It begins. ST-1 lefty

You mentioned you cannot play left handed.
Are you planning a reverse Hendrix - lefty guitar played right handed?

You could buy a set of 6 L/H locking tuners and 6 R/H locking tuners, then you have the tuners for both a L/H and a R/H 4+2 headstock guitar.

I had broken my left wrist in the early 90s (for over 6 years). Have not played guitar really since then until a few months back. Always wanted to try lefty to see if I could do that without the pain in the wrist. Also there is a secondary benefit of anything I learn trying to play lefty I can also apply to my normal playing so either way I will learn something. But a reverse Hendrix sounds like some kind of skateboard trick hehehe.

Well hahahah, It's difficult hahah. I don't know how I ever learned to play right handed in the first place. ( I am right handed). I can barely make my right hand form any of the unholy positions to even form a proper chord but its really funny. But without any setup at all, it rings and plays and the intonation is not horrible just by ear doing 12th fret harmonics vs open strings. Now that it is strung up I am going to use this opportunity to play around and figure out what "height" tuners to get with my 4/2 headstock plan. (probably those Hipshots that you can order individually). If I am lucky I can get away with no string tree's at all. Tempted to wire it up so I can really make a horrible noise hahaha. Attachment 43191 Attachment 43192 Attachment 43193

I’ve tried getting away without string trees on both locking and non-locking staggered height tuners but still found the B and E strings needed one. You’d need a neck with a large height difference between the nut and headstock to get away with it and not have the strings buzz in the nut. Normal tuners are better than locking ones if you want to try and get away with it as you can wind the string down to the bottom of the post, whereas with a locking tuner, you don’t want a full turn around the post at all to get the benefit of the tuners on tuning stability.

Though with a 4+2 arrangement, you should be OK.

This is the fun time. When you are in prototype mode and I swear you can bolt a strat neck to a board. ( and I have mocked up necks on chunks of wood and put bridges and such on and made playable logs.). So she plays, I hooked up the electronics and ran it into a Peavey classic 30. So funny how bad I am at it. I am laughing at that "Reverse Hendrix" thing from earlier in this thread because I played it right handed (upside down) and it is surprisingly easy hahah, I have never touched a lefty guitar and you can actually jam right on it right handed if you are used to it (with a little thought). I have chosen some of those hipshot tuners at a few different lengths/heights and hopefully those will be the 6 but I may swap it around, but when those show up, I will do the 4/2 thing to the headstock and then string it up again and play around with it. Then I will know if I want to use some string tree's, I am not against them but just experimenting ha. Simon you mentioned wrapping the strings down the post, that is what I do with my strat now. I need to actually address that someday. It orig had a horrible I think Khaler string lock thing on it that was functional but so not what should be on a flat non angled headstock. But I don't know if someone built my strat and put that early charvel neck on there or if Wayne even did that ( I would love to find out someday). But with that crazy washburn wonderbar (which I grew to love). That strat had incredible tuning stability. If I can dial in the strats "break angle" by replacing its old schaller tuners with varying height ones, I may entertain trying one of those "guitar nutbuster" things and see if it will allow me to back off the wonderbars tuners (have them bottomed now so non-use) and see how it does.

Anyway, long story short. The strat kit plays and sounds pretty good considering what it is. (Meaning one of many times of assembling and adjusting and playing of a non finished raw material kind of guitar.) Sorry this is not in metric but for me I did the distance between the nut and 12th fret as 12 23/32". So for this one it was not 25 1/2" inch (which is just a general thing I know). It was 25 7/16". I have not put a tuner on there and looked at the intonation as I have done no setup or anything to the neck ect. This is more structural (shaping) and inspirational stage (me doing things then looking at it and considering). Got her figured out now so it will be nice to work thru it and get to the final stages. Since this is basswood I will probably use automotive paints. (2 part epoxy primer/sealer and then some nice paint maybe single or dual stage whatever). I am thinking something like the "monaco yellow". Gonna see if I can get down to a half inch thickness at the termination of the forearm and belly cuts. Attachment 43195Attachment 43196Attachment 43194

Was a rainy day so I did a little work. Replaced the 4 tuners that remain in place with the hipshots, then planned out and and finally drew my own version of basically an Ernie Ball kind of thing (to fit what I'm working with). Once I put it back together I will decide about if I want to change the heights of a few of those tuners, or use a string tree on the middle strings. If I do want a tree I will then order a tusq xl nut and some tree's at the same time (been putting that off till I decided). But a little progress anyway. Attachment 43240 Attachment 43241

That should look good when it’s cut out.

I may make a perfect plug or even drill that 5th hole larger and make a plug, from the same material I am going to cut away from the headstock. But I also think maybe just some walnut or something that looks similar to the fingerboard as a plug. (if I am going to make a natural finished headstock. could also just paint it. Also could be a place to fill with the natural material right next door, then do an inlay over
Attachment 43242

A simple plug and a sheet of veneer maybe? If you veneer front and back, you’ll lower the tuner hole height relative to the nut slightly, which might help with the string break angle and not using string trees.