# Warmoth 7-string Stratocaster!



## JohnIce (Jun 11, 2012)

Yeah, I'm going in!  To test the rumors that a Warmoth Superwide neck (47.5mm at nut, 60mm at 22nd fret) can be used to make a 7-string.

There are some complications to this:

- 60mm is pretty damn slim. My Squier Strat VII measures 63mm. This MIGHT cause string drop off on the highest and lowest strings.

- The headstock is too short to accommodate 7 in-line tuners. However, I'm solving this neatly enough by putting a Steinberger gearless tuner on the opposite side, where the logo would go otherwise.







Anyway, specs are as follows:

-Alder body w/ quilted maple top
-Birdseye maple neck+fretboard
-22 frets
-Compound radius (10">16")
-HSS pickups (2x EMG SA7, 1x SD Blackout)
-Hipshot Contour non-locking trem
-Side-mounted jack
-6x Sperzel mini locking tuners, 1x Steinberger Gearless tuner
-White pearloid pickguard

On to pics!














One layer of black dye+sanding:





2nd layer:









3d layer w/ burst:









Stay tuned!


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## Mordacain (Jun 11, 2012)

Awesome man. I had toyed with doing the same thing back when I was spec'ing once over at Warmoth. Body looks fantastic too, very excited to hear your feedback on it.


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## Vostre Roy (Jun 11, 2012)

Awesome! Me gusta Warmoth stuff

I'll be following this project


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## JohnIce (Jun 11, 2012)

Cheers dudes!  Not only have I been craving for a 7-string strat since I started getting into 7-strings, but this has a few improvements as well. Compound radius is the main thing, but also the 22 frets, side-mounted jack, contoured heel and Hipshot (PRS style) trem are all making this much nicer for me than a regular Strat.


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## JohnIce (Jun 11, 2012)

After 4 layers of clear:


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## JamesM (Jun 11, 2012)

Ballsy.


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## Ironbird (Jun 11, 2012)

Looking great!


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## broj15 (Jun 11, 2012)

Looking pretty good. It'd be nice to see this go according to plan.


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## InsertGirder (Jun 12, 2012)

Its gonna be great when its all done.


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## Jakke (Jun 12, 2012)

Stay tuned... Heh


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## sojorel (Jun 12, 2012)

Hrm..interesting. 

47mm is the nut width for ESP 7 strings, so it might work ok


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## Evil Weasel (Jun 12, 2012)

Keen to see how this goes. Like the idea of a narrower neck so if it all goes well it is an idea for the future. Love the finish on the body too.


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## JohnIce (Jun 12, 2012)

sojorel said:


> Hrm..interesting.
> 
> 47mm is the nut width for ESP 7 strings, so it might work ok



Yeah the nut width will be fine, I've seen 7's as narrow as 45mm (ESP NT7). It's the width at the heel that could be a problem


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## JohnIce (Jun 12, 2012)

Bridge is in place! This shit is more straight than a mormon pastor.






I've also measured the outside strings. As it is now, the high E will be fine, and the low A MIGHT just dangle a little close to the edge from the 14th fret on. But who's ever playing a low A-string that high anyway?


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## Jakke (Jun 12, 2012)

JohnIce said:


> Bridge is in place! This shit is more straight than a mormon pastor.



Dear sir, I do believe you are unfamiliar with this then.


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## IndoRGforme (Jun 12, 2012)

Sweet finish, and look forward to seeing complete. I like it!


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## JohnIce (Jun 13, 2012)

After sculpting the heel, I needed to bend the neck plate... and this was my highly professional solution!






Tuners in place!














I traced the pick guard from my Squier StratVII and modified it to a narrower neck and bridge:









After sanding the edges! Next step is to give them a 45 degree bevel:





And here's a mockup with the knobs I'll be using! Still haven't decided on whether or not I'll use both tone knobs:


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## JohnIce (Jun 13, 2012)

Pickguard beveled, drilled some holes and started with the pickups. 






Note that the volume knob will be placed much further from the bridge pickup than on a normal strat, to prevent the age-old issue of slowly rolling down your volume while alternate picking fast.


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## Justin Bailey (Jun 13, 2012)

Why


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## JohnIce (Jun 13, 2012)

Justin Bailey said:


> Why



...because?


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## The Uncreator (Jun 13, 2012)

Without the pickguard this would look so sexy, but pickguards kill it for me.


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## Jakke (Jun 13, 2012)

^But it's a more strat-ish vibe with it, I personally like it


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## JohnIce (Jun 13, 2012)

The Uncreator said:


> Without the pickguard this would look so sexy, but pickguards kill it for me.



It's top-routed, so without a pickguard you'd see a hole with wires and soldering everywhere  Anyway, I think maple boards tend to look cheap if they don't lead to a white pickguard. If this was a rear-routed strat without a pickguard I would've gone with an ebony fretboard and a veneer on the headstock.


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## Black43 (Jun 13, 2012)

tha looks awesome man, id like to see it finished!


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## broj15 (Jun 13, 2012)

The pick guard adds class. I personally love hoe this is turning out.


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## vansinn (Jun 14, 2012)

Very nice work, will surely finish up a classy specimen. Which single coils will you be using?

Thanks for the neck measurements. 
I've been pondering over a 7-string stratcat since I bought a Vintage Filmore a few month ago.

Just measured my other guitars, and can only see 60mm at 22nd as being too tight.
I would need at least 64mm, preferably 65/66mm.
The 47.5mm at the nut is sorta like the spacing on my Riot 8, which I feel is just a tad too narrow. I'd prefer 49mm or so.

Not easy finding a ready made neck with suitable width..


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## JohnIce (Jun 15, 2012)

vansinn said:


> Very nice work, will surely finish up a classy specimen. Which single coils will you be using?



Cheers! I've got two EMG SA7's on order, but it's been 2 weeks now without hearing from the company, so I hope they'll be on the way soon. I've heard they were Ltd. Edition, so it might have been a bad call.

Anyway, I've routed the pick guard and body to fit 2 pickups, just 1 more to go:


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## All_¥our_Bass (Jun 15, 2012)

^Sooo hot!!


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## geeman8 (Jun 18, 2012)

This is turning out great! I've had the urge to try this myself...I've got a question for you though. Did the body come properly routed for that particular trem? Or did you have to do some custom work to get it in there? Keep up the good work!


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## Mordacain (Jun 18, 2012)

Very foxey man! I really hope you don't wind up with string rolloff farther down the neck, would love to try this myself eventually


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## vansinn (Jun 19, 2012)

Very classy. No overcooked details, simply classy 
Looking forward to see it finish and stringed up, to judge the string and board spacings.
Hehe, I would love me one with the classic three singlecoil pups..


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## JohnIce (Jun 20, 2012)

geeman8 said:


> This is turning out great! I've had the urge to try this myself...I've got a question for you though. Did the body come properly routed for that particular trem? Or did you have to do some custom work to get it in there? Keep up the good work!



Cheers! No the body wasn't routed for any trem, just the spring cavity  I think that's a pretty neat option from Warmoth, and since the back cavity was already routed I only had to go through a few millimeters of maple to fit most of the tremolo block. It did need some extra space on the sides though, which I routed with a dremel, so it was an easy job. Not sure if a dremel is tough enough for harder woods than alder though, I remember it being quite useless on my last build which had a swamp ash body.

I'm pretty sure Warmoth can route for a 7-string Floyd, but I'm not sure they would do it on a 6-string body.


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## JohnIce (Jun 20, 2012)

Forgot to post the latest progress pic, I've been busy with gigs and just as I got home I was hit by one of the worst cases of fever I've had... but there's not much left to do now, the pickups fit in both the pick guard and the body cavities (which were of course too narrow initially). What I need to do now is fit the pickup switch and do some fine tuning on the pick guard, then make my final pass at getting the clear on the body right, then she's ready for the nut.


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## bob123 (Jun 20, 2012)

looks like a badass charvel!


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## geeman8 (Jun 20, 2012)

JohnIce said:


> Cheers! No the body wasn't routed for any trem, just the spring cavity  I think that's a pretty neat option from Warmoth, and since the back cavity was already routed I only had to go through a few millimeters of maple to fit most of the tremolo block. It did need some extra space on the sides though, which I routed with a dremel, so it was an easy job. Not sure if a dremel is tough enough for harder woods than alder though, I remember it being quite useless on my last build which had a swamp ash body.
> 
> I'm pretty sure Warmoth can route for a 7-string Floyd, but I'm not sure they would do it on a 6-string body.




Thanks! I didn't know Warmoth would do that!


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## cardinal (Jun 20, 2012)

You're a gentleman and a scholar for seeing if this will work. I worry about the width of the neck at the body and whether the strings will line up over the pickup poles. Very interested to see how this works.


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## Watty (Jun 21, 2012)

Kind of makes me want to look into building something with their parts; hard not to considering they operate a mere 15 minutes from me...

However, a nice steel blue would've have taken it over the top man...but black still looks pretty classy.


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## troyguitar (Jun 21, 2012)

Damn, someone finally did it. Looks good!

I'm surprised you didn't just use 6-string pickups since those actives use bar-style poles. Were they not wide enough to deal with all 7 strings even at your more narrow spacing?


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## geeman8 (Jul 4, 2012)

Have you had a chance to slap some strings on her yet? Just curious about how the 1st and 7th string fits on the fretboard.


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## The Only Factor (Jul 4, 2012)

JohnIce said:


> Cheers! I've got two EMG SA7's on order, but it's been 2 weeks now without hearing from the company, so I hope they'll be on the way soon. I've heard they were Ltd. Edition, so it might have been a bad call.
> 
> Anyway, I've routed the pick guard and body to fit 2 pickups, just 1 more to go:



WOW!!! Very cool project you got coming out here man!!! Can't wait to see how this turns out. I did see your post and review of the Raines Strat 7 you got and was curious about these until I saw the new AW-7. So needless to say, my GAS for a Strat 7 has come to an end. Again, congrats on this!!!

As for the issue of the EMG SA-7's, they are NOT a limited production thing, they are now a normal production option. I do know that your overseas, but I would contact the place you got them and see what's going on. If worst comes to worse, send an email off to Jim Kearny @ EMG and see if he can give you any kind of insight as to what's going on. I'm sure you'll get them and in due time. I also think that your combo of the Phase 1 Blackout bridge with the 2 SA-7's will be HUGE. This is one of the other things I'm curious about and will be keeping an eye (and possibly ears) out for.


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## cardinal (Jul 5, 2012)

Very curious to see how this turned out! I hope the strings lined up on at th end of the fretboard. Build looks great.


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## JohnIce (Jul 7, 2012)

Hey guys, sorry for lack of updates!

The EMG's arrived and look sleek  unfortunately they were smaller than the Raines single coils I'd used to measure the pickup routes with, so I had to make a new pickguard. Turns out it wasn't that difficult the second time, took about 1/4 of the time of the first one and looks nicer 

I got some new clear laquer yesterday, so I'll do the final layers and buffing as soon as I can. Unfortunately I'm swamped with work for a few days (working with live sound and simultaneously being an active musician means summer is a busy time of year) but I should get around to it within a week.

@The Only Factor: Thanks for the tip! Yeah I contacted my local EMG distributor and they said they couldn't get any SA7's through their normal channels yet. Luckily the online-shopping turned out successful in the end, anyway  And yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing these pickups in action, I'll be sure to make a bunch of videos!


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## cardinal (Jul 7, 2012)

Have you had the chance to string up the first and seventh strings? I'm dying to know how they line up at the end of the fretboard!


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## Dan_Vacant (Jul 9, 2012)

Sorry if any one gets pissed about the bump but is this done?


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## Jakke (Jul 10, 2012)

Dan, it's a bump of three days, I doubt anyone would be pissed about that


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## JohnIce (Jul 11, 2012)

It's not done, I'm wrapping up the finish right now, the front is buffed and good to go but I still have the back and sides to sand and buff.

Finishing is slow work but I'm getting good results so far.


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## geeman8 (Jul 11, 2012)

Yeah...finishing seems to take forever if it's done properly. I'm refinishing an entire solid wood desk, so I know your pain! Can't wait to see the finished pics!


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## JohnIce (Jul 11, 2012)

Here are some shots of the finished top! I'll wait until tomorrow before taking on the back and sides, partially because the laquer needs to cure but mostly because my arm is fucking sore after all the buffing


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## Chiups (Jul 16, 2012)

Thats one gorgeous guitar! Makes me wanna man up and try my own build.


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## Uplay_2slow (Jul 16, 2012)

Can't wait to see it finished! Awesome job so far, man....


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## Ironbird (Jul 16, 2012)

That looks splendid! Great work, man. And a really good call with the colour combo of the axe too.


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## cardinal (Jul 30, 2012)

Awesome work. Updates please!


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## TimSE (Jul 30, 2012)

Holy shit finish it. Want to see if the strings hang over the fretboard of not


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## ugly_guitar_guy (Jul 30, 2012)

Well, this looks like it's going to be pretty close:






I'd imagine those high and low strings will be nearly unplayable by the 22nd fret...


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## JohnIce (Jul 30, 2012)

For the moment both of the local guitar techs (the ones I trust, that is) are on vacation for another two weeks or so. I don't want to attempt making the nut myself as I have no tools for it and absolutely no experience.

I did get a hold of a single Blackout for the bridge position though, so maybe in the coming days I'll get the electronics running


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## downburst82 (Sep 11, 2012)

Any updates on this project? was really interested to see how this would turn out!

just realized your the squier strat vii ngd guy from today...dont let that distract you!!! finish this one


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## JohnIce (Sep 21, 2012)

The guitar is currently getting a nutjob (first one to make a dirty joke about that loses), which should hopefully be done during next week. Then we'll know if this thing gets playable or not


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## MaxAidingAres (Sep 22, 2012)

ok Im jelly.....


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## JohnIce (Sep 28, 2012)

IT WORKED! YEEEEEAAAAAHHHH! 






However, it was tight. You couldn't get an extra pubic hair on this fretboard, but it works and it's playable all up the neck on both the low and high strings.






These two pics are a bit of an optical illusion, because the strings are quite high right now so it looks like they're farther out than they actually are:










So the bad news is the trem is about 3-4mm too high, meaning I have to remove the trem posts and drill deeper holes, bash the posts in again, all the while not screwing up the finish. It'll be a challenge, luckily the holes were a tiny bit too large to begin with so I put some small dabs of superglue in there, which is soluble with acetone. If I do mess up the finish just around the holes, I could just put some washers around them for coverup.


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## Jason Spell (Sep 28, 2012)

This is turning out nicely.


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## silent_k (Sep 28, 2012)

JohnIce said:


> So the bad news is the trem is about 3-4mm too high, meaning I have to remove the trem posts and drill deeper holes, bash the posts in again, all the while not screwing up the finish. It'll be a challenge, luckily the holes were a tiny bit too large to begin with so I put some small dabs of superglue in there, which is soluble with acetone. If I do mess up the finish just around the holes, I could just put some washers around them for coverup.



Something to consider trying first is shimming the neck by placing a narrow shim in the bottom of the neck pocket (i.e. the end of the pocket that's closest to the bridge). This will force the end of the neck heel upwards a bit, bringing the frets and strings closer together. It's basically a way of adding neck angle to a bolt-on guitar with a flat pocket, more like a Gibson or any other instrument using a high bridge like a TOM. This isn't a trick I've tried much with tremolo-equipped guitars, but I've used it on hard tails frequently and it works well.

I usually use thin strips of veneer as shims -- they need only be about 5mm wide and just about as long as the neck pocket. Start with something about .5mm thick and work your way up. If you can get the neck angled back even a little, that may eliminate the need to pull and reinstall the trem post bushings.


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## ugly_guitar_guy (Sep 28, 2012)

bridge anchors are typically hollow all the way down the middle, so if you unscrew and remove the trem post, put a dowel in the hole and screw the trem post back in it should pull the anchor right out of there little by little with each turn. Then you can drill your hole again to the proper depth. (hopefully that description makes sense). I had to do that on the first guitar I built.


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## cardinal (Sep 29, 2012)

Looks really sweet. Nice job!


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 29, 2012)

Definitely try shimming first.


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## animalwithin (Sep 29, 2012)

Dam that beautiful!!!!! Very nice job man, I love it!


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## JohnIce (Sep 30, 2012)

I've thought about shimming too, it might do the trick if I'm lucky. Thanks for all the advice guys, so much good insight and generosity on this board


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## metale (Oct 1, 2012)

+1 on the shimming, I did it on a strat where I wanted to raise the saddles (do the height screws didn't stab my picking hand as much) without raising the action.

Great build, man.


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## geeman8 (Oct 7, 2012)

So glad to see this worked! Congrats man! I might have a Warmoth project soon......


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## JaeSwift (Oct 9, 2012)

You're not gonna be able to solve dried in superglue with acetone, it usually requires scrubbing with...something that can scrub lol and since its in a hole you won't be able to accomplish that. Just heat it with a blow dryer, much easier.

I wouldn't vote for shimming purely because I think it looks ugly if your neck wood sticks out on the body. It would be the easier solution though, but you would need a pretty large (and very straight!!) shim.


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## iRaiseTheDead (Oct 13, 2012)

whoa classy


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## vansinn (Oct 14, 2012)

The instrument looks really great to me.
But damn, not much leeway from strings to board edge when approaching the body.
Do you have a pic from the headstock end showing how much space is left up there?
Also, what is your resulting string spacings at the nut and bridge?


(and very sorry I've been away for several month; probably missed out on a lotta cool builds. been studying geopolitics, banking systems, and 50.000 years history)


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## JohnIce (Feb 1, 2013)

JaeSwift said:


> You're not gonna be able to solve dried in superglue with acetone, it usually requires scrubbing with...something that can scrub lol and since its in a hole you won't be able to accomplish that. Just heat it with a blow dryer, much easier.
> 
> I wouldn't vote for shimming purely because I think it looks ugly if your neck wood sticks out on the body. It would be the easier solution though, but you would need a pretty large (and very straight!!) shim.



Thanks for your input, but it actually worked with just a strip of credit card 

Anyway, for those who missed the NGD thread, the guitar is done and amazingly easy to play! It also sounds very clear and punchy! I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. Cheers for all your help and kind words throughout this build process! 



*NGD thread:*
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/se...ngd-worked-warmoth-7-string-stratocaster.html


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