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Most of the info I have to share about this project is on Facebook. You can look it up here: http://www.facebook.com/thepinkguitar but for those that don't use Facebook *GASP!* here is what we have so far...
It's a PBG LPA-1 kit. Its's got a beautiful ash veneer! However, my luthier friend swears up and down that the body is not ash but rather a wood SIMILAR to ash that can be locally sourced in Asia. By that I think he means to say it's not American ash as that of course doesn't grow where these kits are produced. Right out of the gate this kit's body has some problems. Nothing that will affect the end result, but worth noting.
In the cutaway there is a distinct patch that has been filled with wood-filler in the factory. Same on the jack-hole end. Nothing that affects the integrity of the body, but it prevents the back from being finished in a natural finish. All good I wasn't going to do that anyway.
The binding on the bottom of the neck pocket was sticking out quite a bit. This had to be sanded down.
More problematic is the veneer. In the factory it wasn't glued down very well, out of the box it started chipping (with barely any handling from yours truly) around the neck pocket. No problem as I was able to glue it back down and the chips will be covered by neck and neck-position pick up. There is a chip missing in one of "pot holes" (Hahaha potholes, like I am back on route 66, don't get jealous I used to live on route 66 - well almost anyway) this will get covered with a knob but more annoying is that during grain filling the veneer started lifting all along the grain that runs over that knob. I guess ash is really (especially when it's veneer thin) susceptible to moisture and veneer not being glued down all that well it split on the grain and curled up. I pushed it down with a few clamps. I will not repair this until after staining. It requires super glue and I didn't want to risk creating a spot where the stain will react differently and creates a discolored patch.
While the neck itself is mostly in good shape (no major defects there) the headstock is a different story. I honestly think they let an apprentice work on that bit :-) It's not symmetrical at all. The curve at the bottom of the headstock is a different shape left and right. Also the holes for the machine heads are visibly unevenly spaced! I haven't done a test fit to see how it looks with the tuners in place but I am thinking it's going to bother the crap out of me just knowing how uneven it is, even if nobody will ever notice... I NOTICED! I am going to have to do some thinking about this. Luckily (because this is a charity build) I am being assisted by a professional guitar builder!
I will put up a picture soon.
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As promised... photo!
This is after 4 coats of TimberMate (walnut) and much much sanding. I brought it up to 400 grit just to see how well it would look. I really need to bring it back down a bit before I put the stain on, so it soaks up a bit better.
The knobs I had ordered for another project. The pink pickups are "pre-loved" DiMarzio PAF Pro. Kindly donated by Ernie Taylor.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...20710227_o.jpg
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Hell, Jay. That grain has come up absolutely amazingly well. Love it!
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Looking very pastel man. Nice colours!
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Thanks folks! First coat of white primer went onto the back today... Now I got more sanding to do! Yay!
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Grain is looking fantastic! great work.
cheers,
Gav.
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À big chunk of veneer peeled up and snapped off :-(
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looking good Jay nice grain on the cap. Did something react with the veneer ? never heard of veneer peeling and snapping off !
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I don't think it reacted as such. I honestly think that the veneer cap wasn't glued down correctly. I honestly didn't do do anything other than slap some TimberMate on it in a filler/water ratio way way dryer than Stew-Mac recommends...
This kit came out of the box with lifting veneer in the neck-pocket and a chip missing from around one of the volume knobs. Ash being such open-grained wood, it split right down the grain. Moisture must have traveled under that chip and worked it's way out from there.
Let me put it this way, if this is the kind of damage a bit of grain filler does, then there is no way it will survive stain.
As I said on Facebook, on a positive note the first coat of primer went onto the back!
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Some more pictures... Taped up ready for primer (this is super low tack tape) and next the hole it ripped into the veneer. Look how it was already splitting elsewhere...
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...s7cg-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...gj61-image.jpg
