FireFly

Measure twice, cut once!

Aren't there pyramid shapes in studio foam? I don't know if that has anything to do with it, or if its even an influence.

Interesting routing job

I like the 2nd pickups better. Wile the white looks nice, it's like putting a lumberjack in a zuit suit.

Good idea on the soldering pencle!

Yes, they're made in china, but with American patent. I've been abusing mine since July of last year, and they still run like new! They don't look new though lol.

I have a Rigid jigsaw. Absolutely love it.

Milwaukee M12 drills. I can't get enough of them! The batteries are convenient, and they have plenty of power for the price.

I have a Porter Cable router... Its old though. I can get parts for it easy if it breaks down though, and it doesn't break down often.

[edit]

I'll stop lol. But you guys do argue like children.

Different guitars with the same hardware do sound different. It's a fact of life. Go to any guitar shop and check it out sometime!

Wow.

Didn't realize this is what I'd start with a simple question.

Anyway, on a slightly unrelated note, can anyone give me some tips on building a sustainer?

NO BRIAN! DON'T-

a-bir-bir-bird-bird-bird,bir-bir-bir-bird *trails off*

worst comes to worst, you can try on a scrap piece and see what happens.

In my experience, lacquer and poly do not bond well.

beautiful wood choices!

I don't get to see the acoustic build progress too much on this forum, so this is a pretty nice change

I like your giant MDF mold!

All the pickups in my shop are stored in close proximity to each other, with dividers who's only purpose is to label the pickup. blades, alnico, neodinium, actives, passives, etc.

I've only had one die on me, and it had to do with the bobbin being made of ebony, and me dropping it on a concrete floor... Not to say that all Ebony shatters, but apparently I dropped this one just right lol.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GET

The first thing to come to my mind is a similar comment. Whenever I look at the progress shots of your builds I see imaculate work. And yeah the background is clean, but I'm talking about the parts you're building. The curves are smooth, the lines are straight and parallel, the corners are square, and theres not a speck of dust on the wood or a sanding scratch to be seen. Maybe you tidy up your wood work for nice pics...but the craftsmanship is top notch.

SR

+2!

I bet this kind of work comes with a lot of diciplin, and the ability to not rush anything at all. I bet every stroke of the sandpaper counts, and every cut of the router is no deeper than 1/4" at a time.

Very nice build! And awesome playing! I would love to own that beast of a guitar. I'd have to change out that red button for a black one though... I guess I just don't get the red button thing lol.

I would have liked to hear some more metal riffs out of the neck pickup. The versatility between bluesy and metal stuff that came out of the instrument was awesome!

I just went through the whole thread. These guitars make me want to build

I'm running winXP with Firefox. The site works on my blackberry, ipad (safari), and Internet Explorer. Not sure what the problem is with yours

More expensive American made Strat models will be made out of one piece bodies with less imperfections. The wood will be quality top knotch always. At most, you'll have a few joins under paint, but the joins will be perfect, and the wood will be perfect.

On squires, the frets are smaller, inlays and dots are made from different materials to save costs, routs under the pickguard will be different; single routing technique to accomodate several pickup styles can cut costs. Multiple routing shapes on different guitars will drive up costs, as someone needs to write the CNC program.

Finishes are supposidly different too. I'm not sure if they still do nitro finishes on newer fender usa strats. I know the Squires are all some sort of thick poly though.

Squires are going to have cheaper hardware which lasts less time, and overall, the instrument will need more repairs and adjustments in the future than a well made instrument.

In short, squires are generic bodies slapped together with whatever cheap materials are available, and USA fenders have a lot more time put into QC, and more time put into design as far as routs go.

That couple looked like they were having so much fun

That's so cool! The grain matching all the way along the back side from neck to body will be a total highlight if you decide to do a clear finish

I would put the neck in place before you do any routing or set a bridge into place. That way, once you get the neck in place, you'll have your center line to work with. Then you can take the neck off, do all your routing for pickups, put the neck back on, adjust for angle, and bang done!

Epoxy works pretty well. I've used it on an aluminum nut. I haven't done an aluminum neck to a body though.

If you are using a manual slotting jig, like from Stew-Mac, I would cut the flat fretboard slots to ~2.0 mm depth as a start. After you have radiused the board, you will need to recut the slots following the contour. I attach a depth-stop made from poplar strapping to my fret saw. Here's a link to the pic....

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eTibW5MoBV_DIGSWtoUIn-d1BGWrBe5AcXUnF3MwAB4?feat=directlink

I agree with this, but I feel some explanation should follow. The reason you go the extra depth is so that your fret tangs don't start cutting into fresh wood once you press/hammer them in. It could cause the fretboard to bow backwards, or cause cracks. You can fill in the extra depth on the sides when you're done fretting by mixing superglue with sawdust from the slotting/radiusing.

Good luck!

That veneer really brings it out in your builds!