My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

[AlexR]

I really like my strats.

I've got probably about 4 or 5, with different woods and pickup combos.
What I don't have yet is a p90 strat, nor do I have one that is double bound, so why not combine both quirky strat builds into one guitar!!

I've recently done a few projects.....starting with just painting, and then having to do some serious woodwork with a BYOG LP that had a badly made tenon/mortice. Now I've crossed over to the darkside.....building from scratch! I've got a few tools, and have built a bench setup for the router to sit underneath. With the purchase of some templates I was ready to go - kind of.

I already had a lot of the hardware.

Pickups - check
Trem - had the block and saddles from an Am Std strat I upgraded. Just needed the baseplate.
Electrics - check

I then (in May) ordered some wood and a completed neck from B. Hefner. God bless them, they do some nice parts.....but requests or a speedy turnaround are just beyond them. The wood finally arrived last week!! I've almost got my 336 clone to a stage where its ready for painting, which has been a stalled build and quite complicated........and that wood was ordered at the same time from Stewmac
Also - instead of a nice centre seam 2-piece body as I requested on the order, I get a 2/3 seam with different colours. This is in addition to a premade body I got that not only came with both an off-centre seam and different coloured wood, but a diagonal joint!!

Anyhow after the disappointment I think 'so much for a transparent finish' at this point. The only solid colour dye I have is black....so looks like I'm painting black.

I then had some tearout in the last pass of the body shaping.....and on the top too. Its just fractionally too much to be taken up by the binding channel, so why not multi-laminate binding. I've got some black and white strips coming for my next build, so 3-ply w/b/w on front and back would look great.

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

So in effect, this will be a Black Beauty strat

 

[darnright]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

That's great!! Wish I had the talent to do that. I build the kits, but you are actually building the guitar! Can't wait to see the finished product!

-dave

 

[kramersteen]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Cool man. i love chipping up timber its fun.

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Thanks all......and summer is coming so I'll be able to get some finish on it.

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Nice I am going to follow this thread.

 

[JordanM82]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Can't wait to see how this turns out. Great idea! I already want one.

 

[youngthrasher9]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Holy ****ing ****! That is a GENIUS build idea, dude. It looks awesome already.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

You goofed!!!

You made it backwards!

Didn't anyone ever teach you..."measure it twice and cut it once"?

Oh, maybe you're going for the Hendrix look.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Wow, wonderful stuff. That should end up as a lovely-looking guitar.

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Thanks all. Its amazing......I've also been doing some long/tortured work on a 336 clone. This has taken ages to get to a point where the body is done......the strat took 1 day from raw lumber to fully routed body, and another 2 to being bound and then sanded.



strat progress : neck is tinted, but my picture doesn't want to upload
And a shot of the hardware. Nothing like a stock of spare parts 'just hanging about'

 

[Chocklit_Thunda]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Wow! Where'd you get the 336 body?
Looking forward to the progress

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

336 is another build......both the spalted maple top and mahogany body blank were from Stewmac. I got a couple of template kits....the 336 was the first wood to arrive. Neck is almost complete - just have to do the frets and binding then I can glue it in.

 

[Chocklit_Thunda]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

336 is another build......both the spalted maple top and mahogany body blank were from Stewmac. I got a couple of template kits....the 336 was the first wood to arrive. Neck is almost complete - just have to do the frets and binding then I can glue it in.

It looks amazing! Tell me, does that spalted maple also have some flaming? Because that would be epic!

 

[ChAoZ]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

looks very nice - apart from the decal

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

It looks amazing! Tell me, does that spalted maple also have some flaming? Because that would be epic!

There is some flame to the spalt, you can kind of see it in the shot......I've got dulled down sanding sealer on the top to get it ready for the first coats of nitro so its not as obvious as it should be.

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Updated 'beauty' shot.

I've put the thing together....as a dry build. Checked the alignment of the neck and its within a mm of being perfect with the bridge...thats good enough for me!

ChAoz - I hear you on the decal - its the only bit I'm not 100% on. It was a leftover from another build. The only problem with lefty strats is the decals never work on the headstocks properly.

 

[ChAoZ]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

You do very nice work - why give fender the credit? - time to design your own logo

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

You do very nice work - why give fender the credit? - time to design your own logo

+ another

Looks Great!!!

 

[AlexR]

Re: My budding luthery skills - a strat build.

Time for an update!!

We've finally had some clear, warm days....and I've also got lacquer again - so I've got some clear and colour on.

The body is Stewmac liquid black mixed in clear. The first few passes must have just been finishing some of the previous clear used for the neck. It was looking like I'd have to do several passes, but soon enough the solid colour arrived, and 1 coat would have been enough actually. There are some surface irregularities though, so I have shot some clear over the top, and will sand back level and then do another black coat so the colour is as level as possible. After that it will be scraping the binding and final clear.

The neck got many coats of clear. It seems to be very rough or absorbant maple, as there are still lines in the fretboard where its not quite flat yet. I may well lie it flat to do the final passes.

A note on compressor fittings: It certainly makes a difference having non-leaking ones. The previous coupling I had must have been out of spec - in the end more air was leaking out than going through the gun. The quality of coat is now much better. I can almost get away without sanding in places.