Ryanesque

LOL... no strip bars for me... Married with child and a full time job. the Kleen strip did work..it was slow and my putty knives kept dulling.. I finally sanded the last bits off, then used Acetone to clean the body. I'm on the third coat of stain now.. will probably start clearing today.

okay.. so, oddly enough, I'm just calling this guitar my "Project Guitar" Original, eh? It reminds me of a strat and an explorer.. kinda ugly but interesting none-the-less. the parts list so far: Body: Random homemade 3 piece Ash body, finished in "Pickling White" (sort of an albino White in the grain) with Polyurethane clear coat (which I'm spraying tomorrow) Neck: for now, a cheap S101 neck with Rosewood FB, Maple back.. Hardware: Bigsby B-50 (which I JUST bought on eBay minutes ago) Electronics: Undecided Humbucker in the bridge, Barcus-Berry Single coil in neck Rotary selector, One Volume, One Tone Slight possibility of later adding a fuzz pedal with a mini-switch- The rout in the back of the guitar is massive.. The neck comes with tuners but I'm sure they're the crappy little covered ones like they used to have on the Squiers...so I'll have to figure out what i want on there later...maybe just some cheap gotohs or something. Fun stuff. Ryan

No probably not. I almost never use my trem on my strat. okay, I never do. what i really want is a b-bender but that will probably go on my strat since it's my "number one" guitar.. it'll be a hardtail or a bigsby...

Well, I've stripped the body and done two coats of pickling white stain... looking VERY nice. I was going to post some pics but they look like crap, so I'm gonna skip it. I'll get a lot of flack for some parts...but I'm not done yet, and it's my first time so...yeah. I'm gonna finish the guitar with spray polyurethane.. so far the "blonde" is coming out EXACTLY like i wanted though. I'm really excited about it...blonde is my favorite finish on a guitar. (my wifey was making fun of me for it earlier..liking blondes.. lol..she's brunette) anyway.. I'm gonna use an off brand Barcus-Berry pickup in the neck, and for now a single in the bridge...unless I can get my hands on a cheap SD from my local guy, in which case I'll have a hum there as is intended. I'm debating on what the bridge should be. I'm sort of thinking a bigsby with a TOM... if no bigsby at least a TOM...not seen on this style of guitar much but I think it would look good. I don't know off-hand of any technical issues with using the TOM versus a strat hardtail bridge... I'm getting the building bug BAD. I might have to keep doing this. Ry

I'm wiring a guitar with 2 single coils. (or one single and a hum but I don't need to split the hum, so that can stay simple) ONE Tone, ONE Volume. I bought a rotary switch because there's already a bunch of holes in the guitar and I wanted to fill them instead of cutting more. The Rotary switch is a 2 pole common, 12-6 (two lugs for each position). It's from Radio Shack. I guess I just don't understand the concept of how to make this work. Thanks for the help. Ryan

I want to do a "blonde" finish on my project guitar (funny I named it that...) and I bought almond rustoleum and natural minwax stain, thinking that they are both oil based and that i could maybe tint the minwax with the almond color...that way it stays somewhat translucent... is that really possible? or am I out of my mind? I got the paint at Home Depot...I didn't have any clue where else I could even go to find "tinting" colors.. Ry

So, I'm going to refinish my project guitar, and today I went out and bought the supplies...stain, stripper, sandpaper, etc.. I'm using plastic putty knives...because I read in the finishing tutorial not to use metal, though I now wish I had bought BOTH metal and plastic. It's taking forever and it's dulling the blade like crazy. and I don't have ANY other knives here...SOB......... so I bought... Kleen-Strip gel... puttin it on thick, leaving it on for a good length of time (20 mins or so) still a HUGE PITA.. the last person who finished it had to have done the lacquer (or whatever) like 1/16" 1/8" inch thick. I'm on the third coat on the top. Uffda. Ry

Correct...like I said I know what it is...it's from an "S101" strat-style guitar. it's a Samick-type company. not the best quality but not the worst either. it'll get my project guitar going which is the aim. now I just need to decide what pickups I have already to use and go get some switches and pots and stuff. maybe i could do something cool like...put a fuzz in the guitar and make it so I just have to flip a switch to use it.. I think Tony MacAlpine has that on one of his Carvin guitars... Ry

for 25 bucks on eBay.. it's new...it was on a new guitar...the guitar was taken apart and pieced out on eBay.. I wanted a "decent" neck for my little project, and I've heard that the S101 stuff isn't bad...the frets aren't painful... this one has a nice rosewood FB with really pretty grain incidentally. We'll see. could be just what I need though! Ryan

that could be. the strat neck I have mostly fits the pocket (the rounded end makes it not go deep enough but the hole pattern is right), but that neck needs a refret which I can't afford right now... I did bid on two necks on eBay so we'll see what happens.

There was a guitar player in town who also owned a guitar shop. the man's name was Dan Falley. I never knew him but know a lot of guys that did and after he passed away, the guy whose guitar shop I go to bought out the inventory of his store... This guitar body was there, and I took it hoping to build it into a real one (which I plan on doing still) I think it's made of Ash, but I don't know. it's a heavy-azz body, that's for sure. anyway...it's a three piece body...bottom, and two top pieces. as you can see, it's routed for about a million switches. should be interesting. Ryan

Also...I saw a couple other ones from this same seller for 199 dollars... did they list this one incorrectly? take advantage! haha

I found THIS LISTING on ebay. I realize that shipping is 100 dollars, but even at that...this LOOKS to me to be a solid and really well built neck-thru Tele that just needs the finishing pieces. Even for 100 dollars shipping, that guitar would easily cost you more than that to build...and WAY more to buy it already finished from someone in the US... A) I don't really know that i personally could take the chance I kinda wish someone would though cause I would love to know if it really is as nice as it looks to be. Ryan

Well for what it's worth...I do have *some tools* but nothing to cut or rout. I have a bunch of pickups laying around, a spare body, a neck with a crappy fret-job, another one that needs a refret.. I don't have a garage so that really limits me a lot. okay this is OT on my own Topic but... i came up with this idea today. Hollow-body Telecaster (maybe even neck through.) Sound holes, but not "F" holes. YTBD.. Poplar back, Ash or Mahogany top (or Alder body with ash or Mahog top..I really like naked Ashes...haha) Maple neck, Purple heart F/B (med jumbo frets) P-90 in the neck, Humbucker in the Bridge Coil tap, 3 way switch 9I mean with the tap, who needs more than 3?) 1 Volume, 1 Tone (I can use a Tele mounting plate almost stock) Blue Trans finish on the body and headstock Purple Pearloid P/G I do have some experience working with wood so it's not like I've never picked up a tape measure before. I just don't have the tools to do it, really. Everything looks pretty easy except for fretting. Ry

damn! that 7 string natural wood one is BEAUTIFUL. total envy.

I am getting the bug to build a guitar.. I've been posting here and there... what kind of investment is it? Lets assume I'll buy a pre-slotted fretbord,and I own ZERO files. You guys make it look easy... I actually have a body here...and a good strat neck that needs a re-fret.. but I'd like to start from scratch.. maybe do a tele or a jaguar type body with P-90's or some G&L pups.. with a purple heart fretboard on birds eye maple back...... MMMmmmmMmm... Ryan

Say, do you have any pictures of your other builds?

yeah that's where i got the idea for the custom logo. only thing is...I used "real" transparency paper and the ink bled out really badly...so i used "inkjet vellum" see through paper.. it takes ink much better and you can still see the logo through it. I might put more coats on in the future. Plays beautifully. 12" radius, awesome back profile.. 22 frets..

I'm not even a big fan of more than 6 strings...but i LOVE the body on this guitar. I also think the headstock looks nice. Just thought I'd get my vote in for that. I've never thought that you should have 20 times more headstock than you need to hold the tuners.. I can't wait to see this finished. I wonder if it's possible to have a neck with purple heart wood as the fretboard wood?

Here's the finished piece (the finish looks so much worse in the pic than in real life. still have some buzzing and height issues but it plays now! had to go buy allen wrenches!

No inlay. I've never liked having inlays unless they're "art"... I just got top dots. the SNAGG chip is only put in their guitars, AFAIK....kinda like low-jack but they can't track them...only scan them if they are found.. I love the medium jumbo frets. I got it together today. I have to intonate things (strings are laying on the neck to where they won't even make noise) and I also got the straight line on the headstock wrong so all the strings go a little "off" after the nut. I've seen guitars that are made to be that way, and it's not real bad, so I'm not going to worry about it. I think it'll be fine. Ryan

I got a new Carvin bolt neck for my Strat because the cost of refretting is almost as much as buying a new neck...so... I ordered Carvin's "plank" blank headstock neck, finished in tung oil, and cut out a Reverse Fender Strat style headstock. I made my own little logo, glued it on tonight (waiting 24 hours to finish it like the directions say to do) and took some quick pics.. Cool, eh? still gotta drill them holes... Ryan

okay great. I'll go buy a new one...probably an irwin bit or something similar quality. what size bit should i get for a 11/32" Kluson type ferrule for a good interference fit? I was gonna use a "W" bit I'm not sure what size that really is. I'd rather use an actual "number" bit than a letter... Ryan

yesterday i used a jig saw to do the basic cutting out of my headstock shape. i didn't want to do the holes before I did this just in case something ended up closer/further away.. so, I tried using a couple of bits to get up to the size I'm using for my 11/32" ferrules, but when i tried it on a piece of the headstock that I'd cut off, the wood kept breaking like it was too brittle. so I'm trying to decide if I should use like 5 bits to work up to the size, or if I just need to sandwich the headstock and use a sharp bit with a drill press. It's a hard rock maple neck (with ebony fingerboard) from Carvin (and I spent a lot on it, so I'd rather not muck it up! ) Thanks, Ryan

I've come to the realization that I need a B-bender. actually it's not really a case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome...my style tends to have me have a difficult time because i try to write things that bend the B... I know that B-Benders are made for Tele's... but...would it be possible to put one in a strat? I never use my trem...I could get a Tele bridge or a hardtail strat bridge... maybe use the B-bender setup (the real one) and weld some more rod to the end of where it would usually stop on a Tele? I've customized my guitar so much anymore, I hate to let it go, and I've got no money so I'm working with what I've got. I've got a new Carvin blank neck coming... and Carvin electronics...etc... It's my dream strat...Everyone is always in search of that "Perfect Tone" and I'm finally getting very close to it. I've never had pickups that sound as good as my Carvin's. plus I just modded my Carvin amp and it sounds WAY better than ever before. anyway, that's getting Off Topic (I'm famous for that today on another forum.) I like the idea of bending from the left side of the strap (I am a righty) and not the version that bends from the right side. just seems very natural from the neck side. Ryan