Woltz's semi-scratch strat build

[Woltz]

So while I'm waiting for the nitro to dry on my Pitbull TL kit, I've started getting things organised for a semi-scratch build. I'll order a neck from Pitbull and build the body from scratch. This intention is for this to be a strat for my wife to learn guitar on as long as it doesn't come out too heavy.

Picked up some 240x45mm thick Tasmanian Oak from a local saw mill.





In hindsight I should've got it a bit narrower as it isn't wide enough for a one piece blank and as a two piece there will be quite a bit cut off.

Picked up a couple second hand planes. Both are in pretty good condition, they just needed a sharpen and a couple minor tweaks.



Slapped together a cheap shooting board from a piece of marine plywood and couple spare pieces of tassie oak. Didn't bother cleaning up the end near the cleat which isn't anywhere close to straight as accentuated by the ply. But the edge of the ply that the plane runs against is perpendicular to the fence which obviously is the most important thing. When I have access to a table saw and other tools I'll make a nicer one and reposition the fence so that it's not right at the end of the board.



Test fit of the two boards after preparing the joint.

[JohnH]

What a cool project! Is it a surprise for your wife? or is she watching progress eagerly?

[Woltz]

What a cool project! Is it a surprise for your wife? or is she watching progress eagerly?

Hi John, she knows about it and is watching the progress. She has already told me how she wants it to look.

It'll be a black strat with green pearl pickguard, all other plastic parts black, metal parts chrome.

I'll do a swimming pool route to try reduce the weight.

The decisions I'm trying to make at the moment is whether to go HH or HSS and what bridge to put on it.

[wazkelly]

HSS and hardtail would be a good compromise and not add to the degree of difficulty involved with adding tremolo.

[Woltz]

So tonight I had a bit of spare time to do a little more work on the joint and then glued it up. I'll get a template sorted and rough cut out the body and then I won't get much done until after I've been back to Perth over Christmas/New Year and picked up the spare router my dad has lying around.

HSS and hardtail would be a good compromise and not add to the degree of difficulty involved with adding tremolo.

Yeh I'm thinking HSS. Just need to decide what pots to use and how I'm going to wire it up. I agree the hardtail would be easier but the wife wants a trem because she listens to metal. So I'll take my time and do some research on my options.

Having said that the first thing I may need to address is the timber cracking. So far the cracks are only in the material that will be cut off.

[Woltz]

Well the timber didnt crack any futher so I rough cut out the shape but it's feeling too heavy for my wife to comfortably use. So a change of direction. I'll get another piece of timber for a strat for her.

The plan now is a thinline tele without a scratchplate. Which might get this piece of Yaka as a top if I don't use it on my pitbull kit.



I've starting making the routing templates off of the plans I have. A bit more work getting the edges nice and then I'll make a master template off this one.

[Woltz]

It's been a while but I have been getting back into things. I decided that I wasn't happy with the accuracy of the template I had made by printing plans and transferring to the mdf. So I got onto illustrator on my computer with the plans and cleaned them up then sent two files to a company in Sydney who do laser cutting.

And today I received in the mail the 6mm acrylic master templates.



I'll now cut some mdf working templates off these.

[FrankenWashie]

Noice, I've contemplated doing the same. Just haven't gotten around to it!

[G-Axe]

Those templates look great - how pricey was it to get them laser cut?

[Woltz]

Noice, I've contemplated doing the same. Just haven't gotten around to it!

Yeh I'd say it was worth it, if only to know the neck pocket is precise from the plans.

Those templates look great - how pricey was it to get them laser cut?

It was $110 plus postage. A little pricey considering I only intend on doing one tele from scratch but I'll probably sell the templates when I've finished with them. Also if I'd had them cut from 6mm mdf instead it would've been cheaper.