Simon's Super Strat Scratch Build.

[wokkaboy]

cool project Simon and love the timber you scored. Well documented build diary too and good move doing a pine test body/neck.
I will be watching this build diary with interest. You have a natural talent for scratch builds I can see that !

[SIMpleONe89]

I then proceeded to cut the neck out with a jigsaw and a hand saw. Disadvantages of not having a bandsaw...



To cut out the headstock where there are tight curves, I made some relief cuts.


Then I took off the excess wood as close to the line with rasps. I especially love the Shinto rasp and I highly recommend it.

[SIMpleONe89]

cool project Simon and love the timber you scored. Well documented build diary too and good move doing a pine test body/neck.
I will be watching this build diary with interest. You have a natural talent for scratch builds I can see that !

Thanks wokka! I'm really looking forward to completing it!

[SIMpleONe89]

After taking down most of the wood till the edges are about 2-3mm close to the line, I proceeded to route the outline.


I don't have a router table (and I fear to use one after reading some horror stories online) so I used some off cuts to stabilise the router.

This is the neck after the routing is done.

It came out cleaner than I expected. Probably due to the new, extra sharp router bit I bought from Carbec.

Next thing would be to thickness the headstock down to 14mm. So I had to take off about 6mm.

[wokkaboy]

good work Simon, you can get away without a bandsaw, just a bit more elbow grease !
Hope your jigsaw and router aren't plugged into live power on the ground, wearing 3 pluggers (thongs) worksafe would have a word to say !

EDIT I missed the last 2 or 3 posts, you are making good use of that workbench !

[SIMpleONe89]

After thicknessing the headstock, I had to file down the headstock transition. Once again, my good friend Shinto.



I also used half round files and sandpaper to smooth out the transition.

Then it was down to drilling the truss rod access hole. I didn't use any fancy 3 degree angle jigs. Just took my time and used an extra long 7mm drill bit.



I'm pretty happy with how the neck turned out. So far, no major screw ups and I'm very glad!

I'll have to do the fretboard next!

[SIMpleONe89]

good work Simon, you can get away without a bandsaw, just a bit more elbow grease !
Hope your jigsaw and router aren't plugged into live power on the ground, wearing 3 pluggers (thongs) worksafe would have a word to say !

Oh no you spotted me wearing thongs! Was hoping no one saw that! But yes they are all unplugged and so far I've not had any accidents in the garage!

[wokkaboy]

good work Simon, this is a great tutorial to show others building kits you don't need a heap of tools to build a scratchy.

Are you going to build the pine axe anyway ?

oh and don't worry if Worksafe visited 4D workshop they would put a permanent ban on it hahah

[SIMpleONe89]

good work Simon, this is a great tutorial to show others building kits you don't need a heap of tools to build a scratchy.

Are you going to build the pine axe anyway ?

Yes that's right! You can do a lot of things by hand, but probably the most vital tool is a router.

I'm not going to finish the pine because I think it's too soft and not dry enough to be an actual guitar. The neck also doesn't have a truss rod.

[wokkaboy]

well you can always turn the pine body into a clock !

think about Robin built a scratchy with absolutely no power tools, now that's dedication !

presume you will use the router to clean up the body shape after you roughly jigsawed it ?