Building my StewMac STRATOCASTER | My New Favorite DIY Guitar Kit

Step by step through the processing of building my favorite DIY guitar from the StewMac S Style Electric Guitar Kit.

This video is NOT sponsored by StewMac. All my opinions are my true and unbiased beliefs. StewMac and I have no special relationship. Actually, Stew... why don't we have a special relationship? Am I not special to you? I didn't even get a Valentine in the mail.

Individual audio tracks recorded with this guitar can be found here:

[stewmac]

Really nice job on both the build and the video. 😎👍

[matthewf]

Those Fender tuners have different length posts to eliminate the string tree. The longest posts go to the E & A, medium D & G and shortest B & E.
Since you already installed the tree, it doesn’t really matter but for the looks.

[greggpospiel]

You made that look easy. I am getting started into building with almost no woodworking experience, and this looks like a great first project to try to get started. I thought the soldering might be more complicated but you made that part look fairly easy too. Great job on the guitar and video.

[savoirfaire]

You know you’re getting older when a suburban guy is playing 2000-era emo rock for his build demo.

But seriously, this is the best video I have seen thus far in my research on Strat building over the last few months.

[prelovedguitarsni]

Please tell me you noticed the tuners s are installed wrongly, it is unbelievably noticable as they are staggered. The tallest go closest to the nut, shortest further away & when installed properly you don't need a string tree.

[Dirgejuly]

I’d like to note that you should not use a radius block to sand down frets. That’s to put a radius on a fret board without frets. To give the wood a radius. Use a flat level beam to level frets. Nice build!

[dustybeta]

This is the kind of video I'd probably watch even if I wasn't interested in the subject matter. Real How It's Made vibe with the editing and narration.

[leftymadrid]

Ah, wait a minute! What did I just watch! Boy, what a pleasure that was!

Seriously, there are tons of videos out there. But the way this video was put together was just perfect. Narration so intelligent, so understandable. I mean the English used here Is so very unaffected by today's butchered language. I will also add, I found the voice tone so soothing to the ear. Apart from being a guitarist and loving Stratocaster guitars for their unique feel and tone, the last thing I thought I would be commenting on was on how far "the human touch" can make one aware that there still seem to be incredibly nice folks out there sharing their doings with others, AND in such a natural pleasant, simple (yet hard to find) way of communication.

As for the Stratocaster build from StewMac, it looks like a perfect DIY to take up. I'm sure one can come up with something very playable, and comfortable to play. Oh, I totally agree on the up grade of the pickups.

I'm sure your wonderful daughter will remember partaking in daddy's guitar DIY project in the future :-) because in the end, all the life long acquired loving memories are what we can take with us...

Thank you sir, for the video in its self, and for the great tips on your DIY Stratocaster build, but most of all, for the "human touch" and legit english spoken here! :-) :-)

[JosePineda-jnjk]

For that end-grain issue I have seen that before when the wood is sealed and then we go to sand it flat to apply the primer (or alternatively when the primer is on there and it is being sanded flat) if you burn back through down to the wood it creates an uneven color. The thing that I found that works is if you do notice those blotchy marks and they are unsealed while everything around it is sealed, some tung oil usually helps match the color. If that doesn’t work sometimes some reddish brown stain on there will also help to even it all out. One thing I have seen in the past that I also wanted to mention was sometimes glue bleeds through mahogany and it’s entirely possible that the glue is affecting the color and that’s why all of it looks uneven. Just some thoughts for future projects.

[TheAciddragon]

i know this is an older video but i hope you see this. for finishing end grain if you're using natural oil finishes the engrain will be darker and there really isn't anything you can do, but if using a stain sand the end grain 1or 2 grits higher

[tremendoshd]

13:00 tuners are in wrong. The two tall ones are for the low e and a string so they re not at an extreme angle

[Bozo_Lord]

Anyone else have a slight stroke when he installed the tuners (STAGGERED) in the wrong order 😦? Jokes aside I love this content !!! Keep up the great work man!

[pmkconsultant]

Hey Brian. Thanks for this super helpful and very well-done video! I think you've convinced me to give this a shot!

[LunchBXcrue]

I can't wait to do this! I've owned so many guitars now over the years I couldn't name them all, lots of Les Pauls, a bunch of different ibanez (Ibanezes? Ibanezs? Ibanie if you would? Not sure what the plural for that would be). A few months ago I traded my ESP LTD EC1000 in the matte black finish (with gold hardware, damn matte black and gold look so good together) and picked up an Ibanez RDG61ALA in black with the rain forest colour, first time usng fishmans as well. I had only ever used EMGs before but its really cool how many different tones you can get, neck, bridge, neck and bridge, pull the knob for a second voicing for all those or flip a switch that turns off one coil in each humbucker. Also was the first guitar I've had with a 26.5 inch scale so its awesome for playing in C standard but lately I've been playing just as must clapton or hendrix as I have black dahlia murder or lamb of god so I really want a strat for that type of sound and building one sounds like it would be far more fun then just buying a squire classic or cheaper fender strat. Stewmac is definitely the kit I'd be going with but I think I'd be going black and gold again cause I loved that colour scheme. Get the gold bridge and gotta have some locking tuners. I love the gotoh locking tuners, once you've had a guitar where you just push the string through, clamp and cut regular machine heads feel laborious lol.

Looks and sounds awesome, I also love that pickup guard too. Definitely be saving this video for when I go to build mine!

[tomclementsmusic]

Great video, wish I could finish a guitar like that. 2 things I noticed you B string tuner should where the A string tuner is. Also the radius gauges improved my playing across the fretboard once I used them to set my strats. Great demo at the end too btw! Really enjoyed this video

[JosePineda-jnjk]

Also paint when the weather is moderate, 67-77 degrees is like the most ideal with minimal moisture.

[jimdoner]

Nice job loved your swivel set up to paint it. Great utility with the neck pocket.looks and sounds great!!!

[saddestchord]

I think I'd buy a Mexican Fender. They're really good. You're almost guaranteed a good neck and you probably won't have to do any end dressing, the bridge is probably better, I believe (though am not sure) they come with Tex Mex pickups, the cavity will be shielded, and it will have some resale value. And even though it will be poly, you don't have to paint it or saw on the headstock. But you obviously wanted to put it together yourself and that's cool, too.

[Bloodray]

Although not completely professional, but overall a very nice build. I've seen people repairing guitars as their fulltime job and not making this nice of a job

[miltonpomales]

I assembled an Ukulele kit from StewMac. This will be one of my future projects as long as they make it as leftie!!! Great job and explanation!!!