Marcel's PBG LP-1SSP

Howdy fellow builders.

Well my wonderful postie delivered my PBG kit today.

My plan is Mahogony stain on the back and neck with Tru-oil sealer and top coats.
The Maple spalt on the body and headstock is to get a dark Yellow stain with Hard Shellac clear coats. The dark Yellow is a mix of 5 parts Yellow and 2 parts Brown water based powder dyes which I have found to bring out figuring quite nicely without being to over the top nor requires much sanding.

The second pic is with the body damped down in the hunt for glue marks...lol

Daaaaamn that spalt looks like a spearhead!

Nice looking top. Good that you're doing the glue check.

I can see quite a few glue marks in that photo, certainly right round the edges at the back of the guitar, like Kick's LP had. Also possibly either side near the waist curves and on the bottom edge of the lower horn, but that may be the spalt pattern. Looks like the join line is glue-free, but as you've got to get the glue-remover out, it's worth running it over the line just be be sure.

The darker the stain, the more the glue marks will show, so you really want to get rid of all of them.

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Daaaaamn that spalt looks like a spearhead!

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Agreed, but not only that, the rest of the grain pattern makes it look like it flying through the air!
Very cool!

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Nice looking top. Good that you're doing the glue check.

I can see quite a few glue marks in that photo, certainly right round the edges at the back of the guitar, like Kick's LP had. Also possibly either side near the waist curves and on the bottom edge of the lower horn, but that may be the spalt pattern. Looks like the join line is glue-free, but as you've got to get the glue-remover out, it's worth running it over the line just be be sure.

The darker the stain, the more the glue marks will show, so you really want to get rid of all of them.

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I intend to go with a dark yellow Keda dye... 5 parts yellow + 2 parts brown, and a pro deep Red Mahogany stain for all the non-spalted bits.. both of which have given me good results for me before. Ubeaut Hard Shellac for the spalt, and True-oil for the Mahogany. Should marry well with the all Black hardware and Black P-90's.

As for the glue marks, I spent 2 hours with the damp sponge, a wire brush and some 320 grit W&D getting rid of most of it... what little remains now mostly looks like the spalt. In particular like you said Simon around the waist and horn it gets a little difficult to diferentiate. The join looks totally fine to the naked eye when damp...There is still a little glue type image around the back edge that's being stubborn but there is always tomorrow in the brighter sunshine of the new day....

Glad most of it's off. Just be careful with the brush and sanding about breaking through the veneer as it is very thin. Which is why a glue remover like Goof-Off is recommended.

The spots are remarkably the same as on my LP body. Question Marcel; is your join line exactly straight? In my case it was off-angle (and has some nasty glue spots...)

The spalt is looking beautiful!

Went to 'that' shed and found a small tin of Goof-off for about $8 so I'll soon see how I progress with the glue issue.

As for the straightness of the spalt join, I did a mock up and it would only be 1mm or so off the centre line which is too little to worry about.

I also checked the neck fit which I'm feeling is rather snug. The neck does not move when dry fitted to the point that if you didn't know you'd be almost forgiven thinking that is had been glued as it is that tight and snug. And it takes delicate effort to get the neck back out again.

The neck angle is pretty good. I estimate that once the neck is glued in I will need to raise my bridge between two and three full turns from dead bottom to achieve an action of 2mm at the 12th fret.

All the binding meets up nicely during the dry fit, and there only small gaps around the neck/body interface that I'm sure will disappear once the joint is filled with tightbond.

I have 2 other LP's, a Gibson '50's tribute and a slim design Mahogany kit that I built previously and neither has a body as thick as this kit. Interestingly despite the thickness the weight of it does not seem that great. Must have some sort of weight relief under the cap. Once it is all assembled I might have to borrow the spouses bathroom scales and come up with some factual kg numbers.

Great looking kit Marcel, look forward to seeing it under the stain

Did some sanding with 320 W&D, scraped a little with the wire brush, rubbed in some Goof-off, and repeated many times..... and then after a few hours of repeats came the thought 'why not?'... first coat of stain (Keda dye mix) applied...