Eljaroli Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hi guys, Thought I'd start a thread for my kit. I'd been thinking of a kit for about a year, couldn't make up my mind between Tele's, Strats. I ended up going with this kit. http://www.guitarmakersemporium.com.au/product/phat-strat-ash-humbucker-pearl/ The plan was to stain it Surf Green. Then it arrived, and I realised cheap kit body's aren't made of a single piece of wood. Seeing the layout of grain in some parts just would've annoyed me. The guitar's in it's setup stages now, but I'll sort out my photos for the build diary. (once I work out how to upload them). Cheers Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 (edited) The kit arrives! And I finally work out how to post a pic on this forum... geez how hard is it!?!? Edited July 24, 2015 by Eljaroli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 24, 2015 Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 Pretty much all strats look like that under the paint. Only the non-painted ones get prettier wood. Check out this build for a kit guitar option that can feature some pretty wood. I'm guessing your next pic uploads will go smoother? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 I'll get there. Just trying to copy photos over from the stupid smartphone to the lappy - sync'ing issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted July 24, 2015 Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 I use Photobucket's app to upload pics directly from my phone to my account, then use the actual Photobucket website when I'm posting on forums. It's pretty easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Shaping the headstock. I always liked the fat 70's fender design, so I went with that style. Next was the guitar name. This one is made up of letters from my kid's names. I went with the pyrography approach. Printed up a stencil, traced it on, and after a few practices, I went to work with my soldering iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Neck staining is done in Wudtone Vintage Yellow. A bit of hobby juggling between stain drying and homebrewing too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 The paint was originally supposed to look like this... Ford Breeze. It's a colour from a 2006 Ford Falcon. (not mine!) I don't know what happened at the paint shop, but this is what I opened at home... lesson. Check the paint at the shop before leaving!!! I just thought I'd roll with it anyway. Spraypainting is done by my father in law, the one in the family with the compressor and spray gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) The colour is definitely different. Edited July 25, 2015 by Eljaroli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Finally it's painted! Here it is laid out. And fully bolted & soldered together 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) Any doubts I had with the colour disappeared once it was bolted together. Turned out like a metallic surf green. A bit at the end of the neck that's not fully stained... Oops. Edited July 25, 2015 by Eljaroli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 We get the idea on the color, sort of. It looks a bit different in every shot. Now you've experienced the absolute hardest part about building guitars---taking pictures of them when they are done! Is that a fine looking car from the 40's in the garage? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Good to see another Aussie round these parts. Nice job on the kit. The colour is a good choice, even if it wasn't the one you picked to start with! So when are you going to build your next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 We get the idea on the color, sort of. It looks a bit different in every shot. Now you've experienced the absolute hardest part about building guitars---taking pictures of them when they are done! Is that a fine looking car from the 40's in the garage? SR Yep, Father in law's 46 Dodge. It's a magnificent thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Good to see another Aussie round these parts. Nice job on the kit. The colour is a good choice, even if it wasn't the one you picked to start with! So when are you going to build your next? The next will be after I get all the loose frets ironed out on this one! I'll have fun working this one up for the moment before I think about the next one (yep, I've been thinking of the next one). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 We're all always thinking about the next one... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 We're all always thinking about the next one... Trudat! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted July 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Okay, before I think about the next one I have to sort out the following. Replacement nut. Original was plastic, I bought some preslotted off ebay, they're too low., etc etc Fret issues, neck cavity shim... it seems to be 1mm higher on the top E string side. But yeah, once that's done... maybe a firebird, tele, rich, prs, mockingbird, mosrite... it's hard to choose. (but I'm decided on a hardtail). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingblake Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 That looks great 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted September 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2015 Small update after a while of procrastinating.I cut a new nut the other week from a blank. Pretty pleased with the outcome, but I think I can lower the slots a tiny bit more. I have plenty of spares if I stuff up.Went up the neck the other day with some super glue and clamps, in an effort to fix those raised frets. Overall, there's 3 major high points with I've hopefully fixed, but I've got some hobby files ready to go. Plugged in it sounds okay, pretty punchy humbucker - seems louder than the single coils - hopefully it's just an issue of pickup height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 10, 2015 Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 That neck looks pretty damn good with the wilder figuring in it! Are those import kits or domestically-produced? I've always been disappointed in the quality of fretwork in import kit necks, however this one seems a lot better so does the fretwork stack up equally? The colour seems to be serendipity! Love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted September 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Thanks Prostheta, I love the grain in the wood, It's stained in Wudtone Vintage Yellow.Going by the price of the kit ($150) it's definitely something out of asia.Onto the fretwork - it's truly horrible, Probably 30-40% of the frets aren't seated properly. They're if they're not lifting up at the sides, they're lifting up in the middle. For what it's worth, I gave the retailer a bit of feedback/criticism on this (politely - I don't usually go off my nut) Nothing to be done considering the guitar's almost finished.I just put the guitar back together an hour ago, and my superglue/clamping attempt worked pretty well. There's still a bit of fine tuning, polishing and only one high spot left, but I'm pretty happy. Got friends coming over soon for a bbq so I'll get to fire it up for a guitar battle on Rocksmith!I think these photos were taken before I oiled the fretboard. When I get a chance, I'll upload some detailed photos of the fretwork. I need to clean up a bit of stray superglue first!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eljaroli Posted October 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 As much as I love the colour, the difference between what I WANT, and what I GOT has always bugged me.... until now.Just did a search for Ford metallic green's and came up with this, "Meadowvale Green"Awesome.http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=sample&ditzler=42344&syear=1960&smanuf=Ford&smodel=Falcon&sname=Meadowvale Green&name=falcon1960M1273 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 It's a little bit cooler than a surf green, but on the spot nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 The '60 Falcon is cool too.Do we have a repaint coming on then?SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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