zyonsdream

If it’s a maple neck it’s likely that the crack goes all the way through or is very deep as opposed to just grain tear out from sanding on materials like mahogany. Without seeing it it’s hard to give an exact remedy but you could try to squeeze some glue into to the crack and then try to clamp the two sides so they squeeze together. Other than that, you’ll have to build a replacement neck or buy a replacement neck. Being that it’s a strat neck, it shouldn’t cost much.

If your current set up has a fulcrum style tremolo on it you’ll just need to route for the floyd. You can get a full set of templates from Stewmac to do the route for a full floating tremolo.

I used Strip-Ease on a poly hard coat a while back and then used a razor blade to scrape the hard coat off. It took me several days to complete the task but the body was an odd shape and using a sanding block really didn’t suit the job. However, on a flat faced Ibanez body you should be good with a sanding block or even an orbital palm sander (my choice of hardware) You just have to have a feel for your equipment. I use the electric sander for the bulk of the stripping and then take it down to the final sanding with a block and hand.

January’s GOTM is looking to be a tough month! However, this one is on my short list already. I don’t like the PRS shape but there is something I like about this… maybe because PRS wouldn’t sick 3 p90s on their guitars! I like the oiled finish which is also something that strays away from most PRS copies. Good job of thinking outside the box on a traditional build!

Swedishluthier: I for one am a big Telecaster fan so I can really appreciate this guitar. It’s a classic take on a great design and the color choices are great! I love how the pickup covers match the pickguard and the gaming inlays are done to perfection. With that said, there really isn’t anything on this guitar that pushes the envelope for me. The Earvana nut doesn’t have any affect on a guitar unless you are strumming an E11 chord. This is only my opinion but it has a swaying factor for me. The only other thing I notices was no branding on the headstock. It makes the neck look unfinished to me. Other than those two minor things, this guitar looks awesome! Awilcox: I really like the double cut away on this guitar. It reminds me of a semi-hollow guitar I used to have. In-fact, the finish was just about the same. BTW, the finish on this one is excellent and really complements the guitar a lot. The only thing that seemed off about this build was the choice to match the top of the guitar with the cover plate. Every time I look at the guitar it gets my attention and in this case, I think the attention shouldn’t be on the cover plate. WezV: When I saw this guitar I thought “this is the guitar I’m voting for” and I even sent you a PM letting you know how much I liked it. In most cases the “relec” is being over done to extremes but in this case I thought it really blended well with the spalted top. I’m personally a sucker for spalts and I really thought this was an excellent build! The aged hardware and that neck really put this one over the top for me. Argvtar: This guitar reminds me of a very extravagant 1960’s possibly early 70’s Tesco and would be an excellent conversation piece. I really liked the ornate inlay and the way you recessed the bridge. Some things to look at would be the finish on this guitar. It may have been the camera flash but some of the finish on the guitar looked fuzzy. I think a guitar like this would really hit it big with a nice high gloss hard coat. DigthemLows: Man, I really love the back story behind this bass and it really get’s me excited for when my two boys are old enough to venture into the shop! The wood choice was awesome (I love any and all Walnut!) and the lamination joints looked really clean. There were a couple of things that are personal issues I need to deal with that happened on this build. I’d like to see the board be set a little deeper on the body simply because the lower horn doesn’t touch the board. And the lower bevel is exposing the back wood. Both of these are common but they are things I avoid when looking to buy an instrument. All in all this is a strong build but I suspect that the process was more rewarding than the outcome! Congrats. So after thinking very hard I decided that I’d keep my work and stick with the spalted top this month! I just think it has the right amount of innovation and creativeness. I really couldn’t think of anything I would personally want to see different.

Sorry it took so long to reply. I was away for the holiday in a land of no internet! I really appreciate all of the support! I think we’ll just consider it a tele mutation and call it a day. I should have it ready for paint in the next few days. When it gets back I’ll post some finished pictures for everyone to see.

I have the Ryobi router and I’ve used it for two years now and it works great. Just don’t overload the bit or it will start to work out. You really have to chuck hard on it. Pick up an extra cullet incase you spin the bit in the cullet. Besides that it’s capable of making many guitars. At least mine has. http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j287/ZDG...ld/100_3266.jpg I upgraded to a Triton monster router when I needed something that would work on 2.5” aluminum and when I started building my last guitar I went back to the Ryobi. It’s great for doing cavities but I’ll likely use the Triton for doing profile routing.

Wow thanks! I might have it done in time for January's GOTM

You could use clear acrylic for the pickguard if you want to be able to see everything. Your cavity routes are clean so it would look good. You could also laminate your own guard out of the same materials you used to have the pickguard match the top. The shine you get with oil will depend on the smoothness of the wood. If you get down to say 0000 steel wool you should have able to have a nice shiny luster. Try Dr. Ducks for an oil finish. Great stuff! You might also want to take a look at the tele I am building right now. It has a padauk neck with a bocote board. You'll be using zebra but the color tones will be the same. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=33233

I personally try to salvage every piece of wood that I can but in my opinion; if you build it you can kill it any way you see fit. Threads likes these are meant to be amusing. I really don’t find appreciation in any guitar being burnt that isn’t being burnt by Jimi Hendrix but if something offends me I just ignore it. It seamed like Soapbar looked at this thread just knowing he would be offended by it and did not look at it with any open mindedness. We should all just go scrounge up a copy of John Hiatt’s “perfectly good guitar” and just get along! To each their own, right?

I used a BC. Rich platinum warlock which is not the best guitar to use to say the least. However, it seems to work for testing pickups. I've put many different ones in it and it's been a good calibration tool. Thanks for thinking they sound cool. Mike from a band called Dragonlips did the recording for me. He's been one of my long time customers. www.soundclick.com/dragonlips

I’d say that they are some of the best kits on the market as most of them are bolt on and the Saga kits are set neck. They only require a basic understanding of how to build and require a very minimal amount of tools. You can even get away with doing an oil finish if you didn’t want to take the time to paint. I’d suggest upgrading the pickups to better ones but the hardware is good for the money. It’s a good entry point into building. As for PRS VS a paul, that's a personal choice.

Wow I’m post number 33 and I didn’t see Voodoo Child slight return from Jimi! Give some love to Jimi folks. Kenny Wayne Sheppard- blue on black. God that tone is to die for! For the most part I’d rather hear a jamming rhythm track than a fluffy lead solo and for great rhythm guitar I look no further than Max Cavalera. Simply the best!

I used an Alnico 5 for the pickup used in the sound sample. I also make a super distortion style with a smaller wire 5500 on north, 6000 on the south with a ceramic magnet. Scatter wound and wax potted. Puts out a screaming sound too. I don’t have any good sound samples of that one yet. I might fit one of those into the bridge and then put my PAF copies into the middle and neck. Midas well give it balls to the wall power to go with the steroid look.

I really like the body shape. The upper horn really looks cool and sets it apart. At his age I had a JB player Tele copy that didn't work very well. I can't wait until my boys are old enough to break out thier sanding arms!

I still have some shaping and I have to channel for all of my wires and then it goes out to paint. I don’t have the ability to do poly hard coating so I’m going to send it to a friend that can coat it for me. Once it gets back I’ll have everything ready to put it together. Some day I hope to have a place where I can do a bit more than nitro but right now I have to work with the space I’m given. A lot of Luthiers farm out their hard coating though so I don’t feel too bad about it. I make my own pickups so they will be loaded with ZDG pups which are basically off set scatter wound 5000 on the north. 5500 on the south with AlNICO magnets. Gives an overdriven PAF sound. Check out a sound sample Going with a hybrid Kahler which is pretty standard for me since I’m a big Kahler fan.

Still laughing about the poofs! My kitchen has the best lighting for pictures. I think I need to find a new place to take them though before everyone knows all my bad dietary habits. I’ve thought about using rose wood for making pickup rings but I’ve never made a set before. I’m sure it’s not too hard but I’ve just never had the need. I might make a set just to see how they look. Good idea though! Might even go with rosewood cover plates for the back control cavities.

Thanks for the feedback. I have struggled with this build because Bocote and Padauk can both be visually overwhelming if used incorrectly. As I said in the other thread, my goal was to accentuate the board and make the rest of the guitar sort of blend into the background. I guess it’s a study in natural colors and esthetics more than guitar building. So far I think I’ve pulled it off. I’m using open coil black bobbin pickups with a black Kahler so I’m nervous that going with three humbuckers might make the face too dark and pull away from the board but it’s too late now!

Well, I posted a little about this in the solid body chat but I thought I’s start a progress thread about it so elicit some feedback. Here are the specs so far Lumber: Padauk Top White Limba back Bocote fretboard Padauk Neck Bolivian Rosewood stringers Kahler hybrid tremolo 3 ZDG humbuckers 3 stacked Vol/tone pots Jumbo frets Black hardware Don’t make fun of the Cheesy Poofs, I Like Cheesy Poofs! LOL Gluing up the blank The neck1 The neck2 Glamour shots1 Glamour shots2 The back1 The back2

http://www.dguitarparts.com/puparts.htm You could buy a tele bridge piece and cut out the portion that you are looking for or you could just buy a pickup mounting ring for a statocaster. The link I placed above has them for sale. I’ve seen other ones around too.

Congrats on starting your first build. You have to watch those routers! They can be a bit pesky at times. Any pictures?

Homemade?????????

I have a few other things that I have table top drill presses and stuff on but this is my main wor station. I do all electronics in a different room with better lighting and less dust! Edit: the picture is when I first got it set up. It’s now overloaded with junk because I hate cleaning. LOL. I have another set just like this one coming to me when my wife’s dad ummmm, leaves them for me.

Cover the guitar with low adhesive blue tape and then stencil the picture onto the blue tape. Once you have that done, use a sharp exacto or razor blade and cut out the parts that you need to. Then paint. I suggest buying the EBook “how to paint your own guitar.” Get the bullseye one because it deals a lot with masking a design.