prs man

way over priced it is a strat no big deal there are a lot of nice strats out there. for the money you can buy more guitar for your money.

when I look at this guitar it reminds me of my younger day I love the old VanHallen. and when Eddie is hot it's magic. the guitar looks like it was put together just in time to play [go to the gig ] ask any player that has got to the gig and had trouble with there guitar it might end up looking something like this.

from what I have read and maybe others have read the same thing. this was a low budget guitar when first built in the late 70s and what ever worked at the time was it. now it is being reproduced for a inflated price.

I'm with jmrentis on this one try and find your own creation [Frankenstein of you own design] then when people ask you what kind of guitar you play you can say with all the pride in the world I built this guitar

I have used home depot and never had any trouble

Sawdust generator http://www.setchellguitars.co.uk/ant/blog/

I just finished building the saw dust generator and it work awesome.

it took a little time to build and tweek it in. but I have carved a top out in no time. still a lot of hand work but well woth building

aluminum and copper are soft you should have no trouble.

I have some copper wire and will have to try it.

I use all porter cable router with no trouble. I have 3 of them the correct router for the correct job. I guess it depends on what you want to use it for. from looking at the skill I say it's made for light duty routing. buying a Dermal will never do what a router will You need some horsepower. the dermal work great for small stuff and has there place in guitar building.I would save and buy a better router and you will be a happy camper

don't expect amazing tone out of a plastic body I played one and first it was the heaviest with no tone. yes they look cool I say if there hanging on your guitar room wall. you might find it to be a cool project. if you can build it then I say go for it and good luck to you

poplar will be fine And they glue well together with no trouble.

be sure you have a good clean glue surface. if this is going to be a painted then the color of the wood is not a problem. if your going for a clear finish one thing I would look for is poplar that is all the same color.

poplar has a tendency to have different colors running through it. green and purple dark streaks.

I have made a blood wood finger board with no trouble.

slotting it first then roughed it out with a hand plane then went to the radius block using 80 grit. then inlay and finish it off with 120 grit then 180 and so on until your at a nice smooth finger board.

Jon good idea using the L-shaped piece of metal for a guide.

good looking nice choice of woods I say

looking at the last picture the neck tenon is into both pickup cavities.

how long is your neck tenon.

I have played a carvin with Active/Passive and they sound great. [this is a high output.]

the active/passive rocks and there is a few different sound you can get when using there basic switching system.

one thing to keep in mind carvin has a couple different pickups the guitar I played had m22 pickups.

I bought a set of there twin blade [ there hot rail ] vary happy with them when I bought them they cost $55

each.

birch core plywood works vary well but a little expensive [ you get what you pay for]

if the cab is a closed back be sure to port it so your speaker have room to breath.

I like the first one it looks like a carvin carve top.I think when the strings go through the body like the first one there is more sustain.

I'm not much into the bigsby tail piece thing on the 2nd but if it plays good then I say cool.

there is pigment you can get to mix in your lacquer that you can get any color you might want.

try stew Mac and wood craft.

I just bought some at wood craft and it works great.

a small bottle is $5 and you only need a drop to do the job

I work for a office furniture company in Michigan and that price sound good to me.

I just checked a local wood store and 2 inch mahogany is 11.16 board foot.

the same size piece of mahogany would be 280.00 here in Michigan

for a body blank for a fender strat/tele your looking about 40.00

if it is still available I would get it.

you will have enough for a few projects not to mention ribbon mahogany is vary nice stuff.

carvin twin blade is a nice one check out there web site

duncan 59 strat pickup for bridge is a rocker

DiMarzio's or duncan.I use more duncan then anything. J.B. in the bridge and 59 in the neck is one of my favorite

try and find guitar that has the pickups you want to try and play them all.

tru oil is a hand rub on finish you should find it at your local home depot. tru oil would look cool on this project.

I know this is used on gun stocks and I have seen some nice gun stocks

I slot the finger board then radius then cut to shape then sand 180,220,400 grit.

thanks for explaining the neck angle in the heel.looks great I like the router fixture you used.

I'm using Wilkinson wrap around bridges. you replaced your Wilkinson with a bass ass.

was there something wrong using the Wilkinson

capu vary nice work.

tell us howe long have you benn building.

what angle did you use on the neck pocket to go with the wrap around bridge.

was it on the neck pock or on the neck heel.

one other spoke shave that is a good one is lee valley I think you buy from them direct. the one thing I liked about the lie Nielsen is how nice it is balanced and it is ready to go out of the box

from looking at lee valley web site they look a lot like the lie Nielsen.

I use a lie Nielsen with no trouble. a sharp spoke shave is a must.

A cheaper less $$ spoke shave might be the way to go until you find what works for you.

I would start with the hard tail and get all your learning steps down.

sound good to me.

the Duncan p90s are a nice sound depending on what your going for.

the p90 stack have a lot of gain that might be worth thinking about.

my opium is the vintage p90s have a strat kind of tone with a little extra output.

check out Duncan's web site for sound clips that might help.

if it still cuts you should be good to go. just take small cuts

if your using a high speed steel bit

what might have happened is the metal heated up and it may have taken some of the hardness out of the

steel bit. you might notice it getting dull faster.

if this is a carbide tip then you should have no trouble.