rapfohl

Man I don't know what you're talking about, this looks amazing! I love the wood combination, but I do agree on Zebrano being a pain to work with (and stinks like cat piss). What are your plans for the guitar after it's done? Being built for you?

What bridge is that thing going to have?

Wow, that is one RIDICULOUSLY sexy super strat... I always love your wood choices.

Wow, what a beautiful instrument. Your attention to detail is absolutely amazing.

rapfohl, on 05 Nov 2013 - 11:56, said: Yeah I like the dual humbucker single cut I did last year. It is my favorite guitar right now. El Mariachi kicks serious butt. And to think some guys made fun of my single cut design. I don't do business on this forum (I am here to learn and teach) so you have to email me to talk about getting a guitar. I will tell you be prepared to wait on one of my guitars or hope I build a prototype you like. The back log is 2 years plus and I really have been picking and choosing projects that interest me lately. Picking a dual humbucker single cut would definitely be more interesting than building another super strat. I will get a hold of you then! I love El Mariachi. I am ok with waiting, I really need to focus on my playing for now as opposed to my guitar acquiring.

That modern tele is basically exactly what I want right now...except more like that template in the background of the one shot, with two HBs and a modern hardtail bridge. And I have always wanted one of your guitars....this is going to have to happen.

So we had a "Hurricane day" here at school, so to work of the boredom I got some work done. First I leveled the fretboard, it was actually in preparation to put dots in, but when I saw this, my preference for a nice clean fingerboard couldn't be ignored. So I went on to radius the fretboard. I do this by hand, and make sure I change up my hands and directions often to get a nice centered radius. I started with 100 grit, and put a bunch of pencil lines on the fretboard to watch my progress. Here is a pretty good sign that your almost done, my arms were excited to see this. The radius is finally roughed in. This took about an hour, but I take a lot of break and get distracted easily, especially on something so monotonous. I also refiled the slot depths at this point, since I almost lost a fret or two with the initial radiusing. After 100, I went to 150, then 220. I stopped here for the day because I was making a mess. It doesn't really look at that different from 100 grit at this point, but it feels much better. I will go up to at least 600 grit before I fret it.

Then I rout it on the router table. I used a brand new bit, so it was nice and sharp. I have heard padauk has a tendency to chip out. It all went well. Well about 99% well. Speaking of chips, I got this little one. I'm not really upset about it at all, it could be worse, and this is practice. A good bit of it will go away with the level sanding and radiusing of the fretboard, no biggie. Just a couple more... The glue line is nice and tight, with no gaps other than where there was a grain pocket here and there. It looks kind of discolored, but I didn't have any time to do any sanding. Still pretty happy so far, its coming along nicely.

I got a little bit of work in today, and things are starting to shape up. Here we are right out of the clamps. It was a nice solid glue-up, and the fretboard is centered right on the centerline. That's a load off my mind. Must have just been a fluke last time. I pull the pins out and just have these little holes left, the width of the fret will cover them up easily. Then I just trim the excess fretboard stock off, I don't get too crazy with the bandsaw, the last thing I want is to is neck the neck shaft. I get pretty close with the spindle sander, then its ready to rout. This padauk is really hard to get a nice picture, but this looks about the closest to it's real color I've gotten.

This thing is absolutely awesome. Here is something that will make you smile, I hadn't checked out the first posts of this build for a long time, and had forgotten all about the fact that it was SUPPOSED to look like one of those boats, and it constantly reminded me of one. So good job on that

This is really looking good. I love the design, normally I am nit-picky about a few things, but I think the shapes really work well together. I really want to get some scrapers and try them out. I have seen a lot of people using them lately.

The first time I have gotten a nice even squeeze out, pretty happy with it. Normally I put way too much glue on and its a total mess. So that is my Saturday. I'll pull it out of the clamps in a day or so, depending on when I can get back in there. Let me know what you think, I am pretty happy with the progress so far.

A nice slot, I use Martin-Style Truss rods. Another shot of the slot. Then I thin the headstock out, I just use the router table and a straight bit. I am probably going to stop doing it that way...I'm not really that comfortable with it. Then spindle sand in a transition. Then I apparently lost some pictures, I just hand sanded the headstock and transition to make it look good before... Gluing on the fretboard. I use lots of clamps and a caul on both sides for even pressure.

Then I rout the neck on a router table. I use a big Whiteside spiral cut bit, and it is seriously impressive (as well as terrifying, but respect is key). It leaves a seriously nice cut. No burn, no chatter, just perfect results. I transfer the centerline down the sides of the neck at the heel and headstock. If they don't line up perfectly with centerline on the fretboard face I didn't get the template exactly where it needed to be, which means the fretboard will be off. That's a no-go in my book. The last thing I do is drill my tuner holes, then pop the template off. Here is my wonderful truss rod "jig". I use the jointer fence because I know it is nice and straight, and just have a piece of MDF that I attach the blank to with a line marked on it that is the distance from the router base edge to the ceterline of the bit. I hope that makes sense.

Well as I promised, here is a large weekend update! I got a good amount of work done on the neck, and as far as I can tell, I got the fretboard on straight this time. I'll just get right to the good stuff. I trimmed up the fretboard, and then double-stick taped it in it's position on the neck. I use two little pins for easy glue-ups. Something went wrong with my glue up last time, but all the other times I have done it gave me good results. The aforementioned little pins. The I rough cut the neck profile on the bandsaw, I should have used something brighter than pencil. It was hard to see on the Padauk. I attach the template and sand it absolutely as close as I can. I have had tear-out problems before and nothing makes me more upset than ruining a really nice piece of wood. Here is how close I get, its about a pencil line thickness.