onealguitars

if you do vinyl decals, request a sample of the Oracal vinyl. I worked in a sign shop once, working with lots of different vinyls, and it was by far the nicest. Rather thin, flexible, doesn't tear easily, easy to manipulate.

I will try to make it out to the wood shop in the next day or so and get a pic to post. Thanks for all the input thus far. I will definitely test on a scrap piece...have part of the same board with the dark area in it.

wow, that video is scary. For now I'm following my router-less path with this build. Will get funny as I get to the neck pocket. But for today - just a small update. I got three sides of the glued 3-pc blank nice and flat so the final two pieces are going in.

Unclamping tonight and letting it rest until Tue. Then I'll hand plane it and prepare to cut the scarf - by hand I guess.

you weren't joking...our neck blanks are very similar! I like your proportions of thicknesses.

selling these things on a daily basis...here's my thoughts.

the '57 reissue will have a thinner sound overall...more vintage...makes sense.

the american deluxe has fender's newest version of the noiseless pickups, the N3's. Unlike the last noiseless pickups fender was using, these don't suck. they're not my favorite strat pickup, but they do have a nice tone.

I do prefer the compound radius on the deluxe...but i also agree that strats (unless you're using it as a "super-strat" a la 1980's) shouldn't have jumbo frets.

As for the finishes, with a strat...it really doesn't have a huge impact on the tone. (here comes the onslaught of people saying "of course it does!") If you're in an extremely intimate setting with very delicate dynamics in a perfect room, it may be noticeable. otherwise, not a big enough change to pull either direction.

I also prefer the satin finish on a neck vs. the gloss, even nitro. if you plan on keeping the guitar, you could always use some 0000 steel wool and slick up the neck, but that's your call.

So I have a couple of bookmatched maple tops ready to go, and one of them has a darker piece of wood on one side due to the natural color of the tree. Can I bleach this to a desired color before finishing without harming the wood or affecting the finishing process (which will be quite some time after bleaching)?

i agree with bob /\ - an awesome build for sure. very well thought out. and great execution. inspiring.

I also wanted to give a little update:

I have decided that instead of building 2 identical guitars in construction, one will be a solid body, one will be a semi-hollow. Now, I just have to figure out what I want to do for the "f-hole"...something a little more artistic and modern. Saw another thread on projectguitar where a guy was doing a butterfly themed tele which was awesome. Maybe a theme would be cool...any suggestions?

nice build! I'm also doing my first build in parallel.. in fact I'm doing three guitars - but only one got its build thread. I guess that's cheating

My neck laminate is similar to yours - wenge - (flame) maple - bubinga 5pc. Good luck with neck-thru!

That's awesome. I had thought about doing maple...that was my original intention, but when I saw the avidore in person after being jointed on one side, and the shimmer it has, I opted for it. Also because I've never seen it used before. I'm sure plenty of folks have used it, but it's new to me, so I figured I would give it a shot. If it turns out good, I have enough material to do another neck blank...so if anyone wants a neck like that, let me know!

Those harbor freight aluminum bar clamps are the bee's knees! I've been meaning to pick up more! Much more useful and easier to use then pipe clamps imo.

You look like you have the tools. Now just work on the art form.

p.s. one key problem I note.... you want a neckthrough you claim... yet your blanks (both top and bottom) are already glued up.... you get to chop em up again if you dont change your mind

The blanks are about 3.5" wide and about 6.25" tall...so I should be able to get 3 necks out of one blank.

And yes, there will be chopping to do, but at least this way, I have plenty of room to work down from.

Thanks for all the kind input!

Thanks SD. Fortunately, we have a great local hardwoods shop where I got everything but the maple. There's some beautiful figure in the bubinga i can't wait to see when it's finished....but that's a long ways from now!

Hello everybody!

I'm new to projectguitar.com and to guitar building. However, this is something I have studied and researched for several years, and with quite a bit of woodworking experience, I decided that it's time to build my first...AND second guitar, simultaneously.

Outrageous! you say...

Well, aim high, right? Plus, everything I've read has been "your first guitar is a learning experience for your second guitar." So I am eliminating the amount of time in between...that's all.

Ok...to get started.

I started with an existing guitar shape, and modified it quite a bit to suit my eye a little more, and a unique headstock design...that was the hardest part of imagining the instrument...a classy, unique, and organic headstock design.

After having come up with the basic idea of what I wanted to see, it was time to trace my drawing onto tracing paper.

Now that's done, I cut that out, and trace the cut-out onto my template material.

And............let's cut them out.

The body was a little jagged, and the curves were rather bumpy (it's been a while since I used a bandsaw), so I gave it the bondo treatment so that I could fine tune each curve.

Fortunately, my headstock template was a much better cut, and it only required a little sanding to get it where I wanted.

NOW........what am I going to do? Bolt on? Set neck? Neck-thru?

Neck-thru construction wins. Why? More sustain, and damnit, it looks cooler.

Now that I've determined it's going to be neck-thru...time to buy some wood and start gluing. Here's what I'm working with:

Neck: 5-pc Bubinga/Avodire/Wenge

Body: Paduk

Top: Flamed Curly Maple

Let's check out the wood!

Here's the bubinga, avodire, and wenge for the necks.

And here's half of my slab of paduk being cut into manageable lengths for body wings.

And last but not least, my maple tops after being bookmatched and glued and clamped. I bought my maple as a slab via eBay (so that I could be more selective than just what's in stock locally)...and one set came out VERY figured...another was kinda "eh"...but I digress...

Now that I have my wood cut down to size and my maple bookmatched...time to start thinking about the necks. So, I do a mock-up with the bubinga, avodire, and wenge.

And time to glue them....and yes, I used way too much glue. The avodire was just soaking it up, so I kept applying. Oh well, no worries about delaminating!

Again, it was way too much glue...i know. I learned as I saw much of my hard work dripping onto the table, making a mess. Time to wipe off some of the glue and tease myself with how it looks.

So yeah, that's pretty much where I am now. I started the build Saturday Nov. 10, working on templates. Then on Monday Nov. 12 I bought my woods, except the maple I had already acquired, and had it milled to size and the maple bookmatched (because the machines in the shop I'm using won't accomodate certain larger sizes of wood). I also fixed a line in the master body template that was bugging me a little bit. Then today, Tuesday Nov. 13 I glued up my neck woods and clamped it up trying to make sure every seam was nice and tight between every piece of wood.

Quite a bit of progress was made in the first couple of days, but I'm about to the point where I know the progress is going to slow drastically. However, I'm meticulous, and I'll take however long it takes to ensure everything is right. I will have tons of questions, I'm sure, as I get into it a little deeper, and that's why I'm here!

I appreciate any and all input. And don't forget, I'm doing 2 at once...so hopefully I can have an extra to pass around and let everyone play!

Thanks for reading!

Chase O'Neal