I'm about to start a Strat build - My First Ever....

[Dennis Peacock]

I've NEVER built an instrument before. Been playing guitar and bass guitar for over 40 years now. I've always wanted a really nice guitar and bass to play but I never have been able to afford them. A buddy at work has gotten a "bee in his bonnet" about building a '62 Fender Strat and he's talked me into building one with him. Neither of us have ever built an instrument but we've both played for many years.

What's the hardest part of an electric guitar build?
I have the wood shop and he's getting the luthier tools. Combined, we hope to end up with 2 really nice playing guitars.
Oh...and if this guitar build goes well, I'm going to build my own version of the MTD-535 electric bass guitar. :D

Advice, pointers, and watch-out-for's welcomed. :)

[Anthony Scira]

Im going to give you a tip. BUY this course.
OBRIEN
(http://www.obrienguitars.com/courses/electric/)It may seem expensive. But in the long run it will save you a lot of time and money. Not to mention you will have a fine instrument at the end of it.

I bought the acoustic guitar course and I would pay double the price if I could go back in time and buy it before I started building.

[Julie Moriarty]

I found the hardest part was actually starting the project. I thought it would be too hard. I barely play anymore and didn't even own a guitar when I got the bug. Since then I've made two Strats, a Tele and am almost finished with a Mac-type bass. It's not hard. I did however invest a lot in proper tools. Stew Mac must love me. :rolleyes: With the proper tools, so much of the building process is easy. What you might be missing is plans. I have acquired quite the collection and would be willing to share any with you. Just PM me with what you want and if I have the plans I'll email them to you. I go to Staples to have them printed out.

I think what you will love the most is making the neck custom to your liking. The Tele I made was for a friend in Houston. When he was in town I had the neck pretty much finished and let him do the final shaping and sanding. He says that neck is the best one he owns and he has something like 10 guitars. I bought a couple of Auriou rasps, one cabinetmaker's rasp and one modeler's rasp and do all but the final sanding with the necks. They are also good for making the belly cut in the body.

You'll need 1/4" MDF to make the master template and 3/4" MDF to make the working template. Once those are made, the body is pretty easy.

Ron Kirn (http://www.ronkirn.com/) has some great info on his website. I'd suggest looking at his Strat Tutorial and downloading his "Setting Up A Guitar To Professional Standards" booklet. He sells 1/4" master templates and if you order them, he includes that booklet as well as a how-to booklet for making the guitar. He does not do necks though. I don't know why. To me, they are the most enjoyable part of the build.

[John Coloccia]

IMHO, the toughest part of any guitar build is fret work and nut work. Done precisely, even a poorly built guitar can play well. Done poorly, the best guitar on the planet will be useless. If I were to invest money anywhere, I would invest it in decent tools for fretwork and nut work. When you're ready, let me know, Dennis. I can lend you some fret and nut videos, just like I did Julie, and then I'll give you my thoughts where you should deviate from the videos in a couple of spots because there are better ways. You're a long ways off from that though, but when you've committed to the project, send me a PM.

[Dennis Peacock]

The wood should be here this week and the pickups, bridge, and tuning keys should be here as well. I won't know for sure until later this week. Some of it has been delayed due to weather up north...so I guess we'll see. Money has been spent and I truly want to do this.

[Shawn Pixley]

Good for you! The hardest part? For me it was trying not to do too much. What I thought I did right on my first guitar? I took my time and got the neck shape, frets and nut right.

What I like the least is the finishing.

[roger wiegand]

I've had the most trouble getting the neck angle perfect so that the action height is right when the whole thing gets put together. (Not sure this is an issue on a Strat copy, I've only done neck-through electric guitars where you either get it right before you put the fingerboard on or you're SOL, no adjustment possible.) I don't think I will learn to do decent pearl engraving for the inlays if I live to be 100 and weigh a ton.

I do cheat and buy pre-slotted fingerboard blanks. I get them from Luthier's Mercantile, I figure their CNC setup is much more accurate than my hand measured and cut setups will ever be, and I can't duplicate that technology reasonably.

[roger wiegand]

Oh-- and then there's all the choices for pickups and electronics. Confusing beyond imagining, especially if one dosen't play and have pre-formed notions of what one wants.

It's a lot of fun though, and possible to make a really nice and different instrument.

[Dennis Peacock]

Is it true that the hardest part is getting the body and neck aligned properly?
I'm not nervous about making the body and I think I can do ok on the neck. I did order a fret board that is already cut for fret wire. My thought was to try and keep this as simple as possible on the very first ever build. ;)

[Julie Moriarty]

Is it true that the hardest part is getting the body and neck aligned properly?

I didn't find it a problem at all. What I did find a problem was all the warnings I got about how difficult this will be. In a way I guess it caused me to be more careful but with all the help you can get here, there is nothing to fear. :)

If you haven't seen it yet, I did a thread on building my first Strat. I think it's on page 2 now. You'll see just how much help you can get from the brain trust here. Pretty amazing.

[John Coloccia]

Is it true that the hardest part is getting the body and neck aligned properly?

On a Strat? Nah. Even if you're off, you can trim a little here and there, and move it around a bit. A reasonably tight neck pocket is a nice cosmetic feature, but too tight is no good (you'll crack stuff getting it in and out), and at the end of the day it's friction between the neck and body that holds it in place, just like with any other screwed together thing. It's pretty common on older Fenders, and especially with aftermarket necks, that the pocket doesn't fit properly and you need to adjust it to get everything straight.

On set necks, it's trickier because you only have one chance to get it right, but that's why I drill for the bridge after fitting the neck. Once the neck is fit, wherever it ends up becomes my new centerline.

But if you use the templates, everything will automagically fit without any fiddling.

[Dennis Peacock]

John Coloccia....
I sent you PM.

[Shawn Pixley]

You're right. If you get the neck / bridge / centerline right then you can always shim / trim the neck to adjust the neck angle. I disabled the micro-tilt on my three bolt Tele and shimmed it to improve the sustain.

[Dennis Peacock]

Well, I'm having troubles finding a 5-string jazz type layout with a 35" scale length. I want a 35" scale length on my bass build because...to me....the 35" "speaks" better to my ear than the standard 34" scale length.

I'm also thinking Bartolini pickups and active electronics. Thoughts?

[Jim Creech]

Unless I missed something you went from a Strat to a 5 string Jazz bass. At any rate calculating fret spacing for a longer scale length is a minor thing. Just extend the length of the neck so you have a scale length of 35"-- then divide 35 by 17.817 and that will give the distance from the nut to the first fret (1.964"). Next divide the distance from the saddle to the 1st fret by the same 17.817 to get the distance from the nut to the 2nd fret. Keep repeating this process until you run out of fingerboard. Or there are online calculators that will do this for you.
As for active vs passive pick-ups, play both and decide which provide the best sound for type of music you play.

[Julie Moriarty]

StewMac has a fret calculator that does all the math for you: http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator. I used it to get the measurements for a 33.25" scale to match a Rickenbacker bass.

They also have a Dual Fret Scale Template that you can use with a hand saw or a table saw to cut the fret slots perfectly. It's pretty foolproof. They sell a template for a bass that has both 34" and 35" scales.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZebdYKvntQ

[Dennis Peacock]

Hey Jim,
Don't let me confuse you.....The Strat will be my first ever build and THEN I will build my 5-string bass. I want my bass to be as close to the Michael Tobias MTD-535 as possible.

[Jim Creech]

That's OK! I seem to get confused easily these days. I'll call it a side effect of cabin fever! That should hold 'em off for a few days!:)

[Dennis Peacock]

Today, Chuck and I get together to look over the guitar hardware that we ordered and is now in. We also now have our wood. Needless to say that the excitement is building about the guitar build that Chuck and I are about to start on. He is building his own '62 Strat and I'm building mine. I guess that makes us building them "together". :)
I'm really excited to be doing this as this is one item that is on my bucket list. ;)

[Dennis Peacock]

OK, here are 3 quick pics of my own guitar. The color is Chrysler Perl Blue. The neck is a laminate of Arkansas Black Cherry, Hard Maple, and Rosewood. The body is painted Alder. Handmade the nut and the action on this baby is extremely sweet!!! Parts and electronics came from Guitar Fetish. Thanks to all of you for help, advice, encouragement, video's, and much more!!!

330856

330857

330858

[Shawn Pixley]

Well, I'm having troubles finding a 5-string jazz type layout with a 35" scale length. I want a 35" scale length on my bass build because...to me....the 35" "speaks" better to my ear than the standard 34" scale length.

I'm also thinking Bartolini pickups and active electronics. Thoughts?

Stew Mac and other places have the onine fret calculators (even temprement). I'd like to to hear the 35" scale. Fretting would be easier but comes with more accommodation for fret buzz, so your setup needs to be good.

While I might go for the Ricky shound, the active Bartolini should be a good choice. Take care with the route for the battery box. Consider a piezo for the bridge?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very nicely done Dennis!

[Shawn Pixley]

Beautiful work Dennis!