Flame Top Stratocaster Build

[Guitarnut]

Well, I went crazy this weekend. I've had the build bug for a long time but have been holding off until I finished current projects. I have them all done except for the prototype but it's getting closer all the time. So, while waiting on parts for it, I decided to dive in.

I haven't built a Strat since I started making my own necks. The 2 Strats I built 8 years back have StewMac necks on them. So, it's time.

The plan:
3-piece basswood body, .25" flame maple cap.
Flame maple neck/fretboard, black dots, 2-way Hot Rod truss rod.
Hardtail bridge
HSS, standard vol and tone, series/coil cut/parallel switching on the HB.
Bleached white frost burst.

I started with a 1.75" 3-piece basswood blank. I planed it down to 1.50", cleaning up the glue joints in the process.





Here's the top glued up and rough trimmed. Ready for clean up in the planer. I used the same technique of taping it to the back of the body and planing the mating surface to not only clean up the glue joint, but also do final thicknessing.



Clampzilla!



Trimmed up and ready for edge sanding and routing.

[garymaddox]

Looks like you are off to a very nice start. We will be looking forward to your thread.

[Guitarnut]

Some progress shots on the neck build. Mmmmm, flamey!





Check those truss rods!!!

[Guitarnut]

This is the finish I'm considering. I came up with this during my StraTelecaster build but didn't use it. This is the mockup from that build.



Peace,
Mark

[Maricopa]

Please tell me you're not gonna make the arm cut on that beauty!

[Guitarnut]

Originally Posted by Maricopa

Please tell me you're not gonna make the arm cut on that beauty!

Nope, belly cut only.

[Maricopa]

Whew!

[fletch]

Nice Mark, you always seem to have a stash of killer figured maple !

I recently tried the LMI dual action truss rods, I prefer them to the StewMac ones now.

[Guitarnut]

Originally Posted by fletch

Nice Mark, you always seem to have a stash of killer figured maple !

I recently tried the LMI dual action truss rods, I prefer them to the StewMac ones now.

I stocked up a little bit last year when I had a few extra bucks. I'm gonna run out soon. I don't even want to think about it.

I just ordered 2 from Universal Jems. Very similar to the LMI. Just an experiment. We'll see how it goes.

Peace,
Mark

[Guitarnut]

State of the builds as of Mon night.

[Guitarnut]

Here's a more accurate Photoshop mockup.

[axedaddy]

Originally Posted by fletch

Nice Mark, you always seem to have a stash of killer figured maple !

I recently tried the LMI dual action truss rods, I prefer them to the StewMac ones now.

I like the allied luthiery dual action tr even better. Same design with the flat bar, but it is stainless steel.

[Guitarnut]

My goal last night was to get the front routed. I started off by making sure the neck fit the PG. It only took a bit of sanding to pop it right in.



Then I marked the center of the PG. I used calipers and a straight line on another piece of wood to do this. I measure the width of the HB route, halve that and slide the PG side to side until I have equal spacing either side of the line, front to back of the route. It's a quick, accurate way to find the center of an oddly shaped object.



Then, with the back of the neck pocket marked at 3:, I set everything in place. The neck and PG had to be adjusted a bit after this pic but I got it dialed in. Then I traced the HB route onto the top.



Using a HB route from another template I lined it up and centered it.



After the first pass with the router, I checked to make sure it all lined up. Good to go. Then, using the first few passes as my template, I took it to just over .75".



Then it was just a matter of using the regular Strat template to route everything else to depth.

[Guitarnut]

This build is coming along nicely. I've made good progress but don't have any pics since my camera is in for repair.

I've inlaid and radiused the fretboard and fit the neck to the pocket. This was bit of a challenge since the templates are inaccurate. The maker has long stood by his decision to undersize the pocket to allow for various vintage and current combinations but I just find it a pain in the a@@.

I used my Tele template, which is sized correctly, to open up the Strat template...I set it to the corners of the Strat template and widened the sides of the pocket without affecting the end. Worked great. I also had to slightly widen the top of the output jack bore so the plate would settle in.





More soon,
Mark

[Guitarnut]

The tummy cut was next on the list for the body. I may have done it the hard way but even then, it only took an hour or so.

Not having a factory Strat to go by, I guestimated the start and stop points, then used a band saw blade to draw out the curve. I had to pull it into an oval a bit to get the curve I wanted.



You can see in the pic above that I started the process with a rasp but it seemed too slow so I went with an Ibex plane. I've used the plane enough for carving that it went really fast...carving basswood is a snap.



After hogging most of the wood out, I laid out the curve with tape so I could have a good visual reference while using the rasp to flatten out the carved area and true it up at the edges.



I finished the rough shaping with a 1" dowel and 80 grit.



I used the same dowel to cut a bevel along the top of the carve. This works for me because the corners catch light and guide me as to how much to take off and where.



Then it's just a matter of rounding out the corners left along the bevel...the dowel works great for this step too.

[Guitarnut]

Here are some shots of the carve from various angles. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Not Fender issue, but neither is my tummy.

[parsaver]

I'm subscribed to like 4 of your threads. Its like TiVo for my guitar fix!

[Guitarnut]

Originally Posted by parsaver

I'm subscribed to like 4 of your threads. Its like TiVo for my guitar fix!

Thanks. I'm glad you find them useful. Or, entertaining?

Peace,
Mark

[Guitarnut]

I have all the goodies in to start loading the PG. It just occurred to me that I didn't list the PUs in my first post with the rest of the specs. I was going to use an on/on/on bridge PU switch for series, coil cut, parallel but then I realized the bridge PU would always be on in some form. So, I need to look at doing a series, off, coil cut instead.

Bridge: Seymour Duncan SH-6B Dist
Middle: Seymour Duncan SSL-52 RWRP
Neck: Seymour Duncan SSL-5T Custom Tapped

This weekend I'll get the thru holes drilled, bridge mounted and the neck carved...maybe even start on the bleaching of the top. I'll do some tests on scrap first.





I need to shorten the HB screws a bit.

[Guitarnut]

I've had the SD PUs sitting around for a year or so and didn't remember the specs on them so I put a meter on them and got the following DC readings.

Bridge:16.3K 8.8K
Middle: 6.6K
Neck: 12.8K, 6.8K

Now, I now DC resistance doesn't tell me what the PU will sound like but it's a good indicator of output. So, I'm rethinking the wiring yet again.

To get the most out of this set of PUs, I'm going to use this setup...at least if I have it diagrammed correctly, I will.

It should give me:

Bridge: HB, Off, Coil Cut
Middle: RWRP, Off, Phase Reverse
Neck: Full, Off, Tap