Builds Archives - Page 29 of 29 - Pruett Woodworking

Stratocaster guitar, Custom build.

This build started life as a ST Style Paulownia build your own kit. When I received it I decided to do a couple of minor mods to the body

The building of my stratocaster guitar was a very fun and relaxing build. I used paints I had never used before and received excellent results in the process. This is a sponsored build with Thefretwire.com

This build started life as a ST Style Paulownia build your own kit. When I received it I decided to do a couple of minor mods to the body to make it a little different from others in this design. All of the rounded corners were chamfered and the jack plate hole plugged and moved to the side of the body.

My first step was to take the Stratocaster guitar body to the spindle sander. I gently sanded the outer edges of the entire body to square off the sides and remove the rounded shaped look. I sanded with 80 grit the stepped up to 120 grit to get it shaped like I had in mind. the idea here was slow and easy to keep the main shape just make it look a little different so it stands out.

The next step was to remove those annoying rounded over corners. To add some style to the shape, a chamfer all the way aroundis added. I chamfered both sides and where the belly cut is. I let the chamfer fade into the belly cut so the body was not sharp and pointy in that area. With a little hand sanding the belly cut blends right into the chamfers on the back and looks seamless.

I marked a square area around the stock jack plate hole and used a chisel to cut back to the line so the 1/4 in spiral upcut bit in the next step didn’t cause tear out on the body. Use a sharp knife to mark out the lines you want to cut to then take a sharp chisel and cut back to the line you just made so the router bit cuts up to the line cleanly.

I used a small Grizzly plunge router to slowly cut out the hole for the jack plate. Then I plugged it with a piece of poplar scrap 5/8 of an inch thick. A new jack plate hole was drilled into the lower side of the body. Set the depth stop on the router so you know when you have reached the proper depth and take a few shallow passes to get clean cuts down to final depth.

After filling the jack plate hole I sealed the body and sanded to make everything look like a factory body. I then drilled into the end of the body to attach the new jack plate.

The next step was applying a few even coats of a heavy silver metal flake paint from Duplicolor. The metal specks paint has a very nice sized flake that is perfect for applying a candy paint over.

The body was sprayed with blood red candy color. Then it was sprayed with 6 coats of clear and wet sanded and buffed. In the sun it really shines!!

The Queenanne end table project.

Since I made the Queenanne sofa table I needed two end tables to match it. Like the sofa table they are made from air dried rough sawn cherry lumber and finished with General Finishes water based dye stain and Old world garnet shellac mixed in a one pound cut so I could layer it to achieve the tone I was looking for.

To get started I made the leg blanks out of 4/4 rough sawn cherry lumber from a local mill. Each leg is made up from 4 boards glued up to give me the 3 inch thickness I needed. Then I trace my template onto the leg blanks twice. They are then cut out on the band saw. Each leg requires four long cuts to make the shape.

Cut along one part of the pattern then tape it back on to the blank. You can see the tape in the picture to the right. This is done because you will cut your pattern off the second side and you need to add it back to the blank. Your cuts do not need to be perfect because you will be shaping with files and rasps in the next step.

After cutting your pattern four times per leg you will end up with something like the picture to the left. A rough Cabriole leg. This was cut on a 9 inch under powered bandsaw so it is very rough. But I didn’t worry about that because the fun part comes next. Shaping them so they all look alike.

Once you get the legs cut you can start the fun time of shaping them with files and rasps. Start out by marking layout lines to so you know where to stop removing excess material and start with the rasps. On these legs I marked a little over 1/4 inch from each corner. The amount removed is up to you and your design.

I then started with a spokeshave to remove the most of the material slow and easy until I hit my layout lines. When I reached a curved section I use my Narex chisels to cut back to the line. I stop now and then to be sure that I am heading in the right way with my design so I do not go to far or maybe I need to remove more to get the desired shape.

Once I get back to my lines I grab my Narex rasps and start rounding over the edges until I get a shape I like. Go slow and easy so you don’t make any area to narrow for the look of the legs. Once you get the basic shape with the rasps the switch to a fine file to refine your curves. You might even want to get some needle files for the tight spots.

Work with one leg until it is exactly how you want it to look. Then you have a template you can compare the other three to as you repeat the process on them one by one. There is no set standard pattern for these. You can make them look how you want. You can carve them or make them as round as you want, It is all up to you.

The shaping of Cabriole legs

Here I am shaping the legs for the sofa table with files and rasps. Defining the shape I see in my mind and getting them all the same. I find the process relaxing and fun. I learn what works and what does not. I am using Narex rasps for this work.

The QueenAnne sofa table

QueenAnne period furniture, Cherry sofa table

Since I have developed a love for period furniture, I decided I was going to start building some QueenAnne style furniture for my family room. It started with the “Princess” dressing table. The first item I built in this style was the sofa table. Since I am using rough cut cherry I wanted to showcase the beautiful imperfections in the grains and make them shine. The table is 20 inches wide and 51 inches long. I decided not to put the drop finials on this table because of the kids on the holidays, ( I didn’t see them lasting very long). I finished it with General Finishes vintage cherry dye stain and two coats of a one pound cut garnet shellac and a water based poly top coat.

“Angel” the pearl white Stratocaster.

The building of a custom Stratocaster

Above is the finished project. She is a Stratocaster painted in three stage Toyota pearl white and five coats of clear lacquer. I installed Seymor Duncan California 50’s pickups. It sounds as good as it looks. The body was rather rough when i got it so it was sanded and some of the contours were shaped to be smoother and flow nicer into the body. Below are a few images from the build as it progressed.