The Mystical Mahogany Build...

[DieterDeux]

Man, what a chore. You’re a better man than I. Looking good though

 

[stratamania]

Man, what a chore. You’re a better man than I. Looking good though

Thanks, still some work left to do...

 

[Rick]

Looks great stratman

 

[stratamania]

Looks great stratman

Thanks Rick, still a way to go but it is definitely heading in the right direction now.

I need to think what I want to do for a nut and also I have a couple of other ideas for this neck...

 

[JPOL007]

Dude that is one heck of a job :icon_thumright: You get massive respect from me for skill and perseverance ccasion14:

 

[stratamania]

Dude that is one heck of a job :icon_thumright: You get massive respect from me for skill and perseverance ccasion14:

Thanks  :icon_thumright:

 

[Steve_Karl]

It's very nice of you to show such a detailed thread on your work, and the work is great also.

 

[Logrinn]

Top notch work as usual!
:icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

 

[bagman67]

Dude that is one heck of a job :icon_thumright: You get massive respect from me for skill and perseverance ccasion14:

Thanks  :icon_thumright:

What JPOL007 said.  I happen to be old enough to remember back when you were much newer to this forum and provided similarly detailed photo essays surrounding your purple-burst Strat build.  So gratifying when the good things stay good.

 

[stratamania]

Dude that is one heck of a job :icon_thumright: You get massive respect from me for skill and perseverance ccasion14:

Thanks  :icon_thumright:

What JPOL007 said.  I happen to be old enough to remember back when you were much newer to this forum and provided similarly detailed photo essays surrounding your purple-burst Strat build.  So gratifying when the good things stay good.

Thanks, it is appreciated that others find the threads useful and so on.  :icon_thumright:

I enjoy sharing the journey and it helps as a sort of record for myself.

Top notch work as usual!
:icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

Thanks Logrinn  :icon_thumright:

It's very nice of you to show such a detailed thread on your work, and the work is great also.

Thanks Steve  :icon_thumright:

I have been continuing with the tru-oil work on the neck but nothing at the moment that really would provide much of an update but more to follow...

 

[stratamania]

I am going to come back to the neck later. But the great thing about Strat type guitars they are modular so there is always something you can do that will be useful later.

Pickguard Preparation and Pickup mounting. The pickguard was ordered without any holes for volume and tone so I could place two at a place of my choosing.  I took a few photos and thought I would try something a little different to share them with you.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/SSN3TXmdnqs[/youtube]

A quick video and quickly put together but if folks like the format maybe I could spend some time on future videos for posts. What do you think photos in the thread or videos?

And Happy Easter folks...

 

[strat714]

Wow! That's a lot of work. You have sticktoitivness!

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

The video is good.  I'd like to ask how you decide the position for the volume knob.  Did you measure this from another guitar or previous project?

 

[wildbill]

Should be substantially lighter now. LOL. Perhaps they dipped it like a caramel apple.  :laughing11:  To your question, I like photos as I think you see better detail but some videos AND pictures is great.

 

[stratamania]

Wow! That's a lot of work. You have sticktoitivness!

Thanks, it is an ivness I have acquired over the years  :glasses9:

The video is good.  I'd like to ask how you decide the position for the volume knob.  Did you measure this from another guitar or previous project?

Thanks. The video was just something I noticed on my Windows laptop when I had right clicked on the photos to rename them from what the camera had called them I noticed an option to create a video. This opens Windows Photos which has a simple video editor. The music is something from YouTube which is copyright free. Though if I was to do more videos I have a Mac and more editing possibilities on there.

With regard to the position of the volume knob. In the video there is a picture of a paper template laying over the pickguard. This is a Strat pickguard printout from the Warmoth website. On the paper the solid black circles are the normal three holes found on a Strat.

There are also two red circles which are the positions for volume and tone found on an EMG SL20 (Lukather) pickguard. Some may recall I used this on an earlier build (see link below) and I used the stock pickguard which was left over to trace the red circles.  The position of volume and tone on that build was relatively fixed due to the EMG bus for the volume and tone.

Metallic Black Cherry Floyd Rose Non-Fine Tuner Build


I then used the other guitar to determine where my little finger (pinky) could more easily reach the volume knob if it were moved a little closer to the strings. This gave me the distance I was looking for. I then on the template made a couple of lines to help position the knobs in relation to other things including the line of the three standard holes. I also placed the knobs themselves as a visual sort of check and cross referenced online pictures of some Strat type models with just volume and tone. So in short some cross referencing, alignment and personal preference. Then x marks the spot through the paper onto the pickguard itself. At that point the theory is over and two holes get drilled. See also the other build thread which discusses how I hold the pickguard for this.

Should be substantially lighter now. LOL. Perhaps they dipped it like a caramel apple.  :laughing11:  To your question, I like photos as I think you see better detail but some videos AND pictures is great.

Thanks. I wondered if enough detail might be visible in the videos, although they can be paused.

I think you are right probably photos and/or video depending on what is being shown.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

There are also two red circles which are the positions for volume and tone found on an EMG SL20 (Lukather) pickguard. Some may recall I used this on an earlier build (see link below) and I used the stock pickguard which was left over to trace the red circles.  The position of volume and tone on that build was relatively fixed due to the EMG bus for the volume and tone.

Metallic Black Cherry Floyd Rose Non-Fine Tuner Build


I then used the other guitar to determine where my little finger (pinky) could more easily reach the volume knob if it were moved a little closer to the strings. This gave me the distance I was looking for. I then on the template made a couple of lines to help position the knobs in relation to other things including the line of the three standard holes. I also placed the knobs themselves as a visual sort of check and cross referenced online pictures of some Strat type models with just volume and tone. So in short some cross referencing, alignment and personal preference. Then x marks the spot through the paper onto the pickguard itself. At that point the theory is over and two holes get drilled. See also the other build thread which discusses how I hold the pickguard for this.

Thanks. That's interesting.  Everyone has different preference about the volume knob placement.    I have my own formula which is probably a little bit further away from the strings.  To me its a useful aspect of building a custom guitar, to put the volume knob in exactly the right spot. 

 

[stratamania]

Yes I think that in the end it is down to personal preference and a certain amount of aesthetics. Some don't like the volume knob close to the strings. It has never bothered me on a Strat and I find it functional for violining or adjusting the volume. With a volume and tone set up I am aiming to get similar functionality but it also to look balanced.  Others want the volume knob further away so they don't hit it.

 

[stratamania]

As it turns out the middle pickup in the video is too deep and will not allow the neck pickup wire to be routed so it has been removed and is going back to Thomann.

Though nil desperandum I have a cunning plan...so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp5St7hORyw
[/youtube]

 

[rauchman]

Fantastic works....always!

You've convinced me to stick with unfinished necks.

Like the video. Having said that, would love to see something more detailed, especially coming from you.  You have so much detail / experience knowledge of this craft, and I would wager that there is much magic to be shared from just listening to your step by step process.  But in the overall, thank you for the vid.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks Rauchman. In a way given the time and space to make some videos of real time stuff or possibly of photos with a voice over I would like to do so. I really could do with a dedicated workshop. Work and family commitments need to come first though at the moment.

I do enjoy documenting the builds I am able to do and helping others out with pointing them in the direction of thinking which way they might go themselves etc.