Danos Flying V - FV - 1G

[Dano]

Here goes.
So I've always kind of wanted a flying V but it's always been at the bottom of the list of guitars I would actually buy, so I decided that means it should be at the top of the list of guitars I'd like to build. This is my first build ever so it should be interesting and exciting.

My choice for the finish is a sunburst with Carmine Gypsy for the outer burst and burning sun for the inner burst. When I was choosing a look I used google image search and looked at tons of flying vs but I only just realised the other day when the kit turned up that the examples I was looking to emulate don't have a pickguard covering up the grain on the top and the control cavity is in the back. I saw a couple of other fv-1g build diaries where they've cut out the piece that goes between the pickups. I'm thinking of going a step further than that and cutting a modified version myself which only leaves a control cavity cover. You can see my roughly cut template for this in the pics.
I want to paint the top of the headstock a glossy black and cut an oversized truss rod cover which you see on the 67 reissue flying v. My plan is to leave the truss rod cover blank and then put on whatever faux branding I feel like with a white board marker or something, the idea being that I can change it to suit my mood when restringing it.
I'm going to use a pair of ESP pickups and possibly other electrical parts from an old les paul copy of mine that took a couple of dives off an ill fitting guitar stand. It's got a big crack at one of the joins on the neck which makes it a bit flexible. Those pickups were the best part of the guitar anyway.


http://i.imgur.com/ediF8B2.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vN2O6pk.jpg

Day 1 to Day 15
Stared at all the parts and did nothing.

Day 16
Cut a pickguard template.

Day 17
Scratched the first template and did another one.

[gavinturner]

Hi Dano - Welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great build! The flame maple top looks awesome and should look good with your colour choice. Do you have a plan to pop the grain before you start the burst proper? I agree with you that getting rid of the scratch plate in favor of a control cover is definitely the way to go. You could even include the jack plate as well? although that would take up a bit more real estate.

Anyway I hope you enjoy your build. It's gonna look awesome!

cheers,
Gav.

[wokkaboy]

Yes Dano you could apply a black stain/dye and sand it back before the colour coats. Its been done on a few builds and makes the flames stand out more. I got this effect on my amaranthine LP-1.
Don't forget to full up the chully bun Cuz !

[Dano]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from gavinturner on December 17, 2013, 09:50
Hi Dano - Welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great build! The flame maple top looks awesome and should look good with your colour choice. Do you have a plan to pop the grain before you start the burst proper? I agree with you that getting rid of the scratch plate in favor of a control cover is definitely the way to go. You could even include the jack plate as well? although that would take up a bit more real estate.

Anyway I hope you enjoy your build. It's gonna look awesome!

cheers,
Gav.

Thanks Gav,

I'm maybe not up with the play here as far as popping the grain, Do you mean with ink or something? I hadn't planned on anything more than the wudtone products I've ordered.
If I'm sticking with going for the look of the guitars I saw in my image search I think my answer is no.
It's more of a subtle look I'm going for I think.
I reckon the jack plate will stay separate but I may end up cutting a new one depending what colour scratch plate material I get.

Cheers Gav

[Dano]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on December 17, 2013, 10:55
Yes Dano you could apply a black stain/dye and sand it back before the colour coats. Its been done on a few builds and makes the flames stand out more. I got this effect on my amaranthine LP-1.
Don't forget to full up the chully bun Cuz !

Ha ha I'm beached az bru! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA
Wanna chup?

I am now thinking about it, but it would be taking me away slightly from the look I was going for, so I'm not sure.

[pablopepper]

Good choice on the FV, it's a beautiful kit that I must get around to doing one day. Hope you have fun, that's the aim of the game anyway!

[wokkaboy]

haha glad you have a sense of humour Dano. I've seen the all the episodes of Beached Az. I can't waste the opportunity to wind up a Kiwi bro !
On a serious note, you can start sanding your kit in preparation of the 1st coat of wudtone. My azure lagoon FV didn't have any black dye/stain and the flames are still obvious

[Dano]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from pablopepper on December 17, 2013, 11:48
Good choice on the FV, it's a beautiful kit that I must get around to doing one day. Hope you have fun, that's the aim of the game anyway!

Thanks Pablo, fun is what this build is all about for me and I'm hoping the end result is a gat that's fun to pick up.


/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on December 17, 2013, 12:10
haha glad you have a sense of humour Dano. I've seen the all the episodes of Beached Az. I can't waste the opportunity to wind up a Kiwi bro !
On a serious note, you can start sanding your kit in preparation of the 1st coat of wudtone. My azure lagoon FV didn't have any black dye/stain and the flames are still obvious

Ha that's all good, I've now seen all the episodes too, they're really cool. I'm getting used to the windups cos lately most of my friday and saturday nights are spent on team speak with my online sim racing buddies who are all aussies and kiwis, there are a lot of windups and banter and many many refereneces to Beached Az.
I'm looking to get started properly by the weekend.

[wokkaboy]

Dano, never heard of sim racing, checked it out looks like fun, is it a free download ?
There are a few talented Kiwi V8 supercar drivers and 3 made the top 10 in the championship this year, Shane Van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard and rookie Scott McLaughlin had a ripper season.
Best of luck with the start of this build, give it a thourough sand with 180, 220 and 240 grit paper, be careful not to over sand the caps are quite thin

[Dano]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on December 18, 2013, 09:49
Dano, never heard of sim racing, checked it out looks like fun, is it a free download ?
There are a few talented Kiwi V8 supercar drivers and 3 made the top 10 in the championship this year, Shane Van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard and rookie Scott McLaughlin had a ripper season.
Best of luck with the start of this build, give it a thourough sand with 180, 220 and 240 grit paper, be careful not to over sand the caps are quite thin

Yeah Wokka,

I've been following the kiwi boys closely in the v8 supercars this year. The Giz is a legend in my books, he battles quite strongly with the top dudes who have way more experience than him.

rFactor is the race sim I use. http://rfactor.net
It's a steal at $40 US.
The best part about it is it has a very strong community base who create new tracks and vehicles and share them for free.
The cars we race most are the v8 supercars and bathurst is always very popular. Every time there's a v8s round on we're racing on the same track in the evenings.

Yeah I was trying to see how thick the cap is by looking at the grain in the pickup cavities and seems almost like it's painted on. I will be very careful.

[Dano]

Ok so I figured if I'm going to go spraying black paint at the head stock I should probably do it before anything else to avoid the risk of getting spray on the finish. I masked the crap out of it and did about 3 or four coats, I took all the masking off to check it out below. I haven't finished it yet, there a few small patches where the masking had covered area that was supposed to be painted. I was planning on doing further coats anyway so I've masked it up again.
http://i.imgur.com/orhUsRp.jpg