Stratocaster Guitar Build - Part 6 - Building A Stratocaster Guitar Neck
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Template sets to follow along with the build - fletcherhandcra...
The final installment of our Stratocaster neck building series. This final video covers -
Cleaning fretboard
Full fret level and crown
Fret Polishing
Tuner Installation
Oiling Fretboard
A new series documenting building the guitar body will start in a few weeks and show construction of a Stratocaster Style body from rough sawn timber to polished out completed body.
I just wanted to thank you for the effort in making these very detailed tutorials. It's a few years later and a number of necks later, but it started with these vids of yours. So thank you!!!
Absolutely amazing work. I can't believe that a board of wood would be turned into such beautiful art like this! You've inspired me to build my own Telecaster neck from scratch and I've been watching your videos along the way so I wouldn't get lost! I look forward to watching the body be made and also future guitar projects! You are a true craftsman and thank you for sharing your techniques of how you build your own custom guitars! - Tyler
THanks DAvid!
One, if not the best, of the series of videos online for neck building. I know the rest of the build will be just as informative and professional.
What's perhaps unique about this series is that it is by an Australian luthier and is undoubtably World Class!!!
good onyer David!
I built quite a few guitars of my own design starting in 1983 . Last 4 were strats . The first one I bought the neck that was a strat style to fit a tele I just added rose wood to make the heel rounded . I built 3 strat necks and 5 bodies and didn't have any stew mac tools except for the last one which I sold . All I bought was a fret saw and 12" radius block a fret hammer and a neck rest to drive it the frets. On all of them except the last I used the aluminum U channel type truss rod stew mac offers the lost one I used the stew max hot rod hex key adjust. I didn't like the way the rod just sets right under the finger board . I like a filler strip.
All the necks I built are maple from a wood supply shop with rose wood boards from a large block I was given decades ago. I only used a router for the rod slot and to round over the body edges. I shaped the necks like you did for the most part except used two spoke shaves for some of it. The finger boards were all hand sawn by me then planed flat and the radius was done with a block I made and the frets all finished with a flat mill file and crowned with a three corner file with the edges removed and then sand paper and 0000 steel wool to polish . The router was also used for the body routes.
I did use spray gun and lacquer and hand sanded and hand buffed. Last one I used stew macs water based lacquer and an air brush . I didn't go as far as you for the shine. I have no idea why perhaps because when I built the necks the back of the head stock and neck end should be even /flat with each other the last one was because by then I had a PC . They work fine yet one the heel is deeper than the peg head and one is much higher , even the one I bought from a shop who built all sorts of guitars sold me is not level with the peg head back.
I have a neck blank and a pre slotted board board from stew mac and the tall fret wire I like and the same u channel rod all from stew mac sitting here for at least 14 years and plan on making one more neck to replace one I don't like . I have no templates to rout the neck and board after glue up . I just do it all by hand and it takes a lot of time .
The one thing I do different is I don't cut fret slots any deeper than the fret tang and also cut them to follow the boards radius , it leaves a lot more wood for a what I feel a stronger board. The stew Mac board has the slots cut , in this case rather than dealing with cutting my own slots it will do fine . I have another black board and will first cut my own slots , if it works out that's what I;ll use .
All this to say you did a great job and have a nice set of tools. Most of these specific guitar building tools didn't exist when I started stew mac didn't have this either, they just sold a few items mostly parts and some tools . I used to get my parts from local shops as well as the wood from local hard wood suppliers who no longer exist.
This is incredible. I can't express how much I value this series. I'm currently building my first guitar, and your insights have provided me with a fresh perspective on many aspects of the process, which I deeply appreciate. Thank you so much.
I have really enjoyed this neck build, your patience and attention to detail is next level.
Thank you
I've nearly completed my first guitar neck and it looks pretty good thanks to your videos!!! If I were down under I'd by you a few beers. So grateful I found your channel Fletch.
Beautiful, precise work. Exactly what anyone who wants to build a neck or fret/refret a neck should be watching. The best series on the subject on UA-cam by a country mile
Absolutely beautiful. I watched the whole neck series and i am blown away. I'm an intermediate player but I've always had a fascination with the building process and you have got me rearing for more. I'm working on putting a custom strat together with my dad, not from scratch like you, but one day i totally will. Thank you Mr. Fletcher
This has been my sixth or seventh time watching this. It never gets old. Sir, not only are you a master guitar builder, but excellent as an instructor. Exactly how it should be taught
Thanks so much for this series! Best guitar building series on UA-cam by far. Please continue doing lutherie videos!
I have witnessed perfection. The key is patience and also having the right tools. Taking the time to clean up between steps seems important too. You are the paramount guitar builder and if I can reach towards your standards, even 80% as much, i will have created a beautiful instrument. Thank you for hand carving the neck. I do that as well but learned so much from you. Thank you so much for this.
Wow! Suddenly the cost of truly handcrafted guitars makes way more sense to me!!
IMHO the neck is where the tone lives. I love these vids!!
이 채널을 알게된 이후 일년에 몇번씩 꼭 봅니다. 너무 재밌어요!!
저는 기타를 만드는 사람이 아니고 그냥 연주자 입니다. 이 영상은 내가 사용하고있는 기타에대한 이해가 깊어지고, 내 악기를 사랑하게 만듭니다. 참 특별해요!
기타에대한 이해가 깊어진 만큼 제 기타 톤이 좋아졌을것이고 연주도 좋아졌으리라 확신합니다. 좋은자료 감사합니다.
I agree these videos are just impossible to stop watching! Extremely well done on the neck, and damn but it's ome solid shooting and editing!! Just not a question left unanswered or an unnecessary moment! I'm almost more impressed on that level than even the beautiful artwork itself :p
A true master piece!
I hope one day to have the tools, the time and half the skill to be able to make my own guitars!
Great series can't wait to see the rest of this piece of art! You truly have the ability to not only make a beautiful guitar, but to pass on your knowledge in an entertaining and accessible way!
I agree with copglide ("Wow! Suddenly the cost of truly handcrafted guitars makes way more sense to me!!"). I can't afford it, but that is some truly beatiful work! I can tell it's meant to be an instrument that could be passed down as a classic.
i build guitars and banjos and i like some of your ideas trimming the frets to give a flush finish is very neat, i make telecaster type guitars but now use a fixed neck and 24 3/4 scale, i would remind people who profile their own neck to remember that the neck feels larger when the strings are fitted but not to go to mad to quick, try and feel a neck without strings to get a feel for what you require. great videos thanks
Thanks for sharing your craft. I have used several of your methods in constructing my own instruments. I've watched a lot of videos and prefer your methods over most.
Love your attention to detail, thanks for sharing your techniques.
I have neither the skills nor the means to do this myself, but i find these videos great to watch. Seems a lot more effort goes into making a guitar neck than i ever would have imagined, i'm looking forward to seeing the finished piece :D
Simply fantastic,★★★★★ you have golden hands my friend!!!
good job I love that neck flamed, deserves applause these jobs!
Very nice work. I've been building my own guitars for a number of years but it's always nice to pick up a tip or two that I hadn't seen yet and your videos are certainly full of them. I thought I'd pass one on to you if you hadn't seen it yet. I learned this painting cars. When you wet sand use a foam sanding block to squeegee off the water. It cuts way down on the paper towels and the surface drys a lot quicker so to can see if you've flatted the area a lot faster than towels alone. It saves towels but especially time.
Excellent job!!!!! Both making the neck, and documented it. Thank very much. It is an excellente material for building great instruments.
tomassamot Thankyou
Fantastic! Your attention to detail and explanations of everything have earned a new sub. This thing is a beauty. Can't wait to see the body built and the final product. Awesome!
Terrific job and thank you for sharing your art
Awesome awesome awesome awesome....thank you very much Fletch.
I have built several solid body guitars but never had the courage to try a neck. I'm still not sure I would try it now but thanks to this video series I know I could. I can only speculate what this neck would cost. A LOT OF WORK. Just toured the Taylor factory in Calif. and I never saw any work on frets after they were press in all at the same time. (except making sure the edges were not sharp etc.) I am sure Leo Fender would be proud of this neck. Heck PRS, Gibson, Martin and anyone else.
As a guitarist, the neck is the true piece of art in my opinion. Don't intend on building a guitar or neck anytime soon but great series
Hey Fletch,
Sweet videos. I really enjoy the later videos... very imformative. Your guitars are beautiful. It's nice to see someone thats truly skilled who's willing to share with the world. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Absolutely brilliant! Thank you!
Just watched all 6 of the neck vids. Excellent!! looking forward to the remaining build.
Definately helped me as a novice CBG builder to improve and i'll be trying a lot of your techniques.
Many thanks.
Cheers mark, glad you found them useful
This neck is stunning!
+Danny Day Thanks Danny
Awesome work!! Your skill for teaching is incredible, and i love how you make this look easy. Nine and a half gold stars my friend!
Also, i have not yet seen any other instructional video, that leaves me feeling like i know how to do this myself, or, i can do this. Cheers and keep it up!
Absolutely gorgeous neck. Nicest I've ever seen.
Cheers mate !
I watched every video, and I have only one word: Wonderful!! congratulations
Thankyou Marcello !
Thank you for your videos. Your detail is really helpful and I find your very meticulous and methodical approach is giving me lots of ideas. I look forward to more of your videos
Wow, that's beautiful. Just finished my first body and need a neck. Would love to make my own. Your video is definitely inspiring.
Thanks David. I must have blinked and missed that valuable nugget of information!
Coming back to take another look at your work. Thanks again for documenting your process. It's just as inspiring the second/third time around.
+Greg's Garage Thanks Greg, I need to get around to filming a new build I think
YES!!! I'm curious if you are using the carve in your process. Also what software you are using to create stuff.
Yes please. Im watching it for the second time as well. As cool as a strat type guitar is your talents seem a waist to do a look alike. I haven't seen anything else you do so that is why Im saying that. For all I know you could have dozens of different guitars. Im going to go check it out now.
That looks nicer than anything I have seen from the Fender factory!
Genial la serie de construcción del mástil de stratocaster muchas gracias!
The strato's neck series has been really great! thank you so much!
Very very good instructions and very fine work. I loved it. Thank you very much, it gave me a lot of knowledge and tips.
Enjoyed your videos and you got great ideas. Beautiful project on the neck.
Master work, great video, it makes me appreciate the work that it goes into a neck/Guitar
Muchas gracias Jorge, me alegro de que te haya gustado ver el video
Amazing job my brother!
Thanks a lot, Mr. Fletcher!
Amazingly beautiful work David! I applaud you.
Beautiful. Nice work David. Thanks for this series of videos.
Amazing. You are a true artist
Definitely - Warmoth necks are fantastic quality but If they did not specify that the neck has had the frets leveled, you can assume you will need to do that yourself. Most people will not bother, and that's the reason that the guitar is never able to be set up with nice low action.
Really excellent video... transmitting your skill and knowledge in a clear and concise manner that wants me to go out and buy tools .. trouble is the expense... maybe you could consider a video for people who want to try and build their own guitar but on a relatively tight budget, what would be the minimal tools needed to achieve a result ? just a thought ... thanks for an excellent and motivational series of tutorials.
Nice Job , love that neck!!
gracias por subir el video ..esta muy bueno tus trabajos ..te agradecemos!!!
Stunningly good work.
Thanks Jack
I'm just so used to doing it with the straight beam now and get good results
Your welcome Michael, glad you liked it
Stunning!
Thank you so very much for your wonderful informative videos you do beautiful work
Part 6 of my 10 part Stratocaster Build
That's a beautiful neck
Seems like you could run a piece of blue tape along the fret board, down the neck...right near the edge of the maple. Then fold it over the frets, and *then* apply the cross taping. Then it would prevent the compound accumulating on the edges of the frets, and it should also facilitate easy removal of the tape between the fret wires.
I think I saw Dan Erlewine do that in one of his videos, and it worked out really nicely as I recall.
Oh definitely, I could have done a MUCH better job of taping the fretboard :-)
***** No sweat...we knew what you *meant* to do!
Thanks Tyson
3M has a new product called Trizact. It is for metal work, and is a 72" belt for a belt sander. The abrasive is very evenly bonded hard glass ceramic resin that is applied in parallel strands. It does not leave scratches, and I have even used it to resurface stand up bass. The fine feel of this stuff is a bit misleading. It is aggressive. Unfortunately the stuff is only sold in 50 packs by 3M. A distributor might have individual belts. I love the stuff. It is like a fine single cut file on cloth
Beautiful wood used there. Watch out Fender...haha.
Nice work Fletch!
Cheers Cam
espectacular job, congratulations, you are a genius
I totally love all of your videos! They help me a lot! Thanks
//Simon
very impressive, the neck is beautiful. I thought about building a neck myself, but when I realized how many wood working machines you need to do it right, I decided that it's not for me.
Great work !! fantastic , can't stop watching ;) , very good inspriation,
Have you ever though of doing the fall away starting at the 2nd fret?
fletcher..teach me..i love your video!!!good job!!i want learn every singel things with you..
Thanks Nick
I don't like to use a radius block for leveling fret. A straight beam does a much better job for me. I do however slide the beam from side to side as I level to keep the radius.
For me, a radius beam is to sand the initial radius before fretting, not for leveling frets. I find when used as a fret leveler, it over radius's the frets at the ends leaving the middle of the frets high and the ends sanded too much.
I''m not saying your method is wrong, saying we both have different methods.
beautiful work !...
Absolutely, good advise
you could use that dremmel to buff the finish in those tiny areas where you can't get by hand also if the disk is asoft buffing type disk.
Amazing job in the building neck videos. Better to have stainless steel frets in a guitar neck like this. Will last forever and no need of frets dress or frets replacement.
Total utter rolls royce perfection
G'day mate, its Formbys Lemon Oil
I don't like using a radius block to level fret. They are fine for radiusing a fretboard before fretting but I find they take too much meat off the frets on the outside edges when used to level the frets. I prefer to use a straight block as in my video.
Thank you for elaborating, mr. Fletcher. I would love some more fret leveling, crowning etc for people like me. Perhaps using a radius block for leveling and a diamond file/3 corner file for crowning? Thanks again :)
12:34 this tip is awesome.
All I can say is WOW! I am handy with wood working but I don't know I could do that even if I had all the right tools as you do. Just wondering ...... how much does it cost to buy all the special tools you used to make this neck?
Amazing how much time you invest and how much love you have for all these details. The guitars you make really don't need to hide before guitars from big manufactures. How long does it take to build a guitar like this? Sorry for my bad english.
Hi Falco, There are quite a few hours in a guitar like this - probably 60-80 hours.
Pure art! Absolutely love it. Great job! I noticed what seemed to be some inconsistencies in the contact point after crowning. The marker line didn't seem straight. Wouldn't this affect intonation? I have only crowned one time with a diamond file and I continued until all the marker was gone.Did I go wrong? I still have some fret height I want to remove though, so no problem with taking too much off. Thank you!
Nice work
Brilliant!
Cheers mate !
Hi, Yes the fretboard is Rosewood
Maestro!!!
Thanks
very nice ! how many frets would you trim down if it had 24 frets instead of 21 ? A thing you didn’t do on that neck I would find interesting as well is scalloping the higher frets. That operation seems very touchy. Of course there are tutorials here and there, but I like the way you do things :)
A question David: A looked at another youtube video where a guitar was setup. He adjusted the trussrod with the strings on to a deadflat neck. Then he used a neck jig to get the same neck position/relief as with the strings still on. There after his leveled the frets. In your opinion, is that really necessary? I can ser that you adjusted your neck to dead straight without strings and leveled the frets after that. Really nice work by the way, you have inspired me to give it a try myself
the strings certainly pull some relief into the neck but the truss rod controls it all
Great videos! Why don't you use the radiused sanding block for the fret leveling too?
Hi David, You're doin' a great job. I love how you work.
I have one question. Why you didn't use the aluminum radius sanding beam for level the fret? Intuitively I think that you can be faster. But I am not a luthier..!
Oh, so.. I have a second question.. Do you think to do another videos? Maybe a Telecaster or SG, or a 335's style guitar video..!
Really good job! It's a pleasure watch your videos! Thank you man.
P.S.: Sorry for my english, I am an italian guy..!
You're a master
Great job man, you are ''the most carefull luthier'' ... sorry, i dont speak english...