3A Flamed body, 4A flamed neck - Strat parts build...

So just found out my neck is on the way here... musikraft 4A flamed maple, cbs headstock, evh profile, evo gold frets, abalone inlay. 4wks to build and ship so they have exceeded expectations by at least 2 weeks - nice work Musikraft!

wanted to do an all flame strat... was going to go warmoth on the body and do 4 singles (I will still someday) but plans changed when I found this wd for $225 - had a small crack in the back so they discounted to $178 shipped!



found a babicz bridge on amazon for $117 - $40 for signing up for amazon card. Went with gotoh 510z magnum lock tuners.


cut myself some flamed maple control covers - meh... may redo them we'll see... not bad for $12 worth of rockler std maple stock eh?


wireup... I'm a big fan of dummy coils. Not because they sound like a single with no hum... because they offer a tonal variation with no hum. Spent a lot of time on this wireup idea, basically mode1 will be std strat, mode 2 is 1-4 series (1/3 w dummy coils) and 5 para with dummy, mode 3 is leftovers (tele sound, 3 pickup combos). Have bridge and neck texas specials and middle seymour antiquity from my pickups bin.


routed my 5 way switch... using bits from amazon that while they were very sharp and cut well... it's a hair too wide at 5/32... next time I'd use two passes on a 1/16th bit but hey... if that's the worste thing that happens on this build (yet to drill the 2 pt trem studs) I'll be in good shape.

anywho, waiting on a better 4p3t rotary, a 250k push pull, some flamed maple single coil covers, and my neck. Still need to snag some flamed maple push on knobs... I'm aware of one place for some decent one's but they're $20 a piece and well... I guess I'm cheap. Any suggestions there? cheers and thanks for looking: will update this post as I go.

 

I very much appreciate you taking the time to comment.
afa wiring - yeah, please do... my head is still spinning from that one. There are a few connections that aren't obvious either. Attached is my final scratch pad that is a little easier to digest. Also note my tone control isn't correct as drawn... was contemplating a diy preamp there but I like to keep my strats and teles w/o battery so... probably a grease bucket tone control with push pull for a variable parallel 3rd dummy? I dunno.
Anywho, thanks for the comment!

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thank you oldrebel also your name would be a great whiskey name if it isn't already.

thank you mefgames - (i read megaflames) your finish is very nice. I really want this one to have a very white looking flame but I guess it just depends on the wood (and finish of course). I've looked at a number of threads regarding yellowing over time and as a result - and depending on what the neck looks like - I'm going to go with my initial choice which is tru oil. I want a bit more gloss than yours (more coats!) but admittedly you got the perfect very light colored flame and I love it. what did you finish with?

 

thanks Newbcaster... but I've got several red guitars already! (that is honestly something I considered(red) and also the thought that pushed me towards either blue or natural) afa pickguard... I actually was looking at going that rout from the start but when I found a rear rout... well I don't have one of those! (at least not a strat anyway).
I thought long and hard about trying to match this gold custom shop strat I've seen with a blue neck and blue body... may still do that... but dying a fretboard after it is fretted is probably not a good idea as you can't really sand it back. Perhaps with alcohol based dye but even then.

 

roger that. I have heard of it... are you familiar with tru oil? is Odie's less amber? For the most part tru oil comes looks pretty amber during application but goes on fairly clear but... if there is something more clear - I'm all ears!

 

not sure I have any tips but here is a bass I did with tru oil and finished after with poly...


here is a tele that I dyed amber and then built up many coats of tru oil. I think experience suggests to get to what I would call high gloss is going to take an awful lot of coats followed by an awful lot of wet sanding.


poly and tung oil are both good suggestions. Also, on luthier talk I've been told that water based might be the way to go afa no amber. when all is said and done I really think the tru oil has an interaction with the grain I just don't want to do without... just wish they had a slightly more clear version!

 

so... getting back to my build... have a questions: vote... add some brown to the tru oil and hit the neck with a few more coats? Ideas on darkening it?

got quite a bit accomplished this weekend... more finish on my neck and parts, drilled my trem studs and installed, installed trem claw, built a new plexi bracket for my dummy coils, had to rout out the control cavity to get my knobs where I wanted them, bought some flamed maple and created the knobs above, started finishing the body and wasn't expecting it to go so dark. love it, more than the neck, but now I kind of feel like I want to darken my neck. had I known I would have sprung for the roasting service on the neck.

 

did some inlay on my knobs...

 

so... finally got her finished. below is a shot of my pre-wiring.



Still have some dialing in to do...my wiring worked right out the gate. I've included an updated version of the drawing - only change was I had made a mistake naming one of the wries and I redrew the ground wires for clarity.

I knocked the poles out of one of three dummy coils and am going back to nock out the poles from the others when I get to it. seem to get more hum from them. not sure if it's something to do with the poles or just due to the series wiring vs parallel? afa series vs parallel on the non dummy pickups I absolutely love it. much more output but less highs. perfect for in front of my marshall. 3rd mode is even more output and fat. really happy with that as well.





knobs and 5 way tip turned out pretty nice for a first time shot.



"Texas Stratovarious(parts)" get it... it's a strat made of various parts! haha! I've copyrighted that and if you use it I will sue you for all your guitars and amps!

The gold foil logo was next to impossible for me to get 100% right. In the end I settled for one with a few minor blemishes.



and here she is... my wife's first comment was "that neck doesn't match that body". She's right. and the headstock yellowed a bit with the poly I put on to seal in the decal. All told, pretty happy with it.

Plays amazing - really have to hand it to musikraft - didn't even do a fet level cause I figured I'd see how it played... keep in mind I like very low action. no buzz whatsoever. neck is ridgid as all hell. one small adjustment and it has been rock solid.

trem/tuners stay in tune better than anything other than a floyd. it is way better than my guitar with 6 hole and graphtec + sperzels + 4 springs. Gotoh tuners are easily the smoothest I've ever felt.

thanks for all the support and reading my blathering on!



oh, and a few notes on finish: the body is nbto (nuthin' but true oil). I'll never do that again. what a gigantic pain in the u know what. it is very glossy, but has small imperfections. I may have to try to hand buff them out. kept sanding through layers of tru oil with 2k grit paper. then you'd get white lines where one layer stopped and the other started - even after buffing. tru oil is just too thin to really wet sand. If I put it on thick I'd get 3d finish where the tru oil would bunch up. put it on thin and you'll burn through with any sanding. ultimately, I built up enough finish to wet sand and still have finish underneath. then a final thin 2 coats with no wet sanding.