Members 6down1togo Posted October 25, 2019 Members Share Posted October 25, 2019 I picked up a Strat body routed for 2 P90's a while back and finally sourced some parts and started work on it. Progress has been slow as my IBM ("Peter Frampton's disease") has been kicking my ass and allowing me fewer "good days" when I feel like doing anything. The body has a Chechen top and Cherry back. I left it au' naturale and did a Watco Danish oil finish on it. I was a bit undecided on a neck but wound up going with a rosewood over mahogany neck thinking P90's and mahogany necks always worked for Gibsons w P90's so why not here? The neck pictured in the first mockup pic is ebony over maple. It didn't make the cut and will be used on another project. The P90's have faux rosewood covers and I have rosewood knobs and tuners keys that will go on it.. I decided to veneer the headstock face with Chechen also. I stain-matched the neck to the Cherry back of the guitar and put a couple light coats of lacquer on the neck to make glue removal from the veneering process easier. I was kind of hacked that the body had some chip-outs around the pickup routes (see the first pic), but after working with the Chechen veneer, I can commiserate with the builder. Chechen is rock hard but splits and chips like crazy. Here is the plain headstock as I drilled out the tuner holes to accept the locking tuners. Being a master of "Ghetto Luthiery", I used a step drill (which is essentially a reamer) and drilled from both front and back partway through. I then used my Dremel to remove the remaining "step" inside the tuner holes with an appropriately sized abrasive stone tip. No drama, no chips or splits. I cut a piece of Chechen veneer about 1/4" oversize for the headstock face, steamed the veneer lightly with my Black and Decker steam iron while wrapping it around an aerosol can to shape for the cove of the headstock. I applied wood-glue to both surfaces, aligned the veneer at the edge of the fretboard, pressed the caul into place and applied small C clamps to hold everything overnight. IIn the true sporot of "Ghetto Luthiery". I padded the back of the headstock with a paint stir stick I got with my kitchen paint. lol You can see the block with the radiused end (caul) that I made to clamp the veneer to follow the cove of the fretboard to headstock face. Ghetto Luthiery Alert! Steaming veneer for neck cove contour I trimmed the excess veneer off with an Exacto knife, sanded the edges flush with a Dremel and drum sanding attachment followed by finish sanding. As you can see in the pic below, I had a small sliver of veneer chip away while sanding. I trimmed the split straight with an Exacto knife and glued a small scrap of veneer in with CA. Note that I left a convenient "tab" to hold the veneer in place while the CA set up instead of gluing my fingers to the headstock face. lol. More progress pics to follow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted October 25, 2019 Members Share Posted October 25, 2019 That top is fantastic, should be a real work of art when it's finished. Keep doin' what you do so well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted October 25, 2019 Members Share Posted October 25, 2019 Looks good so far. I also like the top. Keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted October 26, 2019 Members Share Posted October 26, 2019 I love assembling my own guitars. A few years back, I made a alder Randy Rhoads guitar body, based on my 1984 RR/ Jackson guitar. I shortened the Long Horn a bit and order a reverse 24 fret Jackson style neck from Dragonfire guitars. I love to watch people post pictures of their home assembled guitars and basses. Fun part, is the fact that if / when you do another home build you'll become a better builder. I get more satisfaction playing my home assembled guitars than my Big Brand guitars . Please post more pictures as you finish to complesion !!🤞🙏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VitoND Posted October 26, 2019 Members Share Posted October 26, 2019 That is a gorgeous lookin' guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6down1togo Posted October 31, 2019 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2019 Here is the finished headstock. I need to stain match the trussrod access bevel but am waiting to spray a couple more light coats of lacquer to seal off the endgrain inside so it doesn't go too dark. I walk the neck out to my deck, spray a light coat and then bring it back inside to dry. I added some character lines to the veneer with my Varathane stain pens to better batch the body too. I have 7 builds I have been working on and off for quite a while. I work on them when I feel like it and leave them sit when I don't. 2 are semi-complete just needing some final solder connections and one is a completed body w. set neck waiting to be assembled. Here's a pick of parts cabinet. Inside pick shows "kitted" bags of complete hardware and electronics for each project and also a pick of the 4 current projects. Why not start and finish one at a time you ask? Yeah, I know … crazy. Honestly, I complete the woodwork and finishing in my garage before the weather turns, leaving me these winter projects to assemble, wire and setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted October 31, 2019 Members Share Posted October 31, 2019 Quite a tasty hedstock Sounds like a good plan to have fun over the winter too, nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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