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Post subject: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:33 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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ive just done a bit of an impulse buy and purchased this body off ebay for 40 quid. i fancied a strat with humbuckers, so hopefully this will be it. might even sell my epi les paul if it goes well.

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its a 2 piece swamp ash body, and its rear routed so i dont really need a pickguard, though i may fit one anyway. im unsure as to whether the top is flat or not, and obviously any scratchplate is going to be custom to some degree. i will need to paint the body, and drill various holes in it that havnt been done. ive also just noticed theres no jack socket hole :?

im new to all this, so i suspect a i collect bits together ill be picking peoples brains. i dont even know who the body was made for, the seller deals in rejected guitar parts, the one ive brought has some wood flaws circled on the body, doesnt bother me it will be a solid colour.

this is the plan, roughly - 2 humbuckers, 1 master volume, 2 tone pots. pickup selector in one of the other volume pot holes. the selector hole will be filled in, looks like a crap place for a selector switch to me. it will have a telecaster neck, RW or maple depends on what colour i paint it. paint will probably be matt or satin finish, however i want to try do something a bit interesting, maybe a burst or something. havnt decided on colour yet. colour will also factor in the decision for a pickguard or not.

havnt thought abut bridge, pups, tuners yet. i cant afford to throw buckets of money at this thing, its a plaything, a learning experience for me. it wont be made with total bargain rubbish bits, but im not splashing out on parts either. im not fussed about having S-1 TBX mid boost greasebucket circuitry or something. ive never wired anything in my life, dont want to confuse myself.

if anybody has any ideas for paint, value for money hardware, pickguard designs etc, lemme know.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:52 pm
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Roadie
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You're gonna need a neck. Heck, I dunno. When I build a guitar, I know what I want. But for you? I dunno.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:05 pm
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Paint the body?
Sacrilege.
That's some nice grain there.
I see no flaws.
Nobody else will either, unless you point them out.
Stain the body.

Might be a little bit of a challenge fabricating a custom cavity cover for the rear but it should be doable with enough patience.

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 3:23 pm
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This body has a PRS vibe to me. I would do a nice colored sunburst (mybe a blue, red or green). I would leave the edge unstained to give it that natural binding look. Cear black plastic knobs (LP sytle). in the fifth extra hole you could go with one of a few ideas:

1. a rotory selector switch for HB/Single coil splitting abuilty.
2. A 3-way LP switch.
3. a pre-amp and just have the volume knobs always in the loop (if you don't want to hear pickup, turn it down). I'm not even sure this will work. I'm just throwing ideas out there.

For the neck I would go with Warmoth or Allparts. Rosewood or Ebony finger board and some sort of fancy in-lay.

It's a really beautiful body; have fun!


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:11 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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I'd leave the selector switch location where it is , it looks like it won't be in the way and have a seperate volume and tone for each pickup, that way when you have the middle position selected, you will have infinately more tonal options

As for the body, it would be sacreledge to solid paint that, if you are bothered about the flaws(circled) why not be different and do a reverse burst?, stained dark in the middle going to a natural clear round the outside edges.

For the neck definately a maple board to bring out the colour of the body, a rosewood would look dull and lifeless (maybe a strat large headstock) . A tele neck would mean routing out the neck pocket for the flat end

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:19 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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the telecaster neck is definitely going on, unless i find a great deal on a big headstock neck. but it would have to be a meag deal. im hoping for a neck similar in size to my '72 custom tele.

to be honest my first thoughts on the body was how obvious the join between the 2 bits of wood are. stuff like that annoys me. maybe im a bit OCD :? :lol:

however the grain is nice, and you've already convinced me to go with a stain. not sure which colour yet. ive not finished a body before, not sure if a burst would be a bit difficult.

i like the faux binding idea. a lot. pickup selector will be a normal 3 way.

im pretty sure it wouldnt need to much routing to accept a tele neck. id have to do any work with hand tools anyway.

whats the deal with size differences between fender/squire parts ?

as i said im not going to be throwing money at this, im in the UK, a warmoth neck is out of the question, whatever i get will almost certainly be off ebay. if i get a squire neck, will i need squire hardware ?


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:38 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Might be a little bit of a challenge fabricating a custom cavity cover for the rear but it should be doable with enough patience.


Quick and easy solution. Lots of color choices. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:18 am
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moochy13 wrote:
the telecaster neck is definitely going on, unless i find a great deal on a big headstock neck. but it would have to be a meag deal. im hoping for a neck similar in size to my '72 custom tele.

to be honest my first thoughts on the body was how obvious the join between the 2 bits of wood are. stuff like that annoys me. maybe im a bit OCD :? :lol:

however the grain is nice, and you've already convinced me to go with a stain. not sure which colour yet. ive not finished a body before, not sure if a burst would be a bit difficult.

i like the faux binding idea. a lot. pickup selector will be a normal 3 way.

im pretty sure it wouldnt need to much routing to accept a tele neck. id have to do any work with hand tools anyway.

whats the deal with size differences between fender/squire parts ?

as i said im not going to be throwing money at this, im in the UK, a warmoth neck is out of the question, whatever i get will almost certainly be off ebay. if i get a squire neck, will i need squire hardware ?


Keep in mind that whatever neck you decide to use understand that there maybe scale issues. I found this out the hard way. I put a Mexican Tele neck on an Allparts body and the scale length was different. The end result: I needed a longer scale length to set up the intonation. I ended up buying an Allparts neck and the problem went away.

As far staining goes, you could do like a black painted back with a color stained front, separtated by the binding. Good luck and send us photos when you are finished.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:15 am
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Aspiring Musician
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thanks for the info. seen as the neck holes arent drilled, if its only a fraction out i might be able to correct it by adjusting where the neck screw holes are drilled. will have to see. maybe ill pull the neck off my 72 custom and see what it sits like in the body.

i almost brought a blacktop HH strat when they came out to scratch my HH itch, aswell as my daphne blue strat itch.

so im going to try get some stain which is daphne blue, or as close as i can find. if not surf green. i always prefer maple necks, but there something about daphne blue and RW that just looks great.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:28 am
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Location: Peckham: where the snow leopards roam
moochy13 wrote:
it wont be made with total bargain rubbish bits, but im not splashing out on parts either. if anybody has any ideas for paint, value for money hardware, pickguard designs etc, lemme know.

Hello moochy: for bargain to mid-price parts in our neighbourhood you need to look here:

http://www.axesrus.com/axecart.htm

For paint, if you want nitro in authentic guitar colours you should go to:

http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/shop/

If you are going to use modern formulation paint just visit your local Halfords or similar and pick out something you like. Or you can order car paints from:

http://www.paints4u.com/


moochy13 wrote:
to be honest my first thoughts on the body was how obvious the join between the 2 bits of wood are. stuff like that annoys me. maybe im a bit OCD

Personally, I agree with that. A two-piece body with the seam way over to the treble side is going to look very odd with a trans finish. And if you are planning to fill that switch hole as well then it has to be a solid finish or it's going to end up looking like a dog's dinner. Mind you, I think that switch is more or less in the same place as the five-way on a Strat, so I'd be sticking with that, if it were me. Might be nice to have a master volume and a tone control for each pickup? Or a master tone and a volume for each pup? One way or another, four knobs plus selector switch gives you some possibilities.


moochy13 wrote:
the telecaster neck is definitely going on... im pretty sure it wouldnt need to much routing to accept a tele neck. id have to do any work with hand tools anyway.

Enlarging a curved Strat neck pocket to take a straight Tele neck heel is do-able, if you have the carpentry skills. Easiest of all is to use a Tele neck pocket template and route it out. Or you could do it by hand with chisels and gouges. Remember, the curved corner on a Tele neck pocket is based on a 3/8" diameter circle.

If you need some help with this bit of the job, gissa shout.


moochy13 wrote:
whats the deal with size differences between fender/squire parts ? if i get a squire neck, will i need squire hardware ?

No, you can use any hardware you like with a Squier, Warmoth, WDMusic or Mightymite neck. (Check out the necks on the AxesRUs website, above. He sometimes has deals on modestly priced ones.)

However, the bit you need to watch for is the spacing of the six screws on the bridge, since your body already has those drilled. Measure from centre to centre of the outermost two holes and compare that to the measurements given for aftermarket bridges. They tend to be either 52, 54 or 56 mm and you need to match bridge to screw holes.

Good luck - C

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:43 am
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Aspiring Musician
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hmmm food for thought, thanks.

it is some pukka grain, but as i said the first thing that jumped out at me was the off centre, very obvious join. and with no scratchplate, it will be very visible. but, with solid paint id probably end up putting a scratchplate on.

ive always liked those anodised plates, but im not sure its going to look too good with a daphne blue guitar. the colour is not something ive put much thought into. im going to paint the headstock aswell i think, maybe ill look for a colour not normally on guitars.

im going to go with a maple fretboard, so at least i can base my colour/scratchplate choices around that.

ive found a UK company making pickups which seem to have been well recieved, and they're at a price in line with what i want to put into this guitar.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_032.htm

not sure which ones yet, nothing too hot though.

im also going to fit some split post kluson style tuners, i think they look great.


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:53 am
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moochy13 wrote:
ive found a UK company making pickups which seem to have been well recieved, and they're at a price in line with what i want to put into this guitar.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_032.htm

Ha, first I've heard of 'em. Good Lord, am I reading those prices right? How do they do that?

I have no idea what they sound like, but I want you to use a pair of their Hot Slags, just for the name. 8)

Cheers - C

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:14 am
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Aspiring Musician
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well my body just turned up, its pretty much as expected, with some work to do i didnt anticipate.

the arm contour has only been roughly routed, as has the belly cut, so will need sanding down and smoothing out. the marks circled on the body are deep enough that they need to be filled, the one near the neck pocket is by far the worst, the others arent so bad. it weighs 1.8kg.

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at the moment im spending all my spare time on my cassic car trying to get it ready for an MOT. once its done ill start a new build thread, i should have a few more bits by then aswell.

the string spacing is measuring at 56mm it looks like to me. ill check again with something a bit more suitable than a tape measure later :lol:


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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:57 am
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Yikes! That really is some first-timer discovering building bodies ain't quite as easy as he thought, isn't it? I've got a feeling you did him a bit of a favour at 40 squids: that tear-out around the pocket is going to be hard work to put right. Don't think body filler is going to work on that: patching with wood is the only way to do it and have the finish go on smooth after.

If you think I'm sounding superior, I'm not. I had a very similar Ebay experience a few years ago - which made a nice Forum thread! :)

viewtopic.php?t=17948

From the pix and description on Ebay it seemed fine. When I finally got round to looking at what I'd bought... oh dear! :( However, page 20 shows that these stories can have happy endings.

Go to, moochy, and play us a blinder! :D

Cheers - C

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Post subject: Re: ideas for a first build
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:13 am
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to be honest im not really anticipating anything particuarly difficult. maybe im naive, or just supremely confident haha. ill be able to fill the imperfections, ive been using filler on my car for ages, im a pro :lol: i might even use a sawdust/glue mix.

sanding out the roughness of the routing wont be too difficult. im not going for custom shop quality, but sitting here looking at the body, the thing im most worried about is sorting out the jack socket situation. but thats way down the line, first job is get the body looking smooth. the routing has left a really nice 10mm bevel all round both edges of the body. instead of sanding it to blend in like i guess you usually would, im going to use it as the boundaries of the faux binding. at least ill be able to see some of that glorious grain 8)

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i will probably get a pickguard custom made, basically a strat one with an extra bit to go under the knobs, like a 72 custom tele. or not fit one at all.

the body came from a seller who seems to have a lead on rejected guitar bodies, and sells them all the time, they all go for roughly the same sort of price. he does a few interesting configs, cabronita teles, humbucker teles, std bodies, alder, swamp ash, rear routed, front routed. im happy with the body, the hard work has been done if you ask me.


Last edited by moochy13 on Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

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