Crusader

^ Same as what he said, man thats a lot of chiselling!

To answer the OP's question. As ADFinlayson pointed out, Jazz guitars with one pickup have it at the Neck and Rock guitars have it at the Bridge. I think there are more Rock guitars out there than Jazz guitars so I would say Bridge is most popular

I haven't been to the beach this summer but I got progress on My Strat recently. Its funny how I want this to look identical to the real deal but also be unique. I couldn't decide where I wanted the Volume knob, in the position of the middle tone knob or where they have it on a 2-control Strat, I went with the latter to conform with a genuine Strat. I went to great lengths to figure out its position and in the end realise it's just half-way between a regular Strats controls! I also went with a regular belly cut etc. I thought it would just look funny without it

I spent considerable time on the computer getting images then print them out using a trial and error approach till they come out the right size

And without further ado, the pictures

After doing the body I got around to the fret slots on the neck. For what its worth I think the Measuring Tape is accurate enough. I have four steel rules and none of them match and the tape is easier to read. And besides my fret cutting abilities aren't that crash-hot anyway!

I suddenly realised it doesn't have to be a 3 single coil job and I found what I was looking for...

Back cavity cover is same shape as MIM

https://reverb.com/au/p/fender-american-deluxe-stratocaster-fmt-hss-2004-2009?hfid=64373225&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17998395011&utm_content=campaignid=17998395011_adgroupid=_productpartitionid==merchantid=620202969_productid=64373225_keyword=_device=c_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjePirNj-_AIVt5JmAh3uvwgIEAQYAiABEgLLOfD_BwE

My way of looking at it is to consider the desired end result rather than what is easier. As already mentioned when you shape the profile of a neck it can bend or warp so its better to do this first (roughly) even though it makes it harder to do other things afterwards

Well I just found this, why didn't it come up before? It doesn't answer my question but helps

https://skymusic.com.au/products/fender-aerodyne-special-stratocaster-hss-rosewood-fingerboard-dolphin-gray-metallic?variant=39874047213630&currency=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlOrNoI78_AIVB5hmAh2TdgVnEAQYASABEgI_5fD_BwE

And by the way I forgot to link that video, if anyone is interested. He hates pickguards!

Hi everyone, I have a question that I haven't been able to find answers to from Google. Did Fender USA ever make a no-pickguard Strat? I want to know the shape of the Control Cover

Apparently some were made in Mexico and they have a sort-of triangular shaped cover, and there are people who make bodies with a D-shaped cover. But I want to know about Fender USA, did they ever do this and what shape is the control cover?

Just for the record I went with the expensive option, as I always do!

On 1/22/2023 at 5:34 PM, henrim said:

................... but also use a sharp router bit

Yeah that's the first thing that came to my mind

30 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Interesting!

The "Telecaster Version" story isn't logical as it includes an advertisement to the rival

Hmmm, good point

I like your thinking, keep it minimal. The three pedals I already had were Overdrive, Delay and Tuner (oh and a volume pedal) very handy if changing guitars

With the songs I'm doing they have Youtube tutorials and they have info on the effects being used, (usually Kemper or Helix) and I started getting too wrapped up in trying to get the same sound

Six months ago I bought a Boss GT-1000 and it sounds great but it does my head in with all the buttons. So I decided to try individual pedals. I already had three and bought another three so now have - Tuner, Super Overdrive, Delay, Tremelo, Compression CS-3 and Noise Suppressor NS-2

The GT already has all this stuff in it but going into the menu to make changes is such a "blind" experience I forget what I'm doing. The individual pedals have the dials right there and I'm hoping that I will learn what they do more easily

Anyone have thoughts on this topic, experience, suggestions etc?

22 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

TV yellow was made in purpose to show a guitar as white on a black and white TV

Yeah that's what I remember reading somewhere

Talking about the colour, an old friend has a Tele that is yellow and he says it was the same colour as my Strat when it was brand new. I'm not sure about this, is that how it you get what they call TV yellow?

Nice video, you put some effort into that! Quite often when I am working on something it turns into more of a "Photo-Shoot"

Very nice Bass too!

I have never built a guitar without some kind of stuff up. One time I plugged the router in and it was switched on, and it did a little dance on the back of the neck. On a Les Paul neck pocket I discovered that my router didn't cut square. More than once I have routered a pickup well in the wrong place, and the list goes on and on

Generally I put a tremendous amount of effort into getting things right, but I'm starting to realise I'm not going to live forever, I haven't got time for it any more. I don't have customers by the way!

Its not entirely necessary but there is something satisfying about having the strings going over the centre of the pole pieces. I sometimes would like to build a Les Paul with Fender style single coils, but how would you make a pickup with different spacing? I'm not very fluent at Dutch LOL

What's it made of? it looks like Mahogany, isn't that a bit soft for a fretboard?

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Again, having to figure out what you folks are talking about...

Huh, that sounds like me!

Wow that's very rustic!

On 10/30/2022 at 1:41 AM, woodfab said:

Looks great, nice work.

Thanks man!

Sadly all my projects have stagnated lately but sometimes its good to let things cool for a while. For instance I just had a look at the last photo and decided I will do the usual Strat round-over edges and belly cut etc. but maybe not as much

I noticed your pickup wells are very square and I wondered how you did it. So I scrolled back and found where you said you chisel them out, don't think I've ever seen that before, is there a reason for it, do the pickups you use have square edges?

2 hours ago, woodfab said:

Nice, did you finish them?

Yes to some degree but it turns out that Jarrah isn't a very good tone wood so the hardware came off to go onto next project, 100% Maple which is also not very desirable tone-wise

If someone made a lot of money out of an idea I posted on here it would bite