willliam_q

I had a look at the blank again and decided just to order another one, Carter guitars does a one piece poplar for £47 delivered. I’ll be able to use the smaller blank for when I eventually get round to doing a telecaster - it’s on the list of many, would like one in butter scotch blond but have a few others to build and do before then. If nothing else the wood will be well seasoned!

Yep @Bizman62 could try that too, I’ll have a look with my template this evening and try to decide what I’ll do.

The template will certainly help you and if there are markers on the template that can be good. A template it not a replacement for measuring. You will still need to measure the scale length and length of the fretboard etc to establish your nut placement. I wouldn’t rely on templates alone, I view templates that they are to get a rough shape close to where I want. Then measuring and shaping gets me the rest of the way. as you are new to this I advise looking up fletchers hand made guitars on YouTube. He has an excellent strat build series that will show you what to expect throughout.

I like it! Thanks Curtisa, never would have thought of that! Will give it a go.

I haven’t been on in a while what with new baby and all but starting a new project, just a basic 50s 60s style strat as I’m missing one in my stable. I bought a 2 piece poplar blank, stupidly without paying enough attention to the dimensions! It’s about an inch and a half too wide in one direction and an inch and a half too short in the other. The strat is going to be painted solid colour (sonic blue) so would it make any difference to cut the widest part down an inch and a half and then glue it on across the end grain to make the blank longer? It only needs to be enough to give me enough wood for the top horn. Picture below

I’m from the Uk so obviously the Australian climate is much different In my opinion the neck should never feel tight in the pocket. You shouldn’t need to apply pressure to get it to fit, but at the same time there shouldn’t really be any perceptible gaps when it is bolted together. Thats why we build for ourselves, as you’ve alluded already, the mass produced guitars sometimes don’t meet our standards. I had a similar issue with my last guitar on the next pocket, I made up a veneer and glued it in place, now there are no gaps and the veneer can’t be seen by the naked eye. The neck doesn’t feel ‘tight’ but fits like a glove.i think that should provide enough space for wood expansion. hope that helps

Looks great Scott. Yep, if you still have fingerprints when you are finished sanding...you’re doing it wrong!

I agree, love that blue burst. Is there a hint of pearl in it or is that just camera tricks?

Started work on the body. Didn’t do too much, just enlarged the trem cavity to make it uniform to fit a block into it. The block is from scrap alder from my 5150 project a few years back. the trem screws will likely be routed out or covered by the new trem so I’ll leave them unless I think it will show in the final finish. next step will be to add some wood into the swimming pool cavity to support the trem studs. I’m in two minds as to whether I should completely fill the swimming pool and the route the individual pickups or whether I should just add a strip of wood for support. Hmmm. The pickguard material arrived today, I’ve never made a pickguard before. It’s black/white/black 3 ply plastic. Any tips as to how I should cut it?

Not sure about the ‘ghetto’ suggestions above, the plan is to make the guitar better looking... I might have another problem though, I haven’t checked if the car parts shops are open. I might struggle to get paint for spraying. another covid distraction arrived today, a Mooer GE200 multi effects pedal. Looking forward to trying it out. Had to get it with a baby on the way I want to be able to practice through headphones!

A quick look on eBay and standard pickguard blank material can be got for around £15. Suitable carbon fibre material and almost 3 times that. Can’t really justify the extra given the original value of the guitar and the parameters of this project. so black material it is then ive ordered up some parts at the weekend and got postage confirmation the morning...I have to wait till the middle of June!! in the meantime I can crack on with sorting out the body routs and hopefully pickguard blank will arrive quicker than that.

My thoughts exactly. Yes can make a shim for neck angle as well. Might do that! Although I’m definitely thinking about swapping out the frets anyway as I really like Jumbos

I now need to order up a few things. the Nut with my Floyd is too wide, I need a 42mm nut. I think I’ll replace the tuners as well, there’s too much ‘patina’ on them for my liking! the Floyd Rose route will end up very close to the pickup cavity. I think I’ll need to block off the current cavity and route from scratch to allow it to sit right top mounted.

Lifted the guitar out for a first look, it’s not as bad as I thought but there will be a substantial amount of work to be done. I checked the truss rod and it’s still working. It needs a good clean first! neck isn’t as dinged up as I thought it was so will just come out with a bit of sanding. It feels surprisingly good! there is a bit of fret wear though. Still undecided if I should refret with Jumbos although the current frets look like some could be seated better. The body is very light. The moisture in the garage has definitely affected it, you can see the join lines coming through the paint. the neck fitment looks good but I noticed a hairline crack going through to the body cavity. Nothing that can’t be fixed. I don’t know what type of body wood this is, it scratches easily with my finger nails so thinking it’s basswood?

@curtisa yes it’s a budget Pacifica. The guy in music shop at the time told me the only difference was mines was made in somewhere like China vs the Pacifica being made in Korea...or something like that. Can’t remember the specifics. I’m sure the Pacifica has a bit more quality parts to it. im thinking black and yellow too. In terms of Carbon Fibre, I can get a yellow carbon fibre mat as well (on eBay) and could potentially layer black and yellow cf. when the pickguard is bevelled the yellow should show through. Could be great or it could be a mess....who knows I’ll think about where else CF could go but at the moment I think I like it just as the pickguard. And I love garish guitars, just don’t possess one yet so this will be a first