My first scratch build

Hi all,

About a week ago I decided to start my own scratch build of a strat.

So I have seen lots of videos and read lots of blogs and decided to price some ply and pine to practice on. Worked out reasonable but on a whim, I decided to ring the local mill to see how much a slab of local hardwood might compare.

They told me they could cut some spotted gum to 500mm long by 400mm wide and run it through the thickneser to 45mm for me for $40. Pick it up in a couple of hours.

Sweet I said. I'll be there. I arrived to this country mill and they showed me what they had done for me.

Propped up against the post was a slab of very nice spotted gum.

I like how the receipt says Approximately 400mm x 500mm x 45mm. It turned out to be 500 wide by 45 thick all right but nearly 1 meter long.

I will get 2 good bodies and maybe another 1 it I can work out how to stabilize the crack running through the middle of the last piece.

So while I was there I thought I would push my luck even further and ask for some cheap hardwood at 25mm thick and at least 100mm wide for a practice piece for a neck. The lovely lady showed me a pile I couldn't step over of 150mm wide x 25mm thick and 2000mm long and said I could have a piece for $5.

But my luck hadn't run out yet. I got this great find home and decided I would drop into the local hardware store for some mdf to make my templates from. I was just about to pay for my half sheet of cheap ply when I thought I would ask if they had any off cuts or rubbish sheets of ply that would do the job.

In the corner was a pile of 3mm mdf cover sheets and she said I could have one for nothing. Sweet. So I returned some of my good luck and bought a set of scroll blades for my jigsaw from them for $12.

So to recap my day. I now have enough spotted gum hardwood for 3 bodies. a plank of hardwood for 2 necks and a 2 meter sheet of mdf for templates.

I have cut out my templates and sanded them to fit nicely together. I followed the specs from the original vintage 62 fender blueprint I found somewhere on line. I was really happy with my first day.

Current update. I decided to use some free ply as my first guitar body and work out any problems before attacking my good spotted gum.
I will get 3 necks out of my neck slab so will go with spotted gum for the first neck. I have cut out and glued 3sheets of ply ( 17mm+17mm free + 12mm from Bunnings ) together and routed all cavities and the edges and given it a trial prime to show up all my mistakes. Yikes...

The free ply used for the front chipped out while using the jigsaw but the back top quality stuff looks great. No more free ply...

So far so good.

Here are my latest pics..

Have shaped the back and front and primed. You can really see the chips out of the free ply now. Oh well. Some spakfilla will hide that.

Routered the front of the neck and drilled and trial fitted the tuners. Will have a go at blending in the head to neck later today.

Also giving the whole body a coating of spakfilla to fill grain and holes and chips so should look a lot smoother tomorrow.

Actually starting to look like a guitar.

Awesome. Look forward to following this.

wow what a score on the materials

Looks really cool. Just wondering did you use a few different jigs for the routing? it looks real tight!

great score on the timber, and nice work on the tryouts!

The lesson here is - "it never hurts to ask"

And you used a jigsaw on all that? Won't the blades break?

Hey Pablopepper. If it turns out anywhere near as good as some in this site, I will be rapt.

Yeah Ben. Really happy with the materials and that little country mill. Unfortunately they are limited in what is available locally in hardwood but hoping this spotted gum turns out nicely when sanded and polished.

Jeff Sheridan. I made some templates from pdfs online and followed these. It made the build so much easier. I have included a pic of some of the templates made so far.

You can see the main template for the router. I add the small block to the left to cut out the back 2 sheets of ply so I have the neck pocket complete. I add the small funny shaped insert laying on top to the bridge pickup hole to allow me to route the control cavity deeper. I have a center line on the black one and line this up on the back for the tremolo route. The insert on it is to route the tromolo cavity to the full 38mm after routing the 16mm cavity for the springs.

Fretworn. Exactly how I got this far. Asking lots of questions and watching lots of builds. You really get to the point where you can't watch any more and you just have to put tool to wood and have a go. Thanks to all who have helped so far. I hope mine turns out 1/10th as good as your masterpieces.

Simpleone89. I cut out the 3 layers from the template before I glued them together that way the thickest I have to cut with the jigsaw is only 17mm. I leave a few mm outside the template line and route to that off the template. If you glue and join them properly, they just need a light sand and they look like a 45mm slab.

Beautiful slab of wood! Looks great when shaped, always nice to get multiple bodies out of a single blank!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gregted

Simpleone89. I cut out the 3 layers from the template before I glued them together that way the thickest I have to cut with the jigsaw is only 17mm. I leave a few mm outside the template line and route to that off the template. If you glue and join them properly, they just need a light sand and they look like a 45mm slab.

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Oh! Then would you use a bandsaw with the 45mm gum wood? I've seen some people cut out a guitar just with a thick jigsaw blade! Don't know how it will work out...

Nice looking grain on the wood, can't wait to check out the finished guitar.

Great scores mate. Shows you just have to ask like fretty said

wow Greg this looks very nice, if this is a first scatch build you have the knack !

Looking great Greg! You definitely know what you are doing. She's gonna be a sweet scratchie!

cheers,
Gav.

Good work Greg scratchie coming along nicely and great score with the timber!

Thanks all for the positive comments on my build. I hope the slab looks great as well. Some really nice grain there.

Unfortunately, ( fortunately? ) I will have to make 2 or 3 out of ply or pine to get my technique right in my head before I attack that nice grain and do it justice. Things you gotta do.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SIMpleONe89

Oh! Then would you use a bandsaw with the 45mm gum wood? I've seen some people cut out a guitar just with a thick jigsaw blade! Don't know how it will work out...

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I haven't looked into the max length of jigsaw blade available yet but I do have access to the local mans shed organization where you can use their gear for $3 per month so might do that. I think a bandsaw will give a neater cut and eliminate the chips my current jigsaw caused. I don't mind bog in my first test build because it will be painted but will need the spotted gum to be a perfect finish without fill.

I have seen a build where the builder rough cut the slab with a circular saw and routed what he couldn't reach. I also saw one where the only tool used was the router and he routered around the template while still attached to the slab but that would be hard on the router.

I have watched this build and like what he has done so you never know....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbOlG7THecM

Update time.

Doesn't look like I have achieved much this week but filling, sanding, checking, sanding, priming, Not happy with the finish, more sanding, painting again, checking again, another bump, more sanding, painting, checking, rubbed through with the wet and dry, paint again, try and use lighter touch and go up to 1200 wet and dry, rubbed through on one spot, more paint, and finally happy. ( Not really but you gota stop somewhere. )

I figure any irregularities will be covered by the art and top gloss. ( I hope ). The body is within a mill flat across all faces.

Have ordered hardware from Putbull and will trial fit all before I hand it over to the artist for the African landscape on all surfaces. Should look amazing going by his paintings on his wall.

While he is doing his thing I will be cutting the frets, attaching the fret wire, radiusing and levelling and shaping the neck.

If that goes to plan, I will get started on my next build. Another strat and a pine Tele.

I will be making my own truss rod. I am heading towards a 5mm threaded rod, flat nut on the head, lock-tighted and peaned over so it won't move and on the heel, washer and a treaded joiner with an allen head bolt lock-tighted into that.

It will be placed int a concave ( from the fretboard ) route and fillet filled from the back with a skunk stripe of contrasting lighter coloured wood yet to be scrounged.

That's it for now. Really enjoying the ride so far..

Tall order for your first build Greg but if it all goes to plan you will have one sweet scratchie! Just take your time as needed, no need to rush any steps!

Hey Luthiers,

I am at the stage where I am ready to route and fit my first truss rod and have some quick questions.

I will be going with a homemade rod comprising of 1/4 in threaded rod, flat nut for the anchor at the head lock-tighted and peaned, and at the heel, a flat washer and a hex coupler with an allen head bolt locktighted into that.

The one thing I am not sure of is do I prebend the threaded rod to match the route or do I place it in the routed curve naturale so it is under slight tension immediately?

The later seems to make more sense to me but as I am a first timer, I am happy to go with experienced users advice.

Hey Greg,

Basically what you have made is a single action truss rod, so it will only pull in one direction.

So, install the truss rod then you will need to build in what is known as neck relief before glueing the fret board onto the neck.
The neck relief means a slight back bow that will straighten up under string tension.
This relief does not need to be massive, just a few mm at most.

There is a bit of an art getting this right with single action rods and for a first build I would highly reccomend purchasing a double action truss rod.
This could could save you a few headaches and dramas :)

Thanks for the reply, Dingo.
What I am asking is if I insert the threaded rod without a prebend, will the rods natural tendency to want to straighten out act against the string tension without the neck relief you speak of. I am thinking the ends will want to push the head and heel down slightly which is what I want. I have been looking at 2 way rods but really want to make as much as I can from scratch, hence the homemade rod.

It should work as you say.
You will still need to build in the neck relief so when the strings are under tension it straightens out.
Then any minor adjustments can be made with the truss rod if the neck developes a front bow.

The main reason I reccomend using a double action truss is the ability to move the neck either way if needed.
They are easily made, infact you could convert yours into a two way by adding a length of flat bar.

Hey and thanks again dingo. I have seen a build of a double action rod. The builder simply bent a rod almost in half and inserted a plate on the threaded longer leg. The shorter leg fitted into a hole drilled halfway through the same plate above the longer one. This looks do able. So the relief I should build in you speak of means to fit the neck with a couple mm backward bend to compensate for initial string tension. Won't that make the action very low at the heel.

I'd just buy a double action rod from StewMac, can't get my head around all these techniques for rods!

Big day today. Parts arrived and trial fitted. Found out I didn't route the pup cavities deep enough and the jack cavity needed some widening. Of course when I fitted the template to re route the pup cavities, some tape lifted some of the paint near the top horn.

My fault for not waiting until I had all the parts before I finished the primer. Won't happen again. I fixed the template and now know when the instructions say pup cavities at 19mm, it is for a reason. Apart from that all fitted ok.

Looks like my template had all the cavities in the perfect spot. Bonus... The small gap at the neck joint doesn't even look too bad and should close up with some coats of clear on the neck.

Neck fitted also. Lined up dead centre with a piece of cotton as a guide. Still waiting for delivery of fret wire and nut so the neck is not finished.

Also found a source of nice woods for the next build. Picked up some rosewood.

They told me they can get many types of wood so might use Jarah for the fret board. Sample pic taken off the net but the piece I saw today looked pretty close to that.

Also read Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvin Hiscock. Interesting stuff.

Looks great Greg!

Beautiful work, so when are you delivering the finished guitar to me for 'testing'? Lol

A nice chunk of quater sawn Jarrah does make for a nice finger board..
Try to avoid flat sawn timber as it isnt as stable as quarter sawn, this is important with Jarrah especially as flat sawn Jarrah has been known to split when cut into thin slabs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gregted

So the relief I should build in you speak of means to fit the neck with a couple mm backward bend to compensate for initial string tension. Won't that make the action very low at the heel.

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When you select your neck blank, look for the natural bow.
Always use the convex curve as the face which you glue the finger board onto. This should give you a natural back bow.

Once the finger board has cured, simply adjust the truss to straighten the neck.
Then you can do your radiusing, and levelling before installing the frets. The more even and flat the FB is before fretting will save you a lot of time getting the frets level later.

Best to use a radius block with sandpaper to get the radius more accurate! Jarrah would look sweet on that neck!