Build No 2

SteveF

Despite a few little niggles with my first build, I have decided to have a go at a second.  This one will be a Strat. Hoping to take the stuff I learned from the first build into this one. 

First up, template copies. 



A spot of thicknessing. 





Forgot to take some pics but got the blank jointed and glued. 

SteveF

Well, I had a whoopsie.  Got the body cut out and then went to the router table.  I thought I had cut sufficiently close to the line but as I was doing the cutaway the bit took a huge chunk out that goes way inside the line of the body and I don't think it's rescuable without changing the shape.  



Not to worry, I had some spare wood, so will use this body to practice the various carves etc. 

SteveF

Take 2: 







I thought I had bought a 1/2 inch rounder bit, but it seems not.  I have one on the way now though. 

Just a touch of tear out this time.  I think I should be able to sand it out mostly and maybe just pop a touch of filler in there if need be. Very tricky at the end of the horn. 

SteveF

Also got the truss channel routed and the neck cut out. 

Neilybob

Wow looks great. 

SteveF

Cheers Neilybob.  

Roundover bit was swift to arrive.  A big scary bastard but seemed to do a decent job.  Just got to finesse it a touch when I sand later. 

SteveF

So, question for the forum's guitar makers.  What method do you like for doing arm/belly contours? 

WezV

I normally just draw on the contours then rasp away with a shinto rasp, finishing with scrapers or files depending on the wood. 

SteveF

Thanks Wez, that does sound straightforward.  It's easy to go down the YouTube rabbit hole. Jigs to hold the body vertically at an angle to be able to use a bandsaw to remove the bulk and such. 

Roland

I’ve used a bandsaw to angle a whole body, but wouldn’t use one for a forearm chamfer. Maybe I’ll tilt the body, and use a router as a planer. Otherwise I’ve always used the same method as @WezV. I like to use electrical tape to help get curves which flow between the two chamfers:

I may also use a saw to establish the depth I need to go to:



Depending on the wood it can be surform, Shinto rasp, wood rasp, chisel, sander, cabinet scraper, whatever works.

SteveF

Bit of shaping done.  Needs a little finessing but getting there: 

SteveF

So, I had a little bit of a lesson (again).  The neck pocket and neck from the template set didn't fit and the pocket ended up too big (should have checked before I started - lesson learned).  Anyway, I then used some different templates and remade the parts. (Body is a bit of American Ash I got from G&W). 



The neck fit is nice and snug, but the body and neck templates came from different places and I now have this overhang.  



I'm not too worried - the neck is fitted centrally relative to the centreline, so I think it just needs flush trimming against the neck.  I am now just wondering about the best way to do it.  I was thinking secure the neck in the pocket with masking tape/glue (though it's pretty snug in there anyway) and use the router table with a bearing bit, but then worried about the transition into the cutaway. Maybe router up to a point and blend in to the cutaway with a spindle sander and by hand?  

Any thoughts? 

Roland

I like a curved end to the neck socket. You can achieve that by drawing the curve on the body, and then spindle sanding to it. Of course you’ll then need a curved neck plate like this example:

https://www.blackdogmusic.co.uk/product/curved-neck-joint-plate-in-chrome-black-or-gold/

SteveF

I do like those, but I still have a neck plate from when I botched the roundovers on the tele so I am going to go for a traditional Strat joint on this one. 

All sorted.  I carefully used the router table to ride the neck and flush trim the edge of the pocket, then used a spindle from the sander (but by hand) to smooth in the curve.  A touch of finessing to do when it comes to sanding, but I'm happy with that. 

LordOxygen

Hi, I have had tare out when routing the top of body horns. I no longer chance it, I cut as close as I can with the band saw and then hand / power sand to the line. it takes longer but eliminate the risk of tareout. 
Good luck with the rest of your project. 

SteveF

Good tip, thanks. I thankfully didn’t get any tear out on the ash blank, except for a tiny bit on the side that was sorted by the round over. I will keep that in mind for future projects though. 

SteveF

Busy month, but some progress made this weekend with the body contours and neck profile.  Gone for a bit more of a chunky profile this time. This is somewhere in the region of a 59 LP chunk.

SteveF

Lots (and lots) of sanding today.  Hopefully get to frets tomorrow. 



Quite happy with the neck profile on this one.  Gone for a bit chunkier this time. 

SteveF

Frets are in.  Didn't go totally to plan. I am not keen on my bevelling file - it seems to be easy to slip with it and I managed to gouge the top of some of the frets which meant I had to level down lower than I would have liked. I think it should be ok, but we will see. 

SteveF

Did a bit of wiring up of the scratchplate this weekend.  Starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel now. 

@OilCityPickups Stone Tone single coils and Forces Sweetheart humbucker.  If they sound as good as the Honky Tonk and Fortyniner in the Tele they will be fantastic.  

Gone with a volume, master tone and a neck blend pot to bring in the neck pickup in positions 1 and 2.  Also set it up to tap the humbucker in position 2 and used some resistors to try to let the single coils see 250k at the volume pot.  Not 100% sure on those, but if they make the taper weird, I can just remove the resistors easily enough.  So should have: 

1 - Bridge full (+neck on blend pot)
2- Bridge tapped (+neck on blend pot)
3- Middle
4 - Middle + neck 
5 - Neck

OilCityPickups

Very neat wiring job old chap ... my compliments!