It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
I like the Idea of building a strat partscaster
choosing the hardware seems strait forward as you just buy it in and bolt it on (for the most part)
the neck and body is the heart of the guitar and is where things get a little more difficult and is where I need some advice. Now I could just buy very expensive parts from a named brand and you know it will be of a certain quality but I don't really have the money to spend thousands on the project. if I had that kind of money I would buy ready made fender custom shop strat.
I am going to attempt to build my own body
The neck is where I need some help due to my lack of knowledge of guitar building. necks can be bought for about £25 or I could spend £600 on a genuine fender neck. now I realise more time and effort is put into levelling and dressing the frets on the fender and nicer looking wood is selected. but at the moment my only guide to neck quality is the price tag. how should I choose a neck
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
With this entire build you’ll be taking a punt on it all working out. And my impartial advice is to have a good tech or luthier (preferably the latter) on your side throughout. You’ll have to pay them a buck or two for their time as they help you.. but it’ll be the difference between this working nicely or not at all.
If you plan to finish the neck yourself buy a raw and unfinished neck. Don’t be fooled by big names on headstocks. An inexpensive neck can be made to feel incredible after just a few hours work.
Youll need to buy a neck based on approximate dimensions that you think you like and go from there. The fretwork, shaping, sanding etc is the stage where a lot of the feel is put into neck so this is a crucial part. You may want to finish with nitro or oil, both are Uber thin and will show discrepancies so make sure your prep is good.
You could actually have a neck made first for about £300-400 then cut your neck pocket to suit the neck which is the easy way of doing it.
As for hardware... it’s not as simple just bolting it on. You’ll run into a few issues especially if you’re making the body yourself but most issues can be sorted.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
Look for a Fender/Squier neck and body to ise as a base
or
A Guitarbuild body and a neck from Allparts or similar, both would need finish applied, however two light coats of Tru Oil will leave a neck silky smooth and if you choose a nice grained wood, you could do the same for the body with a few more coats
I did one recently where I replaced the body on my MIM Lone Star Strat with a Walnut body from Guitarbuild
https://i.imgur.com/WihSdPf.jpg
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
Again, a good many tFB forumites have either done this or tried and given up half way. Consequently, you will find plenty of affordable parts listed for sale in the £Parts section. (Disclosure: Some of those parts are mine.)
In similar vein to paulnb57, I have a walnut Guitarbuild HSS "Stratocaster" body and an Allparts neck acquired from a well-known forum hoarder. They fit together perfectly without modification. If/when I ever source a fulcrum vibrato with fine tuners, the project will get finished. Honest, guv'nor.
Once you've got the neck, and if you're making the body, the fit is then entirely down to you - so you can make it perfect!
thanks for the advice.
I my one and only guitar is an encore strat I got from an online charity shop for £16. It has already been subjected to a few experiments.
it is a good enough guitar for my very fledgling level of playing but it does have a few issues
this guitar was played a lot by someone and the frets are obviously worn with dents where the string lye on the higher frets
there are a couple of dead spots towards the lower end of the neck
the back and sides of the neck are full of dents
it has the thinner body that will not fit a full size block
But my messing about with it has sparked an interest to put something together myself
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
Necks are much harder to make, and you’re better off buying one for your first build. Don't be tempted by the very cheap necks. The ones I’ve tried have been a waste of time and money. Either buy a second hand neck, or get a new, unfinished one in the £90 to £120 price bracket.
Don’t forget to post a build thread.
yes. I thought I could make my own body but buy a neck for it. Thanks for the links the will be very useful.
I have been a little obsessed with the story of how Brian May built his own guitar. My build idea is a sort of homage to this. The plan being to stick to a strat shape as I can but all the parts I cant really make myself. but I could make a strat shape body using similar construction methods to the red special body. ie an oak centre piece surrounded by block board that is chambered to some extent.
The wood for the body wont cost a fortune so I think I will start on that. if it turns into a pigs ear I will know not to buy anything else
https://crimsonguitars.com/store/kit-guitar-s-type/
I would imaging these to be good quality also but you do have to pay for the privilege
here's mine after it was finished
https://i.imgur.com/Nw2Mk3l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yadDERA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iRh6Bws.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3vGC2vd.jpg
I got my 1 piece ash strat body there with the only flaw being a tiny router plunge mark in the trem spring cavity, that was £90 iirc and just needed the unfinished cnc cuts sanding out.
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/61134/sarge/p1
that is very interesting thanks for the link
some of the bodies seem to have very minor imperfections that would be covered by a solid colour finish.