Help: Building on a budget

[G.g.]

I recently bought some flamed maple (1" thick and enough for 3 necks) and alder (for 3 two-piece bodies)

I know what i want to build (2 strats), but i have 1 extra set of wood.

Need some ideas to build the third strat on a budget. What i want is a SRV-like strat. Any ideas on hardware, pups etc... (didn't Stevie had a dummiecoil in his #1?).

Flamed maple (bit dirty and muddy):



The alder:



Any ideas are welcome

[teonigil]

Be carefull with the maple as it's not quartersawned.
+ flamed maple is usualy softer, and when not quartersawned, will
produce a non stable neck!
see here: http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/w...uartersawn.htm

good luck with your project

[Gravity Jim]

My former guitar tech (now a partner in a guitar building company)used to tell me that the wood of the neck really didn't matter all that much in terms of stability. "Don't worry about the wood... there's a big ol' steel rod inside that neck that holds it in shape," sez Greg.

ALso, the link provided is for woodworkers who are building furniture (no steel truss rods there).

Finally, here's a quote from that link:

"If you are buying your lumber kiln dried, then you will have less to worry about." The link makes the point that if you are buying naturally dried and aged lumber, and building furniture, then quartersawn lumber is marginally more stable than other lumber. But if you're using kiln dried wood, as the guitar companies do, then the stability is about even between various types of lumber.

So in a guitar neck, I honestly don't think it makes a difference. My flame-y non-quartersawn Warmoth neck is so insanely stable I only set the guitar up every other year.

[brownbagg]

you do know you can buy all that, already cut out. the grizzly tool magazine has a kit

[teonigil]

My former guitar tech (now a partner in a guitar building company)used to tell me that the wood of the neck really didn't matter all that much in terms of stability. "Don't worry about the wood... there's a big ol' steel rod inside that neck that holds it in shape," sez Greg.

ALso, the link provided is for woodworkers who are building furniture
(no steel truss rods there).

...
So in a guitar neck, I honestly don't think it makes a difference. My flame-y non-quartersawn Warmoth neck is so insanely stable I only set the guitar up every other year.

1. With all due respect to your old guitar tech, top quality necks are all quarter sawn (pre-cbs, custom shop, all high end builders, etc).

2. The link I provided is only for demonstrating the way the lumber is cut. You will find many pages on that issue that are guitar related of course.

3. "Stability" is mostly used to describe a NON warping neck, which has nothing to do with the truss rod. BTW, a very stable neck doesn't
even need the yearly rod adjustment unless you live in an extreme environment.

My point was, that if you build from scratch, it's only a few $$$ more for a quarter sawn wood, so why take any chances???

[G.g.]

My point was, that if you build from scratch, it's only a few $$$ more for a quarter sawn wood, so why take any chances???

I have around 7 strats at this moment en none of them have a quartersawn neck. Fender doesn't use quartersawn wood for the necks. They only use it on the EJ and i think that's why the EJ sounds so crappy.

Quartersawn is nice with the weaker kinds of wood like Mahogany in a Les Paul neck etc..... For strats there is absolutely no need to use quartersawn, flatsawn will do just fine

[teonigil]

Fender uses qs for the high end custom shop guitars and they used it in the good old days (pre-cbs). It's usually not an issue but qs *is* better.

[Kap'n]

I'm pretty sure Fender has always used flatsawn wood for its necks.

[Gravity Jim]

I just can't imagine that Leo Fender used quartersawn wood. He was staunchly anti-waste, and wouldn't have paid a red cent more for materials than he had to. Not to mention that this is the first time I have ever heard a claim that early Fenders had quartersawn necks.

[G.g.]

Not to mention that this is the first time I have ever heard a claim that early Fenders had quartersawn necks.

You are right Gravity Jim, it's B.S.!!! Fender used flatsawn. There might be a neck that's quartersawn, but that will be done by mistake. Flatsawn is cheaper, en Leo Fender was somebody that didn't want to wast the wood.

Here are the 3 blanks i roughly cut out today: (the two at the bottom have a nice flame)

[Offshore Angler]

Flatsawn is fine. It's what's on all my Fenders. And Gibsons, and my Phantom, and my Carvin, and ...

[teonigil]

I just can't imagine that Leo Fender used quartersawn wood. He was staunchly anti-waste, and wouldn't have paid a red cent more for materials than he had to. Not to mention that this is the first time I have ever heard a claim that early Fenders had quartersawn necks.

I just double checked, all my pre-cbs guitars and basses are qs. I'll try to dig more info to resolve the issue and post it soon. I do know for a fact that all master built instruments in the fender custom shop are qs.

[Gravity Jim]

Whatever. I still think you're wrong.

[NeoFauve]

Some vintage Fender necks may be 1/4 sawn, but I've never heard or read anything that implied that it was a specification.
Sure, the CS spec's it now...

Masterbuilders recreating the 1950 massproduction of Leo's workforce.

[G.g.]

Made a supertight gluejoint:





Next week i'll do all the routing and i will order a bunch of hotrods an fretboards at Stew Mac (1 maple, 1 rosewood and 1 ebony, to bad they don't have pau ferro).

[blueman61]

I think that quartersawn wood matters more if you are using a vintage style single trussrod. If you are using a more modern double rod, flatsawn works just as well. Some folks really like the tonal difference of the vintage rod. If you do, use quarter sawn wood. I have had necks with rods and wood of both persuasions and with a vintage rod and flatsawn wood, there were regular seasonal trussrod adjustments necessary. With double rods, I can change string guages and the neck doesn't move. Don't know what Leo used most of the time (seen both), but this has been my experience with both replacement necks and necks I've built from scratch.

blueman61

[G.g.]

Next two weeks no time for woodwork, so i did a lot today:





I think it will become a nice fender clone. I think i'll spray it Candy apple red, relic it, refinish it with Foam Green or Graffity Yellow or Daphne Blue and do some more relicwork on it.

[_john]

That sweet G.g.-Nice looking chunk of wood!

I always wanted to build from scratch, went so far as to buy a book and shop out some wood but haven't yet.

Where did you get the templates though? Or did you have to make them?

[G.g.]

Where did you get the templates though? Or did you have to make them?

Found the drawings at www.cnczone.com (use the search, and you'll find them) They are on a 1:1 scale, so you only have to print them, glue them together and cut them out. I draw them on 6 mm multiplex and 3 templates (1 body outline 1 routing frontside, 1 routing backside and NO neckpocket) The neckpocket will be routed when the neck is finished, so i'll have a garanteed 100% fit.

[G.g.]

My Stew Mac order is now in a plane, can't wait.....

Did some work on the neck:





reliced some mint plastics:





And thes parts are now in water, salt and vinegar to age 40 years in 1week:



Can anyone help me pick the right GFS set for a SRV sound?

[Tonedog]

reliced some mint plastics:





And thes parts are now in water, salt and vinegar to age 40 years in 1week:



Can anyone help me pick the right GFS set for a SRV sound?

Did you use shoe polish on the plastic?

You might want to take the input jack out of the jack plate... I never age the guts of the input jack... it just makes it work crappy.

[G.g.]

Did you use shoe polish on the plastic?

No, yellow okre ink and a bit of black ink, looks now like this:





Filled the scratches in the pickup covers with a pencil and wiped out the rest.

You might want to take the input jack out of the jack plate... I never age the guts of the input jack... it just makes it work crappy.

I Know, but this one was already crappy and will be replaced.

[G.g.]

Very proud of the results:





What do you think? Nice relic-job?

[G.g.]

The bridge after some relic work:



Yesterday i made another neck, this time with a ebony fretboard. It fits perfectly on the body.



Found a nitro cellulose paint in a colour that looks a lot like Lake Placid Blue:



And the decal i'll put on the headstock:

[rosssurf]

Do you have more pics of the finished projest. I think what you havr done is fascinating!

[G.g.]

Do you have more pics of the finished projest. I think what you havr done is fascinating!

Not yet finished, but i'm naking progress:

[G.g.]

Small update:

[Acidhouse]

This is simply an amazing thread. I can't wait for the end. : )

[G.g.]

This is simply an amazing thread. I can't wait for the end. : )

Thanks. I'm hoping to have the pickups within two weeks, so i can record a soundfile. The strat is pretty light 3250 gramms (my other strats are all 3600 gramms)

By the way. This strat is number 1 in a series of three (see pic's in first post) that i'm going to build with the same body and neckwoods (only different pups and different fretboards), and all probably relics. The reliccing can be a little better, but it's a learning progress.

[G.g.]

Finished, and it plays great. Lovin' it.

[G.g.]

As promised, 3 short soundfiles, recorded with a mobile phone, a Fender Deluxe 112, cleanchannel, reverb at "2".

Little Wing,
http://www.esnips.com/doc/f6d75d8e-0...27/Little-wing

Lick,
http://www.esnips.com/doc/f4cf64c9-6...789f4bd/loopje

Chords,
http://www.esnips.com/doc/6e4d3309-6...10d2eff/Slagje

[Blackvault]

Hi

G.g. Any chance of sharing those Strat plans? I tried the link you posted and can't find them. Thanks

Pete

[Joobsauce]

holy thread bump batman!!

[bigdaddy]

That's amazing. Can't imagine the satisfaction of making a guitar from cratch that sounds THAT good....

[G.g.]

Hi

G.g. Any chance of sharing those Strat plans? I tried the link you posted and can't find them. Thanks

Pete

Sorry, i can't find them either in my link. recently i bought a strat buildingplan over here:

http://buildyourguitar.com/books/strtplan/index.asp

this plan is very good.

That's amazing. Can't imagine the satisfaction of making a guitar from cratch that sounds THAT good....

Thanks!

[Blackvault]

Sorry, i can't find them either in my link. recently i bought a strat buildingplan over here:

http://buildyourguitar.com/books/strtplan/index.asp

this plan is very good.



Thanks!

Thanks mate. Just bought a copy of them myself. Can't wait to start :)

Blackvault