Gold strat build - now complete!

Megii · June 2018

Remaining parts arrived today - still haven't done very much proper work on the build, but did just do a bit of a mock-up, and for my taste, the chrome and black parts do seem to make the whole thing work. Love it in fact!

Will have a bit more work to do getting the neck to work right - needs a bit of thickness taking off under the 22 fret extension, and will probably need a small shim under this end in the pocket, but nothing drastic. Also probably a mil or two taking off the pickguard where it butts up to the neck. But this sort of stuff is usual I've found.

paulnb57 · June 2018

Looks fantastic! I knew it would be ok once the hardware was on, proper classy!

Megii · June 2018

paulnb57 said:

Looks fantastic! I knew it would be ok once the hardware was on, proper classy!

Yep, pleased to say you were right @paulnb57 - I admit I was not at all sure for a while. It's more of a greeny-yellow-ish kind of gold compared to the Suhr I was copying, so I thought that might be a reason it would be less good. But it seems great in it's own right now, so I'm chuffed. Just got to get off my arse, do some proper work, and build the thing now...

axisus · June 2018

Looks superb! Anyone tried that wiring before? Sounds intriguing

Megii · June 2018

axisus said:

Looks superb! Anyone tried that wiring before? Sounds intriguing

Cheers @axisus ! Won't be a substitute for a guitar with good humbuckers of course, but I still think it would be useful to have a couple of thicker, hum-cancelling settings available.

Doug · June 2018

That looks bloody nice!

Megii · June 2018

Doug said:

That looks bloody nice!

Cheers @Doug - it's a big incentive to get the build done I must say.

Megii · June 2018

Just to document some minor, but time-consuming progress on the build, - headstock on the Allparts neck was drilled for vintage Kluson style tuners, and I really prefer the modern sealed type. Anyhow, decided to go ahead and widen the holes with a round section file. Perhaps not the proper way to do things, and it certainly made for a time consuming job - I just did this a bit at a time over the last few days. Got there in the end though:

Another time consuming job on the neck next, which is making a nut to fit the curved-base slot - I have a couple of bone blanks (see above) so will use one of these. Then more neck jobs loom - needs the wood filling back a bit under the 22 fret extension so it can fit over the end of the pickguard, needs a fret level and dress (note sharp-looking fret end in pic above), and needs a finish applying of course.

Andyjr1515 · June 2018

I did a partscaster recently for someone I know. I'd forgotten just how time-consuming lots of things to do with strats are! Looking good

Megii · June 2018

Andyjr1515 said:

I did a partscaster recently for someone I know. I'd forgotten just how time-consuming lots of things to do with strats are! Looking good

Yep, one does tend to forget. Got the difficult bits of the nut making done yesterday, although it still needs final shaping and slots cutting of course. But I now have a piece of bone that fits in the slot closely, including the radiused base - I got this by attaching 250 grit wet and dry to the fingerboard with double-sided tape, and then just carefully using this to sand the curve onto the the bone blank. Started by sawing one the bone blanks I pictured in half, then just sanded it down to the required thickness - this time 250 grit taped to the flat surface of my fret leveling beam. Whole process took ages, predictably, but it's worked, which is the main thing.

Megii · July 2018

A bit more work on the build yesterday - got the 6 pivot screws for the trem fitted, a bit trickier than I'd imagined to get them in the right spot, but I think I've got it right.

Pilot holes drilled:

Check positioning (ok would have been a bugger to do much about it if it was wrong, but checked anyhow

)

Holes drilled out to final diameter (actually done in two more stages, but this is the result):

Just to get them working right, I put in the 6 screws without fitting the bridge - bit of soap on the threads, and did my best to keep them spot on vertical as they went in:

Megii · July 2018

Also changed the block on the Wilkinson trem unit - I bought the cheapest version with a zinc block, knowing I had a spare rolled steel one, with nice chromed finish, that I got from Vanson Guitars a while back. Actually, the zinc block still seems quite substantial, with a fair bit of weight to it - probably not too bad at all. But the rolled steel unit is noticeably heavier all the same (and does look better).

As puchased with zinc block:

Ready to swap:

Rolled steel block fitted:

FWIW I've done an Eric Johnson thing I read him mention once - i.e. used my levelling beam to sand on the base of the bridge unit and top of the trem block to ensure they are dead flat and make maximum contact. Without doing this, I could see gaps if I held the unit up to a window - after, no gaps, and you couldn't get a fag paper in there. It makes sense to me anyhow - I know some of Mr Johnson's ideas are a bit out there, but I think this is reasonable.

Megii · July 2018

My setup for getting the neck alignment spot on - a couple of plain strings fitted and used as guides:

Using a phillips screwdriver that just fits snugly to mark through the drilling positions on the neck heel:

That was yesterday anyhow, hope of some interest - more to come and cheers!

Megii · July 2018

Life is getting in the way at the moment - was hoping to get a lot further yesterday, but only managed to get the holes in the neck heel drilled and check the neck fit to the body. Still, it was nice to have the neck and body assembled briefly - it suddenly feels like you have an actual guitar (albeit one needing work to finish) rather than a collection of parts.

Method for holding the neck still for drilling:

Pilot holes drilled - these were then enlarged to correct diameter, but somehow forgot to photograph that.

Neck attached to body yay!

Megii · July 2018

More stuff done in the last few days...

Holes for trem claw drilled, and trem unit properly fitted - it's decked to the body for now, but I'm planning to set it floating.

Megii · July 2018

Holes drilled and pickguard, backplate and jack socket plate fitted - getting the pickguard in the right spot actually a bit tricky, as it has to look right aesthetically, but also things like a neat fit around the bridge and pickup alignment to take into account. Some filing of the pickguard around the neck pocket cutaway was required.

Megii · July 2018

More drilling of holes in the right places, this time for the machine heads:

Megii · July 2018

Without boring you with the details, the frets have had a level, crown and polish. They were already installed very consistently on the Allparts neck I'm using - as good as I've ever seen, so very little leveling work needed. On the other hand, the fret ends were left very rough indeed, so a bit of careful filing required to get these nice and smooth under the fingers.

One mistake I made was trying to use Colron Danish Oil to finish the neck - this imparts a somewhat peachy red tint to maple, as seen below, and I realised the next day that it looked terrible against the yellow/lime-ish gold of the body. Fortunately... very fortunately in fact, I was able to sand the finish right back, which removed the colouring effect, and start again using Tru Oil, which has given more of a subtle yellow/amber kind of tint, which does look fine against the gold body. This is still in progress, but I'll post a pic of the result when done. Lucky that the initial application of Danish Oil did not ruin things permanently and that it didn't prevent the Tru Oil going on properly. Anyhow, the near-disaster shown below, in the interests of honesty:

Colron danish oil - just say no!

Megii · July 2018

In other news, just out of interest, I ordered a set of pickups from a chap in Croatia yesterday - the vintage spec from E-dis pickups. Had been looking at these for a while, and I just have a hunch, and kind of had to do it basically. He's shipping them out to me tomorrow with tracking number, and seems a top bloke to deal with - £75 the set, posted. So I have a spare set of Vanson pickups that I probably shouldn't have bought, oh well.

http://www.edispickups.com/single.html

Megii · July 2018

The neck finished very quickly with two coats of Tru Oil, smoothed back with 1200 grit after the first, generous coat, then a very thin coat, and the shine taken back with 0000 wire wool. Pretty simple to do, but I like it like this, feels nice and slick, and I'm sure will be great to use. So I'm done with this bit.

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Gold strat build - now complete!

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