guitman32

Well, I think a little update is in order... I have been working out of town for the last month, so the guitar has been at home with no progress on the finish at all. All that is left is finishing the body and neck now, as all the shaping and final sanding is done. I also need give the frets a good leveling too. With some luck I should be out of town for one week more, and then itll be high noon for guitar work. For my next project, I am thinking either a LP style, or something radical, like an explorer. The one thing keeping me from an explorer style is that I do not have the tools to prepare large pieces of wood for the larger body blank required. The one thing i am sure about is that I want my second to be a set neck (I think I will leave a neck through till later). To address this issue, I was considering the purchase of a planer. Would you all recommend purchasing a planer from Home Depot or somewhere similar? I am thinking a 13", and nothing too heavy duty...just something that will get the job done without issue. I think that purchasing a planer will really allow my guitar building creativity to reach a new level, as now I feel limited to buying ready made body and neck blanks. Let me know what you all think!

Well RGGR, when I played my 27" build when test fitting all the parts, she sounded great - but that was with no pickups of course Ive had the damn thing lying around for a month waiting for finish as I have been working out of town. Seriously though, the acoustic tone of the thing was great, and the harmonics were nice too. I would say go for the 27" scale length though, in my humble opinion.

Im not exactly sure what you mean by sealer? Do you mean the layer of sealer below the clear and color coats? If so, then I think you should be stripping that as well. If youre going to refinish, start from the bare wood...that way you can ensure youll get the best finish possible.

I know its a pretty pointless picture, but this is a shot of the body with two light coats of sanding sealer. It is unsanded. There are two small dings I forgot to sand out, so I think I will drop fill them with s+s and sand them flush. Since I will be out of town all week, I decided to swallow my pride and order some black nitro from the Gutiar ReRanch. I am planning on ordering 3 cans to be on the safe side...is that enough for the color coats? In the picture, I am hanging the guitar with a clotheshanger...bent to fit in one of the neck holes. I used this method for a little while on my last finish (the flying V), but then switched to making a plank with holes drilled to fit the neck pocket holes. This way the body is much easier to handle, as it is screwed onto the body as the neck would normally be. I will make one as soon as I can work on her again. The only troublesome spots that I found to be hard to spay using this setup were the horn/aanj areas. These areas, along with the sides of the guitar in general I think would be best sprayed with the guitar lying flat on a rotating platform. I might construct something like that next week, but for now Ill make due. Overall, the first coats went on nice and even. Next steps are to sand these coats down with 320 grit, and spray on some more sanding sealer. I will continue this progression until the body is nice and smooth. Then it will be on to the primer/color coats. Cheers

Nate: I know ive been slacking a little bit on my process descriptions, but I will definetly not do so when time comes for paint! I thinkive said it before, but a good paint job is almost as hard as building the guitar itself, and requires even more patience. Maiden69: I have actually already carved the inside of the jack with the chisel as per your advice, and it looks like there is adequate wood to support the jack. That wedge idea is nice though, because I had some trouble getting the chiseled area 100% clean. That would be an easy way to compensate for my less-than-perfect chisel skills

UPDATE: I did most of the wood filling/final sanding on the body. It is nice and smooth now. The lighter spots on the body are the wood filler. I used DAP brand Plastic Wood. It is nitro based, and is very easy to work with. I highly recommend it! That little mark in front of the string holes on the front of the body is for the bridge ground.

Update: I modified of my previous posts to include actual pictures inside the post instead of a link.

For single coils, there is no diffence. For hunbuckers, there isnt on either, unless you have a coil splitting config. If that is the case, then you might want to take that into account. Other than that, just rout the body as you would normally...

Unfortunately, although you could estimate and get reasonable close, there is no way to know for sure without the neck. The problem lies in the fact that you dont know where the heel of the neck lies in relation to the nut. If you knew the distance between the end of the heel on the neck and the nut, you could then take that distance, subtract it from the scale length, and measure out the remainder from the end of the neck pocket on the face of the guitar. That would give you your bridge position. The only solution would be to post asking for someone with the same neck as yours to take measuements, or just call Warmoth.

No pics, but UPDATE! Unfortunately, I am on a semi-long term job in Houston, so I cannot work on the guitar on weekdays any longer. That said, I was at a Lowe's the other day, and picked up a bunch of Deft products. 4 Cans Sanding Sealer (spray cans) 1 Quart Sanding Sealer (brush on) 5 Cans Semi-Gloss lacquer 2 cans Black Rustoleum brand lacquer I have two questions regarding these products: 1. Is using spray s+s preferred over using the brush on stuff? 2. Is the black I purchased OK? I couldnt find any opaque lacquers from other manufacturers. 3. I forgot about primer. Is there laquer based primer, or can I just use standard autmotive spray primer? My goal is to start spraying the body this weekend...I have modified the volute and I will post pictures soon.

Guitarfrenzy: I think I will go through and revise my posts with pics in the actual posts. ..when I get some time, of course Maiden69: I was wondering about that. I wasnt sure if you just kindof shimmed the nut tight at an angle or if there was an easier way to cut out the material. Chisel it is! Thanks for the advice as always. Now on to a finishing concern...Im not sure if I want to use nitro, or maybe look into something else. Right now, I dont think I am ready space-wise for a spray rig, so the easiest option would be to use rattle cans of nitro. Would that not do this project justice? What are your thoughts?

I just realized I never posted a pic of the jack recess I made (idea coutresy of Mailden69 - THANKS) I precticed a on a lot of scrap and the drill press. When I finally settled on the correct angle of the drill press base, I clamped up the body and drilled it. I planned it so that once I drilled the big recess with the forstner, I would have enough room to switch over to a 1/2" bit without moving or un-clamping to body, and drilling the smaller hole for the jack. This turned out to be very helpful and convenient! One thing: I was VERY lucky in that the flush mount jack I am using A) Can be inserted all the way in without hitting the bottom of the cavity When insterted, does not hit the tone pot. This was not that big of a problem, because I knew I could just switch to mini pots if need be, but I like CTS pots, and it fits Next time around I will be more careful to take this into account! Also in the pic you can see that I recessed the areas where the controls are to be mounted. I like this, as it allows me to leave as much wood as possible on the guitar, and only drill out for the controls.

dawn8, I think this is a very interesting idea. I especially like the idea of the monkey grip in place of an f-hole. I usually dont go for hollowbodies, but I think this has the potential to grow on me.

I personally prefer the 6 inline. Also, I would go no scarf joint, and use a traditional straight headstock. If you really want an angled head though, you could still scarf it with the 6 inline setup

Basswood is good, so is alder. I, personally, would go with alder. Body sized blanks are readily available from Stewmac and LMI. I dont know why, but I tend to lean towards alder guitars over basswood. No, you do not need to fill the grain in most alder...you can go straight to sanding sealer.

Thanks for the heads up Doc! I decided to test it just for fun, so I applied some Minwax S+S to a piece of scrap and let it dry for about 4 hours. I then sprayed a relatively thick coat of Reranch nitro satin clear I had laying around, and this morning there seems to be no adverse reactions. I agree that it would still be wise to err on the side of caution, so I think I will go with a lacquer based s+s. On another note, I am totally sick of mail ordering my lacquers...too much time and money. Does anyone have any ideas for local sources of lacquer based suppplies? I tried the big stores and a couple of smaller hardware shops , and no dice.

I purchased this Minwax Sanding Sealer, and was wondering if anyone here knows if it can be used with nitro?

Thanks alot Pibrocher! I also totally prefer natural finishes! I am getting cold feet though, as I am very nervous about messing up the body. The waterfall bubinga, I think due to its quilt, has some wavy texture to it, and isnt totally level. With pressure, it flattens out no problem, but again, I still dont know if I want to risk messing up the body...

Update: I have glued some of the bubinga veneer onto the headstock. I came out very nice, with no bubbly pockets or anything. On an unrelated note, I installed a L-500XL in my V. Overall, I am extremely happy with its sound. I feel like it takes up where the Duncan Distrotion I had in the V left off. It had better clarity, and is smoother. Surprisingly enough, it complements the '59 I have in the neck very well indeed!

AMAZING! HAHA I just knew I wasnt the only one (insert sarcasm)!! Damn Wes, thats some serious FLOW!! I went to thoroughly test the 5150 after work today, and it is a block letter original, sounds beautiful. Now all I have to do is make some space! Now that I have added this amp, I think its high noon for an A/B box and some more cables!!!

It all depends on personal preference really. What I do is I leave around 1/2-5/8 inch, and then recess the spots where the pots/ switches will go using a forstner bit. You could easily leave less than that and still be safe. I just like to leave in as much wood as possible. For carved tops, I would use a set depth, and recess where you need to for the controls as above. One thing to keep in mind though, is that guitars like LP's use long shaft pots to accomodate for the carved top.

Needed a flush mount jack for my new build, so I went to the local GC to pick it up. As always, I browse the used section for anything interesting, and behold, a first gen 5150, with minor road wear, just in... So here is where all logic leaves, and impulse kicks in->Plug in->play lo gain input, test all settings->switch to high gain input, test all settings->tear it up for 10 minuites (all I had till closing)->proceed to put amp on layaway. Here in FL, all used equip must be retained for 30 days so verify it isnt stolen. This is why I put it on layaway instead of taking it home. All in all, I would say $530 isnt too bad for an original good condition 5150. Been meaning to add one to my collection anyway!!! I should mention that the tubes arent original, they are GT 6l6's. Would you have done the same?? So, that was my sunday adventure....but I know im not the only one who has had impule buys like this. Lets hear it!

Right now Im on the fence. I am sifting through all the veneer topics that came up in my searches to determine if it is worth the risk. I find this sandbag method very interesting. It seems like it would be easier than clamping it. Any advice on which to use that might not come up in the searches?

Very nice body. I am also iffy about the headstock. We could definetly give you more opinions after seeing it mated with the body.

CudBucket - Hows the progress coming?? Cant wait to see her finished!