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

[Sonic Mountain]

Been a while. A lot has happened since my last post and most of it not at all good, but I finally have a bit of time and motivation to work on this.

Templates are great, seem to be working well so far. I decided to just buy a fretboard this time, for $18 it's hard to go past as a time and labour saver.

This caught my eye at the BGS. Its laminated birch.. the price was right anyway.





Sketchy glue rig... works fine though...



Didn't get a pic, but I glued a 5mm MDF cap on it to get it to a suitable thickness to accommodate the trem block. I've done this 3 times now and the other builds are showing no detriment. Plus it's really easy to get a nice finish on.

Roughed out with the template on the back.



And after an hour with the router, looking pretty good.





Not sure how quickly this will move as I'm starting a new job in a week but I'll try and keep the updates coming.

[dozymuppet]

Nice update, Sonic. Couple of questions if I may:

- Is that birch part of the specrite range? Don't think I've ever seen a birch version at any of my local BGSes, but I've squinted at a few of the other variants.

- How thick are the panels?

- MDF cap?! I guess if you're doing a solid colour that could work, but curious about getting the transition seemless on the sides (possibly a non-event?)

- How thick are your templates? 6mm? I ask because I feel safest working with 9mm, but wondering what's best when getting them laser cut.



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[Sonic Mountain]

Hmm I’d have to try and find the sticker that was on it, not sure what range it’s part of. It’s about 34mm thick, so the MDF gets it up around the 40mm total mark. When it’s finished it’s impossible to tell there is a cap. On this one I’m toying with painting the mdf with a metallic and leaving the wood composite natural. I’ll probably run a pin stripe around the join like I did on my Flying V style build. These templates are 6mm. It was around $40 to get the set done and the company is about 2 blocks from me so getting replacements done will be a cinch. I’m thinking of getting 4 layers of 9mm ply cut to make another body in this style. So that would let me sandwich them together and avoid having to do any routing at all.

[Trevor Davies]

The Birch looks nice. I have been eying off a sheet of laminated teak from the BGS.

[Sonic Mountain]

Truss rod in and neck shape routed. Trying something different at the adjustment end on this one.

[FrankenWashie]

Drill through from cavity to adjuster rout?

[Sonic Mountain]

Yep. I've just found that the two way truss rod put the adjustment nut quiet deep in the neck meaning the headstock needs to be a bit thinner than I'd like, hopefully this gets around it.

[FrankenWashie]

Yep. I've just found that the two way truss rod put the adjustment nut quiet deep in the neck meaning the headstock needs to be a bit thinner than I'd like, hopefully this gets around it.

Yeah ve battled with that aspect on my fenderish necks, not so much an issue on the scarf necks

[Sonic Mountain]

It's odd. if I were making them I'd reverse the thread and put them in 'upside down' so the adjuster nut sits up a bit higher. Anyway, I'll get one of those T shaped allen keys that lets you come in at a slight angle and it should all be good.

[Sonic Mountain]

Little bit more work done. Fretboard is located with pins. Headstock transition is mostly done, I need the truss rod out to do it properly so I'll finish it as much as possible before I glue the fretboard. I got a 5mm cove bit to add a bevel. Had one little whoopsie which is where the grey putty is. The whole thing needs a lot of sanding and refining. Anyway.. some pics.