Flintlock Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Hey all, Ok so here I am new to the world of guitar building. I only started learning to play guitar 5 or 6 weeks ago and after watching multitudes of youtube videos I came across Matt at Texas Toast who has some pretty awesome vids on building. I was hooked after the first few vids. I have very little experience in woodworking and figured a pre-cut blank would be the way to go so jumped online and ordered a kit. So this was advertised as a mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard but I don't have the experience to check this and not really concerned as it's my first build. It is a 2 part body and came with all the Chinese bits and pieces to complete it, these will be replaced. There were no predrilled holes so that's something I will have to work out for myself Initially I went ahead and stained it with a dark walnut stain but it turned out pretty rubbish showing the timber join in the middle and not having much grain to work with. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this. While I was deciding what to do I got to work on the neck. One of the reasons I bought this kit was for the uncut headstock. I cut the headstock shape trying to get more of a sharper look than the fender curvy style., gave it a quick sand and used some charcoal stain hoping to get a rough weathered dirty look, nothing fancy. Personally I liked how it turned out, I might have to patent that headstock shape :P. This build is simple compared to some of the awesome builds I've seen on here. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flintlock Posted June 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 So I went to the local fabric store, not much of a range. Ended up with these 2 to choose from. I'm going with the tartan print. I glued it on with standard white wood glue with the print up and down. Wasn't happy with this so I pulled it off, cut another piece, went diagonal and trimmed it up. It's got a Christmas look to it which is not what I'm going for but hopefully the timber veneer pickguard I make will fix this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flintlock Posted June 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Choosing how to seal the fabric was a bit of a long process. Everything I read seemed to just create more confusion so I went with what I know. The options I had on hand were: Oil based poly which I could easily spray on but would of taken a tonne of coats to get the thickness I needed to sand back safely and wouldn't have the strength I was looking for. Water based poly which in the current climate here would have a good chance of turning a milky colour. Epoxy resin being the hardest finish but would take a long time to cure. The other option was to order some polystyrene resin but would have to wait for it to arrive. I went with epoxy resin based on that I've worked with it a few times before on small projects with great results. I did order some poly resin for future builds though. I bodged up a handle out of a piece of 1x2, screwed it to the body and jammed it in the vice. The epoxy was just a standard mix, poured onto the fabric and gently worked in evenly making sure it went past the sides. I tried minimising the mess but there were a few drips and drabs to clean up. The white haze I assume were air bubbles created from working the epoxy back and forward. That was easily removed with a heat gun. I'm hoping it keeps that darker shade. I could of probably spent a bit more time making sure all the lines were straight but this is more a trial and error build being my first, hopefully I learn a bit from this. I will put another coat on once cured. Not sure how it will affect the tone in the end but it will survive a drop from the second floor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 1 hour ago, Flintlock said: Not sure how it will affect the tone in the end Most likely there's no audible difference based on the highly scientific study made by our very own @curtisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gogzs Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 5 hours ago, Bizman62 said: Most likely there's no audible difference based on the highly scientific study made by our very own @curtisa Please do not diminish the effects that ToneFabric™ has on sounds with your pseudoscience Jokes aside, I'm really looking forward to seeing this polished up. Shiny flannel, I didn't even know I need this in my life, but apparently I do 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Approval factor...10. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flintlock Posted June 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2021 I have few old shirts exactly like those. Love 'em. Ok so I ran into an issue. The whole front peeled off when taking off the timber I had screwed to the neck cavity hahahaha. This is probably caused by the fact I didn't sand the stained timber down before gluing. The stain was oil based so it ain't going to work with the glue. I'll trim the epoxied fabric down and make it into a Tele place mat or something. I better get to sanding this thing down properly. I'll peel off the back as well and start fresh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 22, 2021 Report Share Posted June 22, 2021 A lesson learned and no harm done! Apart from the oil based stain it could also be a mismatch between the white glue and epoxy, or the white glue and fabric. White glue should work with fabric but in order to make it really stick you should soak it. You can do it with epoxy only as well without having to worry about mismatching. Similar to hanging fiberglass wallpaper where you apply plenty of paint on the wall, lay the paper and apply more paint. Substitute fiberglass with tartan and paint with epoxy and voilà! -Sanding the oily stain off would still be recommendable. Tele place mats look cool and in pairs they look even cooler! I almost envy your taste... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.