MetalMatts Surfer Girl Stratocaster

[MetalMatt]

Well after the fun of my first build I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next project and even though I had planned on slightly modded/custom Iceman for the next one I thought I'd get a bit more practice in with a standard kit before that.

I've ALWAYS wanted a SeaFoam Green/Maple fretboard Stratocaster so the Wudtone Surfer Girl colour is the next best thing I reckon. At this stage the only modification I'll make to this one is replacing the black fret marker dots for abalone ones - dunno how much trouble I'm going to get myself in with that mod but I hope it comes off ok!

Anyway, my Pitbull brown box of goodies turned up a couple of days ago and now sits waiting for me to get into it.

More to come...

[Brendan]

Sounds great - keen to see the process. Tim has just replaced the fret marker dots on his YB-4 so give him a holler and see how he's going about it for some tips... There are also a few step by steps on inlays around so I'm sure you'll be in good hands.

[gavinturner]

Hey Matt,
a surf green strat sounds like a great build! I'm looking for a model myself to produce a cool surf guitar, and a strat is a great choice. I am very interested to see how the surfer girl Wudtone comes out. Are you thinking a thick coat, or very translucent? For my taste the example on the site is just a little too thin. Good luck with the build and keep us posted!

Cheers,
Gavin.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Matt,
good choice of colour surfer girl. Here's a pic of my build couple of months ago. I tried to keep the colour dark as possible so only mixed about 2 coats 2 parts surfer to 1 part white mix, but rest of the coats were 100% surfer girl.
Good luck with the build and look forward to photos as it progresses. If you got any more questions about surfer girl just ask !

[stan]

Looks sweet wokka, good luck with it Matt

[MetalMatt]

Looks great Wokka, very nice guitar!

Quote from gavinturner on August 2, 2013, 06:02
Are you thinking a thick coat, or very translucent?

Well I hadn't really thought that much into it yet but now you mention it I think I'd want it as full colour as I can get it. Can anyone see any reason I couldn't just use straight surfer girl and no white mixed in at all?

Anyway, I did an initial mock up the other night and there a bit of an issue with the scratchplate affecting where the bridge will sit for the right scale, so I'm waiting from my cheap and nasty rotary tool kit to come from Ebay so I can modify the scratchplate a bit. In the mean time I had a shot at replacing the black marker dots with the MOP/Abalone dots and it came out ok I think. Bit nerve racking drilling into a perfectly good fretboard let me tell you!

[dingobass]

No reason at all!
The white base is there so you can adjust the colour to choice.
Nice job on the dot inlay

[MetalMatt]

I think I'll make an executive decision on the night in regards to the colour

Just while I've got you DB (and others with the knowledge) I ordered the vintage yellow kit for the neck on this build so do I use that vintage yellow on the fretboard as well? On the Telecaster I had the colourless finish and used it on the neck AND fretboard, but not sure if this will be too 'yellow' for the fretboard (even though it does say to apply it to the fretboard in the instructions)??

Options/opinions/tips appreciated!

[Fretworn]

From a purely aesthetic point of view I think the fretboard of a maple neck should be the same colour as the body. Other may disagree.

[MetalMatt]

Fretboard the same colour as the body? Or same colour as the back of the neck?