Shorter scale Strat type guitar

[ssstonelover]

This was my first CNC assisted guitar build, so I kept it fairly simple. In the end still a lot of hand steps and hand-made templates had to be constructed to cover the gap in what the CNC has missed (better programming and tool paths needed going forward).
- Body wood was repurposed pine from discarded closet doors built up in layers to achieve the necessary depth
- 2K clear over epoxy seal/grain filler
-Neck was an SX ~24.75" scale from a Rondo Music closeout. Body was rescaled to match the neck scale.
-Electronics included Fleor 'hot' alnico rail pickups wired series and parallel, push-push pots, a neck-on switch, and a 'bypass' switch. Master volume, master tone and a PTB bass cut. The bass cut was disappointing. a B500K pot does not cut it compared to a C1M, but I had limited space and passed on other good options. Everything else worked as expected and I did the 'alligator clip' method of audio testing for choosing cap values so was able to at least get the treble cut to be just enough, and no more. Push-Push pots function fine but the lug holes were tiny and annoying. I much prefer pots and switches to be separate overall for wiring ease especially in a 'cavity design' as opposed to 'pickguard mounted' design.

[newey]

Nice! I like the way the joints in the wood stand out, makes it clear it was something repurposed.

It seems as if you make a lot of left-handed guitars, you must be the "go-to" for lefties!

[gckelloch]

Came out great. Interesting input jack choice. I hope those push pots hold up. Half I've got have failed, including the new Fleors I raved about. The ones I used in my Parker have been just fine since 2006. If they aren't defective at first, and you don't break them by pulling up, I think it has to do with tightening them in place. I may have twisted the chassis too hard on a few. The intermittent switch results can be maddening.

I accidentally bought two Fleor B500k push pots for a project as well without noticing the B taper would not work very well. I replaced them with the A500k versions.

[ssstonelover]

Nov 21, 2023 6:39:07 GMT -5 newey said:

Nice! I like the way the joints in the wood stand out, makes it clear it was something repurposed.

It seems as if you make a lot of left-handed guitars, you must be the "go-to" for lefties!

Yeah, looks like a work table from Home Depot turned into a body LOL, though in this case it came from closet doors.

Maybe I build far too many lefties, so most of them end up at my house adding to what is already a collection of about 30 guitars/basses (including store bought).
Anyway I get to indulge my "build hunger" and a need to fiddle with design, and not a lot of money is required to keep me busy. I did buy a $100/year license for SolidWorks Maker (3D design program) which now can be turned to other shapes, and even parts designs.

[ssstonelover]

Nov 21, 2023 9:06:02 GMT -5 gckelloch said:

Came out great. Interesting input jack choice. I hope those push pots hold up. Half I've got have failed, including the new Fleors I raved about. The ones I used in my Parker have been just fine since 2006. If they aren't defective at first, and you don't break them by pulling up, I think it has to do with tightening them in place. I may have twisted the chassis too hard on a few. The intermittent switch results can be maddening.

I really don't like push-pull so the push-push seemed a decent option for a challenging space to work in. However, I too question the robustness of these Fleors and they were annoying to solder even 26G pickup leads to. Almost like threading a needle LOL. I really wanted to try the pickups, when I had a pair of perfectly acceptable mini buckers... oh well.
Overall I way prefer separate switches and if this all blows up, I'll extend the cavity all the way to the front and put all the controls on a front mount cavity cover.
For the future, massive numbers of controls should be mounted on a pickguard along with the pickups, like I did on this mod switch city. Leo did what he did for a reason after all, and sanity could have been one of those reasons.

[gckelloch]

I prefer the Push to the Pull pots as well. So much faster...if they work. I just hold the tinned wires on the tinned lugs and apply the iron to the lugs. Much easier than threading. Those twin blade PUP's are amazingly cheap, and unlike the GFS C8 bar versions, the AlNiCo bars ground the other blade, and don't saturate the blades.

Yeah, Leo's Jag/JM switch config is an interesting idea. You can set up a switchable tone/vol preset for the neck. I just watched Jay Leonard J's demo of his two JM's. He flipped the concept and used 250k pots on one of his JM's with 1meg on the neck switch pots for brighter tones. He's always worth the watch:

[ssstonelover]

Nov 21, 2023 23:00:05 GMT -5 gckelloch said:

I prefer the Push to the Pull pots as well. So much faster...if they work. I just hold the tinned wires on the tinned lugs and apply the iron to the lugs. Much easier than threading. Those twin blade PUP's are amazingly cheap, and unlike the GFS C8 bar versions, the AlNiCo bars ground the other blade, and don't saturate the blades.
Yeah, Leo's Jag/JM switch config is an interesting idea. You can set up a switchable tone/vol preset for the neck. I just watched Jay Leonard J's demo of his two JM's. He flipped the concept and used 250k pots on one of his JM's with 1meg on the neck switch pots for brighter tones. He's always worth the watch:

Great video, and the reversal idea is cool and 'guitarist friendly'.

I've never played a Jazzmaster, so this cleared up all my preconceptions, and gives me another design to try and build, if I can find a Left Hand JM tremolo and the correct looking pots and switches needed for the upper bout.