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Super Diablo
"The black blooded super strat from Hades."

Soft maple bodied SuperStrat for customer. I was going to use poplar on this one but after going through every guitar in my collection we decided on a little more clarity and ring. Hopefully we will get that from the maple. This body is based on a cross between an RG and a Blackmachine. 8/4 Soft Maple. The 5 piece neck is maple/bloodwood with a bloodwood fretboard. Regular tenon ending in the neck pickup

Neck : Maple/Bloodwood
Fretboard : Bloodwood
Scale : 25.5
Frets : 24
Trussrod : Double Expanding Truss Rod

Body : 2 Piece Soft Maple
Tuners : Hipshot open back
Pickups : Custom Bloodwood Humbuckers (vintage alnico5 neck,hot vintage alnico8 bridge)
Bridge : Wilkinson
Electronics : Push/Pull Volume Knob


Body Blank

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Neck Blank gluing

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Fingerboard and neck blank after un-clamping and sanding. I can already see that the bloodwood is going to bleed into the maple when sanding. Going to have to use a scraper a lot on this neck.

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Bloodwood bobbins for the HBs.

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Cutting the scarf joint on the radial arm saw. I know crazy but it works really well. I also have used my chop saw.
I was planning on putting one bloodwood stripe in the scarf.

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I ended up changing my mind and put 2 bloodwood pieces with a veneer of maple in between. Should look crazy.


I clamped the neck blank to the table so it didn't move while waiting on the glue to tack up. I also use the left over cuttoff from the scarf to make a caul for the clamps to sit on.

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Nice Start - can't wait to see finished product!

I clamped the neck blank to the table so it didn't move while waiting on the glue to tack up. I also use the left over cuttoff from the scarf to make a caul for the clamps to sit on.


Body rough cut within 1/16" of the template. Since I have issues with routing and tear-out I have taken the advice of smarter dudes. I now trim the blank as close as I can to the template with the bandsaw.

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I need a new (more stable, more square) router table... until then I work around it. Then I use the hand router to trim 1/2" into the cut. This gives me a chance to learn the wood. I then use the table router to cut another 3/4" carefully off the body. And finish up with a final pass with the 3 blade 2" bit. Worked pretty well for me.

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Body cut out finished.

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Neck rough cut using the bandsaw... I really need a larger belt sander. It would make this part easier. I never like trusting the jointer... it it it well it tears-out!

After I get it close with the jointer I usually sand it on the belt sander and then make sure it is true by hand.

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Slotting the fretboard on the old radial arm saw. Bloodwood actually just burns... every slot was accompanied by a little puff of smoke. Also ruined more than one piece of paper on the thickness sander. It just clogs and burns. Really have to be careful and feed pieces through at an angle so they don't build up too much heat. That works for about 2 passes then it manages to clog and burn anyway. Bloodwood clogs the hand sanding block.

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Trussrod routed and glued in with a little silicon. Add a couple of clamps to make sure it stays down. I also wax the threads and moving pieces on the rod to make sure no glue sticks to it.

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Bloodwood Humbucker. Alnico8... 53mm... 12k+/-... some special voodoo... This thing rocks.

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Setup for gluing the top. I have a red veneer to go under the top. The top is .60" in for a shallow carve. I ended up gluing the whole thing together at one time. Not recommended unless you have done it before... it has a pension for disaster. The idea is to glue one side together and have it clamped exactly. Next I spread glue all over everything and set the other side in place. Then I use 2 clamps and pull the top together from the sides before clamping it to the body.
After that I clamp it to the body and also use a couple of curved cauls across the top to put downward pressure in the middle. You have to reposition the clamps a lot.

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Every clamp in the shop...


Left overs... none of this works without coffee... black.

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Preparing the bookmatched headstock plate. I wasn't able to fit some of the best parts of the top into the body so I cut them out and bookmatched them. They are going on the headstock with a piece of red veneer underneath.

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Almost ran out of clamps...

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Headstock plate done.

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Gluing the fretboard up... yes I remove the trussrod tape before putting it all together (I use it to keep excess glue out of the channel). I then use almost all the clamps in the shop.

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Cleaned up the top edges with the robo sander. Really hate routers... You can see the red veneer very well. I know it looks thick but I am going to take a 1/2" off the back to bring it down. Then the whole body is getting a carve...

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A couple of pictures of the top with some spirits...



I really need to standardize this process. I really get tired of making special templates for every build. I think I have my necks about right and maybe it is time to really start making the same neck over and over instead of everything being completely custom every time.

Fresh out of the clamps after gluing the fretboard on. A quick look at the rough blank.

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After the center line is remarked I attach the neck profile template. Trim up the blank on the bandsaw then move to the router.

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After the router I have a nice profiled blank. I think the scarf turned out like I wanted... looks cool IMHO.

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Then I found this... A friggin knot was hiding in the blank. Crap. Looks like hell. I will have to see what happens when I shape the neck.


All right no time to worry about the knot now. Trim the neck to stop in the neck pickup and make a new template for the neck pocket.

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