Drifters Exa-7 first build

[chrissyinbkk]

My thoughts were exactly the same as your re a fret level, bought a couple of items, took my time and the result well pleased with...I have the rest of the flock to do now over winter....

[churchie]

That is one of the great things about building guitars - you learn so many skills that you can use on your other guitars.

Truss rods used to scare me, and now I tweaked my acoustic guitar's neck and it is playing better than ever.

Will never pay for a set-up again!

[Mr.Drifter]

Hmm.
So, would the cheap tools andy suggested do the job well? Or would I be better off getting the kit from pitbull?
I am tempted to get most of it anyway. Didn't see a reason to do it myself, but you are right, it'll come in handy for future guitars if there's ever odd frets and what not. Also some handy for nut and bridge stuff

[Simon Barden]

I'd certainly get a nut crowning file as it makes life so much easier. You'll certainly need a notched straight edge, and if you don't want to make your own, you might as well buy one. It's useful for checking for back-bow in any standard guitar set-up.

I bought a diamond faced file for fret levelling (one of these http://www.chrisalsopguitar.co.uk/sh...ler-File-TF020 ). It's very fine, but still sharp enough because of the diamonds to make fret levelling a quick task.

It is a lot easier to level and profile your frets than you think. The first time I did it worked perfectly and it's worked every time since. The most time is taken in profiling the frets and polishing them so that no longitudinal scratched remain, as even a light scratch can make the string feel 'scratchy' when bending.

I've got some metal fret protectors which I use when I want to just work on the odd fret, rather than mask all the board off.

[Mr.Drifter]

Awright, got most of the bits I need to do the body and neck finish.
Decided in the end to go for a stained and oiled finish, as I part cbf doing all the work for paint, but also figured it'd be better, so the transition from body to neck is nice and smooth, with no lines of paint stopping, and oil/ raw starting.

Got a walnut stain, and some danish oil for the finish. Did a small test patch of the stain with oil over it in a control panel, and it seems to play nicely together, so will see how it goes.
Just need to do the neck, glue the neck, sand the heel down, then finish the body, and neck. Then yeah, the rest. Big bits first though

[Mr.Drifter]

Found the balls, and glued the neck on.
First time using this glue, so fingers crossed it works properly (we'll soon find out if it didn't work hah)
Measured like 20 times, found a few good spots, and then put the pickup in and realised they weren't good spots, then double checked how to measure the scale length, then marked, measured a few more times, then glued.

Really keen to get this thing together, but not going to rush it.


(will be interesting to see how long the facebook pics last)

Also, did put through the order for my liberator (quick release vol pot) push/push audio taper pot, switch, switchcraft jack, and orange drop cap. The hotswapping pickups thing should be awesome for finding the pickups I want. Also handy for pulling it apart and what not if it needs it

[djk7]

yeah mine turned up very high on the nut. Will use this nut as a practice I think and buy a bone one. Am doing a similar stain and oil. I race you mate!

[Mr.Drifter]

yeah mine turned up very high on the nut. Will use this nut as a practice I think and buy a bone one. Am doing a similar stain and oil. I race you mate!

Game on, haha.
I'll probably be waiting a while for the volume pot, but see how we go.
Also yeah, agreed the nut should be good practice. Tying to figure out whether it's best to shave from the bottom or file the top

[Mr.Drifter]

Hit the heel up to get that nice transition.
Not amazing, and for some reason I couldn't get rid of the little micro lips, but it'll do (they look worse in the pics seemingly)



Upside is it feels great, and mostly looks the part haha. Actually really surprised how it came out, both the sanding (though there was a mishap with the higher end of the neck being slightly thinner) and the glueing. Yeet

[FrankenWashie]

Nice and clean man, lovely work.