GearStrat build

Gearhead

Finally finally finished the Strat project. The objective was to learn as much as possible to be able to start building from scratch. Hence the choice of mostly Fender components, actually only the body is built here. And learn I did; for instance that I do not like finishing as much as I do the woodworking side and I don't like things being imperfect. Next Strat will be the same finish probably though ?

The guit is far from perfect in my opinion. There's too many minor faults for me to present this as a really nice build, but maybe I'm too critical.
The good news is that it sounds better than anything I've ever played, much to my surprise. It is bright, although I chambered it a lot to compensate the hard Ash body and although I used a rosewood fretboard. The thing is resonant, has lots of sustain and picks up small differences in picking: play gently and it sounds almost acoustic, dig in and you get more aggressive twang. It likes the Triaxis and vice versa. Will post clips in due course.

Spec:
Body: European Ash back, Thinline style chambering, 6mm plain Maple drop top, copper clad electronics cavity
Finish: back double stain, front and back '64 style Sunburst
Neck: off of a Fender HW1 Strat (US made)
Tuners: Gotoh locking vintage
Pups and electronics: off of a Fender Pro '68 Strat (US made)
Bridge: to be upgraded, classic 6-screw clone.

Pics taken quickly by Ilse: (official shoot later?)

MikeM

I am so there next weekend ? (With your bits and pieces)

DonovanB

The body looks deeper than a normal strat?

MikeM

Could it not be that the radius is different?

Gearhead

Body thickness is 40+6mm and the radius is 10mm. I suppose the proper radius is 1/2" but I didn't have the right bit when it came to radiusing the body. Maybe it's a pity in retrospect, I wasn't too phased at the time. One of those things... :?

MikeM

I know that in the 60s Fender changed to a 9/16 as well actually..

I don't think it detracts much from it ?

[deleted]

Gearhead that looks great!

Congrats...

Can you tell me more about the finish and what you used?

AlanRatcliffe

Great build! The finish may not be perfect, but it looks great in the pics - we tend to be a bit over critical when looking at our own work. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you sprayed the black from the inside out? I prefer spraying the black burst from the outside edge in to get softer lines and more graduation, but I can see your hands were steady and sure when spraying, so shouldn't take long before you're doing finishes you can be proud of.

The cutaways are fun to sand and buff aren't they?

Gearhead

Brentcgp wrote: Can you tell me more about the finish and what you used?

I figured it would be hard to learn to spray, learn to burst AND learn what finishing materials and tools I would prefer, at the same time. So I decided to shop at Stewmac for the finishing stuff and bought the water soluble sanding sealer, stains, grain filler and clear top coat. I went for the top-of-the-line stainless DeVillbiss spray gun and a mid priced stainless jamb gun, happy with those. I set up a two axis turntable to position the body and built a 4-sided box into which I can spray without painting the whole house. Since I have enough lacquer left to do another guit, I will use the Colortone stuff again but I'm not completely sold on the stuff.
The biggest drawback I experienced when doing the 'double stain'. After staining the bare bleached wood yellow with a rather thin laquer/water mixture, I waited one week and proceeded with grain filling with added amber stain. For some reason the grain filler 'pulled' the stain out of the layer underneath and I had to sand back until the yellow was even again. Next time I will bleach, grain fill, sand, stain dark, sand and light stain to pop the grain. In subsequent layers, I found the stains to also bleed into the next layer immediately upon spraying. It is as if they like the water more than the solvents.
I am happy with the water soluble lacquer though. I would not know how much solvents I would have had to use to clean my guns in between colors, but I have used plenty water.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but you sprayed the black from the inside out?

Not wrong, I did. Apparently the Fender method in the early days was inside out, so I went for that. I'm not sure what I will do next time but I might try outside in on a scrap body just to see. In real life, the Strat does not look as sharply contrasted as it does in the pictures, and I was going for narrow red and black bands to leave as much yellow as possible. I suppose you can easily get a more gradual transition spraying inside out. As you say, better next time.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: The cutaways are fun to sand and buff aren't they?

Yeah great fun ☹
I'm actually looking for someone in the neighborhood who likes sanding and buffing and is very good at it, yet has a problem routing. Oh and he/she should also have a drum sander and a deep throat band saw.... ?

Stretch

It looks awesome in my opinion! Nice work! ?

Did you build the body yourself? I've been contemplating building a strat body, but my woodworking skills leave much to be desired ?

MikeM

So I popped around to old Gearhead's on Saturday.

First off, the pictures do not REMOTELY do this thing justice. The burst is FANFREAKINGTASTIC.

Now, onto the important things (Prettiness isn't a vital characteristic for me) - the guitar is much heavier than you'd expect for a strat, no LP or anything, but definately no superlight little thing. However, it is to MY belief (And this is just speculation blah blah blah but prove me wrong) that a heavier wood produces a bigger sound, and this guitar just goes to prove that. For the first few min I couldn't believe how huge it sounds. It's as far as you can possibly get from weedy, weak etc, even though it has quite low wound pups in.

Second biggest factor for me, is the setup. 11s on there but seriously they play like 9s. I'm used to 11-54s on my squier. Action is also low, a bit low for my liking but that's just preference.

Last thing that's really standout - Overall resonance + sustain. Just awesome, huge, really that's the best word to describe this thing.

A bit on the negative side (We can't always be perfect) is that it's a TOUCH bright, personally I think this can be cured with slightly hotter pups hehehe.. But thankfully wise Mr Gearhead doesn't have a treble bleed (Treble bleed is for noobs hehe) so you can roll it off just a touch to get a nice smooooooooth big rounded stratty sound.

Overall... It honestly rivals my fav ever strat - the SRV sig. With a pup change and maybe that actual vintage trem that was being mentioned, I might become a dark shadow in someone's back garden one night ?