I cannot begin to understand why would someone stumble upon this channel and these video series and criticize and/or complain (thumbs down) about something. A top notch luthier sharing the knowledge he has acquired over the years for free! for free! but all of the sudden some people feel like they are owed explanations. In behalf of the many guitar enthusiast who appreciate your efforts, many thanks Fletcher.

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

8 жыл бұрын

+Andres Mena Thankyou Andres, I appreciate it

@fretpoint

5 жыл бұрын

well said mate. This is a superb series of videos.

I'm going through this series for third time now while finally building my own guitars. It's hard to believe these videos are 10 years old and are still the best and most thorough build videos I have come across on you tube. I hope you are well Mr. Fletcher and thanks for doing these.

These are by far the best videos of Guitar Building on KZread

@LysanderLH

9 жыл бұрын

If I.... when I win the lottery, i'm going to set up a workshop in a barn and build guitars. I'll also keep chickens and some goats. Just so you know.

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

9 жыл бұрын

Darryld1 Awesome, I'd like some goats running around my workshop too

@LysanderLH

9 жыл бұрын

i'm certain someone out there can arrange this. Careful what you wish for ;)

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

9 жыл бұрын

Darryld1 :-)

@thomasbullman8295

6 жыл бұрын

Zach Beyer jn

It's 2023 I still enjoy these video series over the years thanks Mr fletcher ❤️

Oddly enough, the background sounds of cars passing by and birds tweeting is better than any music you could have overlaid. So soothing to listen to you explain all of this. Thanks for posting, great vid!

Extremely clean work, and phenomenal explanations. This was very valuable to me, and I thank you for the time you spent creating it.

You have all the right tools for the job and they're good ones, too. I'm envious but thankful you've shared these videos. Peace.

I've watched a ton of neck-building videos, and have to say I keep coming back to this series. I'm amazed at how labor-intensive some techniques are compared to this (which is already a lot to begin with). can't wait until I can actually START building...

I have been following this video series as a guide for my own project, and i must say it has been very helpful to me. I have learnt a lot from your videos. Also the quality of your work is brilliant.

I picked up the neatest fret slotting rig a while back. My brother and I went to a thrift store and there was this ancient De Walt radial arm saw. I said, "Wow Dave, I bet that old saw is worn out and sloppy". I showed him how to tighten up the swing, height, and all the other travel points and she was still just tight as a drum and smooth as glass! Maybe .003" lash on the motor spindle! AMAZING for a 50+ year old saw! $50 US out the door! I can do 1 to 8 fret boards at once with it. I can also rip, miter, compound miter, and thickness saw with it too. I still have a super old Stanley Bedrock 150 back saw miter box I like too. I love your work. I see a lot of hacks on YT, but you, sir, are quite the artist!

I like how he explains what he is doing as he is doing it and explains the harder parts to exact detail

I really want to thank you for the high level of detail you put on these videos. You are awesome!

Sir, you not only have the most amazing skills, but the most amazing tools as well! Several lessons learnt here, tyvm!!

Not sure how Fender, Gibson or other industrial luthiers do it but this kind of care and expertise can't be easily achieved or inexpensive. I hope Fletcher's guitars pay off and live up to the unusual workmanship and work put into them.

Your attention to detail is brilliant

You do beautiful work sir,I love watching your Vids.You are a true old world craftsman.I see a hell of a lot of passion and care in your work. I would love to own one of your LP juniors in TV Yellow.

I watched the series in early 2012 and have since built three Strats, four Teles, one each 4-string & 5-string Jazz basses, and almost finished a triple Precision bass (wired like a Strat with a blender pot). I would like to thank you David, you inspired me to take the step from tinkering with existing guitars to starting from scratch.

@johnmayer8906

Жыл бұрын

Jb kindly can you make or share your bass build knowledge with me.. Please❤️

@Jesse-B

Жыл бұрын

@@johnmayer8906 It's hard to say in a few sentences. You will need a few tools of course, and a template for each model, or with patience you can make your own templates based on actual guitars. I already had many years of power tool experience, which helps a ton. Routers are very dangerous animals, so are band saws and table saws. My best advice is to watch David's Strat build, the same principals apply to all Fender style guitars and basses. Also, if you're going to make the supreme effort, don't get cheap hardware, I use and recommend German made Schaller bridges and tuners, more expensive but worth it. If you have the skills, it's only a small step to winding your own pickups. All this costs money of course, so start small and basic, but the deeper you get into it, the more you will understand and want the right workshop power tools. Best wishes my friend.

As someone who is going to learn to be a Luthier, these videos are helpful!!! thank you!

you have the cleanest workshop iv ever seen very impressive

Professional,precise...clean work..no mistery....friendly and helpful...5 stars for your videos..greetings from italy:)

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

10 жыл бұрын

Thanks Suezo !

Awesome precision, the instrument must be a pleasure to rock!

nice videos and well explained, with typical aussie simplicity and crafting. well done man

Major respect to your craftsmanship. Your accent is entertaining also!

I never knew I wanted to work with wood until I watched these videos. Excellent.

you should man, its a great community, and your expertise would be GREATLY appreciated there.

This vid never gets old... Thank you for a greart tuturial. MangoHead Likes

Awesome! Always looking forward to your next video.

I've checked many of your videos David, all by now I think. I love your very detailed and fiddly way of working. It's certainly a modus operandi that I appreciate. Wish you weren't in Australia tho. I'd gladly put down my money for having a private course. Cheers!

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

8 жыл бұрын

+ThomasUV777 Thanks Thomas, I appreciate the comments !

Really nice detailed video. Couple techniques like the fretboard alignment pin I've read about but never seen someone demonstrate. I'm going to try some of these on my next build.

Thankyou , I'm glad your enjoying the video's

very nice results. the way i do my inlays is a little different but gets the same results. i drill my holes before i radius the fret board. then after glueing the inlays in, ill put my radius on it so i just have to sand once. like i said though, to each their own and you do really nice work. i just built a strat for a buddy with a pine body and walnut neck with pine fingerboard and it turned out really nice..was jealous to give it away haha. love your videos man

thats a beautiful piece of material for the neck.

Great videos mate. Appreciate the detail!

HI Smitty, Yes, I used a dremel with a sanding wheel to remove excess wood on the fretboard where the rod sits. Look forward to seeing your bass build

this looks the most difficult part of building guitar. I always wondered how the fret can be set to proper position.Thanks for the vid.

Great David.....just great

that looks beautiful amazing job

You sir, are a hell of a constructor.

Excellent series.

I've been searching for a vid about this for a while haha. Never found any adressing the silicone and that kind of stuff. Awesome vids. I subscrided immediately :) Cheers mate, keep it up

Awesome ! Chambered body with drop top is definitely the way to go . Tassie Oak is a really nice wood.

Sounds like a fun project !

great videos man I love them super helpful.

I just used what I had on hand. Its about 3mm thick. The thickness of the aluminum determines the thickness of your dots so just choose a thickness you are happy with. You don't want the dots too tall, its just more work to sand them down to the fretboard

Terrific series, Mr. Fletcher! Any chance of you building a bass like in these episodes?

great video not mind numbing. very enlightening . thanks i learned alot

Excellent. Thanks for sharing,

Your build skills are amazing. Fine details, concise time saving valued tips. Close attention to detail. You should be teaching this stuff. I recently sent an email to Stewmac regarding a magazine for build techniques etc.much like Woodsmith magazine. You would make a great contributing editor.

Great job!!! Bravo!!!

i got some tassie oak for a body and neck. bit heavy (like you said) so i might do a chambered body with a drop top. thanks for the advice mate!

Hi David. I'm currently working on my third built and I always come back to your videos for guidance, so thank you for sharing what you do. I would like to ask you how you avoid the taper towards the end of the fretboard's side after applying the radius since I didn't notice the sale taper I get with the 12" radius in my guitars. Thank you!

This is an amazing tutorial! I'm building a prop for a friends

You don't want to be pressing or hammering frets in and find that the slot is not deep enough. Cut the slots slightly deeper than the tang ( allowing for the radius that will be sanded in). You will wick CA in from the sides, this will fill any gaps under the fret.

Nice video. Thanks a lot. Now, how about installing a hot rod truss inte a one piece maple neck: how deep do you recommend the truss rod to be placed? In order for the skunk stripe to 'stay in place' and not beeing popped out by the rod?

Would you consider doing a video on a compound radius? E.g. 7.5 to 12 or something? That would be really helpful. Thanks!

This is why custom guitars cost so much money. You are a great craftsman David!

If there is the most complex way of building a strat guitar neck, this is it!

I use a stewmac depth gauge to check the slots out before fretting as you do - I slot deep enough that I usually don't need to adjust anything. I don't see any benefit in radiusing the slot to match the fretboard. I wick superglue down the slot too

I hope you are marketing this on DVD? Because you are very good at making instructional videos. Now I understand why a good neck is so expensive. Thank you for the great information.

Thanks Tom

Hi, Most of my stuff comes from USA ( Maple / Rough fretboards ) but I buy Mahogany locally - Trend Timbers, places like that will sell it. I'm getting more into Australian timbers now, I have some beautiful slabs of Qld Maple that will make some beautiful guitars.

Awesome. The best

Brilliant work! Seeing as you slot your fretboard before adding radius, do you have to go back and add depth to the slots near the edges of the fretboard?

Just started watching! I love extreme detail! Ever done a b bender?

Hello, this is an awesome series of guitar building information. But I was wondering how one would go about cutting the fret slots if they were to use a Floyd rose locking nut?

@raleighburns3768

3 жыл бұрын

There's no real easy answer to this question. The simplest answer is to cut all the way through on the lower nut slot and thats the "start of the fretboard with the locking nut butted up precisely above it. But thats not taking into account the possible thickness ot the fretboard and the required depth of the locking nut. You could always follow the above set and shim the locking nut up if you need height for a TOO thick fretboard. I've had them come out high or low. Depends on how much fretboard you end up losing during the radius operation. If you don't understand what I'm talking about you likely need to study up on the locking nut and understand nut string height and action height off the 3rd fret in final setup. You'll want an R3 floyd nut for this style guitar and you better be ready to problem solve and adapt your design because there's gonna be issues around sanding the curve into the headstock. This is IDEALLY the time to worry about it though (during milling the neck in PT2&1) otherwise you better go watch retro fit videos to better understand it.

If you only have Bunnings nearby, buy some Vic Ash / Tassie Oak , Most Bunnings keep that in stock. - It works and looks very close to mahogany but can be a little heavy. Pick some lighter pieces. You can use if for necks too !!

Hey Dave.....how do you come up with the line next to the nut to start the fretboard? And how much wood is left on after the 21st fret?.......Thanks in advance.....Tom

oh man I wish I had a table saw like you to slot the frets. Doing it by hand is so much harder… Basically I measured the fret slots with a pencil, then cut a thin slot with a cutter as a guide for my saw, and now I’m cutting the fret slots with guides on each side of the marks I did with the cutter. I hope I won’t screw everything…

All in all good vids. While I''d do some things different the key takeaway for me is having a procedure to be efficient and maintain quality. There's no guesswork here.

Nice work. How deep do you make the fret slots (or did I miss it)

Thank you for this excellent series. I have a question: How do you get the slot depth equal as you move up the neck as when you radius the fretboard, the depth of the slots will become shallower and shallower due to the outward taper of the neck toward the heel with this tablesaw jig method?

Thanks for posting such GREAT videos!! VERY detailed and informative and they've given me the confidence to starting building my own customs. Got a question though. What type /size/ brand of saw blade did you use to cut the fret slots and are they readily available? Thanks in advance for any information!

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

10 жыл бұрын

Hi, Its the fret slotting blade from Stewart McDonald

Hi, Not at this moment, I have too much going on in the workshop for the next 6 months at least to even consider repairs. Sorry ! Glad you are enjoying the video's

@David Fletcher Cause I also want to add binding, change nut and something in the neck is moving if I turn it upside down

I'm building my own guitar which should be done by late September/Early October. It's going to be a Les Paul but with Stratocaster controls.

Nice one!can you please tell me the thickness of the neck and the fret board,thanks men

A little acetone cleans up the super glue sqeeze out but move kind of quick.

Where did you get the neck template? And do they have a Flying V arrow headstock style one for sale?

Excellent tutorial. I was wondering why you wouldn't insert the fret markers before you do the radiusing?

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

9 жыл бұрын

Ray Perkins You could definitely do it that way as well

I use the stuff designed to suit general weather sealing

Fletch, I love your videos and appreciate your efforts doing this beautiful work. A word about polymer clays, if possible, avoid using your main cooking oven as the clays release toxins.

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

9 жыл бұрын

Thankyou ! I didn't know that

with that type of tape you hit the wood gives time to the radius fretboard ?

Regarding this truss rod configuration is any allowance made at the nut end of the truss rod channel to enable the protrusion of the threaded part of the rod tbrough the end block? I couldn't see that on the video. Without is there a danger of the rod pushing itself out at the heel end on adjustment? Brilliant videos btw and best on YT IMHO.

Hey Fletch I hope you doing well, I would like to know what is the depth of the fret slot before you radius them ? please reply my comment. Thanks in advance.

Excellent videos! But I have a question, what (besides from the silicone) keeps the truss rod from sliding back and forth? Since it's not anchored at the headstock end of the neck.

The clay dot making is very cool. I wasn't aware till know that Fender use to use them. Do know if other manufacturers used them?

Hi Fletcher! First let me commend you on this channel - it is awesome!!. I am a newbie guitar maker and half way through my first Telecaster. I have put a tv in my workshop so that I can watch your videos to ensure that I am following correctly. I too have a stumac table saw blade (but had to have the centre laser cut larger for UK table saw 30mm) I have tested it out on some waste wood and it works fine. What depth will I need to cut for the fretwire? I have been told that a medium fret wire will suit my playing ability lol. Keep up the good work!!!

Would you give me template data you do to make the radio to trastiera I am from Argentina

I really enjoy your tutorials, you're an excellent luthier. Why is your Strat a 21 fret and not a 22 fret? Have you ever built any left handed guitars? You should build a guitar for fellow Aussie, Courtney Barnett.

Jig for sanding radius is simple genius.

If this trussrod got a problem, can you pull out and put a new one without remove the fingerboard? Just for curiosity and practice! Great video!

I've read that the old Fender dots were everything from wood filler to fiber board so there is some dispute as to what they used to use. The polymer clay I use can be bought in lots of colors so its a cool option for colored dots you would not otherwise be able to buy.

I got a radial arm saw so I can radius first or build a real strat neck with a skunk stripe and a maple fret board that is not glued in, or even slot 6 boards at one time. The radial arm saws from the 1980s have a small enough motor housing the Stewmac 6" blade clears with ease. The radial arm saw has become rather obsolete or at least less popular now that compound sliding miter saws came out. The radial is safer when used properly (knock on wood). Hand slotting properly makes a better product.

that good work, a question, slot the frets (I see you are a little deep) will change the sound?

donde compró usted ese taco de lijado?

Complimenti molto istruttivo

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

8 жыл бұрын

+Salvatore Zizza Grazie per la visione

@salvo1960live

8 жыл бұрын

Di nulla.. Mi piacerebbe sapere le qualità di legni da usare, sia per il manico che per la parte inferiore praticamente il corpo della chitarra... Grazie e Saluti..

Nice work, and what a brilliant tutorial! How long does it take in work hours? I Think I know what I'll be doing this summer! Thank you!

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

10 жыл бұрын

Approx 60 hours

@majsketchup

10 жыл бұрын

Thank you, sir!

hey, I was just wondering, for drilling out the side dot markers, do you use a brad-point drill bit? (not even sure if they're made that small) - and if not, have you ever had issues with the drill bit walking?

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

10 жыл бұрын

I don't think they make brad points big enough either. I mark the location with an awl first, I find this allows the drill bit to "grab" in the right stop without any wandering.

Thanks so much for your videos! I'm building my first guitar now. I have a question in terms of clamping a fingerboard that I purchased with the radius already done, what method would you suggest for clamping the fingerboard down when gluing/routing the truss rod access port without having the sanding block like you have?

@FletcherHandcraftedGuitars

10 жыл бұрын

Put some sandpaper on the radius side of the fretboard and use it as a sanding beam to sand the radius into another piece of wood which will then become your clamping caul.

@talktomrgibson

10 жыл бұрын

Great idea!!!!!!

Nice work and lots of great tips. Is a 12" radius a personal preference? Strats usually go around 9.5", no?