Looks like I've been wangled into building............. a Strat.

[jkingma]

Although I have 5 or 6 other projects in various stages of completion (including a few Teles), I caved and promised my cousin that I would build her a Strat style guitar that she can give to her boyfriend on some future special occasion - depending on how long it takes me to complete.

Her wish list is fairly short, leaving me plenty of room to do some things the way I want to... which is the way I prefer to work anyway.

Her Wish List
Strat body shape with a Spalted Maple cap.
Strat shaped headstock.
HSS pickup configuration.
Hardtail bridge.
Hardshell case.

The rest is up to me...

[Dababy]

Sounds interesting - I'll be keeping tabs!

[jkingma]

I have a plan that has been rolled up on a shelf for about 5 years. I'll be using that to make some templates. I dug through my parts bins and pretty much have everything I need including a dual action truss rod and some Grover locking tuners.

[flatfive]

Can't wait to see your work on this. I love spalted maple,
and will be especially interested to see how you finish it.

If I remember you often use thin, grain-exposing finishes,
but I guess with spalted maple you'll be doing a gloss
finish?

[jkingma]

The first guitar I put a spalted maple cap on was just finished with about 5 coats of shellac and a few light clear-coats. It looked good, but after a while the spalted wood seemed to sponge up the finish in areas and it ended up looking a bit blotchy. That was a good education and I'll be doing things a bit differently this time around. I'm not exactly sure what I will do yet. It will have to wait until I get all my woods selected, but I might go with an epoxy finish, at least on the cap.

[Dr.Ow!]

This will be good to watch John. I would love to try making one in a near exact approach as opposed to my tendency to mod everything I do...ain't easy is it? Olympic White Maple N&FB Lollar BF for me please.

[JCJCJC]

I'll be watching this closely too John, all your builds are inspiring. Your relatives are doing well out of your skills - teles for the kids, and now a strat for your cousin's bf!

[jkingma]

Thanks JC.

I picked out a spalted maple cap set out of the few I have in stock. It looks pretty nice without being too over the top. There will NOT be a pickguard on this one. I don't want to cover of any of that wood.

The body template in the picture is not a real Strat shape... it's "Stratish" from a previous project. I just used it to trace out the shape on the maple to get a rough idea what it will look like. My actual template will be a few days before it gets done.

[Slow Reflexes]

Wow, that's gonna look great...

[jkingma]

Thanks SR.

Last night I got the rest of the wood selected.

Starting with a Swamp Ash body blank that I glued up a while ago. It was a toss up between this and a Mahogany blank but I went with Swamp Ash because I haven't built anything from it in a while. Plus its a very light piece of wood. The whole blank is only 4.5 pounds.

[jkingma]

And for the neck, a piece of curly Maple and a Cocobolo fretboard. I did a rough cut on the shape of the neck and sanded it a bit to see how much curl was going to show up. It should look pretty nice with some finish on it.

[jkingma]

Here is another shot of the Spalted Maple cap from a different angle.



That's likely to be "it" for a while. I'm in the middle of repairing my son's violin and I've got one other Tele project to tweak before I do any more here.

[adirondak5]

Wow , beautiful wood , that should look great.

[jkingma]

I got a few things done today... like thicknessing the neck blank and finishing the edges to proper lines and size.



Then I routed the truss rod channel. Dual action Hot Rod that adjusts at the heel. I use a simple straight edge and my plunge router to do the channel. It has end blocks which allows me to vary the cut length to match the rod size.

[jkingma]

Then I cut my fret slots and sized the fretboard to match the neck.

[homerzeppelin]

Paint the maple cap an opaque color! LOL, j/k

[jkingma]

This pictures shows the flame of the wood a bit better.

[Colt W. Knight]

Originally Posted by jkingma

Could you tell me the measurement on that hole? Center the nut to the top of the neck blank(not including the fretboard).

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by jkingma

Then I cut my fret slots and sized the fretboard to match the neck.

You are giving the distinct impression of knowing what you're doing.
Looks great. And I like the figuring on the fretboard.

[jkingma]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Could you tell me the measurement on that hole? Center the nut to the top of the neck blank(not including the fretboard).

The adjusting nut is 3/8" diameter... the hole is 13/32" diameter... and the distance from the top of the rod to the center of the nut is 11/32".