New neck

[arnoldsnarb49]

Quartersawn flamed Goncalo Alves. Chambered Korina rear rout body to arrive in 4-5 weeks.

 

[Surf n Music]

Pretty sweet piece. I bet your stoked. :headbang: :headbang:

 

[arnoldsnarb49]

Very stoked. It's gorgeous. Gonna marry it to a chambered Black Korina strat hard tail body with Black Korina top, rear rout with neck and bridge humbucker routs and a TOM with arched string thru holes. Finished front and back in Mary Kay White. Should be...interesting.

 

[bbl4ck]

First, welcome to the forum and yes, that should be interesting.
I am tagging this so I am sure to see the finished product.
Also, yea!  Another hardtail is born...
Keep the pics a rollin' &  :rock-on:

 

[arnoldsnarb49]

Thanks! I tried this all before from scratch but hit a number of pretty tricky walls which I still haven't found a way over or around. Feel free to see my earlier progress at http://luthieridiocy.blogspot.com/ with the caveat that "idiocy" may be the operative word.

 

[Surf n Music]

That is gonna look sweet. What fretboard is that? And what frets? That quartersawn piece really is stunning.

 

[arnoldsnarb49]

Pau ferro fretboard, which I'm sure is true but it really looks like rosewood (albeit lighter rosewood), with 6150 frets. Tough call between 6105 and 6150, but I had to choose one. Not stainless steel--I got cheap.

 

[Surf n Music]

I was gonna guess rosewood. I love all the variances in wood species. I think the bigger frets are better. I got a neck coming with SS6115 (tall and narrow). Good choices.

 

[arnoldsnarb49]

The body arrived last week, and I put it together today. Pics below. Electronics still left to do. It'll have two Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers with single vol single tone, plus 3 way and two on/on/on switches to modify the humbuckers. I have to drill the holes for the switches.

I sent the neck to Cagey for burnishing, fret dressing, and nut and tuning machines installation. I cannot speak highly enough about the work he did. The difference is amazing. The neck looks and feels perfect, and it was worth every penny. The frets are spot on. Highly recommended.

Installing the ferrules was fun but tricky. I cleaned the extra finish out of the holes by hand with nice sharp drill bits, and then used a drill press to push the little buggers in. It was a snap once the holes were well prepared.

The guitar plays great...as nice as any off the rack guitar I've picked up. It has a really rich acoustic sound to it and lots of natural sustain. The chambered Korina body/top and the goncalo alves neck (w/ pau ferro fingerboard) seem to really like each other.

It'll be a few weeks while I sort out the wiring schematic. I'll be sure to post updated photos when that's done.

I need to do a little intonation work after a day or two of settling. Other than that, everything seems very nice. And the intonation work seems minimal; just the B and high E string seem to need some minor adjustment.

 

[bagman67]

Well, THAT certainly was worth waiting for, wasn't it?  Lovely part, that one.

 

[Great Ape]

YEAH! N-I-C-E!! Bridge style looks great.

 

[DocNrock]

Nice looking axe!  Love the goncalo alves.

 

[stratamania]

Nice to see a TOM bridge on a Strat, and like the white finish.

I can never decide whether I prefer the staggered, angled or curved string retainers the most.

Will you be going with pickups rings ?