The Deluxester Prototype - Sonic's foray into repeatable scratch builds

[Sonic Mountain]

Thanks Guys

On the home stretch now. It's wired and assembled and strung up. Intonated with no dramas and sounds like a classic strat through my Hot Rod. Very very happy overall. I have some dead spots past the 14th fret, but I really only did a cursory level so I'm pretty happy with that. It plays fine everywhere else. Low E and probably A nut slot need to come down a fraction and I need to put a string tree on B/E.

Should be able to get it largely sorted this weekend, maybe another quick cut and polish, and then let it rest for a bit. I'll try and get some glamour shots and a sound test vid up soon. Going to be nice to be able to demo thru a decent amp for you all.

Fairly tidy wiring. Pretty simple layout but the knob vs cavity meant a bit of fiddling around. Next version everything drops in from the top! I'll make an aluminum plate/cover to put over this eventually.


I knew this cavity was going to be a little shallow. Plan is to 3D print a slightly raised cover, but it's no biggy (and I usually have that cover off on my other ones anyway...





All buttoned up



All strung up. Its funny how at this stage the imperfections sort of drop away as the whole thing comes together. And no matter how much mocking up and dreaming I do, there is nothing quite like the reality of making a working instrument.



Sound test after I dial in the setup a bit better. The pickups are Benson Custom 54's neck and middle (moved to bridge position) I had them in my washburn for a while and they are gorgeous. Really looking forward to trying this one out with the band.

[dozymuppet]

That’s all come together really nicely. Congrats

[Simon Barden]

It’s the depth of the body that’s too shallow for the depth of the trem block used. A deeper trem cavity wouldn't do anything for that. You could file the trem block down so it’s not as tall.

The angle you’ve drilled the trem claw screws in at hasn’t helped in keeping the springs sit lower at that end. I use a pin vice to drill my trem claw screw holes as you can fit the whole vice in the cavity and drill it pretty much flat. It’s quite a slow process as you can’t grip it very well or apply much pressure, and I find you need to use a small drill to start off with and then enlarge the holes.

Looks great!

[colin2121]

Looks stunning Sonic.
Look forward to hearing how it sounds.

[Mathew]

Looks amazing. Gets me excited about starting another build.

[blinddrew]

Looking really good there.

[Sonic Mountain]

Thanks guys, here's some quick noodling for you. Just straight into the Hot Rod with a little reverb, recorded on my phone.



EDIT : The buzz when I start strumming is my son cooking bacon lol.

[dozymuppet]

Sounds lovely. Those Bensons do a great job.

[blinddrew]

Sounding very sweet.

[Sonic Mountain]

Had it's first gig outing last night and performed beautifully - cool venue too!