Mooncaster build

[Ayrton]

Bored and snooping through the showcase, I see this body on sale and I bought it without really a plan. First I thought I would wait for a matching Limba neck, but nothing close ever popped up. I wanted to combine the Starcaster with the Coronado style neck. Ordering a B&B neck is hella expensive, so I thought I would try binding an assembled neck.

Pulled the frets and dots.

Added strips of wood to prevent rocking

Bearing bit in the table

So far so good, now the inlays

I normally use melted binding as my "glue", but I was lazy and went with CA glue. I paid for it by having a slight gap along the maple seam. (Doh!)

Making a mess

Red side markers

Jescar 57110 stainless

Rattle can black lacquer on the headstock

Lots of clear

Hipshot lockers with pearl buttons

Neck meet body

Wired it up with Seymour Duncan Whole Lotta Humbuckers  :headbang4:

 

[bagman67]

That is a gorgeous piece of work.  My only question is why on earth you'd want to give the credit to Fender for the beautiful work you just did.  But I understand it gives some folks a "completed work" feeling.  In any event, I salute your bravery and your skill.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ayrton]

I know some have very strong opinions about headstock shapes and logos. These guitars are for my enjoyment, and the idea is it could have been something Fender had made. Nothing more than part of the "look" if you will.

Oh, and thanks!  ccasion14:

 

[mayfly]

Amazing work!  Thanks for sharing that.

 

[ghotiphry]

Dude.... you're my hero.  Amazing work.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Fantastic!! Great work on the neck and congratulations on a beautiful guitar!

 

[Zhaezzy]

Great job but I would never give Fender the credit for all that hard work.

 

[rgand]

Impressive work, there. Nice-looking guitar.

 

[BigSteve22]

Headstock logo not withstanding, (hey, if it makes you happy, that's all that matters), that is outstanding work, and an absolutely beautiful result! Neck and body look as if they were made for each other.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

That's a pretty ambitious piece of work, and the results are fantastic! Absolutely gorgeous guitar! I would not have even tried binding a finished neck, but now you've encouraged me. I like bound necks, and consider them essential with bound bodies.

 

[bagman67]

I like bound necks, and consider them essential with bound bodies.

Come again?

 

[Ayrton]

I hadn't done it before either!  :icon_biggrin: This neck was the trial run. I just did what seemed logical, but if I do it again I think the bearing bit and the fence should be used. The bearing, of course, will repeat any flaw in the neck, and I think the fence will help alleviate that.

This whole build got started because I was looking to see if I could add binding to a vintage Jaguar neck.  :laughing11:

I got the sound dialed in this morning and I am pleased. Unfortunately, I made an impression in the still soft headstock lacquer with the damn clip-on tuner.  :tard:

Have to fix that later.

 

[Ayrton]

I like bound necks, and consider them essential with bound bodies.

Come again?

The DB Telecaster is the pinnacle for me. I have built many.

 

[Cagey]

Not knowing ahead of time how great that would look, I would have bought a bound neck for that. But, that's just me and the lack of it certainly doesn't take away from that guitar's pure gorgeousness.

 

[Cagey]

I got the sound dialed in this morning and I am pleased. Unfortunately, I made an impression in the still soft headstock lacquer with the damn clip-on tuner.  :tard:

That bites. I had that happen to me a couple years ago on a neck I didn't even finish myself that should have been well-cured by the time I got it.

Lacquer is a nice durable finish, but it's pretty solvent-sensitive. Different rubbers/plastics and the adhesive on most tapes contain trace amounts of solvent and will react with it, and then you have problems. I've since mounted a pedal tuner on my neck jig, and the dummy body has a pickup in it so I can tune without the clip-on.

 

[Ayrton]

Yep, gonna dig out a stompbox tuner for the bench I guess.

I did a trial with a neck that needs a new board before I used this neck. I looked at ordering a B&B neck, but very pricey. I figured the worst thing that could happen is I destroy a $100 Allparts neck.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Cagey]

Yep. Huge rule that doesn't get mentioned often enough: practice on scrap. Or, at least something that won't break your heart if things don't go exactly according to plan.

 

[davegardner0]

Wow what a great looking guitar! Nice job on the binding, that was ambitious for sure. And your binding scraping photo just perfectly captures what a mess scraping bindings makes, great pic!

 

[stratamania]

Very nice job and result. 

I must admit thinking a while ago whether anyone had attempted this. Well here is the proof  ccasion14:

 

[1986Bowler]

Just wanted to say- that is amazing work, and the final product looks gorgeous!
Kudos!