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While I’m waiting for the parts to trickle in, there are a few other things that need attention. I make my own pickguards, mainly because there is so much variation from one batch to the next from the different suppliers. Also, wood will move on ya. This way, if a body shrinks a little, I can adjust the pick guard to accommodate it.
Over the years, I have made a ton of pickguard templates.
Here’s the likely candidate for today’s project.
This one has been done specifically for the ’62 Strat. The body is only a few degrees separated from a genuine 1962 Strat. Today’s pickguards differ slightly from those found on the ’62, so I corrected that.
Now we determine what shade Tortoise Shell pickguard will look best. I prefer the brown.
I trace out the shape and head to the band saw.
Time to get busy.
I use good ‘ol golf grip tape to secure the blank to the template…
apply good firm pressure to get a good secure bond, then to the drill press.
I drill a pilot hole in the pickup holes, and drill the pot mounting holes, and all other holes..
When drilling laminated pickguard material, use a fresh backing, If your table is full of old holes, the downward pressure from the drill press can cause the surface lamination to separate and pop lose. It's not repairable, so use something below the pickguard that has no voids, and move the pickguard to a new location for each hole.
Now it pretty straightforward, just go around the template, rather slowly. Once complete, clean all the plastic shavings off the table and the work and go around again.
At this point, I check to be certain the neck has a nice neat fit.
I now change to a 3/8 inch diameter router bit, and cut the pickup holes.
It now looks strangely like a pickguard..
Next stop, the beveled edge…
Now put a 45 degree bevel bit in the router… sorry I plain forgot to photograph it… but it looks a lot like a 45 degree bevel bit.
I adjust so I’m sure it will not make too deep of a cut, I want to adjust the height of the bit to get it correct, in this shot, you can see the 3rd ply, black, is just beginning to “peek” out.
I raise the router a few thousandths… and this is the results… look close….
It’s good, so rout the bevel, be careful though, there are areas that do not get beveled, the neck pocket, and the tremolo cutout.
Now go back and check visually to be certain the “lines are all cut evenly,
If you see areas that are cut too shallow so the different layers of the pickguard aren’t even, re cut, applying more downward pressure in those areas. Once the bevel is correct, I move on to countersink the screw holes…
I use the layers of the pickguard as a reference, to determine the depth, or you can set the drill press stop and use sheets of paper to work the pickguard up into the countersink to get to the correct depth..
I’ll check with a pickguard screw to be sure I know what I’m doing…lookin’ good…
So all the screw holes are countersunk with the exception of the Switch screws.. I need those holes for the next task, cutting the switch slot…
I get my trusty switch slot gizmo….a jig I made, and a Dremel with a 1/16 inch bit/
The jig was made so that the 2 hold down screws are in the same location as the switch mounting screws.
Adjust the Dremel, so it will just cut through the pickguard.
Now it’s just a matter of gently lowering the bit into the slot, and making a pass… while continuing to move the Dremel, turn it off. Once it has stopped, remove it, and clean out all the plastic chips… then repeat.
By continually moving the tool you reduce the chance a clump of plastic will attach itself to the bit, and burn a section of the slots edge.
We now have a slot.
Now since the pickguard mounting screws are a different size than the Switch mounting screws, we need to watch it when countersinking the holes.
I just use the same process, on the drill press, watching the exposed rings of the different layers of the pickguard plastic, then check with a screw.
Now, sneak into the little woman’s bath and find a specialized tool. Revlon works fine. Using the fingernail file, smooth the switch slot, and clean any plastic shavings you don’t want hanging out of it during your part of the show.
I now install the switch to be certain it fits and the selections can be made without any interference from the pickguard.
I’ll now take a moment to clean any remaining plastic shavings, etc. from the back side..
and the pickguard is now ready…
So whadya do with a nice new pickguard, why ya load it up and wire the rascal.
So I get all the “Stuff” (technical term used in high level facilities working with cutting edge electronics, like Lawrence-Livermore labs) together, and organize it on a specially designed mat specifically intended for assembling state of the art electronics, and wiping up spilled spaghetti sauce.
Do the preliminary assembly, lock nut, star washer, and into the hole…
Don’t tighten anything yet, you will usually have to slide the shield, if you use the vintage style, to get it into position. It’s also not unusual to have to enlarge a hole ot two to get it all together.
Once everything is mounted, tighten down the pots and switch… we’re ready to operate…
Oh yeah, I use silicon tubing as spacers for the pickups. It is indestructible, and if you choose the right size, it just fits over the 6-32 height adjusting screws tight enough to hold tem in place while you run the screws into the pickups.
I also use linen string to tie the wiring to make for a neat assembly. I cannot stand to open a guitar and see old tape wrapped around the wiring, the string is so much neater.
Now I solder the 3 primary pickup leads to the switch, and bundle the 3 ground wires.
Oh yes on most Strats, I will use an isolated ground point, isolated by an audio grade capacitor. There is NO sonic change, but the resulting Strat is as quiet as one with humbuckers. For me, it’s a no brainer. Here’s a site with excellent info:
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
SO just keep on following what ever schematic you have selected, until you run out of things to solder.
For those that are inexperienced at soldering, take an old non-functioning piece of electronic whatever, open it up (a hammer works well), find a few soldered leads, unconnect them, and re-solder them. Do it a few times and you will start to get the hang of it.
I’ve about completed everything by now.
So it’s about time to check things out. I’ve connected the jack. For those that may be unaware, the spiraled hookup wire is for a reason; by spiraling them you get a shielding effect. So if you want it quiet, and want the vintage appearance of cotton covered wire, twist ‘em.
Now, I plug ‘er in to the amp, Ummmm, turned down… and using a specially developed tool I’ll test each pickup and switch combination.
Ready for installation.
Those specially developed pickup testing tools are great, they’re available at about any Office Supply store. I don’t know why, but for some reason they seem to think they need to hide them. They’re concealed with a fictitious name, look for "Paperclips". Go figure…
Next I’ll be finishing the neck.
Time to convert a well lacquered neck into the business end of a great guitar.
First thing to do is adjust the truss rod. You will see I don’t use some exotic way over-priced specialized tool. This is because I know the neck is not level, and a few thousandths variation is normal, that why we do a fret leveling.
Further, every neck made needs to have the frets leveled to achieve optimum playability, every one. Sure, with very high action you can get away without it, but if you wannem lighting fast, you gotta do it.
So take a reasonable straightedge, I'm using a framing square here, ‘cause it was close at hand. Anything of reasonable straightness will do.
Adjust the truss rod, so that it’s “pulling” the neck to flatness as opposed to releasing the tension to get it there.
Then use whatever method you’re comfortable with to secure the neck so you have full access to all the frets, all the time and is doesn’t scoot all over the work bench.
You will see I use a very expensive method of securing the neck, a piece of MDF with a tapered neck pocket cut in it, shoot.. had to cost at least 2 dollars, and a screw through one of the tuning key holes, another 3 cents… expense is not a consideration when you are seeking perfection.
The screw through the tuning key hole…
Now, using a ridged flat (should be certifiably flat) piece of whatever. Attach an abrasive. Here I am using a piece of Corian, with 180 grit resin backed sanding tape.
Corian is a wonderful material around the shop. Flat, rigid and machines with any woodworking tools, although carbide is recommended. To get your own supply, look up Kitchen counter tops in the yellow pages, call ‘em and ask then what they would charge you for a few kitchen sink cutouts. A couple of bux would be about right.
While Corian is a very expensive material, about 30 bux a square foot, it has to be ordered in color lots. For instance, if you are doing eggshell white, you have to order enough so all of the counter’s parts are completed with that lot. If you have to reorder, it will be a slightly different shade, so all the scrap is too good to throw away, but about useless for what it was intended. So just call around and ask, you will find a counter fabricator somewhere that it thrilled to get rid of a few pieces.
Take a marker and mark the top of each fret, this will allow you to see the progress much easier.
All ready to rock...
Now I start scrubbing. Allow the weight of the tool to do the work. If you start pressing, even very rigid tools can flex slightly, but by allowing gravity to hold ‘er in place, the cutting is equalized over the entire fret board.
This is the results after about 5 passes…
Here you can see the frets as they are being cut.
And in this shot, all are leveled, except one. There is always one stubborn little bitc*.
But you stay with it, allowing the tool to cut all the frets down to the one that is so obstinate.
Now we have ‘em all under control… each and every one is level relative to the others.
Here is a little trick of the trade I learned back when I was young enough to learn.
The frets above the 12th are the ones that give the most trouble for achieving fast action, or for bending notes. Take your leveling tool and apply pressure there. Yeah, I know what I said above, but you want to take these frets on down a crack, while not affecting those below the 12th any more.
What this does is cut those frets a few ten thousandths lower that the others, allowing for slightly more clearance for the strings. Some Neck manufacturers are now offering this as a service, but since the neck needs to be leveled???
This bugger’s done.
OK, time to finish the frets… One of the few tools you cannot make, or find a substitute for is a fret crowning file. You gotta take the leap, and get a real one too, not one of those funky gizmos ya see advertised. People have been crowning frets for at least a century, if there was a better way, someone would have thought of it, and all us doing this for a living would be using that method. So cut the nonsense, and get a real fret file.
Here I gave ya a time stamp, to give ya an idea how quickly this goes when you don’t have to stop and take pictures. Oh. Wait, I am stopping and taking photos…
Crowning the fret correctly is a matter of watching the crown. The leveling tool leaves scratches from the sandpaper across the frets, and the crowning leaves scratches along the length. So you can see what’s happening. It’s crowned when you can just see a faint amount of the leveling marks remaining, just a hint.
To polish them, I save most of my old sand paper… just for this occasion.
Then using whatever method suits you to protect the fingerboard, start sanding each one… I’m using 400 grit here…
To protect the fingerboard, tape works well too.
Once that’s accomplished, I mark the heel So I know it’s been leveled.
With that behind us, it’s time to wet sand.
Here I use a small block, a piece of Corian again and 600 wet or dry paper.
Pay attention to the details, use a flat block across the top and be careful around the curves, it’s easy to sand right through here…
Once you think you’re through, back into the sunlight, check closely for those elusive shiny areas, they indicate a low spot that hasn’t been hit by the wet sanding yet.
Oh, I mask off the fingerboard so I can sand the rosewood behind the nut, it gives a more complete detailed appearance.
Note the edged where the lacquer can accumulate… sand until it’s all level.
I now use a specially designed tool to support the neck, this one I believe was designed by a guy named Phillips…
Using the block, I sand the edge of the fingerboard. I continue until the lacquer edge is completely “feathered” into the wood, so you cannot feel the edge…
Once the edge is done, I sand about ½ inch onto the back of the neck using a rolling motion to keep the block flat with the neck.
I now move to the back of the neck. A mistake many make is using their fingers for this entire step… use a block, this will flatten relative to the axis of the neck, the back, and give a precision appearance to whatever final finish you leave.
Once the neck is done with the sanding block, I will now go over it all by hand…
While I’m thinking of it, I repeat everything with 800 grit after I do the initial sanding with 600.
In those photos, you will also notice the exotic container I use to hold a bit of mineral spirits to dip the sanding block into…I find an old paint can lid perfect, the bottom is flat, and the spirits will not cause the thing to warp as it will a plastic container.
As usual, go over everything visually looking for the tale-tale shiny spots, sand ‘em before moving on…
Once that’s done you should have a nice consistent matte, or semi matte surface begging for polishing.
Here’s another secret tip. Some, most, want a matte back of the neck. As I do. If so just don’t polish what you have done…the resulting finish is vastly superior to the sprayed semi gloss clear coats manufacturers’ use. Doing it this way gives the neck the feel of a well played naturally worn neck.
I do polish various areas of the neck. More to come.
Something I do, when I get ready to polish, I mask off areas. This gives a clean delineation between the gloss and the matte areas, it just looks nice too..
Charge, load, or what ever you wanna call it… put some polishin’ stuff on the buffing wheel…
and start polishing. Those that have not done this. This is a feel thing, you just have to get in there and do it… so if you have bought a 500 dollar 5A flame neck and are getting ready to mess it up. Stop, go back, apply whatever finish you are using to a scrap piece of wood about the same size as your neck, and practice. Different finishes will respond to the polishing compound and the heat generated differently. It’s always nice to know what to expect, so practice on something you can throw away.
If using a power buffing machine, stop every so often to keep heat from building up. Heat is not your little friend here… unless you have been doing this a very long time and learned how to use the heat.
Last time check, it’s into morning and the phone, deliveries etc are invalidating the clock. But considering all the interruptions and taking photos… not too shabby…
By now you should have a beautifully polished neck..
Ready for the home stretch.
You may use whatever method you prefer, or none to polish the frets. I use a small power buffer, but a dremel works too. Since we sanded them with 400 grit along the length of the fret, no polishing is really required, the act of playing the guitar will press the strings into the frets burnishing them.
That’s not the way I do it. Mine go out so highly polished, I get calls from all over the place asking how I do it. Hehehe my little secret. Gotta keep a few cards hidden.
But now I dab just a touch of oil onto the fingerboard.
Then sit it aside for a couple of hours to let it soak into the wood. I use any number of oils. Lemon oil is great and easy to find. Do not use oils that dry. Tung oil, Linseed oil and such are not good choices.
After allowing the oil to be absorbed, I clean the excess thoroughly.
The final step… I give it a good coat of a quality wax, one with a high Carnuba wax content, and this is the results of the masking.
Next comes the hard ware.
Installing the keys isn’t too difficult, but this is how I do ‘em. Shaller Locking…
Note that most of them are staggered today, that means the posts are shorter on some. Place the shorter posts on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings. Some will have 3 lengths, the middle length would go on the 3rd and 4th in that case.
Even if you ordered your neck drilled for the specific keys you are installing, you are going to find they will still need reaming. For Kluson vintage style ream the face until the ferrules slide about ½ way in… for Schaller and Sperzel, ream the back side until the key fits.
Be very careful reaming. I recommend getting a real reamer. if you elect to use a drill bit, you’re gonna screw the pooch. The aggressive bite of the drill bits cutting edge will grab the soft wood, and mess something up. Chipped lacquer to split headstock. So you want something that removes wood slowly. A Dremel with a round sanding bit works well too. This does not have to be a precision fit, just snug is all.
I have a rotary file that is the exact size, I use it to complete what I began with the ream.
The above procedure sill leave lacquer curled up. Remove it with a small countersink by hand, but remember to focus the camera if you're taking photos.
Now place the keys in the holes. I use a small relatively straight edge to position the keys so they aren’t skewed relative to each other..
Now give each a light rap with whatever… just something soft so you don’t scratch the keys.
This leaves a slight dimple marking the location of the pins that secure the keys and keep them from rotating. I now take an awl and mark then for drilling.
The tape is self explanatory.
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