Offset Semi-scratch Thingamajig.

[Simon Barden]

There are different hardnesses of aluminium alloy, some of them fairly soft. Apparently you want to look for T6 temper aluminium alloy which gives it greater hardness.

Some Danelectros have had aluminium nuts.

The main thing you may find is that the open string sound is noticeably different to the fretted string sound, whereas bone is generally acknowledged to give an almost identical sound. But it's just a nut, and you can easily swap it out if you wish.

[impala59]

A little bit of stainless steel would be nice for a nut and little chance of cutting too deep!

I'm not usually a fan of offset guitars, but this one is definitely a winner, I love the materials, the finish and the whole concept of upcycling other stuff. Its not glossy for sure, but I would choose this one as it seems to have real character, balance and style. I'm sure it will be a great player too.

Maybe the 'Stepster' or 'Staircaster'

[Sonic Mountain]

There are different hardnesses of aluminium alloy, some of them fairly soft. Apparently you want to look for T6 temper aluminium alloy which gives it greater hardness.

Some Danelectros have had aluminium nuts.

The main thing you may find is that the open string sound is noticeably different to the fretted string sound, whereas bone is generally acknowledged to give an almost identical sound. But it's just a nut, and you can easily swap it out if you wish.

Turns out the aluminium sheet I have is more like 2.5mm than 3mm anyway so I'll probably just chuck a graphtech in there and be done with it.

A little bit of stainless steel would be nice for a nut and little chance of cutting too deep!

I'm not usually a fan of offset guitars, but this one is definitely a winner, I love the materials, the finish and the whole concept of upcycling other stuff. Its not glossy for sure, but I would choose this one as it seems to have real character, balance and style. I'm sure it will be a great player too.

Maybe the 'Stepster' or 'Staircaster'

Cheers, yeah I am enjoying leaning into the recycled materials. It's also been a good test run for having a full loaded pickguard, which I think I may adapt into my 'primary' designs. While this is a bit of a tangential build, it's still good for working out how to approach doing runs of multiples. Going with the pre-built neck certainly speeds things up (and keeps costs down), but at the same time, doesn't feel quite as valid as using my own neck design. I'm enjoying the offset styling as well, perhaps a bit more than the deluxster, it's what I'd naturally gravitate to as a player. I will get back to the V 2.0 of that guitar eventually.

Staircaster has kind of been a bit of an unofficial name in my head, but I'm not going to bother giving it an official title.

[king casey]

Staircaster has kind of been a bit of an unofficial name in my head, but I'm not going to bother giving it an official title.

Don't want to get it confused with one of these.


cheers, Mark.

[Simon Barden]

The Staircaster invisible piano?

[Sonic Mountain]

Neck ferrules and screws turned up which lets me properly attach the neck.



Bridge inserts in. Impressed myself by remembering the earth wire.





Confirm pickup surround alignment.



Test assemble of pickguard. Some bits have gone walkies like the one of the switch screws and the chrome knurled knobs. But I can see it working now, I think it looks pretty cool. I have to have a big clean up and reorganise. My parts bins have gone from being carefully separated to just whatever and it's hard to find anything.



Also discovered the body route isn't quite deep enough for the switch which is annoying.



So basically now that I've sorted out the pickup alignment I need to pull it all apart again. Sort the route depth, probably give the guard another polish, then I can do some proper assembly and wiring.

[Sonic Mountain]

Annnnd I've just seen the humbucker isn't sitting properly under the strings.... so I guess I'll fix that as well....

[Sonic Mountain]

Turns out the humbucker was fine, was just that I couldn't get the plate in properly due to the switch. Bit of extra routing this morning and it all appears acceptable.





Time for a big workshop clean up. Then I'll pull it apart and get it sorted for final assembly.

[Sonic Mountain]

Bit of tinkering over the last couple of days. Cleaned up and gave the pick guard another buff. Could easily keep going to mirror, but it'll always look dirty and scratch easily so no point. I like this level anyway, it's like a rat rod look.



Wiring sorted out, was mostly done from when it resided in the OG Shoegazer, but a few bits to fix and the lipstick to install.





All together and playable. Actually not bad for a fresh assembly. Little bit of buzz on the low strings on the highest frets, but I have the action pretty darn low. Little bit of filing and I think'll it'll be great. Nut also needs to come down a bit. String trees currently missing, they didn't have any at bandland so I guess I'll have to wait until my next bits order from Real Parts.











It's amazing how putting strap buttons and strings on really brings it together. I'm happy with the look on this one. Kind of goes with the Steampunker stylewise.

It has pretty much the widest sound pallet of any of my guitars with the lip stick, strat style middle and humbucker. Very distinct and the blended positions are really cool. I've some how wired it so the humbucker has tone control but the lipstick doesn't, but it all sounds cool anyway so I'll leave it.

Now it's just the usual process of fine tuning setup and playing it.

Oh also, it is very heavy, and that's from someone who regularly plays and practices with a JMA build. Weighs in at 6.2kgm so about 500gms more than an SG. No neck dive issues with this one! I could probably route some more material out of the cavity. If I'm going to use these Aussie hardwoods, I'm going to have to really look at some more weight reduction.

[dozymuppet]

I like the overall aesthetic, but I LOVE the scratch plate.

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