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Custom Mustang on a budget

chargerbandit

chargerbandit

Guest
Jan 1, 2014
68
13
Slovenia
#1
I know it's not a bass but I still wanted to share this with everyone. A friend kept telling me about how he would love to get a Mustang and they're expensive etc. and I really wanted to make a guitar so I went ahead and did a Mustang.

Because of the lack of tools like routers, I came up with the plan to build it out of 4 plywood sheets, cut out the holes with the modelling saw and then glue them together. So this is what I have so far.

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So that's it. The neck is from a 60€ Stratocaster I bought and I had some parts laying around so there it is. The paintjob is really bad because I suck at spraypaint and also it doesn't want to harden for some reason... Very fun project with only a bit more left to go. Next project will be making a bass+neck from scratch.
 
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#3
A great first project. Don't give up on the paint job. As a guide you want to get down to 800 grit paper and a perfect finish before painting with primer. If it's not drying, try leaving it out in the sun (just the body) for a few days in a row to get some heat into it, or a heat lamp. Then let the paint cure fully for a few weeks. If it's still not dry then, you'll probably want to scrap it off and respray it. I know this can seem like a waste of time, but it's the final finishing bits like this that make the big difference between a success and failure.
 
#5
Thanks. Yeah, I will get one at some point, the brand new ones cost about 100€ which is crazy. Also I will fix my paintjob eventually, I have to refinish anyways because I was putting it together on a dirty old workbench and some metal shavings got underneath the guitar and made giant holes into the body... but no big deal, just leaves more sanding fun. Right now I am having all sorts of trouble with the cheap neck, for some reason the heel was cut off at an angle and my neck pocket is straight so I have to make some sort of angled spacer,then glue it, filler then sanding etc.
 
#7
Yes, this is my version of the Mustang so I built it for Strat specs because I am a huge Strat guy. This is more of a punk rock take on the Mustang, made it orange like the one Kurt Cobain played and went with black everything else because it looks cool to me...also my love for maple necks got me and put one on there.
 
#9
I would always recommend spending a little more on a router that has collets for 1/4" and 1/2" bits. Most of the cheaper routers only have a 1/4" collet. I always recommend Porter Cable routers
 
#10
Still... I've even seen some bits cost over $100. And my one experience w/ a router didn't turn out well. Luckily no one was hurt, but there was a knot in the wood which chipped the bit and ruined the piece. I expected some tearout and probably having to fix the knot, but the piece was ruined. That put me off routers.
 
#11
mrbell321 said:
Still... I've even seen some bits cost over $100. And my one experience w/ a router didn't turn out well. Luckily no one was hurt, but there was a knot in the wood which chipped the bit and ruined the piece. I expected some tearout and probably having to fix the knot, but the piece was ruined. That put me off routers.
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Yes, some bits cost over $100, but, none that would be required for bass building cost that much. A router is one tool that I would say is an absolute necessity for building. Your experience with a router kind of sounds like you were working with a dull bit, or you were trying to remove to much material in one pass. My router can handle a knot with no problems at all.
 
#15
mrbell321 said:
I have to completely disagree w/ that... Stradivarius certainly didn't use a router.
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Antonio Stadivari built acoustic instruments, he wasn't routing cavities into solid bodies, his necks were not built with truss rods, his violins had purfling, not round overs. Your Stradivari argument doesn't really hold water. I guess if you really wanted to you could cut a Jazz pickup cavity with a forstner bit and chisels, but it would take 50 times longer than using a router, and would never be as clean. Sorry man, for electric bass building, a router is a totally necessary tool if you want to do a quality job.
 
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#18
The statement was "If you want to build guitars, there is really no way around [using a router] if you want to do a quality job."

My argument was that you CAN build quality instruments w/o a router. I said nothing about the efficiency or time taken to do so. Of course, I'm also just being pedantic here on purpose. Just to start an argument :-)
 
#19
mrbell321 said:
The statement was "If you want to build guitars, there is really no way around [using a router] if you want to do a quality job."

My argument was that you CAN build quality instruments w/o a router. I said nothing about the efficiency or time taken to do so. Of course, I'm also just being pedantic here on purpose. Just to start an argument :)
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I have yet to see someone cut a neck pocket, or pickup cavity with a chisel and forstner bits and actually have a clean route with straight edges and clean corners. But yes you can make it without a router if you have a mill. Wanna talk about expensive bits, look up what the bits for a Bridgeport cost.
 

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