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Strat Style Guitar

11K views 23 replies 9 participants last post by  JimDaddyO 
#1 ·
Project Start

I started taking guitar lessons last year. My instrument is a Classical Style Acoustic guitar. I chose a classical guitar because it has a 2" nut, which is perfect for my big fat fingers. After a while, I became interested in electric guitars also. Electric guitars have much smaller string spacing, which made it difficult for me to play. Big Lou Guitars makes a Strat Style electric guitar with a 1 7/8" nut, and they also sell necks with 1 7/8" and 2" nuts. I decided to buy a 2" nut neck from them, and to tackle the body my self to make an electric guitar that I could play.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory Wood String instrument Plucked string instruments

Big Lou neck.

I purchased a one piece alder guitar body blank from Classic Tone Woods.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


The routing templates came from Ron Kirn. If you are interested in building a guitar, Ron also has a great step by step tutorial.

Wood Grey Font Motor vehicle Art


The first step is to make working templates out of 3/4" MDF from the Ron Kirn master templates. Why? Because at some point, the router will ruin the working template. Better to ruin a working template than the master template!

I traced the template onto the alder blank, cut it out on the bandsaw, attached the working template and routed the basic shape and tremolo cavity.

White Blue Wood Grey Composite material


Then I discovered my first "oops!". I had processed the body blank through the Timesaver to 1.5" thick instead of 1.75". Dang! I decided to forge ahead and make a thinner Strat. It turns out there are thinner Strats out there. At least is will be lighter :-/
 

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#2 ·
Project Start

I started taking guitar lessons last year. My instrument is a Classical Style Acoustic guitar. I chose a classical guitar because it has a 2" nut, which is perfect for my big fat fingers. After a while, I became interested in electric guitars also. Electric guitars have much smaller string spacing, which made it difficult for me to play. Big Lou Guitars makes a Strat Style electric guitar with a 1 7/8" nut, and they also sell necks with 1 7/8" and 2" nuts. I decided to buy a 2" nut neck from them, and to tackle the body my self to make an electric guitar that I could play.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory Wood String instrument Plucked string instruments

Big Lou neck.

I purchased a one piece alder guitar body blank from Classic Tone Woods.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


The routing templates came from Ron Kirn. If you are interested in building a guitar, Ron also has a great step by step tutorial.

Wood Grey Font Motor vehicle Art


The first step is to make working templates out of 3/4" MDF from the Ron Kirn master templates. Why? Because at some point, the router will ruin the working template. Better to ruin a working template than the master template!

I traced the template onto the alder blank, cut it out on the bandsaw, attached the working template and routed the basic shape and tremolo cavity.

White Blue Wood Grey Composite material


Then I discovered my first "oops!". I had processed the body blank through the Timesaver to 1.5" thick instead of 1.75". Dang! I decided to forge ahead and make a thinner Strat. It turns out there are thinner Strats out there. At least is will be lighter :-/
wow! i didn't know that how the guitars are made. i love playing guitar! thank you for sharing this out. if you want to add or interested to know more lesson playing guitar try to check this www.worshipguitarclass.com i just learned mine in this amazing site. :) :)see you there!
 

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#3 ·
Project Start

I started taking guitar lessons last year. My instrument is a Classical Style Acoustic guitar. I chose a classical guitar because it has a 2" nut, which is perfect for my big fat fingers. After a while, I became interested in electric guitars also. Electric guitars have much smaller string spacing, which made it difficult for me to play. Big Lou Guitars makes a Strat Style electric guitar with a 1 7/8" nut, and they also sell necks with 1 7/8" and 2" nuts. I decided to buy a 2" nut neck from them, and to tackle the body my self to make an electric guitar that I could play.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory Wood String instrument Plucked string instruments

Big Lou neck.

I purchased a one piece alder guitar body blank from Classic Tone Woods.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Wood stain


The routing templates came from Ron Kirn. If you are interested in building a guitar, Ron also has a great step by step tutorial.

Wood Grey Font Motor vehicle Art


The first step is to make working templates out of 3/4" MDF from the Ron Kirn master templates. Why? Because at some point, the router will ruin the working template. Better to ruin a working template than the master template!

I traced the template onto the alder blank, cut it out on the bandsaw, attached the working template and routed the basic shape and tremolo cavity.

White Blue Wood Grey Composite material


Then I discovered my first "oops!". I had processed the body blank through the Timesaver to 1.5" thick instead of 1.75". Dang! I decided to forge ahead and make a thinner Strat. It turns out there are thinner Strats out there. At least is will be lighter :-/
I am impressed at your courage to tackle such a project - it is a lot to bite off!

I am currently building four small acoustic guitars from scratch myself. Two are in the final finishing stages, and I will post those as a project when completely done. My approach was to do as much research as I could, then using my research as a guide, design and build the instruments. The final product is an amalgamation of different designs, with an oval shaped sounding body smaller than usual since these are intended as learning guitars for young children. I know next to nothing about music, but love the art, grace and charm of the instruments themselves.

I've built the necks from scratch too and have included adjustable torsion rods. The nut to bridge distance on mine is 25" with the fretboard spacing to fit - and they have only 15 frets. These first four are 3-string guitars, but I plan do a 4-string and 6-string too as time allows and I learn more. I bought an assortment of bone for the nuts and bridges, and these first ones have wooden tuning pegs instead of geared tuners since I wanted a very traditional look. I may buy geared tuners for the next ones, we'll see. So far the wooden pegs seem to work just fine, although the peg boxes are a little time consuming to build and making the tapered pins and holes to fit was a challenge. These are also equipped with piezo pickups so they can be hooked up to amps. I can't tell you how much fun it has been to build these and I can't wait each day to work on them. Of course, it has all taken far more time than I first anticipated.

Here's a link to some of my earlier 'Diddley-bows' which inspired me to build my current guitars:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/279482
 

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#4 ·
Finish Routing and Fitting the Parts

Wood Font Eyewear Art Pattern


Routed the pickup cavities to 5/8". Now on to routing the controls pocket to 1 3/8"

Wood Font Art Creative arts Cookie cutter


Checking the alignment of the neck and tremolo.

Musical instrument String instrument Guitar accessory String instrument accessory String instrument


After rounding over the edges with a 1/2" round over router bit, I mounted all the various parts. Some minor adjustments in the pick guard were needed to accommodate the Big Lou wide nut neck.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory String instrument accessory Sleeve Musical instrument accessory


Mounted the trem claw and cover.

Wood Tire Wheel Automotive tire Automotive exterior


Guitar accessory Musical instrument Wood String instrument accessory String instrument


Next two tasks are shaping the body and final sanding before applying a finish.
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Finish Routing and Fitting the Parts

Wood Font Eyewear Art Pattern


Routed the pickup cavities to 5/8". Now on to routing the controls pocket to 1 3/8"

Wood Font Art Creative arts Cookie cutter


Checking the alignment of the neck and tremolo.

Musical instrument String instrument Guitar accessory String instrument accessory String instrument


After rounding over the edges with a 1/2" round over router bit, I mounted all the various parts. Some minor adjustments in the pick guard were needed to accommodate the Big Lou wide nut neck.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory String instrument accessory Sleeve Musical instrument accessory


Mounted the trem claw and cover.

Wood Tire Wheel Automotive tire Automotive exterior


Guitar accessory Musical instrument Wood String instrument accessory String instrument


Next two tasks are shaping the body and final sanding before applying a finish.
Dan, I am most interested in how this turns out, have always wanted a true 'American Standard' strat!
Thanks for the good blog.
Dale
 

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#6 ·
Finish Routing and Fitting the Parts

Wood Font Eyewear Art Pattern


Routed the pickup cavities to 5/8". Now on to routing the controls pocket to 1 3/8"

Wood Font Art Creative arts Cookie cutter


Checking the alignment of the neck and tremolo.

Musical instrument String instrument Guitar accessory String instrument accessory String instrument


After rounding over the edges with a 1/2" round over router bit, I mounted all the various parts. Some minor adjustments in the pick guard were needed to accommodate the Big Lou wide nut neck.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory String instrument accessory Sleeve Musical instrument accessory


Mounted the trem claw and cover.

Wood Tire Wheel Automotive tire Automotive exterior


Guitar accessory Musical instrument Wood String instrument accessory String instrument


Next two tasks are shaping the body and final sanding before applying a finish.
Looks nice. What are your plans for finishing?
 

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#9 ·
Shaping the Body

The next step was to shape the hand rest. I started out marking some reference lines in pencil and using a rasp to remove most of the wood.

Wood Tool Knife Hardwood Wood stain


Next I made a 5" x 10" sanding block to work down the wood to the final shape.

Wood Flooring Comfort Hardwood Wool


Not looking too bad so far!

Product Beige Textile Grey Bag


Now on to the back contour. I built a jig to use with the spindle sander.

Wood Wheel Automotive exterior Gas Tire


On to the spindle sander to work the contour.

Wood Hardwood Flooring String instrument Wood stain


Table Wood Wood stain Hardwood Varnish


After 2 hours on the spindle sander, just about done. I used the spindle drum to hand sand the remaining contour after putting on some pencil marks. Worked it by hand until it was even.

Hand Wood Finger Creative arts Wood stain


Look'n good!

Wood Table Flooring Font Rectangle


Did a test finish with some scrap alder. "P" is just poly, #1 is one coat of shellac to # 5 with five coats of shellac. Looks like 3-4 coats of shellac should work followed my many coats of poly.

Brown Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain


Next step is final sanding and applying the finish.
 

Attachments

#10 ·
Shaping the Body

The next step was to shape the hand rest. I started out marking some reference lines in pencil and using a rasp to remove most of the wood.

Wood Tool Knife Hardwood Wood stain


Next I made a 5" x 10" sanding block to work down the wood to the final shape.

Wood Flooring Comfort Hardwood Wool


Not looking too bad so far!

Product Beige Textile Grey Bag


Now on to the back contour. I built a jig to use with the spindle sander.

Wood Wheel Automotive exterior Gas Tire


On to the spindle sander to work the contour.

Wood Hardwood Flooring String instrument Wood stain


Table Wood Wood stain Hardwood Varnish


After 2 hours on the spindle sander, just about done. I used the spindle drum to hand sand the remaining contour after putting on some pencil marks. Worked it by hand until it was even.

Hand Wood Finger Creative arts Wood stain


Look'n good!

Wood Table Flooring Font Rectangle


Did a test finish with some scrap alder. "P" is just poly, #1 is one coat of shellac to # 5 with five coats of shellac. Looks like 3-4 coats of shellac should work followed my many coats of poly.

Brown Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain


Next step is final sanding and applying the finish.
I would give that a big "thumbs up". Nice progress!
 

Attachments

#12 ·
Finish part 1

Final sanding is done and the body is read for finish.

String instrument Wood String instrument accessory Font Composite material


I first de-waxed the shellac, and then applied four coats by hand. This photo is after the first coat.

Musical instrument String instrument String instrument String instrument accessory Guitar accessory


I put the parts together to have a look-see what the final guitar might look like.

Musical instrument String instrument Guitar String instrument String instrument accessory


Now I'll wait a while for the shellac to harden and then apply may coats of wipe on poly.
 

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#13 ·
Finish part 1

Final sanding is done and the body is read for finish.

String instrument Wood String instrument accessory Font Composite material


I first de-waxed the shellac, and then applied four coats by hand. This photo is after the first coat.

Musical instrument String instrument String instrument String instrument accessory Guitar accessory


I put the parts together to have a look-see what the final guitar might look like.

Musical instrument String instrument Guitar String instrument String instrument accessory


Now I'll wait a while for the shellac to harden and then apply may coats of wipe on poly.
Looks like a straight forward project. I may have to make one for my brother. He is getting a guitar stand for Christmas this year if I ever get back to it.

Later,
 

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#16 ·
Finish Part 2 and Assebly

I attached a board to be able to hang the guitar body after applying wipe-on poly. I ended up putting on nine coats of poly, sanding after every few coats. (Sorry for the sideways photo)

Musical instrument String instrument String instrument String instrument accessory Wood


The next step was to apply the coper shielding. I purchased a shielding kit from Stew Mac.

Brown Guitar accessory Wood String instrument String instrument


I ended up soldering the copper foil pieces together, as recommended by various guitar sites. I checked the continuity of the foil before soldering, and all was fine, so I wonder of soldering was necessary, but can't hurt.

Now for the some fun. The wired pick guard, jack and tremolo went on next. I used some wax on each screw to aid in installing the screws.

Musical instrument Guitar String instrument String instrument Musical instrument accessory


Musical instrument Wood Tool Auto part Nickel


Musical instrument String instrument String instrument accessory Wood Guitar accessory


One tip: The slots in tremolo cover need to line up with the holes in the tremolo for the strings.

I decided to polish the frets on the Big Lou neck. I first applied painters tape to protect the neck.

Outerwear Wood Sleeve Rectangle Electric blue


I then used my Dremel and jeweler's rouge to polish the frets.

Wood Gas Electric blue Tints and shades Rectangle


Nice and shinny frets.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory Musical instrument accessory Wood String instrument accessory
 

Attachments

#17 ·
Finish Part 2 and Assebly

I attached a board to be able to hang the guitar body after applying wipe-on poly. I ended up putting on nine coats of poly, sanding after every few coats. (Sorry for the sideways photo)

Musical instrument String instrument String instrument String instrument accessory Wood


The next step was to apply the coper shielding. I purchased a shielding kit from Stew Mac.

Brown Guitar accessory Wood String instrument String instrument


I ended up soldering the copper foil pieces together, as recommended by various guitar sites. I checked the continuity of the foil before soldering, and all was fine, so I wonder of soldering was necessary, but can't hurt.

Now for the some fun. The wired pick guard, jack and tremolo went on next. I used some wax on each screw to aid in installing the screws.

Musical instrument Guitar String instrument String instrument Musical instrument accessory


Musical instrument Wood Tool Auto part Nickel


Musical instrument String instrument String instrument accessory Wood Guitar accessory


One tip: The slots in tremolo cover need to line up with the holes in the tremolo for the strings.

I decided to polish the frets on the Big Lou neck. I first applied painters tape to protect the neck.

Outerwear Wood Sleeve Rectangle Electric blue


I then used my Dremel and jeweler's rouge to polish the frets.

Wood Gas Electric blue Tints and shades Rectangle


Nice and shinny frets.

Musical instrument Guitar accessory Musical instrument accessory Wood String instrument accessory
That is looking nice. You will be getting some grief from those who say the springs in the trem ought to be installed parallel so they all have the same tension though. If it plays and operates how you like it, then that is how you like it then. Just giving you a heads up. Usually you see either all gold, or all black hardware. I kind of like the gold trem and knobs mixed with the black tuners and input jack. Don't forget to wire a ground to the trem. Nice job overall though. What are you finishing the neck/fretboard with? You may want to add a bit of colour to it. Just enough so it is closer to the body colour. I did my maple neck with a touch of amber dye before finishing it off with Birchwood/Casey Tru oil.
 

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#19 ·
What a buzz kill!

I decided to sheild the pickups to eliminate more buzz and hum. Here is a photo of one of the pickups with it's cover removed.

Wood Gadget Cable Gun accessory Wire


I wrapped each coil with copper foil and replaced the wiring with 2-wire sheilded cable. Connected the shield to the copper foil and ran all the pickup grounds and shields to a common ground on the volume pot. Forgot to take a photo of the completed wiring. Shielding the pickups helpd a lot.

Automotive lighting Hood Wood Bumper Automotive exterior
 

Attachments

#20 ·
What a buzz kill!

I decided to sheild the pickups to eliminate more buzz and hum. Here is a photo of one of the pickups with it's cover removed.

Wood Gadget Cable Gun accessory Wire


I wrapped each coil with copper foil and replaced the wiring with 2-wire sheilded cable. Connected the shield to the copper foil and ran all the pickup grounds and shields to a common ground on the volume pot. Forgot to take a photo of the completed wiring. Shielding the pickups helpd a lot.

Automotive lighting Hood Wood Bumper Automotive exterior
I usually inlay a copper lining on the bottom of the body rout. Used to put it on the pick guard but found it too much of a hassle. Solder the ground wires to it. You know there are two of them. Takes the buzz and peak hum out of it.
I don't make my own strats but I do modify them and repair them. Nothing bites at your ears like a Strat.
 

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