I thought I'd share this one since it's not only for me but I'm doing things I've never done
so it may be fun watching it fail...hope not but there's always that.
 
All my Strats have single coils and none that I've built have I painted.
So this one will have at least one HB and I'm trying to decide just to make it with two HB's-no singles and I'm going to
paint it Lake Placid Blue Metallic. Trying to decide if I want it have a plastic pickguard or not...makes a big difference on
how everything is routered and I'm leaning to not having one.
It seems many of the luthiers I talk with prefer to drawup detail plans before starting but I seem to enjoy
knowing what I can get done and kind of let the guitar tell me what it wants to be...I know that probably sounds
strange but it's helped me learn when to stop and when to move ahead.
I've listened to nothing but Hendrix while working on this one...hope that wood is grabbing all the mojo it can stand.
 
I started with making the neck because without it no reason to work on a body.
Flame maple, Rosewood fretboard, double-action wheel truss-rod, 12" radius.
 

Decided to go with white pearl dots.

 
I carved the neck profile as the same as my '89 Strat Plus and since the neck turned out so sweet I moved
on to the body.
I've never used/worked with Poplar thought I'd give it a go for the body.
 
 

I like to make the neck pocket before doing anything else to make sure it's worth continueing.
It fit's just fine so now I can decide on the hardware and get it ordered.
I'll sand the body edges and do the roundover while waiting for the hardware-maybe start on the
bone nut....and maybe get the date corrected on the camera...it dates a day to early.

 
Hope ya enjoy.

I was going to ask what sort of tree Lake Placid Blue Metallic wood came from then you went and said poplar
 
Another interesting build to be watched.

Ah. Another beautiful project to look at! 

Purdy !

I love these threads.

Spacey's making another guitar for one of the Poplar kids. 
 
(It looks great so far.)

The Poplar block was cheap, comparably speaking but then I have the cost of the
paint supplies added compared to just oiling a nice piece of wood. Well it's still cheaper
than painting Alder or Ash. Body blanks ( rectangle block) have doubled in price since
I started building (@ 5yrs I'm guessing) and probably going to get worse.
Of course it'll still be much cheaper than what those "pros" charge if I can pull it off I'll save hundreds.
 
So far I don't have any complaints about working with it and I know it's
been used on great guitars so it's a great piece of the puzzle.
 
I know I'll go "vintage"...I'm working from my '62 template which is just like the '57 except the control cavity is
a little different for the added screws for the pickguard....so I rolled the edge of the fretboard. First time for that
too. Right now it feels like it's a been played for years. I oversized the width too - 43mm so I had a little extra
and looking forward to playing this "aged" neck and see if I did good with that idea.
 
I used my Les Paul on a recording project and I've just lost the feel for them...combination of reasons and not just the short-scale length so I think two HB's with a 3-way blade switch is going to be my best move.
So another step closer in the final design before ordering hardware.
 
Glad to see read your thoughts guys- thank you.
 
 
 
 

Looking good!!! I have never built one from scratch yet, so am envious. One thing you may want to consider is if you want to use coil cuts on the humbuckers before you route it, in case you do want the single coil capability in it for later on.

mettelus
Looking good!!! I have never built one from scratch yet, so am envious. One thing you may want to consider is if you want to use coil cuts on the humbuckers before you route it, in case you do want the single coil capability in it for later on.

Thanks Mettelus.
I'm confused though...do you mean the HB's being coil splitters (4 wires) and the routing for the switche(s) to split them?
Really asking so I understand what you mean and if I'm correct then it's not a problem. I'll be winding the HB's and I won't be going for split/ single coil sounds. If so I would have shot for the HSS with a coil split on the 5 way switch/wiring.
 

Yes, that is what I meant (I had no clue how you are intending to wire it). The only reason I mentioned it is that after the fact the work becomes a little more tedious, since the guitar is already finished.