Rick500

I did a Strat sort of thing in tung oil, maple neck and swamp ash body. "Minwax Tung Oil Finish," I should say, not pure tung oil.

Turned out beautifully. Four applications on the neck, six or so on the body. I raised the grain, let it dry, lightly sanded, repeated two or three times, applied the oil with a lint-free paper towel (Bounty brand), let it dry, applied the next coat, let it dry, etc.

The neck couldn't be smoother.

My brain is not working. Must be the mineral spirits fumes.

Sorry, yeah, I meant mineral spirits. Mineral oil would be no good at all.

Only thing I can really add is that I've found that mineral oil is a solvent for Tru-oil. I'm guessing sanding will probably do it though.

Birdseye Burl top, Black Limba top, Black Limba body blank (looks much cooler in person!), and a Birdseye Maple body blank!

I tweaked it a little...this might be a little closer to real life?

And really awesome koa, Daniel!

Decent hardwood doesn't have to be too expensive.

You can make a perfectly serviceable solid body of poplar. You can check Home Depot for poplar, but you're probably not going to find any that's thick enough to use for a body without laminating a couple layers together (which is fine). Just be careful that it's dry.

If you have a Woodcraft, Rockler, etc. nearby, check there for maple, poplar, even basswood or cherry.

I like #1 and #3 as well. I've done a few just like #3, so if it were me I'd go with #1 for variety.

I actually have a few drawings of layouts like #1; I'm going to use that arrangement on something soon.

If your decal guys don't come through, think about getting in touch with Doug (HuntinDoug here on PG). He did some awesome laser cut metalized film logo decals for me.

Ooh, very cool! (Love that finish too.)

There's enough room near the top right of the cover as seen on that pic, to stick a guitar pick in there and pop it open.

I wonder if it wouldn't look better with the bottom swept the opposite way.

Yeah, lighter fluid is basically naphtha.

I've been using Stew-Mac wire with no problems. But I've heard people say it's hit-or-miss. Maybe they get it from more than one supplier.

I e-mail Jescar several months ago, and they will sell their wire in relatively small quantities (one pound) if you ask them.

Try Goo Gone. If that doesn't work, try naphtha. Both with first a scraper such as a credit card or a cabinet scraper, or a razor blade if those don't work.

If none of that works, sand it off and then refinish it with tung oil finish or Tru-oil.

Neodymium magnets. Thanks for noticing.

Yep, just get the ferrules from Stew-Mac.

No, I don't leave the body oversized. I'm by no means an expert or anything, that's just the way that works for me.

If you were a little off, it would be pretty easy to take a little off here or there if needed, to match it up, IMO.

But if you're as careful as you should be, it won't be a problem. Just make sure the neck and body templates share the line of the treble side of the neck in that area of the body, put the neck pocket template in the right place when you route the neck pocket, and you'll be fine.

If the template is right, they come out darn near perfect. Just some sandpaper to clean up.

Edit:

You're talking about the bit below the neck pocket though... I see...

I just made the neck and body template so that that part of the body has the same line as the neck.

Made the neck template first, body template second. (Or I might have made the body template first then adjusted it to the neck template; don't remember.)

I route the body shape first, then the pocket with a template. As long as it's a tight neck pocket, everything turns out fine with a little sanding once the neck's bolted on.

Edit: Just saw the pic you added. The bolt-on I did has the body running a little further up the treble side of the neck rather than ending at almost a 90 degree angle as it is in your pic.

Yeah, I was initially going to get the table extensions, but on the advice of some here, I didn't spend the extra $90.

Never regretted it. The table itself is plenty big enough for anything I'm likely to send through the machine.

I really the shape of that, stereordinary. Nice job!

I also looked at Steel City's version of the Jet/Performax 16-32 before I bought my Jet.

It's nearly identical except that it has a removable support for the open side. I didn't have a preference for one over the other; just got the Jet because it was on sale and also had a rebate at the time.

Haven't played it yet (it's a few weeks from being strung up for the first time), but I love the one I've been working on -- black limba with flamed maple and padauk, with a cocobolo fretboard.

I have the same one as in erik's pics, except it has a Jet sticker on it rather than a Performax sticker. It has a 4" port.

Surprised three or four people haven't posted it yet, so here ya go:

Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvyn Hiscock

First one that actually became a complete guitar (so... second build... ) :