So I finished my first guitar recently and now that I'm back at school I realize I could be spending more time at school in the shop working on a backup guitar. Since I want something that could be used for jazz it needs to have a classic look to it. It also needs to work as a backup rock guitar. I've found that I can get a very good rock sound from Stratocasters by using compression so I'm going to build one to use as my backup.
One of the notable things about this guitar is that the neckjoint is going to be all-access style similar to this. I've got a Floyd Rose Strat copy with such a neckjoint and I'm going to use it as a template to make a template out of some 1/4" masonite. I'm going to send for some 50's Strat templates as well.
For the neck I'm hoping to capture the feel of a Wizard II. Considering a fretboard is about 5mm, a truss rod rout is about 10mm (11 for a Hot Rod!), and a Wizard II at the thinnest is 19 mm, is it safe to just have 3-4 mm between the back of the neck and the bottom of the truss rod rout? I'd really hate to learn the truth the hard way. If any more experienced luthiers could comment I would really appreciate it. The headstock probably isn't going to tilt back if that makes a difference. It's going to be a maple fretboard with a 16" radius, medium-jumbo frets, LSR nut, and locking staggered post height tuners.
The body is most likely going to be alder. It seems like that would probably give the most well rounded (in genre terms) sound. I'm thinking about finishing it with lacquer but considering the delicate nature of lacquer and the sheer time it takes to cure, I'm leaning towards using polyurethane. It's going to be colored Dakota Red or something similar. I'm going to use a Wilkonson knife edge trem. I'm not really certain how to pinpoint really well where to drill for the anchors though, does anyone have any ideas? Perhaps it comes with a template?
I'm going to be posting pictures as I get things done. Any input or ideas for this guitar would really be appreciated! Thanks for reading this.