Andyjr1515

Excellent job! What resistance are you getting?

You won't need bracing. Watching this build with interest.

Lovely job

From years of battling with trying to get Stratocaster pickguards to fit, I now know that step one is to take and impression of the carved chambers! : Then you can mark up the pickguard where the wires have to run: Note the dogs b******s CTS push pull Hmmm....more about that shortly Oh... and note the super detailed genuine Fender wiring diagram Hmmm...more about that later... Here's the finished wire-job: Well...before assembling it, finding out the error in the Fender wiring diagram and the fact that the top quality CTS pot is, in fact, duff. The pushpull works a treat, but the pot itself is shot! On full, crackle, off kind of shot. No matter - it will be a 1/2hr job to swop round when I get the replacement. But - aside from having to swop the pot out, here we have it: Like all my stuff...not perfect. But certainly pretty And the pickup combinations? Bridge Bridge+middle Middle Neck+middle Neck Neck+bridge Neck+middle+bridge That should distract @scrumpymike enough while the rest of his band is trying to get through their repertoire

Forgive me, I think you had too many words in that post. I've corrected it

Beautiful job. Nice insert jig too

At the bottom of page4 of my thread of scrumpymike's rascal conversion, there is detail how I go about it if it is of any help...

Looks good. And walnut is a wonderful wood to use. You'll love it.

I'll never be able to look at Mary Poppins in the same way now I know that!

More like fretful

I did try - April 2024...

Definitely on the final furlong. Last 'mechanical' bit done - fitting the bridge and making sure it all lines up: I use a couple of old strings to line it all up - you can do it with a long ruler but I find the real thing is more accurate. The double check is that the lipsticks have a centre line - so a rule from the middle of the nut should run right down the middle of all of the dots, along the pickup lines and to the centre of the bridge. To my admitted surprise, it does! Now I can do the final tweak of the pickguard to make sure it is all square with the bridge. And this morning, the electrics and knobs arrived So, still to do: - final tweak of pickguard - sand neck - apply finish to neck (it will darken just a touch) - square up tuners and add back screws - Level, recrown, polish and fret-end the frets - Check the conductivity of the body chamber and copper line if necessary. Copper line the pickguard - Fit the electrics - Final setup The next big project after this is...the bathroom. Oh joy Oh, and just for completeness sake, here's the back:

Yes they do. And especially the term 3+1 which is a registered trade mark in itself. Which is why I never refer to it, and I don't do this commercially

Looking really good

Thanks, folks. Always appreciated To celebrate, this evening I got round to boring the tuner holes: And that means that I'm down to a list of to-do's that now fit onto one page (depending on how big the writing is ) Based on that I think I will be surprised if it's not finished by the end of next week-ish. Oh - and final weight is going to be around 7 1/2 lbs...so not bad at all.

Ever since I worked on a beautiful Wal, I have gained a particular love of machine screw/insert neck fixings and do this nowadays whenever practicable. But, whereas with wood screws you can be a little bit wonky, with machine screws it has to be right! So - in case any of you are thinking of doing the same, I'll go into a bit of detail how I, personally, do it. I first of all make sure that the neck is going to be an accurate, snug fit in the neck pocket. I temporarily clamp it in place and, using a bradpoint drill of EXACTLY the right diameter, push the drill into the pocket holes and mark a drilling datum: I then put a bradpoint drill of the right size for the insert into my press drill and level the neck in all directions by placing it on a fretboard radiusing block. I use the bradpoint marker and double check that the drill is concentric by just turning the chuck manually, then drill in one go. Having decent bradpoints is very helpful here - DIY or ebay jobbies are not likely to be accurate enough for the pin-point to be in exactly the middle of the drill. I use the Fisch ones from Axminster Tools: I fit the first insert - making sure it is absolutely straight as it cuts its thread (I always use the ones with a hex head - never with a screwdriver head). I then fit the neck and check with a torch that I can see the marking dot in the centre of each of the other holes: Then drill the other three holes in the neck and fit the inserts: And then - well, it just screws on OK - it's not a Wal. But it looks 'right' to me. And there is no way @scrumpymike is going to have the neck clap hands with the body in the middle of a performance!

Happy New Year everyone Final bits and pieces are on order and finished off the black scratchplate today - added the bevel, the countersinks, etc, and made sure it fits: Once I've fitted the bridge, I'll reshape the pickguard a touch so it sits evenly. Tomorrow's job is finally sanding and finishing the neck.

Lovely

Yup ^ me too

That branding has come out stunningly well. On the back of that, I actually prefer all of them without pickguards but that is just a personal view of course. Whatever you decide, these are going to look quite special

I've got to that stage in Christmas preparations when I am 'JUST IN THE WAY!!' as often as I am useful as far as MrsAndyjr1515 is concerned And so there are snatches of time when I can still make a bit of progress. The bass body and pickguards are getting close to being done. I've started the final finish coats on the body and also added the ebony veneer to the black scratchplate. For the final finish, I am using Osmo Polyx 3032 Satin simply wiped on with a micro-fibre cloth. For sticking on the veneer, I used good old-fashioned Evo-stick (remembering to do it with good ventilation - you forget just how strong the fumes are!) after roughing up the plastic first with some 320 grit sandpaper. This is it after one coat of Osmo on the body and one coat of Tru-oil on the veneer. It will need no more than one more coat for each: The fretboard will yellow and darken a bit when the finish is put on but I think this is going to look pretty smart as an alternative to the bling of the pearl I can see @scrumpymike swapping them round for every gig

Beautiful. I just LOVE the way the back has been carved and it looks very playable. Top drawer builder! Andy

And ignoring what MrsAndyjr1515 might say about the subject, never let it be said that I don't listen, @scrumpymike You have dots

And so the original pickguard modified (I think that looks quite nice : And the new pickguard checked for the critical sizes before adding the ebony veneer: And the ebony veneer ready for me to decide what glue is going to be the best to stick it on with! : And the fretboard dots have managed to battle their way through the Christmas post! So that will probably be tomorrow's job.

I think this (marked in green) is what we're both saying @scrumpymike ?