Members Vantango84 Posted February 23, 2009 Members Share Posted February 23, 2009 good idea, but it doesnt work out if you ask me, i tried one of the fender mahogany strats and i just didnt like the tone, it was kinda dry sounding, oh well, hopefully yours will turn out better I've got a majogany Peavey T-26 which is essentially a strat copy, and it sounds divine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bowen Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 OK, so it's been a while since I've updated this. I received a stratload of parts from guitarfetish so I'm off and running again.Black parts on unfinished body. I think that it will look good with all black hardware, pickguard, pickups.The neck is radiused to 14" and I've started to build up some nitro lacquerThe body is grain filled. I'm using the water based filler from LMII then adding some carbon black powder from the local art store to darken it up some. I tried using epoxy finishing resin with carbon black but it was so hard to sand level again that I ended up sanding through the grain fill. The epoxy was too thick I believe.Here the body is sanded again. I sand to 400 grit. At this step you have to go over every inch of the wood to make sure that you do not have any scratches and the endgrain looks clean.I did no get any pictures of the neck step. I used a 3lb cut of garnet shellac to add some color to the wood and as a sanding sealer. Again, look over the body very closely for imperfections. If you miss something here it will be a lot of work to fix it later.Starting to spray nitro lacquer. I'm using lacquer from Sherwin Williams thinned to spray with a Preval sprayer. Before shooting lacquer I run a shop air filter for a while to get the dust out of the air. I ended up with a little dust in the finish anyhow. I'll sand that out in a couple of days when I level the lacquer.I stopped keeping track of time....Next step, fretting and carving the neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stricken Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Are you a professional? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bowen Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Are you a professional? Right now this is just a hobby, although it pays for itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chiro972 Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Strange process when you lacquer the neck but you haven't even cut the back contour or fretted the thing or drilled the tuner holes yet. Why did you do that? Not that I am any expert, but having seen lots of build threads, I've never seen anyone do it in that order before. Clearly you know what you're doing, I just don't understand the order of those steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 So you decided to flat saw the maple neck instead of 1/4 saw which is very popular at the moment. Any reason in particular? Gorgeous guitar. I think a tortoise guard would look killer with the black parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pak066 Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 great stuff. love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Nice thread man. Really enjoy watching it come together. She is going to be a beautiful axe. What pickups have you gone with? Billyl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Runn3r Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Bowen...awesomely documented build thread......i am doing a hotrod truss install in a new neck in the same manner to how you have done yours...and your pics give me confidence it is the right (read: easiest) way to do a one piece neck where ya dont want ppl fiddling with the adjustment nut willy nilly...beautifully executed work ...also like the way you did the belly carve out/cutaway and the daddo stage pre-cutting fret slots is quite neat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bowen Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Some answers: I put finish on the headstock and fingerboard at this stage because of this convoluted reason: When I carve a neck without frets installed it always comes out too thick. I carve by feel and it is hard to feel the profile accurately without the frets. This neck will be carved with the frets installed as an experiment. I like to finish maple fingerboards before the frets go in, hence finishing before carving. I usually drill the tuner holes before finish but using brad point bits will allow me to drill without chipping the lacquer. quartersawn vs flatsawn. With maple you don't need to worry about expansion/contraction very much at all. Eastern maple stiffness is identical flatsawn vs quartersawn (I have done a deflection measurement on 1 1x1x12 sample and a 5lb weight with the same wood this neck is from) The reason I went with flatsawn is primarily for the look of the grain on the fingerboard and one less glue joint to do. (my shop hardly ever gets above 50 degrees so the less gluing I have to do, the better) As far as the pickups go, I am undecided. The pickuard is a pre-wired unit from guitarfetish ($35 or so). I'll change the pickups out when I decide exactly what I want. I have a low output SSS strat, so on this new one I'm leaning towards a pickup set with a bit more heat. Thanks again for the compliments... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vantango84 Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 I have a low output SSS strat, so on this new one I'm leaning towards a pickup set with a bit more heat. hog strat with hot pups works for me:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jamiegaskin Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 way cool, nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dcindc Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 The neck looks like it was dipped in honey. wood! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bowen Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Bowen ...awesomely documented build thread... ...i am doing a hotrod truss install in a new neck in the same manner to how you have done yours...and your pics give me confidence it is the right (read: easiest) way to do a one piece neck where ya dont want ppl fiddling with the adjustment nut willy nilly ...beautifully executed work ...also like the way you did the belly carve out/cutaway and the daddo stage pre-cutting fret slots is quite neat Thanks,The truss rod route did not go exactly as planned though. The stewmac rod is 7/32" wide, I used a 1/4" router bit and I was not going to worry about the 1/64" inch gap on either side of the rod. Well, the 1st pass of the router bit in the table got me a .250" wide slot. The 2nd pass widened the slot to .261, and so on. As it turns out the Porter Cable 690 router that I use in the table does not rotate perfectly concentrically in it's base when I adjust the height, leaving me with a wider slot: .269". To correct for this I put a dado in the middle of the purpleheart strip for the truss rod to sit in. The sides of the dado ended up being ~ .003". That is pretty delicate tablesaw work that I would not care to repeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 quartersawn vs flatsawn. With maple you don't need to worry about expansion/contraction very much at all. Eastern maple stiffness is identical flatsawn vs quartersawn (I have done a deflection measurement on 1 1x1x12 sample and a 5lb weight with the same wood this neck is from) The reason I went with flatsawn is primarily for the look of the grain on the fingerboard and one less glue joint to do. (my shop hardly ever gets above 50 degrees so the less gluing I have to do, the better) I wish I were unemployed How weighty is the Hot Rod. I still can't figure out how it works from the photo. Maybe I'll have to read something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Runn3r Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 hot rod works two ways .. turn to tighten (clockwise) and it curves up counteracting the string tension (ie counteract typical up bow)...what actually happens is that the bottom rod pulls the anchor nut tht is furtherst away towards the anchor-nut where the adjustment nut is...this then forces the upper rod to curve up.. turn to loosen (it will actually tighten the other way--counterclockwise) and it curves down to counteract a back bowing situation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members STROOTH Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Great work mate, can't wait to see the final product.Would love to have the skill to do that. I'll just stick to making timber fishing lures I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bowen Posted March 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 BTW, anyone interested in building, I HIGHLY reccomend GALs Big Red Books. There are 5 volumes at about 500 pages each with more lutherie information that you would believe. The set would cost you the price of a used MIM strat though. -not affliated with GAL, just a fan of their publications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Electric Blues Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Bowen! Congratulations on the great work you're doing and thanks very much for the time and effort you've put into this thread!:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowbrow Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 That is looking gorgeous! Love the mahogany! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey_impact Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Freakin amazing work man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members atrox Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 I wish I were unemployed How weighty is the Hot Rod. I still can't figure out how it works from the photo. Maybe I'll have to read something Some people consider them flimsy. i have used a few and they work great for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members atrox Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 One thing I have noticed on some of these builds is that the arm contours are being done at a straight angle. I personally think that is 100% fine. In fact, i like the look. However, on a real Strat the contours are curved a bit. Like I said, just pointing it out, i happen to think the angular look is nice as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sweet Jeebus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hanglow Posted March 10, 2009 Members Share Posted March 10, 2009 nice build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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