Candy Pink Strat with custom pink/red resin inlays

[docteurseb]

This weird idea of doing a candy pink Strat stems from re-using the neck I was planning to initially use for this build:
https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=32743.15

I wanted to do a more 'normal' build without fancy dyed quilt/curly maple tops for a change.

To recap I was planning to do a pink/red "Glow" finish and replaced the black fingerboard dots by pink/red swirl resin dot I made.
Before the surgery:

After:

After deciding not to use this neck for the above build I wondered what I could do with it now that I had slightly unusual fingerboard dots... That's when I noticed this vintage alder body in the Showcase earlier this week:

I'll send it Tuesday to have it finished in a pearl, metallic, or candy pink/red color in a similar color as the resin dots...
but not without doing some surgery on it too...
Somehow I got the weird idea to want to contour the heel Fender-style...

What could possibly go wrong ?  :laughing7:

I'll practice on a few scrap pieces of wood tomorrow.

 

[docteurseb]

Contouring the heel was simpler than expected although it was a good idea to practice on scrap wood first:

While I'm at it I will add a cavity for a Clapton mid-boost circuit just in case I decide to use one in the future:

 

[stratamania]

Another interesting build. If you are adding potential modern features to this vintage style body, just in case you need to make the pickup routs deeper what do you have planned for pickups now or in the future?

 

[docteurseb]

Another interesting build. If you are adding potential modern features to this vintage style body, just in case you need to make the pickup routs deeper what do you have planned for pickups now or in the future?

I only like the vintage style body for its deeper contours

Pickups-wise I'm planning to put a set of replicas of PRS 'Silver Sky pickups from @genesispups (https://reverb.com/shop/jacks-boutique-168).


The mid-boost circuit cavity is in the unlikely event I decide to put Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups or Lace Sensors in the future. I don't anticipate that to be the case since I will have both configurations in other guitars by the time I'm done with the the on-going quilt top body Strat build.

LS would definitely fit and I think the VN might fit as well (the latter iterations of noiseless pickups from Fender don't fit though).

Now that I have my mini CNC working I'm very tempted to make 2mm side dots from the red resin block to replace the black side dots. This may be too difficult to do now that I already rolled the fingerboard edges aggressively.

 

[stratamania]

Cool... look forward as always to seeing the progress  :icon_thumright:

 

[docteurseb]

I definitely won't change the side dots at this point.

I tried to drill out the side dots of a $20 scrap neck to see how well the process goes.
Some got removed perfectly, others still ended up off center and that's not something you can fix properly (at least not with maple).
And then the edges are so rolled there isn't much wood above the dots near the edges.
That thin layer of maple could likely crack, tear out/etc when drilling out the dot.

If it were a cheap neck I'd try but this one isn't quite base price ;-)

 

[docteurseb]

Body should be coming back soon from Pat Wilkins.

Since the last update I tried to do a gloss finish twice on the fingerboard rather unsuccessfully using StewMac's gloss lacquer.
That lacquer lays out poorly compared to the Deft Gloss lacquer I used for wood parts.

I was about to give up and fall back for a satin wipe on poly finish for the entire neck but decided to give the gloss lacquer a final try.

This time it went well, but kudos to those who do this for a living... it's the last time I will ever try to do a gloss fingerboard.

Half of the neck is buffed, by hand since I don't have a buffing wheel...
Dots look much better with gloss (upper section):

 

[docteurseb]

Only couple burn throughs at the 13 & 14th frets, fixing those up reshooting a few layers of clear. Could have been worse.

 

[docteurseb]

Finally got the body back from the finishing top (3 months instead of the usual 1 month tells you how busy guitar finishing shops are these days):

It's not as flashy as what I was initially aiming for but I really like the aesthetics of it.

At this point I have all the parts I need and the neck is finished.

 

[ragamuffin]

Looks great!

 

[docteurseb]

For installing Gotoh SGS510Z tuners I finally made a template to precisely drill that hole and make sure tuners are aligned with each other as much as realistically possible:

 

[Sadie-f]

That is such a beautiful project, thanks for posting!

 

[docteurseb]

Thinking about all those times I installed those damn tuners without a template makes me sad; it is so much faster and perfect with it:

 

[ARCnet78]

What a gorgeous combination.  :yourock: Please keep the photos coming.

 

[stratamania]

Great idea on the tuner template. I just did a similar job yesterday with some Schaller M6 135 which have a similar angle to the Gotoh's and such a template would make the job so much easier. Are you using the bottom of the tuner holes as a reference point to the bottom straight edge of the template as you move from hole to hole?

This guitar is looking good so far, and for some reason it reminds me of some sort of raspberry sherbet or beret.

 

[docteurseb]

Great idea on the tuner template. I just did a similar job yesterday with some Schaller M6 135 which have a similar angle to the Gotoh's and such a template would make the job so much easier. Are you using the bottom of the tuner holes as a reference point to the bottom straight edge of the template as you move from hole to hole?

This guitar is looking good so far, and for some reason it reminds me of some sort of raspberry sherbet or beret.

I'm using the top/bottom edges of the rectangular/horizontal part of the template to align w.r.t. the left/right holes; since it's 10mm tall like the holes' diameter it's really all that's needed to get the alignment right.

 

[stratamania]

Great idea on the tuner template. I just did a similar job yesterday with some Schaller M6 135 which have a similar angle to the Gotoh's and such a template would make the job so much easier. Are you using the bottom of the tuner holes as a reference point to the bottom straight edge of the template as you move from hole to hole?

This guitar is looking good so far, and for some reason it reminds me of some sort of raspberry sherbet or beret.

I'm using the top/bottom edges of the rectangular/horizontal part of the template to align w.r.t. the left/right holes; since it's 10mm tall like the holes' diameter it's really all that's needed to get the alignment right.

Thanks, I see that now when I look back at the photos I can see how the top as well as the bottom would align. Great idea and a really nice looking maple neck.

 

[docteurseb]

It's hard to go wrong with Musikraft's curly maple necks in terms of figuring/price.

It's definitely a raspberry color.
Guitar is fully assembled now, plays great, I might have trimmed a bit too much off the top of the bone nut on the bass side but the E string is staying in the slot just fine for now. I might redo it at the next bridge/string change (I will try a super V bridge).

I decided to dye to match curly maple buttons since I have a few sets in stock. They won't be ready for buffing until at least another week:

 

[stratamania]

I like it... :icon_thumright:

 

[mayfly]

Yep that's pretty nice!  I really like it!