Strat body - with a close eye on weight

WezV

Nope.

normula1

Many years ago, a friend of mine bought me a reconstituted marble Strat body. It did actually sound great for slide but I couldn't play it for more than ten minutes

prowla

normula1 said:

Many years ago, a friend of mine bought me a reconstituted marble Strat body. It did actually sound great for slide but I couldn't play it for more than ten minutes

I bet it was great for heavy music!

paulnb57

prowla said:

normula1 said:

Many years ago, a friend of mine bought me a reconstituted marble Strat body. It did actually sound great for slide but I couldn't play it for more than ten minutes

I bet it was great for heavy music!

Or Rock!

WezV

Coat rack is by the door guys

PhilKing

Looks great Wez.  The 2 switches allow for any combination of pickups.  They are both 3-way, and it is an old trick that was used before 5-way switches were available.  One switch gives neck, neck & middle & middle, the other gives switch one, bridge & switch one & bridge.  I wire it so both switches down is bridge and both switches up is neck.  That way you have 2 easy settings without looking.  I also wire the tones so one is neck and one bridge.  I leave the middle pickup with no tone.  

WezV

cool.   just drilled the bridge and neck holes so its all ready for finishing now

WezV

i got the first two coats of oil on today.   these are just wiped on.  The next stage will be wetsanding with the oil through 400-1500grit to get a really thin lustrous finish that feels amazing.

I also stripped the neck.  This was a hurricance sandy survivor.  The truss rod was seized and the finish had a few knocks and scrapes.  since its not original fender it made sense to go back to the wood rather than restore what was there.  there are still a few rust stains near the high frets but other than that its cleaned up nicely, truss rod appears to be working as it should.

I thought i would get some snaps at this stage.  it will end up a soft semi-gloss

Rabs

Ohh man..  That looks great..  That walnut comes up real nice too, good job..   Cant wait to get going on my walnut body.

WezV

yeah, the walnut flips from mid brown to a nice golden colour... you have to see it in the flesh to really appreciate it

WezV

the final weight of the body is 1198g/4.2lb.  That puts it at an average weight rather than really light - final thing should come in about 7 1/2lb

TTony

Looks like another winner.

why did you choose dowels to line up the top to the body?  I've used screws before, which add a bit more clamping pressure too.

Rabs

That's cool.. I have a LP 60s Tribute that's chambered and about the same weight and indeed its a pleasure to play when I get fed up of my 11lb LP Classic   

I actually have a third one which is a 2010 LP that's also chambered and it comes in at more like 9lbs...  To me actually that's the perfect weight (or just under)..  That way the guitar isn't heavy but still feels substantial in your hands (especially when you are used to a full fat LP )

WezV

TTony said:

Looks like another winner.

why did you choose dowels to line up the top to the body?  I've used screws before, which add a bit more clamping pressure too.

It was so i could take it off and put it on a few times without any movement of parts.  3-wide plugs meant there was no chance of it going back slightly off centre. 

Screws sometimes do there own thing, especially on softer woods.  When i did my last LP build with 8 separate templates one after the other i used 2 screws to hold them in place.    I got one of the bridge pickup screw in the right place every time - not so good with the neck pickup screw.  in fact i think i will use dowels on the new LP build as it really worked very well 

you can see the extra holes in the LP neck pocket area here.  I suppose i could use screws with a bit less bite

normula1

That's a lovely looking guitar

WezV

my bits just about done on this, i am just finishing a bloodwood cavity cover.   I don't normally like wooden cavity covers, but think it will work well on this



weight at this stage is 3228g - just over 7lb

PhilKing

It looks great Wez.  Depending how you are fixed for time, I could bring all the other stuff over with me, so you can hear it.  The Mojotone Quiet coils use 500k pots, which I have, along with all the other stuff.  I'll be over the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October (Sept 28th to Oct 9th).  Cheers

WezV

PhilKing said:

It looks great Wez.  Depending how you are fixed for time, I could bring all the other stuff over with me, so you can hear it.  The Mojotone Quiet coils use 500k pots, which I have, along with all the other stuff.  I'll be over the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October (Sept 28th to Oct 9th).  Cheers

Do you have chance to pre-wire the loom, or are you thinking that you will drop of on your way north and pick up on the way south.    Either way works for me really and I am pretty free around those weeks

PhilKing

I can pre-wire the switches and controls, and the output jack.  Would just need to have the pickups and grounds connected.  
I was thinking of using pickup rings, like these (in chrome), rather than mounting the pickups to the body.  What do you think?

WezV

Yes, I think they will work.