Lycking

Hey there! I've been walking around for a really long time wanting to begin another build, and now has the time come where i finally got myself together and has begun. It's spring so why not! So here goes.. SPECS: Flying V style 6 strings, 24 3/4" scale length Ebony fretboard 3pc flamme maple/walnut/flamme maple neck through Walnut body "wings" (Hitting the lumberyard for the walnut for this+neck tuesday) Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90 gold neck PU Seymour Duncan ??? bridge PU (Open for suggestions, thinking pealy gates or APH-2? ) 2 Piezo pickups Tone-o-matic bridge gold '58 flying V tailpiece gold Mother-of-pearl 6mm dot-inlays Mother-of-pearl 2mm dot side inlays 2-way truss rod 21 jumbo frets Brass nut 3 tele style dome knobs gold Still considering: Rosewood truss rod cover Gold strap locks Rosewood pickup rings Gold pickup rings Wiringen will be: Neck+bridge pickups --> 2x volume pots, 2x tone pots --> 3 way switch Piezo's -->volume pot, (maybe a tone pot), --> 3 way switch with the signal from the 3 way switch above as one of the inputs (the other being piezo's obviously), so i can mix the 2 PU's with the piezo. It's gonna take a while, since i use a lot of time on my education, my job and my lovely girlfriend, but the goal isn't the speed but the result i suppose

@pankara, it's a great idea, but I'm a rookie, and I really dont have the skills for anything else than dot inlays i'm afraid... Yet! @sd, also a really good idea, but i think i'll keep it the color it is. It's much more black-ish than gray as it looks like in the pics, and i think it'd get too much off-colored compared to the flame maple/walnut neck-through it's going on.. But i'll think about it Thanks alot!

Alright, just wanted to be sure before messing with anything haha Now i'm just looking forward to hitting the lumberyard for some walnut on sunday. Thanks alot SR!

Hey there! I recieved a pre-slotted 1st grade ebony fretboard this morning, but sadly it has a chip in the middle of the 9th fret. I contacted the seller and already got it refunded, but as an apology did i apperently get to keep the board. So why not give it a try to fix, there's nothing to lose So i was wondering if you guys had an idea (or a "dont fix it" if it's too big) to fill out/repair the chip? It's approx 9mm long, 3mm wide and 1.5mm deep at the deepest. I was thinking something like sawing off the spare at the bottom (theres quite a bit) and then sanding it to dust, and mixing it with either some kind of superglue or epoxy to make a paste to fill it. Would this work, or do you have any other suggestions? Thanks alot in advance!

Hands down for wise words!! -And that's not a rant, that is an excellent explanation of this world's marketing ways! You don't learn if you don't try, that's how this world is build. I'm the type who gets an idea, and does it without too much thinking (not always good hehe). When a brand has the respect and power, they can basically make the untold laws about what's go and no-go.. But when you look at alot of luthiers and spare time builders around the world, are there, as you say, alot of woods and wood combos there has the clear majority, i belive this has a reason aswell, as consistent resulsts and tonal preferences, but why not just think outside the box! Thanks alot for the input Pros, made me think alot in the good way

I read a few people saying it had a "weak" tone (i wonder how they'd describe that in details..), and called it a cheap wood. Some arguemented that because Gibson and alike didn't use it, and washburn used it in some models, people apperently wouldn't see it as an acceptable wood. After thinking a bit about it, would i say that is BS.. Just because the big brands doesn't use it in the same was as Gibson uses mahogany, doesn't mean it's immideatly crap. Gibson built their tone around mahogany, but that shouldn't make it bad eh? And yeah it is a different topic, but i'd just like one or 2 opinions to see if i should scrap the idea immideatly

Also, i was kinda planning to check out Zebrano/Zebrawood as one of the bodies, but after reading some negative comments about it, am i wondering if it's even worth a try? People say it should be like 6-7 of a 10 point scale where 10 is warm(-er than mahogany) and 1 is bright like ash.. Any of you tried it as a full body and not just a top? It just looks so stunning in almost every body shape

Haha thanks for the tips both of you! Always such helpful people around here, can't do anything else than love it!

Right, a quick question without any explanation, i'm getting a little stock of bodies in soon, and i'm planning to do 3 teles and 3 strats. That'll require quite a bit of hardware, and then i'm just wondering where you all buy your stash. Everything from tuners and tremolos, to switches and knobs. Got the neck/fretboard woods fixed, so hardware is all i need! Open for everything! Thanks! Lycking

Woohoo finally progress Got the body rounded/siderouted a couple of weeks ago, and i got it sanded down to p600. Also ordered all (hopefully) hardware and electronics i need a couple of weeks ago, and it all has arrived by now. Ordered from Dragonfireguitars, and they were so friendly that they wrote on the package that it contained values of 10$, even though there were just about 100$ of stuff in it, it saved me about 50$ in duty, so props to them from here! If the quality shows up nice, have i absolutely nothing negative to say about them! Great costumer service, quick email replies and no problems at all! So, heres the maple/rosewood neck: A view of the pickguard and the hardware sitting ontop of the body, kinda at the place where its gonna end, but not the final spots, gonna take a while to calculate them out And heres a look of the other side of the pickguard (pre-wired) The pickguard is 3ply, the pots are 3 full 500k, the coils hit 5.6k, middle is of course reverse wound, the humbucker is split, and clocks 16.9k. This is divided by a 5-way switch. As you might see, is the top area of the body not finished at all, but that's because i prefer to have the neck and such beside me when doing it, because i havn't really been working after a template, just freehanding the most of everything Making templates for the pickguard and neck routes, don't really wanna end up messing it up... Finally having a weekend to hit the workshop next weekend, gonna be there all day and get as far as i can =) Hopefully i wont mess up everything All for this time! //Lycking

Finally having a weekend at home this week, so i'm gonna get a bit further with the body, this means routing/rounding the sides so i can begin sanding. Therefore am i asking if theres anything paticular i should watch out for when routing it, as i dont wanna mess stuff up again (made one of the horns a little too small when cutting it out, if everything goes wrong and the pickguard won't fit, am i setting it on the body reversed, just to have an excuse of making something original ;-)). //Lycking Sidenote: Damn you GFS, still havn't ordered the things, the neck went out of stock an hour before i was gonna order everything, still not in stock!

Makes sense for me now, i'll go with this then! Just need some stuff to get in stock and arrive before i can get any further :-) Thanks for it all 3!

Thanks for the reply, but as i understand, will the primer's color still stay, and i'm quite after the wooden look :/ Anyhow ill check some different ways on some scrap woods the coming week..

Hey there! To start somewhere, am i working on a guitar build, which will be a hardtail strat. Thing is, that my Gf (art student) has agreed to do some custom paint on the backside. The wood is some bright european ash, and I'm planning to clear lacquer it with clear satin. We were talking about doing some flames building up from the bottom, following the sides up the guitar, some barbed wire wrapped around roses in a half circle around the bottom working up alongside the flames, rose flowers on the top of them, and finally a burning skull in the middle (that, or a bon jovi logo, hehe). Thing is, I'm not really sure how we can do this.. I've seen people do it with sharpies, but that isn't really what we're after, and we haven't got access to an airbrush.. Also, I'm not sure wether we should do it on the wood itself, or on a coat of lacquer. Im thinking about giving it one or two layers, sand one of them down, and then do it on there.. Also heard about it being drawn on transparent paper, but i guess thats kinda hard to sit pretty on the round edges of a strat.. But that could make the inner stuff at least, if the paper isn't visible.. Open to ANY suggestions about materials/tools/ways to do it!!

Might leave the pickups as it is, not too fuzzed to change alot of electronics since it's my first

Ahh i see, sounds logic Thanks!

Right, its time to kick off the order, either tonight or tomorrow, therefore i wanna hear if anyone has some last minute add-ons? The final list (so far?): Pre-wired pickguard: (still not too sure if i should go H/S/S or S/S/S, but this is the H/S/S http://guitarfetish.com/Humbucker-Equipped-HSS-White-Pre-Wired-Assembly-NEW_p_423.html Neck/fretboard: (just got in doubt if this even is made to bolt-on? ) http://guitarfetish.com/Satin-Finish-Strat-fit-Neck-Maple-Fingerboard_p_1996.html Bridge: http://guitarfetish.com/Chrome-Hardtail-Bridge-for-Teles-and-Strats_p_158.html Tuning machines: http://guitarfetish.com/6-inline-Tuners-Gotoh-style-chrome-free-string-trees_p_5823.html Neckplate: http://guitarfetish.com/Fender-style-neckplate-screws-and-black-mount-plate_p_5820.html Ferrules: http://guitarfetish.com/TeleHardtail-Nickel-Vintage-Spec-String-Ferrules_p_734.html Pickguard screws: http://guitarfetish.com/Full-Bag-of-NICKEL-Pickguard-Screws-20-pcs_p_267.html Strap buttons: http://guitarfetish.com/Pair-Classic-Strap-Buttons-Chrome-Free-Screws_p_589.html Output jack: http://guitarfetish.com/Strat-football-with-output-jack_p_5831.html String trees: http://guitarfetish.com/Pair-Nickel-Butterfly-Strat-String-Trees-complete_p_596.html Upgrade drop caps: http://guitarfetish.com/047uf-Sprague-Orange-Drop-Cap-for-StratTele_p_1157.html Thanks Lycking

Great, thanks!

They're added, thankyou! Just to make sure im not all off, they work by being added into drilled holes at the back of the guitar, having the string ends stuck in them right? So much new stuff i've never tought about!

Hit the 220$ mark (including $80 shipping...) But the heck, Money ain't gonna be the factor to stop me right now!

Thanks again, i'll spend some time tonight researching the pickups and stuff, and used the most of this afternoon looking around about grounding to hardtails, so thats all good

Nice ones! Thanks alot mate !

Well, decided to make a list of links of the 6 things i have in the cart so far Here we are.. Neck: http://guitarfetish.com/Satin-Finish-Strat-fit-Neck-Maple-Fingerboard_p_1996.html Hardtail bridge: http://guitarfetish.com/Chrome-Hardtail-Bridge-for-Teles-and-Strats_p_158.html Neckplate: http://guitarfetish.com/Fender-style-neckplate-screws-and-black-mount-plate_p_5820.html Tuners: (not too sure if these even works for it?) http://guitarfetish.com/6-inline-Tuners-Gotoh-style-chrome-free-string-trees_p_5823.html A little output jack: http://guitarfetish.com/Strat-football-with-output-jack_p_5831.html And finally a pre-wired pickguar. Here do i have 2 models, one S/S/S and one H/S/S. Can't really decide between them, the S/S/S sounds like its better quality, but i kinda like the 14K of the humbucker.. since they dont have sound examples, am i kinda 50/50 between them.. Which one would you guys go for? Has to be said ive given up on my start budget, so screw the price! S/S/S: http://guitarfetish.com/ALNICO-Pickup-Pre-Wired-Strat-Pickguard-White-MAJOR-Upgrade_p_89.html H/S/S: http://guitarfetish.com/Humbucker-Equipped-HSS-White-Pre-Wired-Assembly-NEW_p_423.html Also, any must-have things i've forgotten to put in so far? Thanks! Lücking

Alright, thanks alot for the answers ! I'll spend this week researching, since i wont be able to buy anything at all before saturday anyways Cheers! Lycking

Not sure if i'm explaining this as i'm thinking it myself, but alot of stuff happening around me so i'm a bit confused at the moment Researching abit (3 hours) of the final wiring, am i getting a little bit confused about the tremolo and tremolo blocks. I spent some time looking at some strat assembly/disassembly videos, seeing some of them (don't remember if it was all of them) strung the guitars through the trem block inside the guitar. Is it a must to have a trem block inside, or is it only if youre actually going to use a trem system? Because i'm thinking either that the strings are "getting stuck" ((damn you english!).. the place where they fit in?) Therefore am i think if that is in the trem block itself, or in the bottom of the bridge, just going through the trem block(at least in the cases where the trem block was shown). I'm also wondering about the "Ground contact wiring", because it was soldered into the trem block, if you then dont need a trem block unless you are actually gonna assemble a trem system, where is that then soldered (or is it even necessary with the eart contact if you ain't gonna use trem)? I know this was some crap discriptions, but apperently can't i really get my english going today haha Also, looking at some pics of pre-cut strat bodies (not that i'm getting that, making my own) Do they all seem to have holes fitting a trem block. Is this just to make sure you can assembly one, or is it again because there must be one? Thanks in advance ! Lycking