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SG2000 (ish) build


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Started this one at the tail end of last year, or early this year.. (That region of time is all a bit of a blur thanks to not being allowed to leave home) in the old garage for my friend Duncan. He's a big Big Country fan being a Scott of a certain age and wants something inspired by what Stuart Adamson used to play for a 60th present to self:

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I gave my usual it will be inspired by but not a replica response which he was cool with and we came up with this mockup. The thing is pretty much just a les paul with 2 spiky, symmetrical horns and it's a bit narrower at just over 12" wide according to the limited research I could do - there isn't a huge amount of information on them, certainly no templates. I mean why would there be, it looks horrible.

The inlay is inspired by the Big country logo with a sort of negative of the original sg2000 inlay design, then he wants dots for the rest of the markers. The original is all white abs binding like a les paul custom but we're going for natural binding on the bod, maple binding on the fretboard plain old ebony on the headstock with my usual moustache shape.

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I got a couple of extra nice Bosnian maple billets for him to pick from which the mockup is based on and he said he didn't like the seam/chevron style figure 🤭  (to be fair, most of the SG2000 aren't even figured maple) so I was scratching my head on how best to achieve what we both wanted to make and almost to the day Mike messaged me to tell me about his latest score, and after just a tiny bit of begging, he sent me a couple of one piece curly maple carve tops because he's an awesome dude.

This was the lesser of the two tops, because you know (Luthier dibs)

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According to google photos, I created this album in Oct 2020, so I guess that's when I made a start on it and roughed out the top and an African mahogany body blank - I've taken to drawing around the templates with a 1/4" washer and cutting roughly to that line so I can glue pieces up oversized where possible to prevent glue dribbling into open grain at final dimensions. It's slightly more effort routing the final shape being thicker but easier on sanding which is my least favourite thing. BTW, I used illustrator to trace a pic of the body and printout out the design, transferred it on to mdf to make the template.

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No pics but I routed a channel in the mahog from switch to control cavity before glue up. At least I hope I did... I guess we'll fine out. 

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Glued up and routed and did a bit of work on the neck blank (actually looks quite tidy for me). This is my first time using genuine mahogany - one of the old bed posts my dad gave me last year. 

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That was as far as I got before packing it all up and moving. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I routed out the neck shape and stuck the fretboard on. I rescued this fretboard from a dodgy glue up on Matts tele build (still unfinished) but I was able to reuse it here - the shorter scale and only 22 frets made that possible, Indian ebony is expensive so glad it wasn't wasted after all. It's a hair too narrow for the neck but that doesn't matter because it's getting a binding channel anyway.

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Then today I got the mahogany down to correct thickness. I've been getting rather blumpy with these lockdowns so opted for manual instead of the drum sander and got a sweat on. This is a new (to me) stanley no6 from ebay and an absolute joy to use compared to my cheap Amazon Basics and Faithful planes. I'm on a mission to replace them all for Stanleys when they come up at a decent price.

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Next up will be carving :) 

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On 7/14/2021 at 10:24 AM, t1r12003 said:

I've always liked those Yamaha SG's  Nice work so far

Me too. It's also kinda similar to the Ibanez Artist. I thought both were better looking than the Gibson LP double cut which has a weird asymmetric horn thing going on.
But Pat Travers had a custom Gibson double cut made where they are symmetrical LP horns.

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A bit more work on the SG, routed the pot recess with my new router. the old Ryobi I've been using has been problematic for a little while, the speed adjustment is iffy, I had to tape over it to stop the router speeding up during use and when the speed adjuster wheel gets to the very top, it switches off, I've also broken the dust extraction port for it when makes a right old mess. So I get the Tred T11E the other day and wow, such a good router, such a smooth plunge, nice and powerful at 2.5HP and it doesn't have the annoying deadman switch, so I used it to route a couple of pot recesses which was a lot less sketchy than with the previous router, I assumed due to the higher torque. It's also a lot quieter which is nice on the ears.

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I'm pretty short of time at the moment so I opted to get the angle grinder out this time and rouged the shape in,

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then 20 mins later I moved on to thumb planes to get the curves right. It's hard to justify using gouges some times when the angle grinder can get the rough work done so quickly.

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I didn't bother recessing the pots on the outside, I knew I would carve through them anyway and not sure I could safely plunge deep enough without the router eating the top so I think I'm going to grind a flat bit down into a curve and do them afterwards, I've seen a couple of used bench grinders on line so I think I'll see if I can go and pick something up at the weekend, and I think I'll get the break angle sorted before I perfect the carve.

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33 minutes ago, komodo said:

Me too. It's also kinda similar to the Ibanez Artist. I thought both were better looking than the Gibson LP double cut which has a weird asymmetric horn thing going on.
But Pat Travers had a custom Gibson double cut made where they are symmetrical LP horns.

See now I have completely the opposite opinion to you here, there is something really weird about symmetry in body shapes to my eyes, like the 335 etc, the lower horn always looks longer than the top horn, I wonder if it's just because I'm so used to seeing a slightly offset shape. 

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On 7/16/2021 at 10:56 AM, Muzz said:

The really nice Yammy SGs are not Les Paul killers, they are Les Paul annihilators, this one looks well on the way

I have never played one so I can't really speak on them however I did a lot of searching youtube when he asked for the guitar, couldn't find a bad word said about it.

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I went and get myself a cheap bench grinder from Screwfix which I'm very impressed with - I'm sure it's only a cheap stone that won't last long but it's very quiet and very smooth. I switched it off, went and made a coffee and it was still spinning why I got back 😆  I got a flat bit online. I'm trying to avoid using amazon where possible but it was the only place I could get hold of a 40mm flat bit which I thought was odd. Ground the bit into a radius on one side by eye, then I drew round it and used that as a reference to shape the other side. Tried it out on a bit of scrap and it worked really well. 

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The only trouble was that I was getting a bit of tear out at the front and back - where end grain appears. So I sharpened it as best I could on my oil stone, essentially just took the burr that the grinder made on the back. Then did a second test, also this time extra slow, next to no pressure and got a much better result, end grain a bit rough but nothing a bit of 120 wouldn't sort out.

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I'm liking this method - much safer than a router, I can do it after carving and I can angle them if I want to by angling the table on the drill.

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I also got the pocket routed

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This is a nice bit of maple, hard to see from all angles but the flame stretches then entire width and perfectly perpendicular to the centre line. The only thing that's proving to be a real pain re centre line is that it's a 1 piece top and body so I don't have any seam to help me if I lose centre, so I have to keep redrawing it when I do something like carve the top or route the pocket. Carving with thumb planes is quite nice though, the grain direction is nice and predictable with no centre seam to throw me off. 

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  • 2 months later...

Modest bit of progress on this one. Got some routes done and test fitted pots and switch. I've got a fair few marks and dents on the back that I need to steam out, It's a big area so I think I'll try the iron and a damp towel rather than the soldering iron method, then I'll blast the back with the orbital to tidy it up. I'll do that before routing the cavities for the cover plates or doing the end roundover to reduce risk of the sander going over the end and messing up the lines.

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I decided ti put a bit of a recess in for the switch, I like the look and it insures that the switch has a flat surface to sit in

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Pickup routes also done although I need to route deeper for the posts. I used a much smaller router bit to finalise the shape than the 1/2" bit I normally use, I think it looks a lot neater and gives a bit more wiggle room for the pickups, nothing more annoying that getting to the last hurdle and realising the pickups don't fit properly (A mistake I've made many times).

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You can see no figure around the edges, that is because I've finalised the shape/sanding around the edge but I've left the very middle because I don't want to lose my centre line just yet - 1 piece top means no centre seam to work to. 

The neck pocket is not as tight as I would like now that I've routed the pickup cavity. It's that awkward point where it's not loose enough to warrant putting in a veneer but there is just a tiny bit of play. I'm hoping that an f-clamp to pinch the horns in will make it just tight enough when glueing up. Failing that I'll put it somewhere humid for an hour prior to gluing up to swell the neck pocket slightly. 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Muzz said:

you can just brush coats of varnish on the lateral sides of the pocket

Something similar came into my mind as well, for the bolt-on neck guitars on the course a little play was recommended to allow the finish bend over the edge of the neck pocket. For a set neck one might want to have a bare wood gluing surface on the sides as well as on the bottom.

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1 hour ago, Muzz said:

This is looking awesome, for the neck fit in the pocket, you can just brush coats of varnish on the lateral sides of the pocket and/or the neck regions until you get the fit you want, all the best with it.

Thanks mate, it's going to be a set neck so I don't want to want to do anything that might hinder the glue joint. I don't think it's going to require drastic measures anyway.

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The area around the toggle switch is quite small and to fit a regular lp style cover plate would be a risky route and by the time I've done the roundover, there won't be much material there which will be more difficult  when it comes to levelling the finish with increased risk of sanding through so I thought I'd go rogue with the control cover. 

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15 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

The area around the toggle switch is quite small and to fit a regular lp style cover plate would be a risky route and by the time I've done the roundover, there won't be much material there which will be more difficult  when it comes to levelling the finish with increased risk of sanding through so I thought I'd go rogue with the control cover. 

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that's a nice detail - good call.  love it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been feeling a bit rundown the last couple of days (the usual winter lurgy) so haven't done much this weekend but did make a bit of progress last week. Got the control covers finished

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Fitted the neck and cut the tenon down - dry fit

 

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Did a load of sanding on the body, I used a damp tea towel and the iron first which raised all the bumps and scratches on the mahog before sanding, works really well! then I wiped on a load of thinned down cellulose sanding sealer on the back and sides, sanded it back a couple of times. About 3 coats all in all. Brought out the figure on the edge nicely,

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I don't normally seal before grainfiller but I thought i'd give it a try this time. A) To prevent the grain filler staining the wood - getting it out of the maple edge can be an absolute bastard. B). helps to prevent stain on the top bleeding into the maple edge, also a bastard. Then I did wax on, wax off a few times with the black grain filler.

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 That stuff needs at least 24 hours to dry so I shaped the headstock, 

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Then on to staining, I started off with a light brown water based Liberon stain. Found a tone of scratches so sanded it all back and did it again.

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and then a couple of coats of Angelus green. This isn't bringing out the best of the figure in this wood, but I've done multiple testers and Duncan was very specific about what he wanted. Although it does still have a lot of chatoyance so it should look pretty cool, It will darken up quite a bit once I've got sealer on it but I've spotted yet a couple more scratches I've missed so I'm going to have to fix those and go over it again.

JyhjQflJDiaOrGWudCT3OTNh3iIzbhYwJh7B3i38PrECJOtHk8q0jgZBN8ymJ1RAPTdTIMGyNEUzf0lVc-DkCNrBWfVzQLFY30xFKmcn1dMzTBKSooXFH9tXenBdalVJKraWsthDo1unuVeRlLIyMfrOJoGs7w9nqfka4VyPsUMIy0EVqfMFR4cBS6cJ7idfeoSEUjsxxG5lK476PbatDCbMlyh6EH6Xgwa6ABabr_wEv_NyulJJKIOOLcgkGFmf-ZH8LBdwbZnYZinIAqwEmSGcFB4ld4tP831chxeo4B9zO5C-3psn2qcXXs2aL-IMApNNT1HwIMCOOd7YxXMIghGj5ADT8n3oT4qCQc_XF6L0m7X2tmFg-tkBjBsxWcRfyZkHM6Xmkcd1vWsILMYGO4ZWcEupL_1AfR6wE7rOL1S3S4MEZwhhB1yslCUnsLxhS3YgDxeB-37dEHEMFL_xp4KQ3_mFC66JxeXK4aj-7Pz5KpK0MnEMuxV8DrQ4c08BBqkLZ_4SYzMCadaoOda_eIm_xL0I4FwGvzSGnHQqRFVWe5o7phNqCVY9ocf6ewLd4nIK-L304fUgUCxZiIq_trTcuRfBBS8YfI3YBGxqjRQYp2COP01u4kp-Ea3tkpnuLtM-9aU9iSRaLE6W5Z8RU8vqAg4RRxTi6ie28Jv6scYfDMnKaEb1SQ8qNc7fpU-xANYvJ3oiMEY2gKSEVS0kh0mK=w938-h1250-no?authuser=0

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12 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

Been feeling a bit rundown the last couple of days (the usual winter lurgy) so haven't done much this weekend but did make a bit of progress last week. Got the control covers finished

IMG_0877.thumb.jpg.52987bcdb51f7a829d08f755e45ce04a.jpg

Fitted the neck and cut the tenon down - dry fit

 

IMG_1290.thumb.jpg.3a515822e98c170cfc98ef6968a22ab8.jpg

Did a load of sanding on the body, I used a damp tea towel and the iron first which raised all the bumps and scratches on the mahog before sanding, works really well! then I wiped on a load of thinned down cellulose sanding sealer on the back and sides, sanded it back a couple of times. About 3 coats all in all. Brought out the figure on the edge nicely,

IMG_0882.thumb.jpg.a989f9f8ef641f81cd0113b919994b08.jpg

I don't normally seal before grainfiller but I thought i'd give it a try this time. A) To prevent the grain filler staining the wood - getting it out of the maple edge can be an absolute bastard. B). helps to prevent stain on the top bleeding into the maple edge, also a bastard. Then I did wax on, wax off a few times with the black grain filler.

IMG_0889.thumb.jpg.c1ea3e7546147eb9a8083ff7664bc2eb.jpg

 That stuff needs at least 24 hours to dry so I shaped the headstock, 

IMG_0887.thumb.jpg.cb6ef368e46046a6094c07cc1e1b918a.jpg

Then on to staining, I started off with a light brown water based Liberon stain. Found a tone of scratches so sanded it all back and did it again.

 IMG_0892.thumb.jpg.dc99eeaf6d96adde71fc8c642f7026d4.jpg

and then a couple of coats of Angelus green. This isn't bringing out the best of the figure in this wood, but I've done multiple testers and Duncan was very specific about what he wanted. Although it does still have a lot of chatoyance so it should look pretty cool, It will darken up quite a bit once I've got sealer on it but I've spotted yet a couple more scratches I've missed so I'm going to have to fix those and go over it again.

JyhjQflJDiaOrGWudCT3OTNh3iIzbhYwJh7B3i38PrECJOtHk8q0jgZBN8ymJ1RAPTdTIMGyNEUzf0lVc-DkCNrBWfVzQLFY30xFKmcn1dMzTBKSooXFH9tXenBdalVJKraWsthDo1unuVeRlLIyMfrOJoGs7w9nqfka4VyPsUMIy0EVqfMFR4cBS6cJ7idfeoSEUjsxxG5lK476PbatDCbMlyh6EH6Xgwa6ABabr_wEv_NyulJJKIOOLcgkGFmf-ZH8LBdwbZnYZinIAqwEmSGcFB4ld4tP831chxeo4B9zO5C-3psn2qcXXs2aL-IMApNNT1HwIMCOOd7YxXMIghGj5ADT8n3oT4qCQc_XF6L0m7X2tmFg-tkBjBsxWcRfyZkHM6Xmkcd1vWsILMYGO4ZWcEupL_1AfR6wE7rOL1S3S4MEZwhhB1yslCUnsLxhS3YgDxeB-37dEHEMFL_xp4KQ3_mFC66JxeXK4aj-7Pz5KpK0MnEMuxV8DrQ4c08BBqkLZ_4SYzMCadaoOda_eIm_xL0I4FwGvzSGnHQqRFVWe5o7phNqCVY9ocf6ewLd4nIK-L304fUgUCxZiIq_trTcuRfBBS8YfI3YBGxqjRQYp2COP01u4kp-Ea3tkpnuLtM-9aU9iSRaLE6W5Z8RU8vqAg4RRxTi6ie28Jv6scYfDMnKaEb1SQ8qNc7fpU-xANYvJ3oiMEY2gKSEVS0kh0mK=w938-h1250-no?authuser=0

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for some reason one of your pictures or videos isn't showing... 7th down.  looks good.   the green and natural contrast is really classic.

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Sorted out the scratches and restained, got most of the patchy areas out so hopefully it should look ok and sanded in the natural binding 

IMG_0931.thumb.jpg.8a363b9bab04bea96bcf1014965a8cfd.jpg

A lot of people tend to tape the sides off and seal etc to help prevent bleed. I haven't done that. I just roll the edge over with 120, then tidy up with 240 and 320, then spray sealer. I had a couple of instances where the first and second coat caused a tiny bit of run on the end grain around the horns, but if they are sanded back early enough, more sealer can be applied and it doesn't bleed anymore. This is after a few coats of cellulose sealer, I need to denib and spray a few more coats, then the neck will be ready to go on.

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On 10/30/2021 at 9:38 AM, ADFinlayson said:

Sorted out the scratches and restained, got most of the patchy areas out so hopefully it should look ok and sanded in the natural binding 

IMG_0931.thumb.jpg.8a363b9bab04bea96bcf1014965a8cfd.jpg

A lot of people tend to tape the sides off and seal etc to help prevent bleed. I haven't done that. I just roll the edge over with 120, then tidy up with 240 and 320, then spray sealer. I had a couple of instances where the first and second coat caused a tiny bit of run on the end grain around the horns, but if they are sanded back early enough, more sealer can be applied and it doesn't bleed anymore. This is after a few coats of cellulose sealer, I need to denib and spray a few more coats, then the neck will be ready to go on.

IMG_0932.thumb.jpg.0c695861dc0bed518e54dfc1397767ca.jpg

 

nicely done

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  • 3 weeks later...

A teeny weeny bit of progress. Neck is glued in - my usual process that I ripped off PRS. Glue it on then scrub away at all the glue squeeze out with a toothbrush and hot water. 

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Duncan wanted ebony knobs, so I got the same ones I used for the last build from Hailwood. Bloody expensive when you need 4 of them, fortunately I'm not paying - took a photo so he could see what they looked like. I've also taped off the top so I could draw a new centre line (relative to the neck taper) for bridge location. Lots of dust on the top because it's been hanging around in the workshop a while. I'm tempted to denib the sealer so I've got less work to do with the clear coat, but I'm also terrified of the prospect of sanding that back.

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I'm using a tonepros tunomatic and tailpiece on this one. I've got the tail piece holes drilled (11mm) and studs and earth wire installed but I've just drilled 2mm pilot holes for the tunomatic location. I did install the outside tuners and nut to get that location right but forgot to photograph that.

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Note the proximity of the tailpiece stud to the volume. I was originally going with a wraparound bridge so the location of volume was perfect (this is a very small bodied guitar at 12.5" wide) but there was a change of mind and he wanted the same style bridge as the original sg2000, so I've moved the tailpiece back slightly - it's around 45mm back from the tunomatic. 

I had a bit of an issue with green dust getting on the sides when I was sanding back the stain with a mirka pad, no amount of wiping with mineral spirits was getting rid of it either so I ended up sanding the sides and area around the heel back with 230 which meant I had to reapply some sealer so while I was sealing the neck I applied another couple of coats of sealer to the body (back and sides too). Next up I need to apply grain filler to the neck and it should be ready for clear. Though the forcast says we're due bloody snow next week, so I don't know when the clearcoats are going to happen. I think I'm probably left it too late in the year.

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