Jackson Kelly

[killemall8]

14 hours ago, avengers63 said:

Almost immediately, disaster tried to ruin my night.

I put a couple of light coats of amber shellac on the back of the Kelly body. Poplar is plain and kinda weird looking, but it takes color like a champ. The amber evened out the color and looked damn good!. The first swipe with 220 on the ROS immediately sanded through. (My inner thug takes over) Dat's aight. That is ALLLLLLL right. I got sumpem fo you ass. Ima strip it all off, buff that wood up to 10K - you know, when it feels like plastic. Then Ima dye & oil it. Can't sand through it THEN can ya! How ya like me now?

I get like this sometimes. I don't get a lot of human interaction outside of my house. Working overnights is just gonna make it worse.

Brave man sanding with 220 on a finish. I never go under 400.

[avengers63]

45 minutes ago, killemall8 said:

Brave man sanding with 220 on a finish. I never go under 400.

I still have to brush on my finishes. This not only makes them thick in a hurry, but radically uneven. 220 levels it out pretty quickly. The thickness of the finish makes it rarely an issue. I also learned a trick when I'm sanding lacquer: Give it a light scuff, but don't clean off the dust. Then brush on some lacquer thinner. This will "melt" the dust back into the finish and help level out the whole thing. This may make the leveling take several days, but it leaves the finish in that much better shape.

[woodfab]

So Cool, You've been busy! Cut cut cut, dust city!

 

[avengers63]

And this is where it always falls apart for me.

 

I only do the initial leveling with the ROS. The rest is all wetsanded by hand. And it never matters. I've read all the books, I've watched all the videos, and none of it ever seems to matter. Oh, it's flat as glass and just as smooth... and I always have the lines. I really don't get how y'all do it.

Wetsand in one direction until all the sanding lines from the previous grit are gone.

Next grit, do the same in the opposite direction.

Repeat until you're through the grits.

Buff with Maguiar's Swirl Remover on a buffing pad attached to a drill.

I mean, it's labor intensive and time consuming, but it's really not that complicated. But here we are anyway.

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, avengers63 said:

it's flat as glass and just as smooth... and I always have the lines. I really don't get how y'all do it.

You mean those?

I can't tell about other people but to me that looks like the start of the process after the very first strokes with the current grit. The abrasive chips aren't spread perfectly level so the few proud shards draw lines. When you continue sanding two things will happen: The protruding grits fall off and the amount of adjacent lines grows to a brushed look. After every grit you shouldn't be able to see any marks of the previous direction, not even sheen. On the photo above that's what I understand to be the issue, single strokes on a surface that is matte with no directional sanding marks. - A faint memory tells that I've read about leveling the paper on another surface to get rid of any loose proud chips. If that's true, a few strokes against the next higher grit should do the trick.

There's no grooves to sand against after the ROS, only tiny peaks side by side so you might consider starting with a finer grit of wet. Then again, on a sheeny surface even newspaper will rub grooves. Anyhow, when sanding after the ROS you'll be making it look worse before it starts to look better. Just sand until you can't follow single lines, then wipe the surface clean and change the direction with a finer grit. Rinse and repeat.

One final reminder: Don't push! The weight of your sanding block gives enough pressure.

[avengers63]

At least the back looks decent

 

[avengers63]

Two months later.......

 

My weekends are now Wed/Thur. I'm still on overnights, but the work is steady & predictable. I basically work free-range, with little to no supervision. Nobody micromanaging you is a good thing. I can go in, do my work, and go home without being bothered. It's pretty kewl.

Last weekend I sat down and re-sanded the Kelly & the church guitar. Tonight I managed to hit them with Maguiars & a buffing sponge on a drill. No obvious lines, but clear mirror reflections. Not perfect, but a hellofalot better than they were.

 

Unfortunately, a couple months ago my beloved tried to help me "clean up". She stacked the bodies, Kelly on top, and set them aside. The finish was either not 100% cured or I "re-opened the wound" when they were first buffed. They stuck together a bit. There are 3 small divots in the church body. Not deep enough to go clear through, but too deep to buff out. I decided not to try and repair them. Life goes on.

Tomorrow I intend to dress the frets on the necks for both of these bodies. It's a good way to keep my hands busy while I'm watching football & wrestling with my buddy.

[Andyjr1515]

They both look great from here! 

 

[Bizman62]

7 hours ago, avengers63 said:

The finish was either not 100% cured

The curing time can be surprisingly long. No wonder the professional builders hang the guitars on the wall for months before sending them away. My latest finished build still sticks to my forearm, don't know if it's the wax or the clearcoat that seems to melt under body temperature. I even tried to remove the wax with turpentine but it didn't help as much as I was hoping. Maybe it's my sweat reacting with the acryl? But would it do that through a sleeve?

7 hours ago, avengers63 said:

while I'm watching football & wrestling with my buddy.

At first I thought you would wrestle with your buddy and wondered how that's related to a fret job!

[nakedzen]

I've done lacquer dry sanding with Super Assilex 800 and 1200 grits, then maybe go even to Zona Micron 1800 and 8000, then Meguiars.

Those SA papers cut super fast.

[avengers63]

The intention was to have a 24 fret neck. I NEVER make/use a 24 fret because I just don't go up there. I have absolutely no use for it. So when I laid out everything, I went on habit and set up the pickup holes for my normal 21-22 fret. WHOOPSIE!!!!! So now it's a weird looking 23 fret. It's just as well since I put the last marker in the wrong place. 

 

[mistermikev]

well if that's the worst thing that happens to ya this life... u r probably in good shape!  somedays u r the windshield... and other days the bug.  finish crying and get back to chipping wood.  9/10 folks aren't going to notice when it's done anyway.  

the burl is looking very nice.

[ScottR]

On 9/14/2023 at 12:44 PM, Bizman62 said:

Maybe it's my sweat reacting with the acryl?

I did my first with Acrylic lacquer. It took a better part of a year for it  to stop doing that. Nitro will keep shrinking for 6 months or more but stops taking impressions in a couple weeks as a rule.

SR

[avengers63]

Well, I use thinned down hardware store lacquer. So there! 

[avengers63]

All Spring and Summer, I've been quietly working on a guitar with the sole intention on giving it to my church. Here's the rundown: chambered ash body w/ bubinga center stripe, bubinga neck & fretboard, Kramer alnicoV HSS set, Wilkinson hardtail & vintage style tuners. The top is flamed maple with a 3-tone dye/sandback, 5-ply binding with a recon turquoise line matching the fretboard inlays.

So Why am I going public with it now? Because this is the night everything went wrong.

I started doing the assembly tonight. As you can see, it'll look pretty tasty when it's done.

 

Except that the screw holes for the bridge were a shade too tight and I twisted the heads off of EVERY SINGLE SCREW. And yes, the hole for the ground wire is ugly.

 

So that's fixable. I just have to have the time in the garage to set up a one-off MDF jig to drill out the screw shafts, dowel the holes, and re-drill. It's just time.

Then I deepened the holes for the tuner bushings. I was going nice and slaw, but it didn't matter. The drill press grabbed the hole, jerked it straight up onto the bit, and cracked the headstock down to the fretboard.

 

This is actually the 2nd neck I made for it. I don't remember what happened to FUBAR the 1st, but it wasn't useable. And I'm out of bubinga. I MIGHT have a fretboard, but I don't remember. What I know is that I have to start over, and that I'm REALLY not happy about it. 

FWIW: Here's the fretboard inlay. It says Yeshua Hamashiach, or "Jesus Messiah", in Hebrew. It turned out pretty decent.

[Bizman62]

That's a pretty fretboard, beautifully inlayed (inlaid???). Can't that be salvaged?

The body looks sacred enough with that colour scheme, maybe Big J doesn't like pointed headstocks as they're often used in guitars that are being used to play satanic music?

[henrim]

4 hours ago, avengers63 said:

I was going nice and slaw, but it didn't matter

I feel sorry that it happened. But next time you may not want to go too slow. You need speed. And you better clamp the piece too.

[henrim]

Also, maybe the neck can still be salvaged. I have seen worse headstock injuries repaired.

I would at least try injecting glue in to the crack and clamping it. Quite possibly you can get a strong and virtually invisible seam. Then just plug the hole and re-drill. 

[avengers63]

I haven't toughed the neck. Not sure if I'm gonna. I have too much on my plate to spend any mental energy on it.

But I DID finish polishing up the back of the Kelly, drill for the jack, and prep the cavity to receive the pots & switch.

It's been so long since I made one that I forgot to do some things, like drill for the jack and the wiring channels. And of COURSE I had 4 going at the same time so that I could forget it on all of them.

 

That's not buffing scratches. It's water streaks. Something dripped onto the top.

The more I look at that burl, the sicker it gets. 

And yes, those are Marshall amp knobs. They're different and a good size.

[henrim]

27 minutes ago, avengers63 said:

And yes, those are Marshall amp knobs.

The guitar must be very loud! And has that sweet classic jcm800 tone!

[avengers63]

Side dots

 

I couldn't find my old side dot rods, so I had to buy a pack of 25 white & 25 back off of Amazon for maybe $10. I'll never have to buy them again for the rest of my building career. Unless I lose them.

I had to sand and rebuff the neck, then re-oil it. So that's about it for this week.  

 

In other news.... I got a slightly used matte metallic pink Ibanez S561

 

The idiot who owned it replaced the cheap pickups with... wait for it... cheap pickups. 

 

Now, I was going to do a pickup upgrade anyway. BUT, if you're gonna do it, don't replace cheap with other cheap. FWIW: The singles actually aren't horrible. They're just poser wanna-be's riding on the looks of the Invader. That simply won't do. The bridge HB is super harsh/brittle/bright. I'd bet real money that it's a low-end ceramic P.O.S. 

I've been debating on what to put in it for several weeks. I want something a little generic yet versatile: something that can handle everything from mellow/clean through classic rock and into hair metal. The serious contenders were DiMarzio mega-drive/true velvet, Lace Sensors, or EMGs. When it came in, the EMGs were eliminated immediately because there's no room in the cavity for a battery. I was right on the lip of pulling the trigger on the DiMarzios when inspiration (and cost effectiveness) hit me...

In the world of pickups, nobody EVER says that Fender makes bad pups. Folks might prefer other brands, but nobody seriously craps on real Fender pickups. There are Strat sets from Fender in the $90-$120 range. I listened to clips of several of them and landed on the Tex Mex set for $100. This would leave me a spare bridge single for potential later use. That leaves the bridge...

 

RailHammer Hyper Vintage. A slightly suped-up PAF that just plain looks kewl. If things go even moderately to plan, I'll be swapping pickups next week, and maybe even assembling the Kelly.

[henrim]

21 minutes ago, avengers63 said:

RailHammer

Thank you! I need one of these. Specificly an Anvil. Just because of the name and looks. But apparently it sounds good too!
Have to see if I can find them in Europe. Found.

[henrim]

3 hours ago, henrim said:

Thank you! I need one of these. Specificly an Anvil. Just because of the name and looks. But apparently it sounds good too!
Have to see if I can find them in Europe. Found.

And it is on it's way from Germany!
Thanks again, John! I didn't know these pickups before and they are just what I need right now. Mainly speaking about looks, but I'm eager to try one out to hear it too     

[avengers63]

8 hours ago, henrim said:

And it is on it's way from Germany!
Thanks again, John! I didn't know these pickups before and they are just what I need right now. Mainly speaking about looks, but I'm eager to try one out to hear it too     

This is why I like to share just everything here. You never know what someone is going to be able to use. I'm glad I could accidentally help.

 

Pickups in place. The bridge isn't screwed in yet, but y'all know how hard it is to resist a glamour shot that has a reflection of your dining room chandelier.  If I had the pickups to order again, I'd have gone with a chrome cage, zebra coils, and cream rings. 

Also, this will just about be a first for me. It's straight wiring. No splits, taps, series/parallel, phase, or anything else. Just 2HB in series, a 3-way toggle, 1V, 1T. The closest thing to fancy wiring will be a trebel bleed. A Kelly with Bill Lawrence/Wylde L500s is a hard rock/metal machine, so no bells & whistles this time.

 

 

 

[avengers63]

So I know what I'm gonna be doing tomorrow! Working on the Kelly and putting these into the pink Ibanez.

 

I'm not one to overpay for Official Fender pickup covers for Official Fender Pickups. because only Official Products can ever be used. Pickup covers are pretty standard. And yet I bought some for the Kit Bash project that didn't fit. I wanted to be sure they would fit, and they were only $3 more for the Fenders.

As I'll have the bridge pup left over, I'm planning on getting a set of Fender Tex Mex Tele pups and doing a mod project sometime next year.