Hardtail Sherwood Green Strat with Roasted Maple Neck (Gibson Conversion)

[ARCnet78]

Placed order March 19, received notification of shipments (two) last evening.  :hello2:  Now the wait for trans border/continent shipment from the Pacific coast of USA to the Atlantic coast of Canada.  :dontknow:

What I ordered from Warmoth
Showcase

• Roasted maple neck
• Gibson conversion

Strat body,

• Alder, chambered
• Sherwood green
• Rear rout control cavity
• HH pickup rout
• Hardtail bridge
• Side jack

Pickups, bits and pieces, tools and materials from various other sources.

I built a Solo strat kit a few years ago and I quite enjoyed working through all the processes to complete it.  My vision for this build based on the MIJ Boxer, but hardtail and 24 ¾ scale with all black hardware.  Very much looking forward to working through this prep and build. Stay tuned, photos to come, as long as I remember to take them.

I’m pretty excited!  :blob7: It's a 60th birthday present to myself.

 

[stratamania]

Look forward to seeing your progress and happy 60th.

 

[Rick]

Happy Birthday!

 

[ARCnet78]

Shipment received.  :blob7:
Photos of body and neck and body with hardware accoutrements :turtle:
Waiting on more parts before anything else gets done.

 

[SeattleScotty]

Awesome color! And that neck looks really cool. That will be a nice combo! Happy birthday!

 

[ARCnet78]

So I went down the "Burnishing Raw Neck" rabbit hole.  https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=19901.0

So glad I did..

When I received my roasted maple neck, I thought it a mighty fine piece.  After a little over 90 minutes of elbow grease, it is now beautiful (if I say so myself) and glassy smooooooth.

When I ordered my tuning machines from StewMac, I also ordered the 2 inch square micro-mesh pad (1500-1800-2400-3200-3600-4000-6000-8000-12000) kit.  I started with 5 minutes then plus 2 minutes for the first 3 grits and then +1 minute per grit thereafter.  Probably could have stopped after the 6000 but the masochist in me said go to the bitter end.. 

#1  Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to kindly provide information and guidance on this.  :yourock:

#2  I'm glad that my pickups do not arrive till late August, my hands/forearms are toasted!

#3 If you are even remotely considering this process ... DO IT.

The photo below shows the huge difference between burnished and un-burnished area.

 

[justsomeguy1]

Great looking neck and body! I really like that color and think they compliment eachother nicely.

Also good job on that neck. I'm trying to decide if I will burnish the neck I just recieved or not. I think it feels pretty damn smooth out of the box, but everyone seems to say I should go for it anyways. Did you use a sanding sponge or just your hand with the paper?

 

[ARCnet78]

I purchased the small mesh pads from StewMac.  Burnished by hand, no water, no naphtha, no liquid of any kind, wiped down with my T-shirt between grits.

My arthritic hands are pretty sore today, but it was well worth the effort, IMHO.

 

[ARCnet78]

Being HH configuration, it's probably not super necessary but..

Let there be copper. 

 

[ARCnet78]

Tuners installed

Hipshot
- Black
- Locking
- Open back
- Staggered Height

Not had locking tuners before, looking forward to them, and I like the look of them.

Also very happy with how the burnishing on the neck turned out, wish I had burnished the head too, maybe later.

Thoughts, comments?  :dontknow:

 

[ARCnet78]

String Ferrule holes cleaned up.

I used the remnants of of a rat tail file I found at the bottom of my toolbox.  It is pretty coarse, but using down strokes it cleaned up the over spray and polish compound.  Forgot to take before photos. 

Now to do the same for the pot holes and the 5-way switch slot. 

I seem to remember reading somewhere about using super glue on the edges of the 5-way slot to harden/strengthen the exposed wood edges.  Is there any issue with lifting the finish?

Thanks for looking. 

 

[crosstie]

That neck looks great, dig the black hardware. Do you know what pups you're going to put in?

 

[ARCnet78]

I have ordered Dimarzio's

• PAF 36 for neck
• Super Distortion for bridge

Both with black metal cover and black pole pieces.

The neck is roasted maple from the showcase that I was really happy with when I received it and more so after finishing burnishing.

Thanks

 

[ARCnet78]

Ferrules and strap buttons installed.

Amazed at how easy it was to install the ferrules using the heat with a solder iron method.  I managed to install all 6 without burning myself, at least once.  So I'll take that as a win.

Neck plate and jack setting on/in just to see how it will look.

Pickup order, oh, pickup order where art thou.  :dontknow: Hopefully will receive them in the next couple of weeks.

 

[ARCnet78]

Progress is slow

Pickup mount rings and hardtail bridge installed.

I have stainless steel (black finish) saddles on order.

I will have to adjust the pot and switch holes  After dry fitting, they are not correctly sized for the parts I am going to use.

 

[ARCnet78]

I am using a super switch so the factory route was not big enough.  A little dremel work and it fits now.  While at it, I also cleaned up the paint around the pot holes.

Wish I had dry fit everything before putting on the copper tape.  Lesson learned.

 

[ragamuffin]

When I put super switch in my Albert Lee build I had the same issue but handled it the opposite way; I trimmed down the brown wafer on the switch

 

[ARCnet78]

When I put super switch in my Albert Lee build I had the same issue but handled it the opposite way; I trimmed down the brown wafer on the switch

Didn't even think of going that way.  ccasion14:  thanks