M3521

2 hours ago, RonMay said:

Very nicely done. Your attention to detail is going to make you a great guitar maker.

Have you ever given some thought to beveling the head stock to match the look of the beveled body? I think that would look super custom and cool. Just a thought.

Well done @M3521 .

I did think about it, but if I beveled then the tuning peg fixtures would overhang the bevel. It would be a cool look if it didn't though!

What I'm hearing is, suck it up and go to the auto paint shop. 

If I go this route I may end up buying a spray gun and practicing on some doors I need painted before jumping in here.

This is why there is so much time between my videos! Education and scope creep!

I’m on to the rabbit hole of finishing! This year, Chicago Music Exchange did some custom SG builds and this one caught my eye. It’s unconventional and I think it looks really sharp. It’s my goal for the paint finish.

I’m torn between priorities on this. Of course I want a beautiful finish.  I don’t particularly care for the natural aging of nitrocellulose which seems to be the builder’s choice. I was pretty committed to using Dupli color, but after looking further, they only sell the color I like in their acrylic enamel series not the non acrylic. From what I understand, enamel can be rough to work with. I looked at getting my own dyed paint at the auto supply shop but spending $150+ on a kit guitar feels like too much. I don’t have finishing experience so I’m trying to keep it simple as well.

I have half a mind to try a rustoleum spray can finish with a hard clear coat like Spraymax 2k. Prioritize the best value and doing my personal best on a budget. But I do feel like I’m generally investing enough to make this nicer than a typical kit. Anyone have thoughts around this? Options that are similar difficulty but better quality?

@Prostheta, I have some scrap mahogany (I think, it's a hard dark wood) that I think I can make work. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes.

@Prostheta, I do plan to paint. I'm thinking through how I would create such a thin maple shim. At that width, it might be easier to shave the end off a 2x4 sized board with a mitre saw to fit in the gap and then cut away the excess. Is there a better way you know of?

7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Great seeing you back! It's looking good, and it's always a positive reinforcement to get sound out of a build.

I'm watching the video as I type this, so I hope you've not yet filled that gap in the neck. If you have the opportunity to do so, shim it with a sliver of wood. I'm sure that the wood glue already added will complicate this of course, as the internal gluing surfaces will be sealed by the existing glue making additional adhesion a magnitude less strong.

The SG design has very little sidewall support as it stands, and the last thing needed at this stage is any funny business happening in the pocket. Wood putty has zero structural strength for shoring up these gaps, so it's worthwhile providing that joint the best stability it can get. In the playing position, the neck has a degree of twisting force in the pocket and if you're the sort of player that uses the natural flex of the guitar to induce vibrato, this will more than likely become a problem.

If you have the confidence to do so, I'd suggest sliding a saw into the joint to both open and clean it out for a shim. It's risky though as you would expect, especially if the saw teeth scratch up the neck as they run parallel to it. Perhaps the most usable option would be to inject the gap with a hard setting epoxy (not epoxy glue) such as West System (105?) or similar. It's great for gap filling and provides the best support as a simple fix.

It's already a far better instrument than those kit makers intended it to be. Your structured and planned approach makes all the the difference....I've seen overly-enthusiastic learners blow hundreds on expensive exotics and end up with a poor end result, or just trashing the lot. Being able to make a good instrument from basic materials - kit starter or not - is far more impressive.

Stay safe!

What would you recommend for a shim? I have some mahogany veneer that might work but it doesn't seem like it would add much structural integrity either. I have a flush cut saw that nearly fits in the gap, but that would make it worse before it got better. I'm need something thicker than the veneer at that point.

New video day! Big mental hurdle to get this one out as I was afraid to screw it up.

Episode 6: Gluing the Set Neck

20 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Despite never having been a fan for SG's  I must say that the contours really made a difference! Out of the pretty dull silhouette you carved tempting curves and sharp edges. Very nice!

My go-to tool for fine tuning the edges would have been a cabinet scraper, ever tried one of those?

I haven't. I don't have one but I've seen videos of them being used. Super handy tool. I might grab one and do some fine tuning before I do the final paint prep. Good suggestion!

9 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Very very nice! When I built our SG, a lot of time was spend in those contours as well. Smaller sanding sticks and blocks run along the contours better than across them which tends to blend out the high spots and identify the low ones. Did you spend much time figuring out what type of horn tip contouring to use? That's a real SG enthusiast (I am not one of these) sticking point. Much the same as how closely the contour reaches in to the neck either side. Ultimately I think it's more a case of how sharp one wants to contour the body that develops the look. My objective was to bring everything out as a constantly moving chamfer at a specific perpendicular angle with respect to the body, as this seems how Gibson originally shaped the bodies. From there it was simply blending out the sharp edges to taste.

I hate to say this - and I know you went into this knowing that a kit guitar is just kit guitar - but it seems a shame to marry that neck up to the body now....especially given the fit and tolerances.

Well, if you take up the challenge of a scratch build after this one, I'll be subbed!

I spent enough time researching the horns to identify that I was at risk of analysis paralysis and then stopped looking for my own sanity. I wasn't too precious about it, but tried for the deepest horn I could muster without getting too close to the pickguard. I didn't want the contour to dip below the pickguard on that side.

I did think about getting a nicer neck, but I think there is an issue with the gap in the body being too wide that would still be a problem. I'm also fairly sure I'm going to do an imperfect job on the paint since I've never done it before, so better to resist the urge to upgrade everything.

Still alive! This one was the most fun yet, carving the contours into the body.

11 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Very cool. How's the quality of the kit? 

Not great. The neck fit is too loose, the neck angle was too extreme. It's requiring a lot of modifications. But my goal was to learn about measurements and adjustments so it's fitting the need for me. If I wanted to just build a kit I would have spent more money on something better quality.

I disappeared for a while, but I'm back. Two new episodes up today. Isolation life in the state of WA has helped me refocus on the kit build.

Episode #3: Neck Angle and Scale Length Adjustment

Episode #4: Headstock Shaping

I've been dragging my feet on this next video.  The next step I'd like to cover is adjusting the neck angle.  Ideally, with the neck in place, a straight edge resting on the frets of the neck should just touch the top of the bridge in its lowest position.  I have quite a lot of clearance, so I need to adjust the neck angle.  I've considered a few options for doing this:

1. Do nothing.  Accept the fact that I'll have to raise the bridge really high to get good string action.
2. Change the angle of the neck pocket on the body.  Right now the neck pocket does not have an angle cut into it.  The angle is entirely created by the neck.  Based on this I don't think I want to modify the angle of the neck pocket.
3. Change the angle on the guitar neck.  This seems to be the best choice.  The problem is that stakes are high. If I mess it up I could easily need a new neck.
4. Shim the neck.  I've seen a lot of information on shimming a bolt on neck, but I can't find much on glued in neck.  I'm not sure it if would affect the strength of the contact.

I'm leaning toward #3, but if #4 is possible it would be easier.  Any recommendations/experience to share?

2 hours ago, curtisa said:

Re, the scale length issues: is the nut correctly located relative to the frets? If you measure from 12th fret to, say the 1st fret is the measurement more acceptable for a given scale length?

Yeah, the nut position appears to be off.  I did consider adding a shim (first fret was too close to the nut).  This would improve the fret positions on the lower frets, but then the higher frets are further off.

8 hours ago, sirspens said:

What kind of music do you play? (I'm asking for pick-up consideration.)

I'll play all kinds, but I think I'll optimize this for a classic rock vibe.

19 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Interesting stuff Megan - I'll pick this up tomorrow and see if frontpaging the videos is a good idea! Kit reviews are always useful since they're a gateway for most people!

That'd be great @Prostheta! Thanks!  That's exactly what it is for me.  A stepping stone into a full build.

On 3/9/2016 at 7:02 PM, BetterOffShred said:

You mentioned in the first video you were thinking about upgrading pickups?  Any thoughts on what you might go for?   I have a 2002 SG supreme, and I put BurstBuckers 1 and 3 in it, and man they shred.  The neck is huge and smooth, and the bridge screams.  I have a 500T in the bridge of my paul, and that one sounds pretty amazing too

How do the bridge saddles look?  The stock gibson bridge on my SG was pretty poor.  There was burs and the chrome was lumpy etc.  I put graphtec saddles on an aftermarket bridge in the end. 

Fun stuff 

-Brett

Hey@BetterOffShred!  Not sure on pickups yet!  The easy choice would be going with Gibson stock (490R/498T), but it will be hard to resist the urge to customize it.  BurstBuckers must sound killer!

I think I'm going to order a new bridge.  The saddles have deep grooves but they appear to have been cast vs filed.  I expected them to have a light notch and then I'd file them for the radius.  I'm not sure how close they are to the 12" radius.  I'm thinking a Gotoh tune-o-matic for the replacement.  Do you have any experience with the quality of Gotoh bridges?  They seem to get good reviews.

New episode!    If you like watching stuff get put together super fast, the first two minutes are for you!  If you like to nerd out over graphs and measurements the rest is for you!

Episode #2: Dry Fit and Measurements

I've been restoring guitars and basses for a little while and I've decided to take on my first kit build as a stepping stone to building an instrument from scratch.  I'll be building a Gibson SG replica.  Additionally, I'm going to document it in a video series!

I just published the first episode which covers unboxing and initial inspection.

Episode #1: Unboxing

I think a lot of the concepts that I learn through this process could be helpful if you're also learning guitar/bass building.  I'm certainly not a trained luthier, but hopefully this helps someone else learn as well.

I'll keep this thread updated as I add new videos.  I'm taking this pretty slow so I expect this will take a while.