Mosrite MKA-2

[Mosrite Slab]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first build so bear with me please !

First impression of this kit is WOW! if I did nothing but fix the neck to the body and screw on the scratchplate I could pose like my idol Johnny ! Nevertheless, I'd like to to take it a it further and am in no rush to do it.

To date I have only had a few guitars, a couple of catalogue Les Paul's, followed by my first decent guitar back in the early 80's an Ibanez Iceman which I loved, but one day I came home and my lovely wife had part exchanged for an '69 Gibbo SG - Angus Young, Brian James, etc. I still have it, under the bed.

All these years, there's one guitar I always wanted, the one played by Johnny or at least close to it as there are a few variations. I love the look of the Ventures II, not so keen on the German carve too fussy in my opinion and while I love the distinctive look of the slanted neck pickup on Mossy's I'm happy to have a guitar without it. The MKA-2 at first glance doesn't appear to be a difficult build thankfully, reading the forum there are a few lovely examples to be inspired by and I hope to do the kit justice as the main parts look and feel superb.

This is my intro, I have a few things to ask of the expert builders tomorrow.

Keith

[Dedman]

I love my Mossy, good luck with the build, start a diary when you do and when in doubt ask questions!

[OliSam]

Top choice dude.
Looking forward to your progress.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mosrite Slab]

Thank you.

As I said above, I'm in no rush and at present am getting the parts together from various sources. Alterations are as follows:

1. Replace supplied Tune o Matic with a roller bridge (on order from Australia) I'm in London by the way. I was tempted to do Moslike tremolo/bridge from ebay but at this stage being a first build it's a bit daunting.

2. Replace bridge pickup with an FS-1 (on order)

3. Replace knobs with Mosrite style types from Kurokumo (on order from Japan)

4. Replace tuners with Kluson 'Butter Beans', arrived from Germany.


I've read the full builds on here and have one major query. The neck fits nicely into the body, not quite as tight as I was expecting but no slop, however I wasn't expecting the fretboard to overhang with body with the pickguard in place by around 3-4mm. There's no way of seeing a proper one in the flesh to see if they're all like it and it's not obvious on the build diaries so is this correct? I realize the paint finish build up will lower it by a mm but the idea or taking a mm of the back of the neck and pocket is quite daunting for a newbie.

[Dedman]

Mine has the same over hang, nothing to worry about .

[Mosrite Slab]

That's great news, I just watched the Guns & Guitars video on YouTube and it's the same but as he was building straight out the box thought maybe he wasn't as fussy as I am!

Next issue which seems to be common to these kits is the height and unevenness of the nut. What's the best way to approach this, take it out and file down the base or file in situ and gradually refile the grooves? Alternatively replace entirely with a bone one?

The zero fret looks like it needs tapping down in the photo, it's actually Ok and just a shadow.

[Mosrite Slab]

First little hiccup today, soon solved. The bushings for the Kluton tuners (which look great) are too small and my first thought was to dowel the holes and drill or ream them to fit. However after a quick YouTube search it became obvious that this can be solved with wider diameter bushings so some 10mm ones were sourced and ordered.

I also decided I'm going to knock the extended outer headstock detail down a bit to make it look more authentic, I need to make up some sort of template first, maybe from enlarging printed photos on a copier.

[Andyxlh]

You should be able to source a bone nut from Pitbull or eBay, I'd remove the one you have with a small screwdriver tapping it from the sides and lifting it away, after scoring the joint with the fretboard with a sharp knife. Really worth the upgrade, especially as you are upgrading so much of the hardware.

[Mosrite Slab]

Thanks, I've ordered a couple of bone Strat nuts from China from ebay. Risky bit lets see what arrives.

I did a very quick mock build with the stock parts and all lined up OK with a bit of a wiggle, maybe a bit of veneer in the pocket is required but I'll deal with that after the sanding. The bushings for the tuners arrived and solve that problem, they may need a wrap of tape on the shaft to tighten the fit or maybe a bit of epoxy.

Big setback on the knob front though, the Kurokumo knobs arrived (thanks HMRC and Royal Mail for the additional 14 pounds customs/handing charge - something I'm going to have to get used to and budget for in future). These are lovely but don't fit the kit pots so I ordered a pair of 24 spline 500ohm CTS and they don't fit either!! What to do here? I think the spline count is correct, just the shaft diameter is a bit too wide. First thought was to drill the hole and splines out of the knobs which will take the splines off, then pack the shaft with tape? Still plenty of time until I get to that stage, I'm in limbo until the roller bridge arrives and I can do a proper mock build.

[Mosrite Slab]

I've ordered another pair of pots without a split shaft. I don't want to attack the knobs until all else fails as they were expensive, the pots aren't!