4