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Alright I’m finally contemplating my first guitar build. I’ll buy the neck on this one as I really don’t want to invest in the tools needed to mill a neck. I’ve got some thicker Poplar stock I’ll use and make my own body. I’ve ordered a Whiteside pattern bit and will order a Strat template.

As all students do, I’m going to more or less copy a standard classic. I’ve always wanted a Strat. Why buy one when I can build one for more? Anyway I’m going to grab a piece here and there until I have all the necessary pieces for this thing. The pattern bit was a pretty good chunk of the expensive stuff but I’ll use it on other projects so I figure that’s a good first step.

My poplar stock is some of that wild colored stuff with a lot of green in it. I actually really dig the green and plan on letting it feature prominently in the final product. I plan on using black hardware. I’m currently watching a loaded pickguard on eBay that’s right now a 1/3rd the cost of a new one. I don’t know a lot about single coils and don’t want to go down the rabbit trail of pickup swaps every couple of weeks on this so I want to start with something fairly standard and decent but not twangy. I think the p’ups in this are the Tex Mex ones. I missed out on one for $50 the other day. Snooze you loose.

You guys that have done this - what are some pit falls I need to avoid? I’m pretty confident I can pull this build off but you don’t know what you don’t know, right?

Anyway, I’ve been listening to Leprous a lot lately and really dig the Strat tones they get. If you’ve not heard them, check this clip out. It is fan-freakin’-tastic and this is the tone I’m going for.

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Sounds like fun. Keep us posted!

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I have been planning this for a while, but I want to go WAY off the deep end and build one with the wiring of a Framus Panthera Studio Pro…

its super complex and will probably never work, but it looks fun.

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My tips, part 1:

Hog out all cavities with the forstner bit then clean up with the trim bit.

An extra inch more wire than you think you’ll need. Even though you’re buying a loaded pickguard, you still need to run the ground wire to the trem claw and probably wire the jack.

The forearm and belly cuts are best done with a jig but if you don’t feel like spending two hours making one out of MDF, I’ve seen some builders use a flap disc on an angle grinder to remove most of the material before hitting it with a dragon rasp.

Wait until your neck arrives before starting the neck pocket and bridge placement. Neck pocket dimensions need to be spot on. And the bridge needs to be in the absolute right place for scale length.

Speaking of the neck pocket, there are two methods. You can rout out the pocket before cutting the body or cut the body first. I’ve done it both ways and I lean toward doing the body first.

Having a centering ruler saves a lot of time and effort in finding a center point or line. Especially with screws for the strap buttons.

For any edge rounding or chamfering, I prefer my router table rather than the hand router.

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For a minute I contemplated getting a Tele or building a Tele and doing the Matt Bellamey thing with the XY MIDI controller but eventually abandoned that idea. It would have been cool though!

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I hadn’t thought about the centering ruler. I have an Incra T ruler and I really like it. You mean something like that?

It just dawned on me I’ll probably need a shorter pattern bit for pickup cavities and such. I don’t remember how tall this Whiteside bit is. It is 7/8" diameter though I think. sigh. They had a killer deal on this on eBay btw - $144 which I think is $100 less than Woodcraft sells it for. It was actually cheaper than the MCLS knockoff! I’d have loved to have gotten the Astra coated one but alas.

Also - rounding over the bevels and tummy cut - how on earth do you do that on a table? Or do you just use a rasp and Jedi mind tricks?

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@pcarter ​ My other plan is to do a “Brent Mason Style” Tele… SO MANY AMAZING SOUNDS.

My Brother-in-law has one. its epic.

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We had the Valley Arts one at the music store where I worked. It had a ghastly expensive price tag on it (thanks Gibson). I am not sure they ever actually sold it at a profit. It was primer grey too. I mean, you could tell it was supposed to mimic somebody’s hot rodded guitar I just had to wonder what Gibson was thinking when they released that model looking like it did at the price point it was. Well, you have to wonder always what Gibson is thinking with their price points. The Valley Arts stuff was super perplexing though. One of the guys at the store really liked it though. We also had a couple Steve Morse guitars (speaking of hot rodded) and those things were the balls!

Brent Mason is one of those guys I only know by reputation. I’ve never actually sat down and listened to him, outside of his random appearance on a Brad Paisley tune.

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check out his tune “Hot Wired” its a blast.

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For the contours, I made this out of MDF:

5bda17d1-0d62-472a-a7e9-da0c11bcfe63-sled800.jpg
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It’s at just that right 10-15° angle (I forget which now!).

A Strat-style fits in that cradle in the front, then I just run it through the band saw. I need to make a cradle for the belly cut, though. When I did my last Strat-style, I realized I forgot to do that so I tried to get by with just clamping the body to the backboard of the sled. Worked, but was a little more nerve-wracking than I would’ve liked.

After cutting off the big portions of wood for the contours, I went at it with my ROS to smooth it out. Grand total, took about 15 minutes to shape those contours!

Centering ruler:

5b1c7118-9cbb-47c1-aaa4-75844f6738a7-81EQS2wjnOL.AC_SL1500.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Westcott-Plastic-Ruler-Zero-Centering/dp/B00161W7GC/ref=sxts_rp_s_1_0?content-id=amzn1.sym.14b5a3ec-ddf3-42f1-bf1e-8515f8d25a34%3Aamzn1.sym.14b5a3ec-ddf3-42f1-bf1e-8515f8d25a34&crid=335I9YNIE1JT5&cv_ct_cx=centering+ruler&keywords=centering+ruler&pd_rd_i=B00161W7GC&pd_rd_r=20a54fa3-3177-4c7a-af5a-a206212963c2&pd_rd_w=HaTZW&pd_rd_wg=JT0VY&pf_rd_p=14b5a3ec-ddf3-42f1-bf1e-8515f8d25a34&pf_rd_r=ZASN601C2DVGMX3JVZE9&psc=1&qid=1662731237&sprefix=centering+ruler%2Caps%2C93&sr=1-1-f0029781-b79b-4b60-9cb0-eeda4dea34d6

Router bits: you can never have too many, but you can have not enough! :slight_smile: My bit collection (that I can remember):

  • 1"L x 1/2"D top bearing
  • 1/2"L x 5/8"D top bearing
  • 3/4"L x 1/4"D top bearing
  • 1/2"L x 3/8"D bottom bearing
  • 1/4"R roundover
  • 2"L x 1/2"D bottom bearing (this one terrifies me :wink:)
  • 1 1/2" D x 60° chamfer

The 2" is used for the body exterior. Still trying to dial in my technique to reduce the amount of tearout I’m getting. The areas around the top horns are particularly vulnerable. I use the short 5/8" for pickup cavities, and the 1 x 1/2 for control cavities. The smaller, thinner ones are for some of the tighter inside corners, especially in the neck pocket.

I use the roundover bit for the more traditional guitars (Strats & Teles) but the chamfer bit is for the more brutal metal guitars. :wink:

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ROS? Rodent of Unusual Size?

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I don’t think they exist.

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So hey, what template did you use? I’ll buy the Stew Mac one if it really is all that and a wheel of cheese, but dang those guys are expensive! I mean, why buy a Strat when I can just build it for more right?

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Aaaannndd I picked up a MIM Strat yesterday for $400. I could not buy the parts for what I got this guitar for. It had also been upgraded to Schaller locking tuners and a Duncan Custom bridge pickup. The neck is great! I almost hate to junk the body but the finish is completely trashed. The wood is still good though. I’ll build a new body and transfer neck, electronics & hardware to the new one. Oh. And it came with an awesome hard case! Yeah. I would not have been able to get these parts for $400 so I’m pretty stoked.

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The templates I buy are made by Guitars By Design. Available on both eBay and Reverb.

And agreed that there’s no way to build a guitar for $400 unless you’re buying a kit in which case all you’re doing is finishing & assembling (and those come with adequate but average-at-best generic parts). But it’s still great practice. I haven’t stripped the finish on a beat-up body yet. I think maybe in two years or so, once I get more experience with building necks from scratch, I’ll start working on the strip-down-refinish process. Maybe get some junk bodies off of Reverb to start. Not sure if I’d be able to flip them, but worth a shot :slight_smile:

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I ordered the Stew Mac one. It was supposed to get here today but didn’t. FedEx has a super hard time finding my house.

For the body, I am going between my poplar stock, some elm or oak. I just got a huge haul of all three species in a respectable thickness.

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Also - that looks like a wicked big band saw there! What kind is that anyway? By the looks of things do you run that jig to the left of the blade and up against the fence? I may or may not have the vertical clearance for that on mine and I’d have to run it outside. That makes me a little nervous as there’s not a lot of real estate to the right of the blade on a Laguna 1412. I could set it to run through the miter track I suppose. I’d be using the resaw blade. I have no problem using an angle grinder and flap disk for the belly contour.

My routing template is supposed to come in today - if FedEx doesn’t just give up and go home as they are apt to do. I can make this jig using that template - if I have enough MDF laying around which is a big if at this point :-/