Fender Stratocaster Mystic Blue w/ Moses Graphite Neck

This build is finally coming to an end with the last post being the Moses Graphite Neck preparations.
If you want to read the other posts here they are in order:

Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 1 - The Body
Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 2 - The Pickups
Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 3 - The Neck - T...
Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 4 - The Pickups ...
Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 5 - Moses Graphi...

I left off in my last post with putting the brass inserts into the neck. That went 'decently' well actually. (just a few tool marks on the back end of the neck, but that would be inside the neckpocket).
Next I had to get the neck on the body. As I started to put the bolts on they all lined up perfectly.. except for 1! "Oh No!" I thought to myself - I just ruined my awesome neck! :(

After taking it apart again and peering through the body screw hole I noticed it was off by just a hair though (must've had the screw to mark the hole at an angle ever so slightly). I also noticed that the hole through the body was extremely tight for these bolts. So I came up with a simple solution: I ran a screwdriver through the hole which cleaned it up just enough so it would line up. I then made sure that bolt went it first and grabbed, after which the rest went in nice and tight.

I tried to capture how the guitar looks, but it's really hard to get a proper picture of the Mystic Blue. It is VERY striking in person.

And all done!

I haven't yet plugged it in, but even acoustically the guitar plays wonderfully and feels great. The neck almost feels more like a 'super flat D-shape' to me, which I think feels amazing. I definitely recommend these Moses Graphite necks!

Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 5 - Moses Graphite Neck has arrived!

So finally, after about 4 months, and a few emails - which i'm hoping didn't start to annoy the wonderful folks at Moses Graphite - asking about status updates, I received my new Moses Graphite Neck. The Details are basically:

• Moses Graphite SK-27 'thinline' strat neck,
• Ibanez Headstock profile, 
• Floyd Rose Nut, 
• 'Ibanez' Vine of Life inlay in Paua Abalone. 

Now, as a point of reference, I basically was on a quest to replicate something like my JEM 10th Anniversary Neck which had a very nice 'Vine of Life' inlay into ebony.

Ibanez JEM 10th Neck Inlay Detail

When I first opened the package I was shocked how amazing this neck turned out. The headstock is spot on, and the Graphite has a very 'cool' feel to it, very smooth - almost like you get with a 'bare' neck (which I love). The inlay in my mind is actually even NICER than the one on the Jem. The vine seems a little more 'detailed' and 'thicker' so it's more visible. Also the colors are very rich and 'blueish' which will go great with the Mystic Blue Stratocaster body this is going on.

AMAZING Moses Graphite Neck

Beautiful Vine of Life Inlay

Look at that color!

Since to me part of a nice Ibanez headstock is the headstock logo I had purchased one from Best-Decals.com. As I had discussed in a previous post, I always liked how the Joe Satriani series had their headstock logo starting between the 1st and 2nd tuning peg, so what I did was order a 'Universe' / 7-String headstock logo in Chrome ('regular' one would have probably been too short) and lined it up like that, and cut off a little bit of the end. It came out very nice:

Chrome Headstock logo Applied

Very nice and reflective

Next up was the installation of the Tuning Pegs. The standard option was 10mm (13/32") pegholes, so I had several options. I decided to go with some locking Sperzels in Black from Stew-Mac. The cool thing is that they were not only Locking, But also Staggered or 'Graduated Height' which helps eliminate string trees etc (which may or may not totally work for this application because of the FR Nut). Lastly the other cool thing was that the inner part of the tuning peg was actually Nickel/Chrome, adding a nice splash of 'Color' to the headstock to match the logo.

I decided to simply install these with my small dremel. While I could not find the 'exact' drill size (2.7mm or #36) I found a 7/64" one which was 'close enough' at  2.77mm (so 'off' by 0.07 mm which is like a hair..). The box of tuners actually came with a drilling template. Simply push the bushing through, insert into the headstock, line up and drill. I actually marked each hole first and then drilled all 6 free-hand by marking the depth on the drill-bit with a piece of a tape.

Template to mark holes for tuners

Holes drilled

Tuners Installed!

I really like the splash of Nickel/Chrome

Here you can see the staggered layout

Next up was the more 'troublesome' step. The neck does bolt on with regular wood-screws, but with stainless bolts. To accommodate this the end user needs to drill whole and install self-tapping brass threaded inserts. It was easy enough to find the 15/64" drill-bit required to drill the holes, but I did NOT feel comfortable simply 'eyeballing' this with a hand-drill.

Step one was basically putting the High- and Low E strings on, lining the neck up with the body and marking the back of the neck through the body holes so I'd know where to drill. Easy enough. Next I took the drill-bit and by hand spun it around on the marks a few times just get a good permanent impression until I would know how to actually drill this thing.

After some asking around I found someone with a drill-press and they were happy to let me use is for 5 minutes. I measured the depth, drilled out the holes and went on to install the inserts.. Less of a headache than I thought it was going to be!

Inserts Installed! Don't mind the slight tool marks I left

Next the moment of truth: Installing it on the actual body!


(Looks like Moses Graphite put up a picture on their facebook too:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=759059364137864&id=158845657492574 )