Marcel's PBG LP-1SSP

[wokkaboy]

nice one Marcel that top looks really nice

[Simon Barden]

Unfortunately does look like some glue marks along the veneer join line - unless you think it's just the spalt markings?

[Kick]

Awesome spalt!

[Marcel]

Yeah Simon,

Just along the veneer join line there are patches that simply refused to take the dye, but on the bright side most are where there is darker Maple or what appear to be knots in the spalt. Thankfully they don't look like drips or finger marks, just semi-random patches of lighter colour... I will probably have another go at them over the coming days and then hopefully a second coat of dye will help dull them down.

I'm just very wary of the wire brush as there has already be a few times where the Maple has been softer than elsewhere and the brush has subsequently left little trenches in its wake. All too many times my thoughts every time I saw another trench would go all Monty Python repeating the words "Wire brush and Dettol Sir!!!"... like if that was going to be of any help...

Nobody needs to remind me of how thin the veneer is... I can see it plain as day every time I look at the body right next to the neck join... luckily that bit of supplied and delivered carnage will hide under the fret board once the neck is installed...

[stan]

Great looking kit and nice job, oh if only they didnt spill glue everywhere... nice save, probably as good as anyone could have done here

[Marcel]

I've set the SSP aside for a few days so I can mull over how I will proceed with it. I was getting agro at every damn glue spot that I was finding and that is not a good frame of mind to be in... I want to at least get one coat of Shellac seal on the colour in before I stain the neck and body, then set the neck, then finish coat the entire guitar. Aussie post advised me that my hard Shellac won't arrive until next Friday so I have a whole week to stew over what I can and can't do with the LP-1SSP top...

So in the interim I moved on past the Strat that is in bits getting resprayed and lying all over my workshop on to my DrParts Alder Tele body that will form the basis of a partscaster of sorts. Have a Kmise Tele neck, a multitude of pickup options and a kit bag of Tele bits/parts from PBG, so the only thing missing is a pick guard... Fitted the neck which was very snug and went about doing centre lines and layouts and stuff on it. Both the Strat and the Tele should keep me busy for a few days until the Shellac arrives.

[Marcel]

Just updated my signature... for what it's worth...lol

[Marcel]

Every time I damp rag it the top looks better and better... Not sure if I should continue hacking at what look like but may not be glue spots...

[Marcel]

I got bored. Decisions on what to do with my Strat re-build, and what colour for the body of my Tele build, and waiting for new tint colours and my Shellac to arrive had me twiddling my thumbs and staring at my wanting LP-1SSP body and the inevitable result that I knew would soon arrive.

So yesterday morning I broke out the Jarrah stain and hit all the Mahogany of the LP-1SSP.... and then in the afternoon after watching a few vids on you-tube sorted out a metho dispenser thingy for the Shellac stage to come.

This morning I go into the shed an see my metho bottle has left a interesting ring mark on the scrap piece of stained wood that it had sat on overnight... Wow!! What a cool effect, and what a perfect way to adjust the tone of the stain that I had used on the Mahogany.... 3hrs later I was satisfied and set the LP-1SSP aside for the Metho to dry off it...

After a late lunch I returned to my Man-shed/luthery workshop with the intention of doing something with the Strat body or sorting PU's or something when I picked up the tiny bottle of Birchwood Casey 'Sealer/filler' that I intended to use on the LP-1SSP Mahogany when I noticed it didn't make sloshy noises that it should. I opened it. It had gone rubbery which I could see when I squeezed the plastic bottle. I squeezed again, and again.... and SPATT! Clear sealer/filler over half my face, my glasses, and my shirt... Bugger... Dots of it on my naked Tele body, dots on my Strat and Tele necks... Buggar!, buggar, buggar...

After cleaning for nearly an hour I figured the seal on the sealer/filler jar wasn't doing its job so I had best use the sealer filler as soon as possible....

Will post photo of sealed and filled LP-1SSP over denatured Jarrah stain tomorrow... that's after the 2nd or 3rd coat has gone on...


On another note, Someone in one of the Facebook forums on guitars that I belong to asked the question "What got you started in building guitars?" and my response is/was ...
"When I was about 10yo I pestered my parents to buy me a good guitar that was at least better that the junk thing that I was mucking about on with 1/2 inch action that my uncle left behind. They bought me a Fender F25 Auditorium acoustic on the condition that I took and followed through with lessons. Life and wife and family got in the way and 45 years latter that guitar was gathering dust beside a 12 string and a Strat that had seen better days before the 20 something me took to it with wild modifications. Late last year I suffered a stint in hospital and the doctors said I had to do something but not something that would stress my condition. Wiping the dust off my guitars has been the best thing for me during this period of convalescence, and re-constructing my 30 year old plywood Strat sowed the seed of which today has me on my 7th build in 6 months."

[Marcel]

Photos as promised.
#1 First coat of Birchwood-Casey sealer/filler after sanding back with 400 & 600.
#2 One hour after second coat of BC sealer/filler applied ...

Considering a third coat

Neck looks very similar to the body...

A few coats of BC Tru-oil to go on next.... then a coat or two of BC wax...