slmguitars

Here is a pic of all three of my Strats hanging on the wall. I got everything wired up and done ready to be played, except I forgot to buy strings. I'll have to wait till the weekend to see how it sounds.

This was the first time cutting a scarf joint on a table saw, I normally just use my bandsaw. the tb-saw cutting height wasn't deep enough to cut all the way through the blank, so with a poorly thought out plan I thought I could cut half way and flip it around and cut the other half with my jig. Well I made a mistake and missed the mark which then resulted in the mess below. This is by far the worst scarf cut I ever done. On the next one I will probably stick to the bandsaw to cut the scarf joint. However, it was an easy fix with this sanding jig with a 12 degree angle. It took awhile but I eventually got it level and square. Unfortunately, I had to remove a lot of material and the neck blank is now a little too short so I have to add an accent piece in the scarf to obtain the required length.

The finish for the Strat is done. All that's left to do is to make the nut, some fretwork, install the pickups, and it will be ready to play. The pics were taken at night so sorry for the quality. It looks a lot better in person. Some minor damage to the finish near the neck pocket from removing the tape. I sealed the neck pocket later with Tru-Oil.

Well I just got some Fender Tex-Mex pickups for the Strat. It will probably be a couple of weeks before the Strat is dry and ready to buff and assemble. I am already growing impatient. As for the PRS, I got the neck blank squared and planned. Its plain maple with 1/4" padauk strips. Getting ready to cut the scarf joint at a 10 degree angle and route the truss rod channel.   

I hope I am not too late, but I had no problems installing cheap brass inserts I got from Ace into a maple/purpleheart strat neck I just built. I did it by hand with a screwdriver and some nuts. It is a pretty simple process. First, tighten the nuts above the brass insert to keep it from moving, screw it in, then to get the screw out just loosen the nut and unscrew. Just keep a steady hand, predrill the hole, and practice on some scrap first. below is a pic of what it should look like when you go to screw it in.

Thanks, Its really not that hard to do, just be careful not to go too deep or gouge the frets. I had no problems when I picked up and played on a scalloped neck, but I know some people who had a difficult time with it. It can take a little time getting use to it.

Thanks, I make plenty of mistakes, but I think trying to figure out a remedy for a mistake is probably the most challenging and rewarding part of guitar making. The whole Strat resurrection is turning out great. I think the "imperfections" in the neck is what is going to make this whole guitar. All I have left to do now is let the finish cure, buff, and assembly. Thanks, I kinda like how my mistake is turning out. I think you are right re softening up the recesses on the thick side.

Strat guitar update I have about two more clear coats left for the body and I just started the finishing process on the Strat neck. For the body I used the ReRanch spray cans, Sonic Blue and Lawrence-McFadden & Co. clear coat I used Tru-oil on the neck, only two thin coats so far.

Yep, I'm thinking of doing a blue, black, or red burst. Blue or black would probably be best at disguising it or I could try some type of inlay design. I never done any intricate inlay work before. At this point I am not sure on how I'm going to proceed. In the meantime I am going to work on the neck.

As promised here are some pics of my PRS copy build. Curly Maple top African Mahogany back Macassar Ebony fretboard plain maple neck w/ Paduk laminates Curly Maple headplate veneer 24 frets 25" scale length Inlay ??? Pickups ??? Grover Tuners Wilkinson Tremolo VS100 black bridge I got the Maple top awhile back and it had a really bad cup in the middle of the board. So I thought I would attempt to fix the cup and experimented by ripping down the center of the board almost all the way through to relive the pressure and then laminate a piece of curly maple down in the void. It worked to flatten the board so it would glue properly to the mahogany, but as you can see it left two noticeable lines along the top/bottom of the guitar after joining and carving the top. Lesson learned. Today I decided to recess the guitar knobs and after the first one I noticed my router was off-center from the hole resulting in an off-centered recess (it was a Bob Ross "happy little incident" moment). Next time I will cut the recesses and then drill the holes for the pots/switch. I decided to finish off the other two by purposefully doing the recess off-center and fix the look by sanding away the bottoms of the recess flush with the carved top resulting in something that looks a bit better.

I stared at the repair picture for about five minutes before I could spot it. Excellent work.

Quick update with a Warmoth soloist salvage/mod/neck build. I had this buried in my scrap pile where I forgot about it for about five years until it was uncovered yesterday. It was my brothers guitar he tried to finish, it didn't work, and to make a long story short it ended up in the trash with the neck pocket cut off, which is where I rescued it thinking that one day I will finish it and give it back. He had no idea that I took it out of the trash, so I think it will make a nice surprise. The body was a soloist made for a 22 fret guitar neck and had that uncomfortable squared neck heel. My plan is to convert it to comply with a 24 fret neck, so the neck pickup pocket is going to have to be moved a little closer to the bridge. Also, I am going to modify the neck heel/pocket to something similar to the Blue Strat above. First, I am going to plug the pockets, cut out the shape of the neck heel, re-route the pickup and neck pocket and finally build a new neck.  

I just finished the full neck scallop and repaired the missing fret dots on the third and fifth fret and added one on the 21st fret. I used a dremel contour sander to finish off the scallops. I remember I got the tool after seeing it on this site years ago and I have to say it is very useful for this job. Almost done with the neck, all that is left is some light sanding of the scallops and its off to finishing, fret work and the nut. Also, I leveled the color coat and began the clear coating on the Strat body.

Quick update, Just got some new project ready stuff; 1/2in Zebrawood, 8/4 Walnut, 6/4 African Mahogany, 8/4 wht. limba and 6/4 blk. Limba. I can get about three blanks from the 14.5inch piece of limba.

Thanks, I agree re imperfections. I hate when sales people find out I'm building guitars and they try to push their "instrument" grade wood that is free of imperfections, etc. and 10x the markup price. I just had a place refuse to tell me their bf price for some white limba because it wasn't their instrument grade stuff. It probably was a combination of routing/basswood, but I'm going to blame the basswood.

Thanks, overall I think I spent around $5 in material to make the neck, the wood was free so I am happy with it. No, i'm not exactly a rookie, but I am far from professional. The fret markers were the ones from StewMac. The funny thing is I forgot to lock the depth gauge on my drill press (rookie mistake) and drilled a little too deep, so I decided to go with a deeper scallop. I did lose the markers on the third and fifth fret and forgot to buy enough for the 21st fret. I will update later with a before/after fix. I got a PRS copy build next to the blue Strat with some mistakes I am going to post later.

Some quick updates. I set the dot inlay, leveled the fretboard, pressed the frets, and began the scallop.      

Thanks, after a couple of tries I finally got a post going with some pics. I may have missed it but what type of dye/finish did you use on this guitar?

Hello, this is my first build post (I had trouble with uploading pics, but I think I got it now). I began building several years ago but had to take about a 2½ year hiatus from building (graduated college and no job/money), but I am back at it and thought I would share some of my builds. The first pic is a Walnut/Maple Telecaster copy will Bill Lawrence Keystone Tele Pickups, finished in Tru-oil that I made for a present last Christmas. It was my first build back and I noticed my skills waned quite a bit in two year absence, but relearning is always fun. Below is my first ever guitar build a Strat style copy about 7 years ago made of Alder. There were many problems; scale length, neck pocket, neck heel, an ugly black/red polka dot paint job, etc. but I learned many things from that build and decided it was time for a revisit to fix the many mistakes I made. First, I had to plug the Tremolo cavity and neck pocket with basswood (never again) and reroute it. Next, I had to fix the jagged/squared heel and alter the body contours. I started to make a new neck laminated with curly maple and purpleheart. the purpleheart was scrap from an old project and the curly maple was a free piece thrown in an order I made. so overall not a bad deal. I decided to paint the guitar sonic blue. I still needs another color coat and clear coats. I am just using the paint cans from reranch.com and I am satisfied so far. I am still working on the neck. It has a two-way truss rod, and carbon fiber rods and a 12in radius. It has a plain maple fretboard that I plan to scallop. the dot inlay and fret install is next on the list to do.   

I have guitar envy now. That maple top is something else; it makes me want to return the quilt I bought a while ago and I really like what you did with the back of the headstock. This may be the wrong place to ask, but what do you have to do to post your own builds? I learned many tips from this site years ago and I just got back into building after a two year hiatus.

Well, this is my first ever post and I have to say that I really like how that double cutaway turned out. It looks classy.