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

[Sonic Mountain]

That’s the one! Yeah I like that approach. You’ve left that diary on a bit of cliffhanger....

[FrankenWashie]

That’s the one! Yeah I like that approach. You’ve left that diary on a bit of cliffhanger....

You may have noticed there is a FrankenLab tag now. I couldn't keep up with where i was with all of these!

The IB Freebie is in the corner of shame, alongside the Cliche Black LP for now.
I have yet to strip it down and figure out what to do. It most likely will be that the Body needs to become wall art, and a new one gets fabricated. (won't that be a shame? )

The lab has other more pressing build priorities, so sayeth the Bride.....

[Sonic Mountain]

Quiet real work morning so some more tinkering. I've roughed up the plate for the back of the headstock. Primarily to give me a little more thickness for the tuners to mount into, but also to cover some imperfections in the wood. I coud sand them out, but I'd be reducing the thickness even further. Tiny bit of overhang here, I'm going to polish it up so I've left a little to knock back. I'll get some finish on the neck and then even it all out with some light sandpaper so it matches exactly.

At some point I'd like to get it engraved as well, but I might do that a bit down the track.

[king casey]

Looking good thus far.
I'm waiting with bated breath for when the 'repeatable' bit kicks in.

cheers, Mark.

[Sonic Mountain]

Hah, yeah me too. The concept is still there, but there has been a tonne of learning on this one. The next one will be basically the same concept but with a number of improvements and fixes to the templates.

The dream is to be able to build a number of them all at once, but I'm a ways off that being practical.

[FrankenWashie]

Nifty. You could even CNC etch your logo or model/serial number details into the back of that

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking.

[king casey]

Nifty. You could even CNC etch your logo or model/serial number details into the back of that

..and then (gasp-horror) out-source the work to China.

cheers, Mark.

[Simon Barden]

Or you could simply make the headstock thicker.

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah, if the blank had been a little thicker it wouldn't be an issue. I have another blank exactly the same for the next one so I'm tossing up possible solutions, including making it a heel adjust...

Anyway, having the neck sorted bar finishing means a lot of other work can go forward. String through holes are drilled. I did have a small whoopsie, but it was easy fixed and will be hidden. Even with a drill press it was a challenge to get them straight. I think due to the concrete nature of the wood the very thin pilot bit seems to wander around a bit.

Bridge plate holes drilled, cavity routed out further to accommodate bridge pickup. Getting a lot more comfortable with the router now. The next one I build should be a lot tidier. Also routed a recess for the cavity control. Not quite what I wanted, but like a lot of things, fine for this build. Pilot hole for the jack also done, not quite sure what I'll do for that. I was going to have it on top, but decided to put it in a tele-like position.

Finalised the pickguard and control cavity plate designs, so next job is cutting those. Bit nervous about getting a nice bevel on the pickguard.

Then we'll be in the home stretch of finishing, wiring, assembly, then setup....oh I need to thin out the control cavity a bit as well, the long shaft pots I have don't quite get the thread through.