Finishing a high school project

[Dillon]

I'm visiting my parents for Christmas and found something I forgot I left with my dad: A body I made 17 years ago when I was first learning to work on guitars. It's in pretty rough shape, but since he has a full shop, that's about to change!

Here's how I found it...I had only roughed in a neck pocket and didn't get to the point of giving it contours.



It's glossy because it has some sanding sealer on it. The grain is pretty, but 1) IIRC it was impossible to bookmatch, and 2) it's got lots of natural divots in it which can't be sanded out. So it's getting filled and painted. I don't have sanding sealer here so I haven't decided yet what I'm going to fill it with.

Today I routed the neck pocket for anything that fits a Strat. It's a little long so I still need to cut off the top edge and shape that.

Also started work on giving it a shoulder contour. And took the router to the edge because it wasn't smooth. The tape is just to make it easier to see the center line.



In the next couple days I hope to have all the contours done, then figure out what to do for hardware and controls. Right now I'm thinking Telemaster, except I want to do surface mount controls instead of using a Tele plate. Maybe even four knobs for a Toronado look. The only thing I know for sure right now is I don't want to do a Jag/JM setup.

[Nick]

Oh wow I remember when you first built this! Awesome that you're finally finishing it!

[Bacchus]

Oof, that looks brilliant.

I'll be honest, when I clicked the thread, I was expecting a horror show.

Do something more interesting than a Telemaster. There are loads of those already, and they're Jazzzmaster shaped. This is something else, something cooler.

Looks non-reverse Firebirdish to me. Three Firebird mini-humbuckers and a Jazzmaster trem?

[Dillon]

Oh wow I remember when you first built this! Awesome that you're finally finishing it!

Hah I wondered if anyone would remember That one actually did make it to completion (this was going to be round 2). But, a few years later I decided to refinish it, and while it was hanging to dry it fell and cracked the body badly. I think it's fixable, but I never got around to trying, for various reasons. Maybe when I get home I'll take a shot at it.

Oof, that looks brilliant.

I'll be honest, when I clicked the thread, I was expecting a horror show.

Do something more interesting than a Telemaster. There are loads of those already, and they're Jazzzmaster shaped. This is something else, something cooler.

Looks non-reverse Firebirdish to me. Three Firebird mini-humbuckers and a Jazzmaster trem?

Clickbait works everywhere

Can't tell from pictures, but this body is quite a bit smaller than a JM. It's close to Mustang size. So I feel like a JM trem wouldn't go well.

I do like the Telemaster look, but the main reason I'd pick that is it'd offer something I don't have. I love the Tele sound but could never get used to the body. GFS makes a Tele bridge with a roller TOM on top I'm liking the look of.

On the last one I used a Hipshot Baby Grand, and that actually did complement the shape and size well. Would do again, with mini humbuckers (but probably not 3 due to the smaller size). Maybe something like a Tele neck pickup in the middle.

[Bacchus]

Don't really see the point of the tele-roller bridge unless you were going with a Bigsby or something.

That baby grand looks great, though.

[Thomas]

A Tele bridge/pickup and a P90 would be cool. They look neat on a small body cos you won’t need any pickup ring fir the P90, the Tele bridge is great on smaller guitars too. A nice touch of chrome/nickel too, if the pots and switch are coming to be top mounted.

I’m looking forward to seeing this one progress!

[Dillon]

Well here's some of that then! Might be a while before the next update...I'm heading back home, where I don't have a proper workspace set up right now. But this has been good motivation to make that happen.

Lopped off the extra bit of neck pocket. I'll fix the sides and edges later. You can also see I started taking the sanding sealer off. I'm debating whether to paint or stain, but either way, I don't think sanding sealer was the best idea for grain filler.

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Starting work on contours. Wish I would've documented that process more, but basically I drew a series of curves, then used a router to carve each section out, at slightly lower depths, creating a sort of stairstep. Then used a rasp to start shaping it. From there it's all sanding by hand. I don't know if that's the easiest way to do it but it works.

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At that point I decided to thin the body a bit using a giant belt sander. Not only is it thicker than most solid bodies, it's Northern Ash, which is super heavy. That left some pretty deep grooves, which you can sort of see in the bottom left of this picture of roughing in the back contour.

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120 grit on an orbital sander got that squared away quickly. So then I went back to work on the top contour. But in getting the contour the way I want it, I sanded a little further toward the butt of the body than I meant to, ruining the beveled edges.

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So...

Do something more interesting ..... This is something else, something cooler.

I kept thinking about that and took it to heart. I'm going to round the entire edge of the body. I got this far and stopped because it's wayyyy more time consuming than I imagined.

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[Thom]

That’s looking brilliant. Look forward to the next update.

[Thomas]

This is looking great!!

[Dillon]

Thanks! I haven't done something this big in years, and almost forgot how rewarding it is.

So, just for fun...I found some pictures of the original high school project (the one that made it to completion), circa 2004. Not bad for a first shot, but it's a reminder of why I decided to redo it. Hard edges, no grain filler, orange peel lacquer, etc. Anyway, this new body is made from the same piece of lumber.

I still have the Hipshot bridge that was on it, and looking at these, it feels like a no-brainer to use that. But I do think I'd rather do mini hums, and maybe a small pickguard, especially if painted. The back contour is also much deeper than on this new one, and I feel like that might be the way to go. I'm planning on comparing both this weekend.

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[sunshiner]

This is turning up to look super rad

[plopswagon]

I thought this was going to be about finally finishing that paper.

[Thomas]

Those bridges are choice!!!

[Dillon]

I thought this was going to be about finally finishing that paper.

Well, as part of the original high school project I DID write a paper on building it Wish I could find that.

So...did I say I'd compare over the weekend? Yeah, I meant Tuesday night

I found the old body...and then some! Like a Jazzmaster project body, and a few necks I could put on. Here's the new body on top of the JM body to show the difference in size / shape. In the second picture that's the original project body in the background.

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And...that one is in worse condition than I thought. I now remember I tried filling the cracks at some point, but decided not to go any further because I wanted to sand it all back down and start over. Still do. Thinking I can cover up the cracks enough to do a sunburst or something else that will hide them.

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Anyway, I tried fitting a couple different necks and I think this is going to end up being a shortscale...25.5" just looks too long for this body IMO. The Jag-Stang neck needs a refret though, and I don't have the tools to do that. Undecided on whether I want to invest in that or buy a new neck for the same money.

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For size reference here's the original guitar next to the new one. I made that neck using a 25" scale slotted fingerboard from Stew-Mac. But in doing so I set it further back in the body than a standard Fender route. And the overall length of it just feels right.

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[Bacchus]

It would be great to have the Jag-stang neck on there. Are you sure it needs a refret? A level and crown wouldn't save it?

[Dillon]

Yeah, it was donated to me years ago as its own project from a friend who attempted to put larger frets on. He didn't have the proper tools or the time to make it work, and I guess he got tired of having it around. I might be able to fix them, but, big frets on a 7.25" radius don't make sense to me. And I'm not a fan of 7.25" radius to begin with, so (blasphemy) I'd probably re-radius it after pulling frets.

[Bacchus]

Yeah, that does sound fucked.

Might be worth checking prices on these, might make more sense to refret and flip it to buy a neck that you prefer.

[Dillon]

Well, it's not in perfect condition otherwise...the finish is gone from the edge of the fretboard, and it has several noticeable scratches. It does have sentimental value, though, so I I'm leaning toward fixing it. I really like the profile. On the other hand, the only one I can find for sale is $699 on eBay I can't imagine it'll sell for that, but it is tempting to just sell it as-is to fund a different neck.

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Anyway, no big updates otherwise...I'm continuing work on rounding the edges, but that sure is slow going. Mostly came here to say that Hipshot have amazing customer service. I realized that one of the bridge posts has gone missing, so I emailed their support asking how I could get a replacement. They're sending me a set for free! So I'll get to use that bridge after all.