Tiger striped flame maple Strat - need to chill out

[DeepSouth]

Amazing news  :blob7: - it's arrived!!! Can't have even been a week since I ordered. My order status was waiting to ship still as of this morning - so much for believing the order status page eh

I've taken photo's of the bits as I unpacked so I'll post up shortly. It looks absolutely awesome. The courier left it on my doorstep - even though I had left instructions that no delivery should be made without a signature hmmm.

Lucky it's winter and the weather is mild and dry. No harm done.

I'm working out the Trem atm - no instructions with the Fender Std unit. Still I'm sure there will be instructions floating around the web somewhere. The neck looks very concave - I expect that's because it has no truss tension - i hope.....

:guitaristgif: :guitaristgif: :guitaristgif: :guitaristgif: :guitaristgif: :guitaristgif:

 

[Updown]

Ha Ha ... I know how you feel  :blob7: can you believe that I too got delivered today, another body & neck. Just drooling over mine now.  :toothy11:
:icon_scratch:  They must have both shared the same plane ride downunder !!

Don't tell me it beat your loaded pickguard there.

Can't wait to see your pic's, is it better than you thought it was gunna be ?

What type of Neck ... Is it a Warmoth Pro or Vintage ?

Enjoy....

 

[Stew]

WOO HOO DeepSouth! Exciting isn't it?

... and yours too Updown ... you guys are killin' me ... where's mine  :sad: (it's only been 3 weeks on a custom neck build, showcase body).

Now ... enough of this joyous jumpin up & down (or is that jumpin Updown) ... we need PHOTOS!!  :icon_biggrin:

 

[tomroffey666]

Can't wait to see some pics! Going to be a beautiful build

The weather has been absolutely atrocious that's for sure.

You guys need to move to Queensland (like the rest of the southerners). Weather here's been a constant 21 for weeks now  :icon_biggrin:

btw ... congrats on the new build DeepSouth and welcome to the forums  :icon_thumright:

Queensland weather is great especially this winter, but the bogans i can not stand haha

:icon_biggrin: we're not all bogans Tomo ... some of us are quite sophisticated  ccasion14:

Hahahaha well said. If you don't own a Holden commo thats enough for me!

 

[DeepSouth]

OK you pic whores - here u go  :glasses10: - and yeah I'm waiting for the pickguard haha  :toothy11: Still super excited. Have marked the tuner holes so far and drilled pilot holes - pics of the build later...

I'm sure yours will come very soon Stew - and where's the pics of your new ones Updown :dontknow:

The package arriveth  :blob7:

Nice looking binding

Some neck detail

More neck

The back

The twins

 

[partialdoctor]

Looks awesome! Love the binding!

 

[Tipperman]

:sad: Why isn't that mine! Beautiful pick, man. That is one gorgeous guitar. SUPER super jealous right now.

 

[Updown]

OH Man dose that look GREAT !! Very nice combo  :icon_thumright:

Neck should straighten out when you do the heel adjustment, prior to putting on, should have doc's of that with the neck.

That second pic is tops, has a real Golden Honey look to it, just simply awesome.
Nice Neck too, that dose look magic on the body.
Real glad you didn't use Gold hardware as others might have with that body finish .... not me thou !!

Uuummmmmm .... More like partners in 'Crime' than the 'Twins' .... Do look nice together thou.
This is gunna look killer  arty07:

 

[Stew]

Love it ... just love it!!!
That flame with that finish and the binding ... just beautiful. Gonna be one sexy axe  :headbang:

 

[tomroffey666]

Man that looks so so so so so so awesome! The flame is out of this world

 

[keeper006]

Wow, I have a very similar top on my VIP, and seeing yours makes me wish I had binding like that, awesome! :headbang1:

 

[DeepSouth]

I basically finished the guitar last night and took some photos along the way. I'll post them up tomorrow (Saturday). I'm too tired tonight after work and staying up last night working on the guitar.

I just need to basically screw the strap buttons on and decide whether I want to use the string tree(s) - or leave it alone. I did a rough setup and the neck seems viable. The guitar sounded great and quiet despite having single coil Fender CS Texas Specials. I've never shielded a guitar before but it seems to have worked a treat. I also need to adjust the pickup height and tweak the individual string heights and intonation. I've already adjusted the truss rod tension and roughly set the tremolo spring tension.

 

[Updown]

WOW Great stuff  :icon_thumright:
Straight out of the box ..... Then completed .... can't wait to see the Tiger  :toothy10:

 

[DeepSouth]

OK Guys pics of the build coming up.... I'll post up a sound sample later on - but it sounds  :toothy10: :guitaristgif: arty07: :hello2:.

The action feels pretty nice. I've set up the guitar and there doesn't seem to be much buzzing at all - and that's with no fretwork or work on the nut.

I was going to do a cutaway pickguard template to show a bit more tiger stripe but I got a bit tired and lazy - the thought of finishing up seduced me - next guitar I do will have it for sure.

Positioning Input Jack with a clear template

Copper conductive shielding tape.

Running a ground wire from the tremolo into the control cavity

Prewired pickguard with Fender CS Texas Specials

Top view of pickguard.

Wiring from input jack and ground wires from tremolo and a lug on the body.

Almost finished.

Finished - Yay!.

 

[Tipperman]

That looks much better with a pickguard, in my opinion. It makes me appreciate the flame and finish more. Excellent guitar thus far.

 

[Updown]

:icon_thumright: That Looks Tops  :icon_thumright:

Really love the Honey Golden colour with that Flame, looks good enough to eat.

Don't forget to get that little green sticker off  :laughing7:

The custom pickguard would've looked great, but thats just me  :toothy11: I just like showing more of the top.
I may have waited & tried it out 1st, as you won't be able to do it now on this guitar, with the screw holes done.

I've had a few necks now & all have been just great as is, out of the box. No buzz, setup great etc.

I love that colour combo used with pickguard & covers & knobs etc. Gives it more of that Tiger-ish look.
The hole combo, looks damm fine indeed, that neck looks like it was just made for that body.
Very well done my friend  :icon_thumright:  bet ya she screams too  arty07:
Cheers  ccasion14:
:icon_scratch:  So whats next up ?

I don't understand the use of the Jack template  :icon_scratch:  am I missing something here !!

 

[DeepSouth]

It might be a bit hard to see in the photo but there is some clear plastic over the jack hole with an outline of the jack plate and hole spacing. I used a sharp metal punch to mark the plate hole spacings through the thin clear plastic before drilling the pilot holes. I just thought it was a cool visual way to get the jack plate in the right spot.

Next is probably some sort of Les Paul clone or maybe something more exotic. I just got lazy on the pickguard and decided to take the easy road (cop out). The green dot is the secret of the tiger's mystic tone   :laughing7:

The truss rod is perplexing me a bit I can't seem to dial out the concave shape on the bass side of the neck - actually the treble side is still concave as well and I'm measuring just a hair over .010" at the 8th fret (ie almost Fender spec) - but I've given it quite a few turns and it doesn't want to change much. On most of my guitars a slight turn will change the bow - so it disturbs me how much I've turned the allen key. I'm not sure if I should give it a bit more or leave it alone. The hex nut in the side of the neck is offering more resistance than at first but it doesn't feel like I can't move it anymore ie it doesn't feel stuck. Maybe the pitch of the truss rod threads on a Warmoth neck are finer than most Fender Truss rods?

Not sure if you have any thoughts on this? I don't think I've come to the point where I'm forcing anything - I'm always pretty careful that way.

 

[Cagey]

Truss rod adjustments are small. It's a rare one that requires more than a 1/4 turn to get all the adjustment you need. It's not like you're raising or lowering a scissor jack or something. The neck just doesn't move that much. Besides, .010" is pretty good, and about as much relief as you want. If you need more, you more likely need a setup or some fretwork.

 

[DeepSouth]

I've worked out the problem. It's basically because I did not RTFM [cough].

I mistakenly thought the side truss rod adjuster was a substitute for the end adjustment point. The manual points out that you need to adjust the neck straight while the neck is off the guitar using the bridge end truss adjustment point - which is basically a coarse pitch adjustment. You then tension your guitar up with the strings which puts a slight concave bow back into the neck and use the side adjuster to "fine tune" the neck relief. My error was not in understanding the side adjustment is only a fine tuner and the coarse adjustment is done using the large hex bolt at the bridge end of the neck. I had to follow a reset procedure also outlined in the notes Warmoth provided.

Basically I was stupid [smacks forehead with hand]. Luckily I don't think I did any damage to the fine adjuster - because I still had some inward travel left - ie. it hadn't locked up at the end of its travel. I'm also not the type of person who forces screws when they feel tight.

 

[Cagey]

Those side adjusters aren't too common, so it's an easy mistake to make. I'm just glad it all worked out for you.