Twelve String Stratocaster Kit!

[Ivan3000]

Here is the project my stepdad and I worked on for the whole summer. We did it casually and didn't rush it or anything.
I've always liked the 12 string electric, but couldn't afford a Rick, so I figured this would be cool and I could learn something along the way.
For a first project, I'd say it went pretty well.
We bid on the kit and got it for $72 USD + $25 USD shipping , we had been watching them for about two months waiting for the right time to strike.

[Ivan3000]

Here is a teaser shot of the finished product.
I'd like to upload the photos in time sequential order, so you guys can see it actually coming together.
I just have to get the 'making' off pictures off of the other computer at my Moms house.

[aceonbass]

Love the 50's pink Ivan! Is it strung octave string first, or fundamental first like a RIC?

[Ivan3000]

Love the 50's pink Ivan! Is it strung octave string first, or fundamental first like a RIC?

Unfortuneately because of the nut I had to string it octave first, but it still sounds 12 stringy.

[Ivan3000]

Love the 50's pink Ivan! Is it strung octave string first, or fundamental first like a RIC?

Beleive it or not it is actually krylon 'Ballet Slipper' a great colour IMO.






MORE PHOTOS OF THE MAKING COMING SOON!

[aceonbass]

Ya, I kinda thought nut would already be cut. Excellent price though! I'd still put RIC strings on it next time. I think they feel and sound better than others.

[Ivan3000]

Ya, I kinda thought nut would already be cut. Excellent price though! I'd still put RIC strings on it next time. I think they feel and sound better than others.

I'll defineately consider that when these strings wear out! I think they will quickly too!

[Hotzenplotz]

Love the 50's pink Ivan! Is it strung octave string first, or fundamental first like a RIC?

Unfortuneately because of the nut I had to string it octave first, but it still sounds 12 stringy.

Hey, lets call that, um...- original Arden-strung!


Nice idea and nice job, Ivan!


Actually I finished some overhauls with my 1979 Ibanez 12string western guitar. Love that work and I can imagine You enjoyed that very much.

Who did the paint job, BTW?

[JakeK]

I'd still put RIC strings on it next time. I think they feel and sound better than others.

These are pretty good, too:
http://www.pickofthericks.com/potr-cust ... und-10-42/

Seems perfect for this kind of guitar. I'd take a Fender Electric XII before a Strat XII, but that's just me. Interesting paintwork though.

[Ivan3000]

Here is the kit as received:

Guitar kit Before.jpg

I've seen other forums where people received these kits, neck warped, but this neck was nice and straight.

[Ivan3000]

As you can see, the neck came with a near square blank headstock (see above picture, ebay listing).
We had to add a peice of wood, put a dowel in to keep it steady, glue, add wood putty, then sand.


After the glue was complete, I cut a template using a projector to trace one out, Billy (my stepdad) then traced it and cut. We had to make the headstock much thinner than the template was to accomodate the Fender shape.
Here is the headstock, as you can see, the matching headstock option really was required for this. Good thing I prefer matching headstocks!

fender 12 headstock progress.jpg

[Ivan3000]

Finally we had the oppurtunity to work on the body.
Billy, gave it a coat of pink, and all of the sudden the wood just absorbed it all.
He is a carpenter, and has never seen wood absorb so much paint, so we had to sand down the pink, almost fill the whole guitar with wood filler, then to be safe, we gave it a flat grey primer.
Unfortuneately I don't have pictures of that part, but this is a photo of what I beleive is one of the first coats of pink.

First Coat of Pink 12 string.jpg

[Ivan3000]

So you guys know the gist of painting, sanding, then painting, and sanding again. It is a very greuling process, but if done correctly it can be very rewarding.
This is another progress picture, in between a sanding.

12 string pink paint.jpg

[Ivan3000]

Now that we've gotten a couple coats of clear on, it was time to shellac the neck. This was a real challenge.
We started by laying the shellac, but since it was hot out, parts of it dryed and then caught on the foam brush, we thought we'd fixed it, but it was very patchy.
Billy then had to swell the grain using denatured alcohol and apply the shellac in extremely thin, watered down (with the denatured alcohol) coats.
The end result before clearing looked like this:

shellaced neck.jpg

[Ivan3000]

Sorry I got this a bit out of order, but before shellacking the neck, we had to paint and clear the headstock in prepartion for a decal.
This is a photo of the painted headstock:

Painted headstock.jpg