Hardtail Strat (Mustang) bitsa project - Frets are in!

DrBob

hollywoodrox said:

DrBob said:

I love how what started out as GAS for a Kramer Jersey Star has mutated into a 3 Humbucker Mustang, which by the way is so much the cooler guitar. Any chance of a vid of you playing Bad Medicine or Runaway on it ?

Hey let’s not get carried away, a Kramer jersey star is infinitely cool

Yeah, you’re right, I was getting a bit caught up in the moment !
Although that said I do prefer that body shape in paired with a single,slanted bridge Humbucker and the bigger, rounder “hockey stick” headstock in “1984” spec

paulnb57

Got a bit of spare time today, and wasted a significant part of it searching for the collet and nut for my Dremel.
I removed the flexdrive and its driver, then couldn’t for the life of me remember where I put the collet and nut.....I had the shed out, the guitar bits boxes out, I cursed and swore, then logged on to order new, when I realised the collet and nut were on the other end of the flexdrive, my how I laughed!......
Anyroadup I scored round the stars with a scalpel and went at it with the Dremel router with a .8mm bit, didn't go exactly to plan, it got away from me a bit on occasion, followed the grain and the routs are much larger than I hoped, however I’m still sharing a photo so we can see what happens when epoxy and sawdust mixed is thrown into the equation, it might be ok, it might be a disaster! On the plus side I didn't break the tiny little bit...
Fingers crossed!

MattNovak

Looks great @paulnb57 ! The minimal stars would be cool without any other dots too.

paulnb57

You're too kind Matt! Agree it would be good without the rest of the dots, but the holes need filling and dots are easiest.....If it look terrible I have a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a Weasel

Andyjr1515

Great job, @paulnb57 ; !  Doing stars are amongst the most difficult - these look great

WezV

they will be fine.  You see much worse routing on factory inlays

paulnb57

Andyjr1515 said:

Great job, @paulnb57 ;; !  Doing stars are amongst the most difficult - these look great

WezV said:

they will be fine.  You see much worse routing on factory inlays

Well, that fills me with hope, I thought they were terrible! Epoxy arrives Wednesday, it will be interesting to see how it goes...
...and the a new adventure, fretting!

paulnb57

Got a hour to spare this evening, so mixed slow set Araldite and Rosewood dust (thanks @Andy1515) and epoxied the stars and dots in...slowly moving forward....

paulnb57

Am hour in the sun, bloody hell it’s hot! and the fretboard, dots and stars are sanded, fret slots have been cleaned out with the Crimson fret saw....gotts say Im pretty happy with it for a first go at inlays!

paulnb57

Frets are in!

My engineers file is at our woods and I have to go to the North Island tomorrow to deliver our campervan to its new owner.....stopping over til Sinday, so no more progress until next week..I’m on a roll too!....Ill probably wick some thin superglue down the fretslots too...

MattNovak

Looking good Paul! 

paulnb57

MattNovak said:

Looking good Paul! 

Far better than I dared hope!

MattNovak

Its like an optical illusion - my brain ''auto completes'' the dots to stars. Oh, neck plate is in the post too - it was my 40th on Tuesday but normal service has now resumed  

paulnb57

MattNovak said:

Its like an optical illusion - my brain ''auto completes'' the dots to stars. Oh, neck plate is in the post too - it was my 40th on Tuesday but normal service has now resumed  

Thanks and Happy Birthday!

paulnb57

A bit more progress, wicked superglue down the fret ends, filed the ends off, rounded the fret ends, levelled and polished.....
Routed the body to a swimming pool, no photos as its a bit rough (I know why @Andy1515 hates routers as it got away from me on one occasion, so I have to fill a booboo....