slingblader Posted October 9, 2020 Author Posted October 9, 2020 57 minutes ago, gorch said: What a fantastic build! This is a strat to my tastes. And I normally dislike them all. Thanks, I appreciate that. I like this one as well, but if I had built it for myself I may have done some things differently. Overall I'm really happy with it; it helped to push me into some new areas in building and I think this is the best overall finish that I've done.
Drew816 Posted October 9, 2020 Posted October 9, 2020 2 hours ago, slingblader said: Thanks! Man, we lived large in those days... had a ball. Well, the HAIR lived large anyway. 😉 Jackson there? Charvel? Great work and thanks for this whole thread/blog as it gives us something fun to look forward too. And to that end, what's NEXT? Inquiring minds want to know...
slingblader Posted October 9, 2020 Author Posted October 9, 2020 51 minutes ago, Drew816 said: Well, the HAIR lived large anyway. 😉 Jackson there? Charvel? Great work and thanks for this whole thread/blog as it gives us something fun to look forward too. And to that end, what's NEXT? Inquiring minds want to know... Oh man, I would kill to have my hair back! It's getting thinner by the hour. And a jaw line... that would be good too. Yes, that is a Jackson that Mike had back in the day. He bought that shortly after we moved to LA. I don't recall which store. It was supposedly a trade-in from Brad Whitford; not sure if that was true, or just what a slick salesperson told some dumb kids from Indiana. Regardless, it was a great playing and sounding guitar. By the way, I wanted to point out that I was sporting a Roland Synth Bass in those days. As for upcoming projects; I have a Les Paul Special/Hamer Special styled build that I need to finish. It was actually started before this Strat, but I put it on the backburner. I'd love to get that finished up and shoot some finish before it gets too cold. That one is mahogany with a redwood lace burl top. Beyond that, I have some indistinct plans to build a Tele. Then I need to get to work drawing up my ideas for a 12 string bass. Having said that, I also need a new fretless, so that may sneak in there as well.
slingblader Posted November 5, 2020 Author Posted November 5, 2020 The Les Paul Special inspired build has mostly been on the backburner while I finished up other builds and dealt with having 'Rona. Having said that, I did manage to make a little bit of progress. I'll post a few quick updates to get caught up. I didn't want to use the Gibson or Hamer headstock shape, so I drew something up that keeps the string pull fairly straight. I'm sure it's similar to many other designs. I glued up some of the rosewood burl to use for a headstock overlay. I don't have pictures, but this was glued with UF glue and a vacuum bag. I carefully aligned the fretboard, then drilled for alignment pins. I also marked the outline of the fretboard on the neck. I attached a tall, square block to the back of the headstock, then went to the band saw to cut it out. And here it is roughly cut and ready for cleanup. Thanks for looking, more soon.
scottcald Posted November 5, 2020 Posted November 5, 2020 Hope you're doing well now and don't suffer any lingering issues. Love that headstock shape! Looking forward to more reports.
Travis Posted November 5, 2020 Posted November 5, 2020 34 minutes ago, slingblader said: The Les Paul Special inspired build has mostly been on the backburner while I finished up other builds and dealt with having 'Rona. Having said that, I did manage to make a little bit of progress. I'll post a few quick updates to get caught up. I didn't want to use the Gibson or Hamer headstock shape, so I drew something up that keeps the string pull fairly straight. I'm sure it's similar to many other designs. I glued up some of the rosewood burl to use for a headstock overlay. I don't have pictures, but this was glued with UF glue and a vacuum bag. I carefully aligned the fretboard, then drilled for alignment pins. I also marked the outline of the fretboard on the neck. I attached a tall, square block to the back of the headstock, then went to the band saw to cut it out. And here it is roughly cut and ready for cleanup. Thanks for looking, more soon. Really looking forward to more pics of this one. Can’t wait!
slingblader Posted November 5, 2020 Author Posted November 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, scottcald said: Hope you're doing well now and don't suffer any lingering issues. Love that headstock shape! Looking forward to more reports. Thanks! I still have a bit of vertigo and my taste is still goofed up. Brushing my teeth is an adventure as mint toothpaste tastes like borax.
slingblader Posted November 5, 2020 Author Posted November 5, 2020 1 minute ago, Travis said: Really looking forward to more pics of this one. Can’t wait! Thank you, I really wish I could have been working on this over the past 3 weeks... I'd be shooting finish right now with this perfect weather. Hopefully I can get it done before it gets too cold. I do have heat in the garage, so as long as it isn't down in the teens, I should be able to finish it up soon.
scottcald Posted November 5, 2020 Posted November 5, 2020 54 minutes ago, slingblader said: Thank you, I really wish I could have been working on this over the past 3 weeks... I'd be shooting finish right now with this perfect weather. Hopefully I can get it done before it gets too cold. I do have heat in the garage, so as long as it isn't down in the teens, I should be able to finish it up soon. Cool. I'd work for 3 years and maybe get the headstock cut out and keep all the fingers.
slingblader Posted November 5, 2020 Author Posted November 5, 2020 So, the next step was to clean up the headstock profile and get it ready for binding. I attached my headstock template, then sanded with the robosander. Next, I went to the router table and trimmed the outline flush. All cleaned up. Next I routed the binding channel. Beginning the binding process. Once the first pieces were dry, they were trimmed and the side pieces were glued in place. When the side pieces were dry, I trimmed them to length and glued the top piece in place. Here I'm trimming the bottom pieces flush with the fretboard surface and square to the end of the overlay. Roughly trimmed and cleaned up. Next, I'll be gluing on the fretboard.
slingblader Posted November 6, 2020 Author Posted November 6, 2020 14 hours ago, Travis said: Oh, man... that is going to be sick... Thanks! I'm still going back and forth on the finish. Straight clear, or transparent cherry red. I need to do some tests to see what the redwood looks like under both.
slingblader Posted November 6, 2020 Author Posted November 6, 2020 Here are a couple of other steps that were completed during this time. I put a 3/16" roundover on the back of the body. I needed some side dots, so I decided to use some aluminum tube and black plastic rod as an infill. Plastic rod was inserted, then acetone was wicked in to glue it in place. Dots were installed with CA, then filed flush. Cleaned up. Pretty cool look.
Drew816 Posted November 6, 2020 Posted November 6, 2020 WOW, fantastic! I love the side markers, too, great idea! I'm always tone for something different there. And the headstock and binding, phew! Going to be a killer axe...
a.bandini Posted November 6, 2020 Posted November 6, 2020 Impressive as always. Good luck with your continuing recovery from the COVID.
Boomerang~Junkie Posted November 7, 2020 Posted November 7, 2020 14 hours ago, slingblader said: Here are a couple of other steps that were completed during this time. I put a 3/16" roundover on the back of the body. I needed some side dots, so I decided to use some aluminum tube and black plastic rod as an infill. Plastic rod was inserted, then acetone was wicked in to glue it in place. Dots were installed with CA, then filed flush. Cleaned up. Pretty cool look. Holy shit - is ^ ^ this guy ^ ^ Mike's secret brother. WOW.
slingblader Posted November 8, 2020 Author Posted November 8, 2020 On 11/6/2020 at 2:30 PM, Drew816 said: WOW, fantastic! I love the side markers, too, great idea! I'm always tone for something different there. And the headstock and binding, phew! Going to be a killer axe... Hey, thank you. I really appreciate that.
slingblader Posted November 8, 2020 Author Posted November 8, 2020 On 11/6/2020 at 4:59 PM, a.bandini said: Impressive as always. Good luck with your continuing recovery from the COVID. Thank you! Getting a little bit back to myself every day. The best way to describe the feeling is that I feel like a faded Xerox of myself. I'm here, but not quite here. Somebody stole a part of me.
slingblader Posted November 8, 2020 Author Posted November 8, 2020 22 hours ago, Boomerang~Junkie said: Holy shit - is ^ ^ this guy ^ ^ Mike's secret brother. WOW. Wow, thank you. I can only hope to attain a portion of the talent of Mike.
slingblader Posted November 8, 2020 Author Posted November 8, 2020 Some more progress on the Les Paul Special inspired build. I used hot hide glue to attach the fretboard. I used a sanding beam as a clamping caul. Here is the obligatory clamp shot. Here is the neck assembly fresh out of the clamps with protective masking still in place. With the masking removed. Good tight joint with nice amount of squeeze out. I'll use warm water and a sponge to clean this up a bit before I begin to flush up the sides of the neck. I could not resist putting the neck in place to take a look. 🎸 https://i.imgur.com/ZG3ZR0q.jpg More soon.
slingblader Posted November 8, 2020 Author Posted November 8, 2020 Hmm, couldn't get that last photo to display. Here it is.
scottcald Posted November 8, 2020 Posted November 8, 2020 That Looks Great! Looking forward to the end result.
slingblader Posted December 7, 2020 Author Posted December 7, 2020 A little more progress on the neck.
svl Posted December 9, 2020 Posted December 9, 2020 Awesome work. And really great to see what happened to the cats from Kajagoogoo...
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