Walnut strat build

Megii

The23rdman said:

Megii, keep the price down.

Pickups definitely yet to be decided anyhow 23rd... 

The23rdman

Jez6345789

Sounds a pretty dumb newbie question how do you post images here, can I link them from dropbox or is their an uploader iam missing

regards Jez

rpr

Jez6345789 said:

Sounds a pretty dumb newbie question how do you post images here, can I link them from dropbox or is their an uploader iam missing

regards Jez

Not sure about Dropbox, but in PhotoBucket you copy the direct link and paste it in the insert image icon at the top of the text box

TheOtherDennis

Megii said:

My sincere and embarrassed apologies Dennis!  ">

No problem, dear boy, no problem.

Jez6345789

Here is the Guitar Build walnut I started about 6 months ago, the intent was to avoid something that looks like your Nan's sideboard and to calm the sharp top end on walnut Strats, the intention was for a mahogany neck and some over wound pickups, classic strat style pickups on my mates Fender always sounded brittle in comparison to Alder or Swamp Ash. 

It was going well but I used the excellent raspberry dye I found in Spain with a Wudtone top coat. This looked great and actually toned it down a little. I worked on it through the summer left it to dry for a few months while away at trade shows and holidays. I stupidly decided I would try buffing the Wudtone out with a buffing compound, worked brilliantly except it went through the finish and was absorbed into the wood like grain filler leaving parts of it with a white patina in the grain. So it awaits a strip down and refinish. 

It is a lovely wood and takes finish and works nicely. I would defiantly look at grain filling this time. I am thinking about gold wood filler either on the raspberry dye or a blue. Also its a wood that benefits from wetting to raise the grain a few times when sanding. 

If you are looking for OK budgets pickups then have use Iron Stone on a couple of builds as suggested here. They are not in the realm of rarified air boutiques but for a cheap and pretty cheerful Strat tones I would also look at some of the Artec rails and the variations cheap as chips and not a bad rock sound. If you check ebay seller specs for K readings you can match a set to GFS little killers and get a good rail for not much money. I would definitely look at something a bit overwound to combat the maple and walnut brittle effect unless thats what you like.

regards jez

Hope this displays as the image is linked through dropbox

rpr

                                                               ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

juansolo

Megii said:

I guess that'll do for now! Oh yeah, and any tips re finishing walnut with Tru-Oil? I have some black grain filler - should I use that, or better to avoid and keep the wood looking more natural?

I used Wez's technique when doing my Baja Tele here: http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/bajage.html

You don't need filler with Tru-Oil. I didn't do quite as good a job as he did on my English Walnut Stratele, but it's not far away:

Megii

Jez6345789 said:

Here is the Guitar Build walnut I started about 6 months ago, the intent was to avoid something that looks like your Nan's sideboard and to calm the sharp top end on walnut Strats, the intention was for a mahogany neck and some over wound pickups, classic strat style pickups on my mates Fender always sounded brittle in comparison to Alder or Swamp Ash. 

It was going well but I used the excellent raspberry dye I found in Spain with a Wudtone top coat. This looked great and actually toned it down a little. I worked on it through the summer left it to dry for a few months while away at trade shows and holidays. I stupidly decided I would try buffing the Wudtone out with a buffing compound, worked brilliantly except it went through the finish and was absorbed into the wood like grain filler leaving parts of it with a white patina in the grain. So it awaits a strip down and refinish. 

It is a lovely wood and takes finish and works nicely. I would defiantly look at grain filling this time. I am thinking about gold wood filler either on the raspberry dye or a blue. Also its a wood that benefits from wetting to raise the grain a few times when sanding. 

If you are looking for OK budgets pickups then have use Iron Stone on a couple of builds as suggested here. They are not in the realm of rarified air boutiques but for a cheap and pretty cheerful Strat tones I would also look at some of the Artec rails and the variations cheap as chips and not a bad rock sound. If you check ebay seller specs for K readings you can match a set to GFS little killers and get a good rail for not much money. I would definitely look at something a bit overwound to combat the maple and walnut brittle effect unless thats what you like.

regards jez

Hope this displays as the image is linked through dropbox

Appreciate all that info, and cheers for taking the time to post jez! I think I'm probably looking at standard strat type of pickups rather than the rails, but take your point re options like the ironstones. That stain looks great I must say, although I'm kind of a natural wood look kind of chap myself - just down to individual taste there I guess.

Megii

juansolo said:

Megii said:

I guess that'll do for now! Oh yeah, and any tips re finishing walnut with Tru-Oil? I have some black grain filler - should I use that, or better to avoid and keep the wood looking more natural?

I used Wez's technique when doing my Baja Tele here: http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/bajage.html

You don't need filler with Tru-Oil. I didn't do quite as good a job as he did on my English Walnut Stratele, but it's not far away:

Funny - your Stratele actually came up when I was searching on Google images to find inspiration. Really nice job there! and stunning walnut book-matched top. No grain-filler you say - so was that using the technique of sanding with fine grit paper and Tru Oil to fill the grain? Gorgeous result anyhow...

juansolo

Yeah, Wez built the Stratele and finished it that way, I copied his technique on the Baja.  

It essentially boils down to this:

- Poly removed with a hair dryer, butter knife and pancake flipper ( obv you can skip this bit )

- Power sanded the body with 70 grit to remove the majority of the sealant/residue

- Hand sanded the rest with a load of 70 until it was just wood

- Then working up the grits until it got to 400 and it was smooth as a baby's arse. All still dry at this point.

- Apply a thick coat of oil over the entire body with a rag and leave to hang 24hrs.

- Then wet sanding with oil at 600 and buffing off. Did that twice. (watch Wez's video for the technique).

- Then 800, twice.

- Then 1200 about 4 times.

- After a thorough buffing, the wax was applied using 0000 wire wool and buffed off. Did this twice.

Now you could also sand up to 800, then apply the thick layer and leave 24hrs. Then apply a few more layers to taste buffing off every 15 mins after application. Then move on to the 1200 wet sanding.

Likewise instead of Tru-Oil you could use Danish (Wez recommends Rustins). They're available in different colours.

Products used:

Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil

Briwax Natural

Liberon 0000 steel wool

Lots of wet and dry and some horrible cheap pack of 70 grit sandpaper

Sanding block and soft sanding block

Wez at work:

The23rdman

OMG that looks stunning.

Expect an email soon, Megster!

Megii

juansolo said:

Yeah, Wez built the Stratele and finished it that way, I copied his technique on the Baja.  

It essentially boils down to this:

- Poly removed with a hair dryer, butter knife and pancake flipper ( obv you can skip this bit )

- Power sanded the body with 70 grit to remove the majority of the sealant/residue

- Hand sanded the rest with a load of 70 until it was just wood

- Then working up the grits until it got to 400 and it was smooth as a baby's arse. All still dry at this point.

- Apply a thick coat of oil over the entire body with a rag and leave to hang 24hrs.

- Then wet sanding with oil at 600 and buffing off. Did that twice. (watch Wez's video for the technique).

- Then 800, twice.

- Then 1200 about 4 times.

- After a thorough buffing, the wax was applied using 0000 wire wool and buffed off. Did this twice.

Now you could also sand up to 800, then apply the thick layer and leave 24hrs. Then apply a few more layers to taste buffing off every 15 mins after application. Then move on to the 1200 wet sanding.

Likewise instead of Tru-Oil you could use Danish (Wez recommends Rustins). They're available in different colours.

Products used:

Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil

Briwax Natural

Liberon 0000 steel wool

Lots of wet and dry and some horrible cheap pack of 70 grit sandpaper

Sanding block and soft sanding block

Wez at work:

Agree with 23rd, completely stunning. Thanks very much for the further information juan! Looking at the baja pics on your link, the grain does seem to have been brought out/darkened a bit somehow - that's not grain filler then? 

juansolo

Megii said:

Agree with 23rd, completely stunning. Thanks very much for the further information juan! Looking at the baja pics on your link, the grain does seem to have been brought out/darkened a bit somehow - that's not grain filler then? 

Nope, just Tru-oil. Only used that and wax on it.

Megii

juansolo said:

Megii said:

Agree with 23rd, completely stunning. Thanks very much for the further information juan! Looking at the baja pics on your link, the grain does seem to have been brought out/darkened a bit somehow - that's not grain filler then? 

Nope, just Tru-oil. Only used that and wax on it.

Came out great anyhow! and cheers for the help juan, much appreciated!

Jez6345789

Really nice finish and amazing how much the Tru oil has brought the grain up. 

I have spent the last few months messing around with dyes and pigments, oils and waxes and frankly should of just gone with straight Tru oil :-)

nice job

regards jez

Megii

Overdue for an update on this thread! Could not sit looking at that nice walnut body (cheers again Jooky!) for ever. So things have been happening...

I'm definitely going for a Tru Oil finish now, although I did flirt with the idea of Danish Oil briefly - tested some on a walnut offcut that Phil at www.guitarbuild.co.uk kindly sent me (actually he sent me several offcuts, nice man) and the results were frankly not what I hoped for or expected. Anyhow, prior to the finishing of the body, I like to get all the various fixing holes drilled, also the neck fitted and string alignment correct and checked - so in effect I'm kind of dry-assembling the guitar I guess, then will get the Tru Oil finish done, and assemble for real. So, just a few quick photos to get things up to date:

Fitted a Wilkinson WVP6 trem unit - has a modern appearance, but the vintage type of 6 screw fixing arrangement:

Also fitted a set of Wilkinson chrome machine heads:

Making sure the neck is aligned right in the pocket - neck is held lightly in place with a G-clamp (plus packing/padding to protect the guitar and neck), plain strings fitted to the outside slots, and I can make sure the strings are aligned correctly down the length of the neck:

Was then able to mark through positions to drill fixing holes in the neck heel, and attach the neck to the body:

Getting the scratchplate sitting in the right place - then marked through the fixing holes, so I can drill all the little holes needed. Also had to do a bit of work modding the cut out for the trem to get it to the right dimensions:

Took delivery of pickups yesterday - these are from Chris Hernandez/Wound 4 Sound in the states - they are an alnico 2 set, 42 gauge wire, and wound pretty hot, but also with a tap for a more vintage output. After some thought, I was after something still stratty, but also with a beefier, fatter kind of aspect to the tone. I'm planning to have a row of 3 little toggle switches to give independent control of the tap on each pickup. Other points that may be of interest - they are all wound the same way/magnet polarity, so no RWRP middle. Also plain enamel insulated winding wire, and the magnets are flat-topped with no stagger, and not too high. The DC resistance specs are:

Neck 5.7K & 7.26K

Middle 5.8K & 7.6K

Bridge 6.32K & 8.5K

I removed the cover on the middle pup just for that first pic, but very carefully, as the windings are really really close to the cover, and equally careful putting it back again! The covers are just staying right where they are on the other 2 pickups - would be a real shame to wreck one just because I was curious! Would also like to say respect to the pickup makers on this forum - it's just that I've used Chris Hernandez (aka Wound 4 Sound) before, and just wanted to stick with him for this project.

Well, there you have it - a quick rush back up to date. I've also been running more detailed build blog posts here if you are interested in the nitty gritty of what I've been doing - currently up to part 11. Cheers chaps!

juansolo

That's going to be awesome. Looks lovely already!

Megii

juansolo said:

That's going to be awesome. Looks lovely already!

Cheers! - it was such a nice-looking lump of walnut with the variation in grain and interesting bands of flame.  I think as long as I choose the parts reasonably well, I can't lose tbh. Really want to get this one completed now, having got to the stage where I can see what it will look like. Not going to be outrageously heavy either, which is good.

chillidoggy

I can't get my eyes past that walnut, it looks superb.