Mahogany strat and Walnut Mooncaster builds!

[AndrewR12]

Hey! I wanted to share the builds I’m working on right now.

The strat body is a mahogany lam top over a pretty plain two-piece mahogany. Its neck is canary wood with an ebony fingerboard.

The mooncaster body is walnut over mahogany, and the neck is mahogany with a wenge fingerboard. Awesomely, the grain and coloration of the body and the neck match really well- to the extent that I wonder if it was chosen that way (the body was a custom build, the neck was from the showcase.)

Both guitars are getting natural tru-oil finishes. These pictures are about 5 coats in. Currently I’m at 8, and going to start wet sanding with tru oil to fill the grain when I’m back in town next week. I’m planning to do this to both bodies even though the walnut doesn’t require it as much IIRC. The necks got two coats of tru-oil and a top coat of Axe Wax and they’re basically right where I want them.

The strat is getting some Fender custom shop Texas specials and the Mooncaster is getting some Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers.

 

[Eddie-Applegate]

Looks great!

 

[alexreinhold]

the walnut body is very very beautiful

 

[rauchman]

Those are going to look great!

 

[AndrewR12]

The Strat is done! I had put it to the side for a while after getting a little frustrated with the tung oil process, but finishing it up was very fun! The Mooncaster has been a little less so. Just having some wiring issues.

I still have to set intonation, finish dialing in neck relief and string heights etc. but I’m stoked with how it has turned out so far and it sounds exactly like what I want in a strat! The Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials are great.

 

[teleme01]

I really like your hombre neck mooncaster,

 

[AndrewR12]

I really like your hombre neck mooncaster,

Thanks! I’m out of town for the weekend but I have a new toggle switch and a few more parts coming in so when I’m back I should be finishing it up in a couple days! It looks really great.

 

[ejphotos]

Nice!

 

[rskirkpatrick]

It looks awesome. Nice work!

 

[AndrewR12]

Okay, the Mooncaster is done! The electronics gave me plenty of issues that turned out to be from a bad toggle switch (and a second bad toggle switch LOL. Only buying CTS from now on), but they have all been solved. The angled toggle switch I use doesn’t really have enough clearance for much more than a single thread, so I may switch it out for a normal Les Paul style one in the future. Same with two of the pots which are probably more suited to a pickguard, though I can get a bit more clearance if I break the tabs off of them. There’s a tiny hole where my new 20v drill blew through the face of the headstock when drilling pilot holes for the tuners.

I still have to intonate it and finish setting the action, but right now it feels very comfy and I could easily see it being my #1. Also it weighs in at 7 lbs 0 oz which is better than my Les Paul, obviously, but also my Gibson Memphis ES Les Paul- though that probably has a lot to do with the bigsby I have installed on that one.

The Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups sound great and overall this guitar has a slightly different sound than my other humbucker-equipped guitars but it’s not on a different planet or anything. Compared to my main Les Paul (with Burstbucker pros) it has a little bit less bass and a little less high end bite but a similar mid range. What is very different is I used .047 tone caps. I typically very rarely use my tone knobs so I wanted something different in this one to maybe get some different sounds in the studio.

 

[AndrewR12]

Here’s a higher res version of the first picture there.

 

[teleme01]

Mooncaster envy, one of my favorite features is rear access.

 

[AndrewR12]

Mooncaster envy, one of my favorite features is rear access.

It was definitely WAY easier to work on the electronics than in my semi-hollow les paul!

 

[rauchman]

Beautiful guitar. I often look at the Mooncaster in interest

How is upper register access?

 

[AndrewR12]

Beautiful guitar. I often look at the Mooncaster in interest

How is upper register access?

Quite good! The contoured neck heel helps a lot. I’d wager it wouldn’t be quite as good as a strat build with the contoured heel, due to the neck meeting the body further up on the strat. But it’s definitely a step up from the non-contoured strat I just built in that area!

 

[AndrewR12]

Alright, this will probably be my last post in this thread since it’s in the ‘in progress’ section, but my first gig with the Mooncaster was great and I can confidently say it will very likely become my #1. It’s a fantastic instrument (despite my relative ineptitude in the finishing & assembly LOL) and I am beyond thrilled. Regarding the strat, it’s also a great instrument. I couldn’t really ‘daily drive’ a 3 single coil strat for the kind of gigs I do so it’s going to live it home for the most part but I find it very inspiring to have a kick-ass strat knocking around. It just pulls different things out of me.