EUB project

[swarfrat]

Interesting. I dunno why I'm so attracted to strat jack plates. It just seems like a cool way to mount into the body. I've also used them upside down like you have it, but I don't really see a reason for it on the back of the bass - unless you need the internal space for the jack.
(I briefly looked at doing this with a 13 pin jack in an SJP once)

As for the case - I've always been afraid of building the actual case because I know I can make it strong, but I don't know that I can make it strong and light both. But this might be a superb case for high expansion foam in a trash bag for custom fit inside the case.

 

[JIO]

Hey JIO

After studying this all week, I came to a solution that will work great for me. I wanted to keep the standard jack, use the Strat boat and definitely stay on the rear of the body. So I ordered a couple of standard Fender enclosed Jacks for my two solid bodies. A friend of mine eyeballed them and said they would fit inside the strat boat, but he didn't try it - so we will see:

View attachment 852648

Next, I took the boat jack and a pair of hefty pliers to it, using a thick cloth in between. I bent the jack tabs so that the output hole will be straight on, and the jack doesn't need to go but about 3/4" deep now, which will work for me. Forgive my primative drawing. It's the one on the bottom:

View attachment 852653

This accomplishes two things for me. First of all, I don't have to drill out the hole for the barrel jack, and the jack can now be recessed completely into the body so there will be no discomfort from the jack. I found a place on the body where the carve keeps the cable away from your body too, so it's a win win. I bent a chrome one and while the chrome wrinkled a tiny bit it didn't chip off and is completely acceptable. I used a made in USA Fender one though, not sure what would happen from those from the Far East. So I ordered a couple of black strat boats and I think if I do these really carefully on a vice somewhere they are going to turn out just fine. Of course there will need to be a small pocket rout in front of the jack to insert and remove it.

The other interesting thing, is I can now use the jack in the "normal" position in case the Fender enclosed jack doesn't fit inside the housing.

View attachment 852657

Either way, I am covered!

Will keep an eye on this - hope it works out!

 

[JIO]

Neck ferrules arrived - I like this design best. There's more material/more solid and the hole taper is smaller leaving a surround ring. Devil's in the details...

 

[JIO]

Interesting. I dunno why I'm so attracted to strat jack plates. It just seems like a cool way to mount into the body. I've also used them upside down like you have it, but I don't really see a reason for it on the back of the bass - unless you need the internal space for the jack.
(I briefly looked at doing this with a 13 pin jack in an SJP once)

As for the case - I've always been afraid of building the actual case because I know I can make it strong, but I don't know that I can make it strong and light both. But this might be a superb case for high expansion foam in a trash bag for custom fit inside the case.

I too like the Strat-jack. Have used it on a couple of my builds.

Sorry for the lint!

The bass is going to be fairly light when completed - there's not much to it. Building a protective yet light case should be fairly straight forward.

 

[Jisch]

Neck ferrules arrived - I like this design best. There's more material/more solid and the hole taper is smaller leaving a surround ring. Devil's in the details...

Where did you get those? I have been ordering from Stewmac, I don't like the ones they sell, but I couldn't find them anywhere else.

 

[JIO]

Where did you get those? I have been ordering from Stewmac, I don't like the ones they sell, but I couldn't find them anywhere else.

www.philadelphialuthiertools.com - they were on ebay (BIN)

 

[swarfrat]

I like that fretless!! Funky but cool. I definitely think I'd have inlet the strat jack plate since you're using it on a pickguard. Inleting the bridge/jackplate/covers like I talked about earlier is mostly showing off. But since that plate is in the middle of the pickguard, it'd would improve the looks a lot.

 

[JIO]

I like that fretless!! Funky but cool. I definitely think I'd have inlet the strat jack plate since you're using it on a pickguard. Inleting the bridge/jackplate/covers like I talked about earlier is mostly showing off. But since that plate is in the middle of the pickguard, it'd would improve the looks a lot.

Thanks - well, insetting it wasn't an option as the pg is anchoring it. (a non-conforming control cavity below) This is a prototype - the body was routed for a different control-cavity configuration.

 

[JIO]

A nice interface of bolt-head and neck-ferrule. String-thru ferrules here today. Will install them on the backside and drill small angled holes that the strings will dive into on the front. Need a bit more band sanding before gluing the other wing on. Binding & other parts should be here soon.

 

[JIO]

Got more of my ordered parts and did some work on it today. Drilled the holes for the neck-thru ferrules and built a jig to get the correct top of body to top of string ferrule angle from the bridge. (confused yet?) I could have cut the jig from one piece of wood, but I was designing it as I made it so it ended up 3 parts. (ha!) I'll post pics to show it in action. The cast piece is a metal guide inserted in the jig that keeps your drill-bit accurate at angles. The chunk of wood missing has no impact - just what I had in a useful scrap! The jig will be clamped to the body in the correct position for drilling all 4 holes at precisely the same angle. Once the angle is achieved in the wood, I just need to follow through to meet the ferrule hole. One of those, "oh!, so that's how that's done!" moments.

Also got the black binding - should be cool

...what isn't cool is that the Strat-jack boat I routed for has a different 'footprint' than the one from Stew-Mac! (and not just a little different, or maybe just enough different…) I thought, maybe it's a cheap imitation but I compared it to a couple others I have and that is the 'standard'. (wouldn't you know it!) So now I have to attempt to locate a black version of the chrome one I used as a reference. ~ Standards… who needs um'! If this narrower, more pointy version is in fact the standard - I prefer the more rounded version.

 

[Deleted member 264575]

Binding looks cool. What kind of wood is that? Gorgeous! Bummer about the jack.

Your string through design reminds me of the NS EU5 (a bit).

Oh, I found another shot of that Ric horseshoe pickup from 1935. Cool, huh?

 

[JIO]

Binding looks cool. What kind of wood is that? Gorgeous! Bummer about the jack.

Your string through design reminds me of the NS EU5 (a bit).

View attachment 855491


Oh, I found another shot of that Ric horseshoe pickup from 1935. Cool, huh?

View attachment 855492

Interesting NS design… you know I'm doing this project so blindly! I really didn't study the many and varied ways these kinds of instruments are built. The wood is spalted and tiger-striped maple - an outstanding example if there ever was one! I've actually designed the bass around it - I can't wait to see it realized under a clear-coat! Yes, the Ric pu is very cool! So crude and yet simple/efficient. It's like a blacksmith made it! I just ordered another Stat-boat. There were many to choose from on ebay and it didn't take long to find one that matched. I just hope they send the one as in the picture… (been there - don't want to return there) Anyone have a Strat guitar? Which version is on yours?

 

[mapleglo]

Standard Strat Jack seems to be the pointy one:

 

[swarfrat]

Apparently Gotoh makes a pointy version:

Gotoh Black Angled Jack Plate for Fender Stratocaster/Strat® AP-0610-003

 

[delta7fred]

Standard Strat Jack seems to be the pointy one:

+1

I have 3 Strats (1 Fender and 2 clones) and all 3 are pointy.

 

[JIO]

So I ordered one of the non-pointy black ones - hope it's the same as in the picture which matches my chrome one. Seems like the pointy version is the traditional Fender shape, but as I stated I prefer the more rounded version. (especially since it needs to conform to my rout!) They differ in other ways including jack- attachment area angle and boat size. So similar - so different.

Anyway, Drilled the string channels and it was successful. It took a lot of time and thought but was exactly what was needed. I also drilled a channel for a bridge ground wire. I'll install it prior to gluing up the other wing and just leave it there till hook-up time.

The bit fits snug and routs it at the correct angle until it hits the ferrule hole which enters slightly above the ferrule so the string has enough room to bend softly.

the result - light at the end of the tunnel!

test fit

as it will be

 

[BassHappy]

So I ordered one of the non-pointy black ones - hope it's the same as in the picture which matches my chrome one. Seems like the pointy version is the traditional Fender shape, but as I stated I prefer the more rounded version. (especially since it needs to conform to my rout!) They differ in other ways including jack- attachment area angle and boat size. So similar - so different.

Anyway, Drilled the string channels and it was successful. It took a lot of time and thought but was exactly what was needed. I also drilled a channel for a bridge ground wire. I'll install it prior to gluing up the other wing and just leave it there till hook-up time.

The bit fits snug and routs it at the correct angle until it hits the ferrule hole which enters slightly above the ferrule so the string has enough room to bend softly.

the result - light at the end of the tunnel!

test fit

as it will be

Hey JIO

I haven't routed anything yet, but Fender doesn't make the black Strat boats as far as I was able to find, only chrome. I always stay with the Fender stuff (and the Gibson stuff on my Les Paul bass build) when I can - on these nickel and dime parts. I mean, I think it's really only a buck or two difference on the Strat boats of you choose the Fender, but since they don't make black, there you have it. But for me, I just got two black ones and they are definitely a little thinner and of less quality than the Fender supposedly "Made in USA" chrome ones. Since I am bending them, I am actually thinking it might even be better for me though. I will probably use one in chrome and one in black if the bending goes well. I want to wait and use the vice at the wood shop, although the ones I did with the heavy duty pliers look alright. It's just that in the chroming process (since it was the back) there is a small section that never got chromed.

So just curious - on my two string through's I did the countersink thing to make them flush with the surface of the body. You like them protruding above the surface a bit? Rob Allen actually recessed mine at least 1/8" into the body on my Mouse, which I didn't care for. I think he actually did it for string length reasons - and the problem on a shorter scale of getting the right scale strings to fit. Your ferrules are deeper than mine (I use the WD ones) so maybe there ins't a lot of room to go deeper with them.

Anyways, as always, I am really enjoying this build!

 

[JIO]

Hey JIO

I haven't routed anything yet, but Fender doesn't make the black Strat boats as far as I was able to find, only chrome. I always stay with the Fender stuff (and the Gibson stuff on my Les Paul bass build) when I can - on these nickel and dime parts. I mean, I think it's really only a buck or two difference on the Strat boats of you choose the Fender, but since they don't make black, there you have it. But for me, I just got two black ones and they are definitely a little thinner and of less quality than the Fender supposedly "Made in USA" chrome ones. Since I am bending them, I am actually thinking it might even be better for me though. I will probably use one in chrome and one in black if the bending goes well. I want to wait and use the vice at the wood shop, although the ones I did with the heavy duty pliers look alright. It's just that in the chroming process (since it was the back) there is a small section that never got chromed.

So just curious - on my two string through's I did the countersink thing to make them flush with the surface of the body. You like them protruding above the surface a bit? Rob Allen actually recessed mine at least 1/8" into the body on my Mouse, which I didn't care for. I think he actually did it for string length reasons - and the problem on a shorter scale of getting the right scale strings to fit. Your ferrules are deeper than mine (I use the WD ones) so maybe there ins't a lot of room to go deeper with them.

Anyways, as always, I am really enjoying this build!

I've used a few different string-thru ferrules and have installed them both flush and above. This one I'll leave them a bit above as there's no body interface down there being on a retractable stand.

 

[JIO]

Did the binding today. In the past I used glue which is a sticky mess. I'd seen a youtube demo on binding using acetone and gave it a whirl. It's definitely the way to go. The acetone melts the plastic to the wood and excess evaporates w/no mess. You can even create a slurry of melted binding plastic (in acetone) to fill in small gaps. I use tape exclusively for doing binding sold by Stew Mac - it works great. The process is fast and it sets up fast so I'm mostly done in a couple of hours. The most time consuming part was the thin section which as you can see in my pic is one continual piece of binding that I carefully cut. I used a standard hair-dryer to heat & shape the binding/plastic which saved me from buying a heat-gun.

pretty slick if I do say so myself

this part was easier than anticipated

 

[Deleted member 264575]

Now that is slick.