Sancho Marino Posted December 2, 2013 Report Share Posted December 2, 2013 Looks like you covered for your mistake well... Almost looks like you planned it that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted December 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2013 Unfortunately when the ferrules are in it really shows up the imperfections. Maybe not so much on the front, more so on the back so i'lllet it slide on this guitar. For future guitars I'll have to invest in some good drill bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Ah... in the second pic it looks like the two outside holes are offset equally... looks ok in the pic anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted December 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 Ok so on Sunday evening I managed to get an hour or so put into the guitar. I routed the pickup routes and overall I am happy. Unfortunately the router jumped and bit into the side of the humbucker route. Fortunately it won't be seen. Today I went down to the garage with the intention of routing the rear control cavity, however I couldn't stand looking at the string ferrules and how badly they had come out. I knew it would annoy me and that I wouldn't appreciate the guitar as much when it was finished. I also know that it takes time to learn the skill to build a guitar but the real lessons are learned correcting the mistakes you've made in the first place. So with that in mind and while I was thinking about it all day I Googled methods to drill for through body strings. I managed to do the research I needed at lunch at work. I drilled out the rear 8mm ferrule holes to 10mm and filled with 10mm dowels that I happened to have lying around. I glued them in with Superglue and cut and sanded them flush. I then filled the front ferrule holes with small scraps of Alder cut with a knife, superglued those in and sanded flush. This time I used an old strat trem block to guide a 3mm drill bit to get pretty much perfect front ferrule holes. Problem was my ferrules require 4mm holes. So I flipped the body and used a 3mm guide pin inserted into each front ferrule hole. I used that to guide the drill press with a 4mm bit into the rear of the guitar. I then flipped the guitar again! and used a 4mm guide pin to drill the 4mm holes in the front body. Once that was done I flipped it again and using the 4mm guide pin I was able to drill using the 8mm bit to fit the ferrules. I think all this "flipping" may have lead to inaccuracies as on the rear ferrules one or two are slightly wider apart. They are all still on a straight line so I can live with that. Results below: I'm very pleased with how it's come out, miles better than before! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted December 3, 2013 Report Share Posted December 3, 2013 A good way to get them straight is to make a template out of MDF with the holes. It drills better and doesnt wander on MDF. Then put the template on top and drill through it. They will be in as straight of a line as the template is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 4, 2013 Report Share Posted December 4, 2013 Totally. Never fails. The spurs on brad points can be pretty uneven leading them off-course. I reckon a plexi template would be invaluable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 I made my templates for this with some sheet aluminum scraps that were ~.080" thick. I think it's much easier to to get an accurate template with metal than with plexi, or any composite. That was a great repair and recovery that you've done there. Way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Thanks. I'm pleased with how the string ferrules have come out. The repair currently shows through and plays optical illusions so it's quite hard to know how good it really is. When I paint with a solid colour I should know more. Last night I did a couple more hours. Got the control cavity routed out. I used my Dremel which I bought over a year ago for the first time. My dad has a cheap dremel copy and it had no torque and was rubbish but the actual Dremel is so much better. I was very surprisd by the power in the wee Dremel. It feels well built and did quite a bit of work without any bother. I needed to use the Dremel to cut the 5 way selector slot. I had a 38mm steel cutting disc for it but it was too big to cut the 5 way selector switch slot. I ground it down on metal until it was approx 25mm in size. I then used it to cut the slot which has come out brilliantly. Everything fits in the control cavity exactly how I wanted it. I didn't take any pictures this time. I will be carving the contours this evening so might take a few pictures then. I would say the most frustrating thing about this build is that I can't work on it as much as I would like. I have very little free time in the week and it's really starting to piss me off that I can't work on this more often lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Got a fair bit done this evening. I've drilled for the jack plate and carved out the belly contour, arm contour and contoured the heel to make for better access. Guitar is yet to be sanded, I've given it a very slight run over at 80 grit but that was just to clean it a bit for photos, not by any means finish sanded. Some goodies arrived in the post, Dimarzio Fast Track 2 and Tone Zone pickups thanks to Sancho Marino for sorting me out with that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted December 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Cavity cover recess done: I made a cavity cover out of the scrap ash I had left over. I made it a tad too small and just wasn't happy with it. I have a PRS Tremoti SE and the control cavity cover was worse again! I decided to remake it so cavity cover no.2 It has bowed a little bit but it will screw down easy. I also drilled and installed the threaded inserts for the direct mount pickups. I drilled for the strap pins and recessed the one on the top horn as it looked naff with recessing it slightly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 It's looking great William! Hope you like the pickups man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Thanks. I wasn't happy with some of the frets. I don't possess fret pulling pliers or even anything that can be file down as such. I used a very fine chisel to remove the first fret. In the process taking a reasonable size gouge out of my hand! I probably could have done with a stitch but it seems to have closed up ok now. Anyhow note to self... Keep hand well out of harms way! On the same fret I got a fair bit of chip out. Glad to say it's been repaired with superglue. I couldn't get the piece from one of the tear outs so dust and superglue did the trick. I replaced four frets as I had gouged too much with the hammer when installing them originally. I had been beating them down but the fret slots were too shallow. They are now ready for levelling an doing a full fretting job on the neck. Sorry I've no picks but you wouldn't be able to make out the repair job from them anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 wow sorry to hear about the accident! Good that you managed in the end with the frets! On my first attempts the way I did it was to hammer them out placing a small screwdriver at the end of the fret and slowly lifting it off the fretboard by hammering from behing. Now thats chipout city, but for some reason I was pretty lucky back then.. For fret pulling pliers I just went to a hardware store, bought small cheap pliers for 5 EUR or something and filed them down.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I haven't posted in a while because I didn't get any work done over Christmas as I originally had planned to do. I've now sprayed primer. In these pictures it's had it's second coat applied. Unfortunately I got a small run which you can't see in the pic so I will have to sand it back a bit but I don't mind too much. It's amazing the difference between first and second coat. I applied the first coat over the wood which had been sanded to 320 grit. Then today I sanded back the first coat with 600 grit and sprayed the second coat. The second coat looked like glass it was beautiful, until I got the run that is :-(. This primer is so white it could nearly do as the base coat, but I'll spray a separate base coat anyway. Has anyone ever used the primer as a base coat and just lacquer over the top? Excuse the mess in the garage. It's my dad's garage and he has a pile of junk in it. My bro serviced his car on Saturday which is why all the tools etc are a mess and there's a load of oil on the floor! I didn't bother to tidy up as he will be working again on Wednesday evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I have done that with black primer, in place of basecoat. It works fine. It just doesnt normally spray as nice or thin as actual basecoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Does anyone else get into a wild rage when things go wrong? My bro had used the garage yesterday to work on his car. When he was leaving I asked him if he had tidied the work bench to which he replied that he had. Well today I grabbed the guitar from the house and walked to the garage. He hadn't tidied the work bench and I had nowhere safe to place the guitar. I held it with one hand and tidied the workbench with the other. When I was complete I grabbed my old towel and placed it on the workbench. As I raised the guitar to put it on the bench I caught it on the band saw table!!! I took a small gouge out of the corner of the guitar, I had had it perfect and ready for base coat and now this! I flew into an awful rage and started kicking everything in sight including the workbench. This in turn caused the guitar to fly into the air and come down on a screwdriver!! Thankfully the guitar body had landed back on the bench but I could have cried, I lifted the sledge hammer and was about to beat the walls of my tin shed when I caught myself on! So I took a few deep breaths and decided how best to repair the guitar. I sanded down the bad spots and filled with body filler. I then sanded smooth and applied another coat of primer. I have to say the repair is seamless and I am in a much better mood now. I just got so frustrated at having been put back another evening due to someone else using my garage (I know it was mostly my fault but if he hadn't have used the garage I wouldn't be in this mess ) Anyway rant over and tomorrow evening I hope to get my first coat of base colour! I just can't wait now till I'm strumming the life out of this guitar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Does anyone else get into a wild rage when things go wrong? My bro had used the garage yesterday to work on his car. When he was leaving I asked him if he had tidied the work bench to which he replied that he had. Well today I grabbed the guitar from the house and walked to the garage. He hadn't tidied the work bench and I had nowhere safe to place the guitar. I held it with one hand and tidied the workbench with the other. When I was complete I grabbed my old towel and placed it on the workbench. As I raised the guitar to put it on the bench I caught it on the band saw table!!! I took a small gouge out of the corner of the guitar, I had had it perfect and ready for base coat and now this! I flew into an awful rage and started kicking everything in sight including the workbench. This in turn caused the guitar to fly into the air and come down on a screwdriver!! Thankfully the guitar body had landed back on the bench but I could have cried, I lifted the sledge hammer and was about to beat the walls of my tin shed when I caught myself on! So I took a few deep breaths and decided how best to repair the guitar. I sanded down the bad spots and filled with body filler. I then sanded smooth and applied another coat of primer. I have to say the repair is seamless and I am in a much better mood now. I just got so frustrated at having been put back another evening due to someone else using my garage (I know it was mostly my fault but if he hadn't have used the garage I wouldn't be in this mess ) Anyway rant over and tomorrow evening I hope to get my first coat of base colour! I just can't wait now till I'm strumming the life out of this guitar! I had a very similar disaster last fall.......except I can't blame it on anyone but myself.......and the demons that seem to possess all ziricote. I resorted to asking the board for creative curses from around the world to see if using them helped. It did. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/topic/47317-not-your-mommas-strat/page-17 It actually happened twice in the same build. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Does anyone else get into a wild rage when things go wrong? I'd like to be honest and tell you that I don't however I distinctly feel that this will not make you feel any better. On that basis I am going to completely lie and say that yes, I do too. Group hug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 I get pretty angry too. I have thrown stuff including templates, bodies (not living) and other random objects out of rage. I am a few years past that now. I still get angry, but not i just leave the garage and go fishing or to the gym, and dont do anything for a week until i feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 I think the reason I go into a rage is more to do with the people around me not leaving things as They found them. If no one had been in the garage I may still have damaged my guitar but I wouldn't have gone into the rage that I got into. I have a lot of arguments with my dad for leaving a trail of destruction behind him in anything he does. Even though it is his shed :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 I repaired the ding and painted the base coat. I then sprayed the lacquer: In the below pic you can kind of see the blue pearl effect I was after: To get the pearl effect I bought some blue pearl powder on ebay and mixed it in to the 2k lacquer. The effect is very subtle but nice and didn't come out as well in the pics as it is in person. My next steps will be to use 800-1000 grit paper to remove any dust that was in the lacquer. I will then spray the whole guitar and neck with a final top coat of clear lacquer as I don't want the pearl effect on the unpainted part of the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Very cool. I am scared about doing my first pearl paint shooting job. Well, not scared....trepidation and concern that I might screw it up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Thanks. I'm not sure it's possible to screw it up. It my first pearl paint job and I use a cheap suction fed gun. I'm very happy with it, it's just like shooting lacquer. The only thing I spray painted before this was a motorbike and that was a couple of years ago. That should be an indication of how easy it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Marino Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Looks cool man.... I like the blue pearl it's subtle but sets it off a bit more than plain white Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted February 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 It's Finished!! Finally the journey is complete! I have to say it plays far better than any other guitar I own! the sound is amazing and so versatile. Specs are: standard rock maple neck ebony fret board alder body neck pickup: Dimarzio Fast Track middle pickup: Dimarzio Chopper Bridge pickup: Dimarzio Tone zone Features a coil split push/pull tone control and volume control approx. cost including paint and supplies was around £300 all in so I'm pretty happy. I did make mistakes on this build but I repaired the vast majority of them. The finish is good but could be better, mostly my impatience as the paint is still soft. All in all I love it and will play it for years to come (well until I build the next one) I would like to say a big thanks to all who contribute on this forum, even if you didn't contribute to my thread I've been able to use advice posted in just about every current thread going. Without the advice given here I wouldn't have made half a job of it. I've created a short video to show the different sounds I've gotten from this. My playing is Poo so please look past it! Admin - I'm trying to embed this video but no matter what I do it won't work. Can you help? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXEOyjskVOM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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