neckthrough SRV strat

[G.g.]

Hi, I just registered and want to show you some pictures.

I'm a big stratocaster fanatic. One of my favorites is the SRV signature. I think it's one of the best build guitars ever. But it's too expensive and it got some things i don't like. So i thought i started to build my own stratocaster with the basics of the SRV in mind. It won't be an exact replica because i want a little different specs.

I bought mahogany, birdeye maple and wenge veneer and glued it together



Used a blade to cut out the bodyside of the neck



Used a drill and a saw to make the raw shape of the guitar



Used a lot of sandpaper



Stained the guitar with black ink, sanded the ink of and stained it again with yellow ink and then put a clear coat on top of it



just a few more layers and it is finished. I have allready ordered a lefthanded golden tremelo-unit, golden hardware. I still have to buy a set of texas specials.

When i make some more progress with this guitar i'll post some more pictures.

You like the guitar?

[Kap'n]

Nice work!

[curtisstetka]

Wowza!

[empty71]

Awesome work

[D'Mule]

Cool! What's the neck size/profile?

[moro]

Wow. Looking forward to more pics. :)

[G.g.]

Realy Fat profile, V / D-profile Like the original SRV. It's 24/25 mm at the firstfret (just about 1") and at the 12th it's 26/27 mm, (just over an 1"). Over the full length the fretboard is 2 mm wider than standard for the heavy vubrato-stuff. The two inner strips of maple are regular and the two outer strips are birdeye. The darker lines in between are 1 mm wenge veneer.
The headstock is 19 mm thick. I will make 6 tuningheadshape depthts of 4 mm on the backside to give the machinehead the richt depth.

The fat neckprofile and the thick headstock will give me all the sustain i need.

I think this will be the best stratclone i'll ever have

[Don]

Wow! That's great! I can't wait for a report on how it plays and sounds!

[G.g.]

Wow! That's great! I can't wait for a report on how it plays and sounds!

I'm taking it step by step. I'm in no hurry.

Today i made templates and did all the routing





Had some old parts laying around so i test fitted everything. Starts to look like a real strat. I realy like the looks of the gold hardware and the lefty tremelo-unit

[Guitar_Mc]

WOW! I can't wait to see the finished guitar!

[telecast]

Very nice!

[cooltone]

G.g. says (with a piece of straw hangin' from his mouth and an old rusty pocketknife in his hand)
"..weren't nuthin' just whittled from an old hunk o' wood had lyin' 'round..."

awesome job, man!!!!

[G.g.]

G.g. says (with a piece of straw hangin' from his mouth and an old rusty pocketknife in his hand)
"..weren't nuthin' just whittled from an old hunk o' wood had lyin' 'round..."

awesome job, man!!!!

hahah..... Well, something like that.

A electric guitar is just a slab of wood, sawed and sanded in the shape of a guitar with some electrics and strings. Any idiot can make one with some tools and the available information that can be found on the internet.

I'm an idiot with internetacces and tools, so i can build guitars.

[jrgtr42]

LOL...that's putting it simlistically, G.g. ....not altogether wrong, though...
The thing I personally would be worried about (will be; I plan to take a class this fall in building a guitar) will be getting everything lined up right, and getting the frets spaced right.
Great looking work, though...I dig that finish on it.
How long has it taken you to get this far on it?

[NeoFauve]

I'm an idiot with internet acces and tools, so i can build guitars.

I guess my problem is, I don't have all the tools.

[G.g.]

How long has it taken you to get this far on it?

I started the 30th of may 2006.

[seagate]

I wonder if it will still sound like a Strat with that neck through design...

Looking forward to hearing some clips once it's done.

[Power_13]

That's awesome. Can't wait for the sound report!

How long have you been making guitars? :)

[D'Mule]

It wants to sound like a Firebird, me thinks.

[G.g.]

I wonder if it will still sound like a Strat with that neck through design...

Probably not, it will lose a bit of the typical attack a bolton has, but i hope the extra maple of the neck will make up for that. And i can do a lot with the pickups if i carefully select them. I hope the sound will be a little bit warmer/darker than the original SRV strat (that's why i used mahogany)

How long have you been making guitars? :)

Since 1991 or 1992 but i only have build probably 3 or 4 guitars (15 years is al long time to remember exactly).

Did al lot of assembly, bodies, necks and pickups i bought secondhand, instaled some Floyd Roses on stratocasters and did some mods.

But i'm not an experienced builder, i'm just good at taking it slow and i plan a lot in advance to avoid making mistakes, and i use

[Guitar_Mc]

But i'm not an experienced builder, i'm just good at taking it slow and i plan a lot in advance to avoid making mistakes, and i use

And you use? Well I am not sure how that helps build guitars, but you should get some help for that.

[G.g.]

And you use? Well I am not sure how that helps build guitars, but you should get some help for that.

Sorry, copy/paste mistake.

I use a lot of information i can find and The Fender Stratocaster book by A.R. Duschossoir as a guidence.

[G.g.]

Small update:

Cut out of a sheet of sticky *bling*bling* plastic the letters SRV (one piece)

Wanted to fret the fredboard but the tension of the string didn'n bend the neck the right amount. Put some extra tension on the trussrod (neck bended backwards en flattend the neck. Now the neck had a little concave without tensoin on the rod.

Fretted the neck and tuned the guitar (with a improviced nut).

The guitar has a warm and loud sound with enough high in the tones. The attack is a little less than a bolt on neck. The sustain is just a little bit longer than a regular strat. The neck is very thick, you realy have to work on this guitar. The big frets make playing easy (i'm used to scalloped fretboards).

The guitar sounds at its best played SRV-style, heavy strings (0.11-0.54), hitting the stings hard and tuned down in Eb.

It's a beautiful addition to my collection. This weekend i'm going to order a GFS pickupset (not the texas set, but the Premium Alnico Strat Set, which i believe give the best SRVtone if you realy abuse your strat and give it a good spanking)

http://store.guitarfetish.com/pralstpiourb.html

Some pics of the guitar as it is now:

[Kap'n]

I couldn't build something like that in a million years. Very nice.

[G.g.]

I couldn't build something like that in a million years. Very nice.

That's right.














With that attitude you can't. But if you consider it's only a few slabs of wood and string you can. Take all the mesurements, draw them an real scale on a piece of paper and work slowly. don't try to build a guitar in a month, at least not the first time. This one costs me about 4 months. Take it easy, build one step at the time. You can do it too.

And remember my motto:

"If you can do it, I can do it too, and maybe even better."

[Kap'n]

With that attitude you can't. But if you consider it's only a few slabs of wood and string you can.

No, I just pretty much suck with sharp tools. I can barely shave.

I can solder, though.

[NeoFauve]

That's coming along nicely, G.g.

Do you have phtots af anything else you've built?

Really tastey work.

[Jonnda]

NIce work! does it have a truss rod?

I ought to try my hand at building such a quality ax from scratch someday, I'm starting off with a simple home-grown tele... but maybe someday...

[G.g.]

That's coming along nicely, G.g.

Do you have phtots af anything else you've built?

Really tastey work.

I have got only pics of a iroko body i made (a little bit like the Washburn N4) With Dimarzio Tone Zone and PAF and a Ibanez LOw Pro Edge Trem.

NIce work! does it have a truss rod?

I ought to try my hand at building such a quality ax from scratch someday, I'm starting off with a simple home-grown tele... but maybe someday...

The bolt of the trussrod is located under the 22th fred. You can acces it by taking of the pickguard. A thick neck like this one doesn't need a lot of adjusting. Here you can see where i put the rod:

[Sage]

With that attitude you can't. But if you consider it's only a few slabs of wood and string you can. Take all the mesurements, draw them an real scale on a piece of paper and work slowly. don't try to build a guitar in a month, at least not the first time. This one costs me about 4 months. Take it easy, build one step at the time. You can do it too.

And remember my motto:

"If you can do it, I can do it too, and maybe even better."

That's a great attitude. I remember a story someone told me once about a young girl who had worked her ass off to become a world class pianist. Somebody once said to her "I could never do that." They meant it to be a compliment, but she just seethed, because she always heard that from everybody and she finally had enough. Her answer was something like, "Yes, you could, if you practiced four hours a day seven days a week, if you skipped out on hanging with friends, going to movies, or vacationing on the beach to do what I do, you could do it, too."

The point of the story was that he had inadvertently minimized the amount of hard work and sacrifice she had put into her craft. He wasn't doing it intentionally, but I think it's an important perspective.

[frank thomson]

dag, yo!

that guitar is BAD-ASS!

B-A-D A-S-S

absolutely, absolutely, beautiful

[Williams]

Hardwork does payoff. That thing looks great!! More pics please


-Kevin

[boobtube21]

Wow. Nice work! You are a skilled craftsman. Why is taking me three years to build a stupid box for an amp?

Make sure to post some pictues when it's all put together! Very nice.

[G.g.]

Wow. Nice work! You are a skilled craftsman. Why is taking me three years to build a stupid box for an amp?

Make sure to post some pictues when it's all put together! Very nice.

Hey, thanks,

haven't been around here lattly, i'll try to shoot some pics this week tho show you the result.

Since that strat i've build another guitar, a PRS with a Schaller Floyd Rose and two origina PRS soapbars

It started with this:





and ended like this:

[G.g.]

As promised, some better pics (still need to place the graphtech nut and golden tuners, but it's playable like this, and i like it)

[frank thomson]

what is that?...like a 2" nut?

[G.g.]

And something completely different:

My latest non-fendermodell project (just finished it this weekend):

[Guitar_Mc]

I've gotta be able to set my axe on the floor against the wall. That just looks like the cable would be in the way. Other than that, it looks great.

[melody]

Dude your a wild man,Good work thanks for sharing!

[frank thomson]

dood's got mad skilz!