Kick's first build LP-1MQ Red Widow

[Kick]

Finally my first ever kit arrived today! Happy me

First thing I did was to check if everything is in the box and as far as I can see it's complete.

I checked the neck and body and I see that both need some work; the fretboard looks ok but there are some little dents. The inlays are very nice and the rosewood looks beautifull. The neck itself needs a lot of sanding because there are some dents as well and even a little scratch. But nothing some good sanding can solve.

The body; the binding is looking very good and I see I need to sand, sand and sand

There are some glue spots but man, that veneer is looking awesome!! And unbelievable thin!! So I need to take care with the sanding on the top.

Overall I'm very happy!

As decided I will try to recreate the Les Paul Red Widow and I can't wait to get started.

[wazkelly]

Hi Kick, good to hear that your kit has finally arrived safely.

[Simon Barden]

I'd try getting hold of some 'Goof Off' glue remover, or a similar product. Amazon should sell it, they do here in the UK. I'd use that to get most of the glue spots off rather than sanding because the veneer is very thin and you really don't want to loose any depth. Careful use of a soft (brass) wire brush will help loosen and break up the surface of the glue, then use the Goof Off.

[Kick]

Thanks Simon for that information. I'll try if I can get some.

I have been inspecting the body and neck more carefully yesterday and I noticed two things. When I insert the neck into the neckpocket I can feel that it wobbles a bit. I checked the flat bottomface of the neck and I can see that it is not totally flat. So I need to sand it down a bit.

But another thing I noticed is that when I checked the alignment of the neck towards to the bridgholes, I saw that the cut of the veneer is out of line. It should be going from the middle of the neck downwards to the middle of the body. And it is not the case... I do not know what to do now because I'm a bit afraid that this will show when I do the finish.

I'll see if I can make a picture of it so you can see what I mean. Perhaps I'm overworried but the fact is that now I know this I will always be looking at it...

[Kick]

Here are some pics:

I laid a ruler on the cutline of the veneer and as you can see it is not in line with the middle of the neck.



Here I placed the ruler at correct angle from the neck.









So what to do? I'm afraid that when the strings are in place, the out of alignment will be more visible.

[wazkelly]

Haven't done a set neck LP yet but reckon the neck PUP surround will cover things up and to check alignment you may need to loosely fit the high & low E tuners and run some string, cotton or fishing line down to where the bridge should sit as that will give you a better indication of how things are lining up.

If you are tempted to fit the bridge be careful not to drive the posts all the way in as they may not want to come out.

[Kick]

I was thinking the same; just putting things together to see what it looks like...

[Kick]

Ok, I did a mockup of the neck and body. I gently installed two tuners (D ang G string), carefully pushed the bushings for the bridge and tailpiece halfway in and strung the D and G string. To get the complete picture I also used the pu's as reference.
You can see from the pic below that the cut isn't in line with the strings but looking at it this way I think I can live with it. The cut runs down below the bridge and tailpiece and at this spot it is almost in the middle.



To be sure I checked my Epi Les Paul and I noticed that the cut on that body is also slightly off center.

Anyway, just ignore it and start sanding I say!

[Simon Barden]

I wouldn't be happy with that veneer line. It should be straight and it will be visible to some extent. Look at other peoples finished build pictures. That join line is normally filled with glue and unless it is all removed, it won't take a stain. If you darken the top by wiping some turps or white spirit on, you should see how obvious that line is. Because it's a quilt, the join line will be a bit less obvious than with a flame, but for me it's less than ideal. But looking at the PBG pic for the kit, the one in the kit picture also looks to have the veneer join line at a slight angle, so it maybe a standard factory practice for some reason. But I see no reason that they can't fit it centred correctly (apart from lack of skill).

I've just looked at some of the finished guitar pics and some of them do have a slightly angled join line, while one or two look straight. I can't say that the slightly angled ones look that obvious as long as the join line doesn't stand out as your eye is more taken with the quilting detail.

Before you do any more, I'd drop Adam an email with the picture (and maybe one with a wet surface to highlight the line better) and see what he says. He can check a few kits and see if this is standard or not. And if fairly standard, then hopefully he can work on the factory to get them to improve their output.

I've now looked at the pictures of a real LP Red Widow, and I can tell you that the binding isn't red, it's standard binding that's simply been sprayed over with transparent red nitro lacquer. You can tell from the binding on the neck. The sides are the red but on the top of the fretboard, the same bit of binding is white/cream. I would say that the guitar has been stained black to pop the quilt, sanded back slightly, then sprayed with clear red, then a light clear black burst sprayed round the edge. The binding has then been scraped clean, then the whole guitar has had more clear red spray, followed by the clear coats.

The downside is that as the finish on the edges wears, you are going to see bits of white binding appear - but I've got the same issue on my 1965 Gibson acoustic, where the clear lacquer over the top and binding has faded to a deep amber and where the lacquer has worn off the binding, it's a bright white. It's just natural relicing.

[Kick]

Hi Simon, you are right indeed. I can try to fool my self but it isn't as it should be. I'll sent Adam a mail with pics to see what his opinion is.
I know that if I'm not satisfied with the kit I can return it for another but I have to pay the additional custom charges again (66 euro) and I think PBG also must pay local customs so that is not an ideal situation.

And I appreciate your information about the binding of the Red Widow. Thanks!!!