feraledge
Heard the Good News about Maple Fretboards?
These builds are sick. Love them.
Ash & Maple Carved Top Superstrat Builds
- Thread starter Hywel
- Start date
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Looking absolutely killer, Hywel.
Thanks everyone! Sorry I haven't managed to post anything sooner, it's been a busy week or so. 
I've got the fretboards radiused to 16" and polished up to 600 grit.
And I put in the 2.4mmx1.3mm Hosco nickel frets. I used my home made radiusing jig to bend the wire to ~20" and pressed them in with the drill press.
I've bevelled the ends at this point and I've trimmed the tangs so when I fill the slots with CA glue and dust, they'll become invisible from the side.
Then I trimmed the bulk of the excess thickness off with the bandsaw and got ready to carve the profile.
I'm still not got neck carving down to the point where I'm confident I can always carve the profile I want but the one I've done so far came out ok. I've ended up with a 20mm@1 to 21.5mm@12 wizard 2-ish profile using microplane, shinto and iwasaki rasps.
I quite like how the bookmatched neck wood has given me symmetrical patterns down each side so if it doesn't start warping on me I'll probably keep doing that on future builds.
I've got the fretboards radiused to 16" and polished up to 600 grit.
And I put in the 2.4mmx1.3mm Hosco nickel frets. I used my home made radiusing jig to bend the wire to ~20" and pressed them in with the drill press.
I've bevelled the ends at this point and I've trimmed the tangs so when I fill the slots with CA glue and dust, they'll become invisible from the side.
Then I trimmed the bulk of the excess thickness off with the bandsaw and got ready to carve the profile.
I'm still not got neck carving down to the point where I'm confident I can always carve the profile I want but the one I've done so far came out ok. I've ended up with a 20mm@1 to 21.5mm@12 wizard 2-ish profile using microplane, shinto and iwasaki rasps.
I quite like how the bookmatched neck wood has given me symmetrical patterns down each side so if it doesn't start warping on me I'll probably keep doing that on future builds.
TamanShud
Finished
"I'm still not confident about my neck carves"
*carves the comfiest looking heel in existence*
*carves the comfiest looking heel in existence*
Cheers!
Heels and volutes I can do, it's the bit in between that's hard!
"I'm still not confident about my neck carves"
*carves the comfiest looking heel in existence*
Heels and volutes I can do, it's the bit in between that's hard!
I tried something I probably should have done from the start and thinned the 2nd neck to just over final thickness with the router jig. It made the second carve much easier and I've no idea why I didn't do it sooner. 
Once the second neck was carved I tweaked the first one to get them as identical as possible. I can't wait to try them strung up.
I've drilled for a slightly recessed barrel jack on these. Normally I'm not a fan but a big plate wouldn't really work here.
And I got the magnets in the covers. 4x3mm neodymium rods in the body and 4x1mm discs in the cover. Plenty strong enough to hold the cover on but easy to release if you push in the right place.
And that's all the proper woodworking done. Next I'll get the satin finish on and wind some pickups before attaching the hardware, doing the fretwork and setting them up!
Edit - Forgot the last pic
Once the second neck was carved I tweaked the first one to get them as identical as possible. I can't wait to try them strung up.
I've drilled for a slightly recessed barrel jack on these. Normally I'm not a fan but a big plate wouldn't really work here.
And I got the magnets in the covers. 4x3mm neodymium rods in the body and 4x1mm discs in the cover. Plenty strong enough to hold the cover on but easy to release if you push in the right place.
And that's all the proper woodworking done. Next I'll get the satin finish on and wind some pickups before attaching the hardware, doing the fretwork and setting them up!
Edit - Forgot the last pic
MoonJelly
a subtle stinging sensation..
Purdy!
Curiosity question, what is your reasoning/rationale for disliking the recessed barrel jack? Is it in inferior to the plate/jack in some way? Personally I like the look of the barrel jack, more subtle IMO.
Curiosity question, what is your reasoning/rationale for disliking the recessed barrel jack? Is it in inferior to the plate/jack in some way? Personally I like the look of the barrel jack, more subtle IMO.
My experience with the barrel type is that they can become loose over time (so the cable doesn't stay in as well) and this seems to be impossible to fix by yourself.
Deegatron
Well-Known Member
They do look good but I've found them a bit less reliable than the normal style jacks in the past. They'll probably be fine and I guess I can replace them easily enough when they do wear out.
I've started using the electrosocket jack mount for this exact reason.
http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Jack_Plates/Electrosocket_Jack_Mount.html
It uses a standard input jack so it can be removed, tightened and or replaces VERY easily.
and it has the added bonus that you can put it just about anywhere.
Just drill a 1" hole with a fostner bit about 1/8" deep to recess it the drill a 7/8" hole with a spade bit about 1.5" deep for the jack to sit in, then you can drill a wire hole to your control cavity. it can go anywhere... I like putting it just under the rear strap button....
Comes in black, easy to mount easy to use, easy to recess... it's a win win win....
Cheers! Natural on both this time around. Satin black does sound good though...
I don't know why I forgot those existed. I have one on my tele. I'll definitely look at using them next time!
Almost finished!
I applied a couple of coats of wipe on poly. I used a DIY recipe of 50% Ronseal gloss interior polyurethane and 50% mineral spirits. The gloss mixture worked really well and with only a few layers and some light scuffing with steel wool it has a very similar look and feel to oils but seemed a bit easier to apply and much more resilient.
Before finishing the bodies I sorted out the controls. The arched top might have presented some problems with the washers and nuts on the pots so I used a forstner bit just to level out the area under the pot nuts. It'll all be hidden by the knobs when it's done and this'll be nice and secure.
Once the necks were dry I did some fretwork
While the bodies cured I made the pickups for the passive build. I made a very standard 7.65k alnico 5 42AWG neck pickup and a 13.5k ceramic 43AWG bridge pickup on my cheap hand cranked winder. I use a tiny G-clamp with sticky felt discs as a tensioner and it works very well so far.
The bridge was initially powered by 3 ceramic magnet but the output was insane and there was too much low end so I cut it back to a single large ceramic which worked well on the MDF test rig. For the cheapest neck eBay had and some spare templates stuck together it doesn't sound half bad!
I did some of the wiring but I've had to stop there for a little while while work takes up all my free time. Hopefully I can get the final touches done at the weekend.
The passive build has a switch to cut the tone knob out of the circuit attached to the side of the cavity and uses a nice big paper capacitor on the side of the coil splitting push pull pot. The active build will have coil splits and the Fishman Fluence 2 voice switching available.
I applied a couple of coats of wipe on poly. I used a DIY recipe of 50% Ronseal gloss interior polyurethane and 50% mineral spirits. The gloss mixture worked really well and with only a few layers and some light scuffing with steel wool it has a very similar look and feel to oils but seemed a bit easier to apply and much more resilient.
Before finishing the bodies I sorted out the controls. The arched top might have presented some problems with the washers and nuts on the pots so I used a forstner bit just to level out the area under the pot nuts. It'll all be hidden by the knobs when it's done and this'll be nice and secure.
Once the necks were dry I did some fretwork
While the bodies cured I made the pickups for the passive build. I made a very standard 7.65k alnico 5 42AWG neck pickup and a 13.5k ceramic 43AWG bridge pickup on my cheap hand cranked winder. I use a tiny G-clamp with sticky felt discs as a tensioner and it works very well so far.
The bridge was initially powered by 3 ceramic magnet but the output was insane and there was too much low end so I cut it back to a single large ceramic which worked well on the MDF test rig. For the cheapest neck eBay had and some spare templates stuck together it doesn't sound half bad!
I did some of the wiring but I've had to stop there for a little while while work takes up all my free time. Hopefully I can get the final touches done at the weekend.
The passive build has a switch to cut the tone knob out of the circuit attached to the side of the cavity and uses a nice big paper capacitor on the side of the coil splitting push pull pot. The active build will have coil splits and the Fishman Fluence 2 voice switching available.
JimF
Contributor
Phenomenal work as per usual!
How has your experience been with wipe on poly? I've always been curious about it as an alternative to spray since I don't have a spray booth. Does it work well over paint, too? Requires lots of layers/coats?
Thanks man!
I've quite liked the wipe on poly. I've never used it before this build but I treated it like Tru-oil and it worked fine. I actually found it much easier to apply since it's much thinner there's little possibility for streaks or marks in the finish.
I used an oil based gloss poly base and thinned it with 50:50 mineral spirits (white spirit over here) and that was ideal but the satin/matte polys I tried didn't work very well and left a horrible satin/gloss finish mix with massive streaks. I just went over the gloss coat every 3 layers or so with some synthetic steel wool and it smoothed it out and took the sheen off nicely.
No idea if it works over paint but it does require a few layers. They dry MUCH faster than oil finishes though. 2 hours between coats seemed plenty for the thin finish I was going for. If I was going to buff it to high gloss I'd probably give it a week or so after the final coat to cure fully before buffing and have many more layers.
Thanks man!
I've quite liked the wipe on poly. I've never used it before this build but I treated it like Tru-oil and it worked fine. I actually found it much easier to apply since it's much thinner there's little possibility for streaks or marks in the finish.
I used an oil based gloss poly base and thinned it with 50:50 mineral spirits (white spirit over here) and that was ideal but the satin/matte polys I tried didn't work very well and left a horrible satin/gloss finish mix with massive streaks. I just went over the gloss coat every 3 layers or so with some synthetic steel wool and it smoothed it out and took the sheen off nicely.
No idea if it works over paint but it does require a few layers. They dry MUCH faster than oil finishes though. 2 hours between coats seemed plenty for the thin finish I was going for. If I was going to buff it to high gloss I'd probably give it a week or so after the final coat to cure fully before buffing and have many more layers.
+ Imaginary rep. Thanks for the info! I'll give it a try sometime soon.
+1 for the wipe on poly. I've used the wipe-on and spray on versions from Minwax, and much prefer them to Tru Oil in durability.
To buff to a gloss requires many coats and a long drying time from what I've found. I also like the spray on version a little better in that it lays down a slightly thicker coat for building up the base. I used an old T shirt for applying the wipe on version and found that worked really well for a smooth finish.
Nice work BTW, and I dig your test rig.
To buff to a gloss requires many coats and a long drying time from what I've found. I also like the spray on version a little better in that it lays down a slightly thicker coat for building up the base. I used an old T shirt for applying the wipe on version and found that worked really well for a smooth finish.
Nice work BTW, and I dig your test rig.
Thanks!
These are finally finished!
NGD over here -> www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4680290
Thanks for reading through my thread. I hope you've all enjoyed it.
Guitar "B" - Drop B tuning, Fishman Fluence Modern pickups
Guitar "A" - Drop C tuning, Home wound pickups
