The starting point was a guitar body I was going to buy off of ebay, but didn't. I was looking for a neck to start the build with and I found a cyclone (squier) for $45 bucks and thought that would be perfect for this build. Then I got a Jag bridge and made some bushings to keep it from rocking. And the trem is an xtrem top mount freom GFS.
I just started the mock up and here is what it looks like. The scale is the same as my Aria build, but has 22 frets.
Joey wrote:looks good.... but................ what color is cur doing this time!
Well, I was thinking purple pearl candy from these guys link.
And a glossy black single ply guard and one high output GFS lipstick at the bridge. But I would probably route for 2 buckers and make an extra guard that I can load and swap out at will.
That thing was a basket case, Billy3000 got it out of a dumpster and did not have time to do anything with it so he let me work on it. We used to live in the same town. build link
Well I played hooky from my coaching commitments for the weekend so i had a chance to get some stuff done. Went to the lumber yard and got 4' of 8/4 poplar (about 6.75" width). Cost around 15 bucks.
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Came in in around 1 7/8" so I plained it down to 1.5"
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Joined one edge of board.
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Sawed in half (old school is faster than finding and pulling out the skill saw and plugging it in).
OK, I need some help deciding what pickguard shape is best. I was wanting to keep some of the original aesthetics, but think it does cover up a lot of the body.
I was thinking of using the top end of either a mustang or duo sonic look with the flow of the original. I doodled what they might look like on my body routing template. I am favoring the Duo look so far.
But I could go with the original style and for the upper knob, go with a three way chicken head knob for changing pickups. That might look cool and throw in some push toggle switches for phase and such. IDK?
cur wrote:But I could go with the original style and for the upper knob, go with a three way chicken head knob for changing pickups. That might look cool and throw in some push toggle switches for phase and such. IDK?
THIS!
But, If you don't go with the original pickguard shape the I vote for the Mustang shape on the topside.
The original guard is quite a big part of the aesthetic of the shape - I think it would look weak to change it. If you used a less "bling" material it might look less intrusive. I know purple is the go, but mint-on-white would look good too (kind of a Vox feel maybe).
fiddling around with adjusting the original style guard to fit new placement of the bridge. I think I almost have it, but there may be some aesthetic tweaking that could be done. The template I made is all the stuff on the left, but I could make the bottom horn a bit fatter and more symmetrical with the bridge. The more I look at it the more I like the stuff on the left and may just leave it.
cur wrote:The more I look at it the more I like the stuff on the left and may just leave it.
I tend to agree. It just looks right leaving the pickguard the same as the original. The new bridge location looks fine to me.
This might be of interest to you. A guy over at reranch made his own aluminum pickguard with the alternating brushed/polished stripes.
He explains how in his second post. Pretty cool.
Wow, thanks for that cooter. I had some 3/4 cabinet grade birch ply sitting around so I laminated two pieces up and plan to use it as a tester to set up the bridge, neck and trem. I also have some sheet aluminum sitting around from a canoe I fixed. Maybe I will give it a go for a second body.
Last night I gave the template I made a test run on a body made of two layers of 3/4 birch cabinet grade ply. I only have 1/4 inch routers and no 2" pattern bit. But I do have a 1" top and a 1" bottom bearing pattern bits. So I used the bottom guided bit first and then flipped the body over and used the top bearing pattern bit. It worked just as planned until I just finished and the screw came off of the guide bearing and I got a bit bite.
Filled it in with wood glue, broken tooth picks and saw dust from the sander.
Looks good!
What pickups are you planning?
It's a shame there aren't really any repro off-brand pickups available rather than strat and humbucker designs.
