And So It Begins - Build Thread - Strat

[Shawn Pixley]

Looking good. it also appears that you are enjoying the process!

[Dennis Peacock]

Looking good. it also appears that you are enjoying the process!

Shawn,
Way too much fun in this process. I will be doing another guitar after this one.....probably a Telecaster.

[Julie Moriarty]

Looks great! I really like the way the two woods contrasted in the necks and how it looks after profiling them. Did you guys profile the neck backs, start to finish, with them clamped like in the #6 photo? Was it all files and spokeshaves or did you use something else?

[Dennis Peacock]

Julie,
Chuck used rasps, files, and sandpaper on his neck and I used a spokeshave, files, and sandpaper on mine. Yes, my neck was shaped being held exactly as you saw in the pic above. I really laid down hard on that neck to check strength....and it is strong.

[Julie Moriarty]

Dennis, the reason I asked about the clamp is I've been reluctant to expose the fretboard to possible damage. I saw you had a cushion under it but I haven't been that brave.

[Dennis Peacock]

OK...so on finish coloring.....can I use a UTC tint for my lacquer finish or do I have to use a Transtint type colorant?

[Mike Sherman]

OK...so on finish coloring.....can I use a UTC tint for my lacquer finish or do I have to use a Transtint type colorant?

I've never used UTC, but reading the product sheet, it says it can be mixed in lacquer. What color do you guys have planned?

[Dennis Peacock]

I've never used UTC, but reading the product sheet, it says it can be mixed in lacquer. What color do you guys have planned?

Mike,
I am looking at going with a transparent Amber Yellow on the inner-most part of the body, then transparent red, then a type of vintage brown on the outter-most...almost like a sunburst pattern if you will. Chuck is looking to go with a vintage blue like what came on the '62 strats. But...I am open for finish suggestions.

[Dennis Peacock]

Build Update.....
Here's the progress we made yesterday.

Here is Chuck working on fret refinement on one of the necks.
20150509_141506_web.jpg

Here is my guitar neck with the dots newly installed and lightly sanded.
20150509_141513_web.jpg

Here is Chuck's guitar, fretted, and neck aligned and mounted. We focused on his guitar because it's just easier with 2 people working on some things ya know.
20150509_185115_web.jpg

Here is Chuck holding his "now together" guitar that we are both so proud to display. Our first EVER.
20150509_185145_web.jpg

This has been a dream of mine for many years and it was a couple of years back that Chuck and I talked about this very thing while at work one day on the day job. That's when I found out that it was a dream of his as well to build a guitar......so now that part of the story is "history" and we are bettering close to marking one item off of our bucket list.
The thing is....we don't want to stop building guitars & basses.

[Julie Moriarty]

Looking great, guys! The attention to detail is obvious.

The thing is....we don't want to stop building guitars & basses.

Those of us afflicted with the disease understand fully.

[John Coloccia]

Yeah, I always say that there are two kinds of guitar builders - those that never finish the first build, and those that never stop building. Once you're dedicated (crazy/stupid/whatever) enough to actually get through all of the steps on the first one, it's like juggling 3 balls for the first time...suddenly, everything looks like ball. And on that note, I'll just mention that full bottles of Port are a LOT harder to juggle than, say, balls, and THAT is not just theoretical musing, let me tell you. I'll also add that my wife has an extraordinary memory.

[Dennis Peacock]

Update:
Well we reached the point to mounting the necks on the bodies. Found out that the neck saddle on the body needs to be about 1/16" deeper than what we calculated to allow us room to adjust the action up and down. Nothing like doing a bunch of math trying to get it all "right" when you find that you're off by just a "tad".

[John Coloccia]

You'd be surprised how many Strats have a shim under the front of the neck. More common than not, IMHO. If you're going to miss, that's the direction you want to miss!

[Dennis Peacock]

Update:
Well, Chuck came by after work for us to work on the guitars for a bit. We routed the neck pocket on Chuck's guitar to lower the neck in the pocket by about 1/16" and then remounted the neck. Put the bridge on, strung up a few strings and checked a few measurements and we were close to "spec" right off the bat. Decided to take his guitar in the house, fully string it up, tune it up, and see how things went from there.
Put on all new strings, tuned it up, strummed on it a bit....re-tuned due to string stretch....checked the neck and it needed just a touch of help from the currently slack truss rod. Applied just a very slight bit of truss rod and the neck was perfect. Tuned it up again and started playing some music. Love the action and even the sound of it...even though no electronics were installed yet.

Excited..??? We are !!!!

BTW, can anyone tell me where I can get some radius cutters for my molding machine? I'm thinking about buying radius cutters to form my finger boards with instead of doing it all by hand. Thoughts?

[Chuck Raudonis]

Just a warning, that excitement thing you just referenced? THAT is what is going to have each of you making the second one....and the seventh.....

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