Hi Alexj, Are the raised bits of veneer movable or spongy? If they are could be trapped air as hard to clamp on a curve, and if you put a very small hole in one does it push down?
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Hi Alexj, Are the raised bits of veneer movable or spongy? If they are could be trapped air as hard to clamp on a curve, and if you put a very small hole in one does it push down?
Hi Tony. Unfortunately the raised parts are very hard now. I think they are filled with glue. Maybe I should have "opened" them directly after removing the press...
I had the same question as VH. If you like the bumps then it's all good. if not, you should be able to sand down and try again with the veneer. Since the surface is not flat, however, it may not work well without some sort of a mold.
At the moment I tend to keep the bumps. I made small cuts in some of them, but without any effect... and they feel very hard. On the back I also have some, but they are much smaller and look more natural. They have glue inside, so I think it is the same on the front.
I think you are right, that some kind of mold is needed for the curves, however more experiments are needed to try different ways out. And it is also a matter of the veneer style and preparation I think. Some veneer softener is needed, to get a better result. I tried to soften it by water and steam of an iron, but it did not work well. So I just put some oil on it, for it was very very dry. Maybe the preparation was a mistake, but sometimes I am just not patient enough 😑
I move on with sanding of glue traces and make preparations for hardware, like bridge and string through. The bumps have kind of wooden structure or some old skin, that gives maybe some dimension in this imperfection or gives me the excuse 😁 let's see how it proceeds and looks together with hardware 🙂
Moved on with shaping and veneering the headstock. Also made the pickup cavity and electronics cover.
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still a lot of sanding :)
Moved on, trying out some black stain and black colored oil. The oil is fine, but becomes glossy and sticky with every coat (maybe it has to dry out longer) But I could not get the right result for the black sides and the neck. Between veneer and wood I still had some parts of glue and woodfiller which could not be covered properly by stain or oil, of course.
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So I came back to black mat finish aerosol which I already used on my Explorer. This seems to work fine for me. Did not use any grainfiller, so the wood structure is still visible, which does somehow correspond with the wooden parts.
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The wooden parts get some coats of clear semi-gloss/mat finish and that will be the final solution for this two colored guitar.
For the mounting of the neck I was not sure which direction to choose, but I think I prefer the marked one. The metal plate (as supposed by the kit) looks just to massive and takes too much attention on this wooden structure. It looks better with the screws put inside the "pods", don't know how to call it. So I think the classic screws directly into the neck should work. And I dont think I will ever remove the neck again, but did not want to glue it this time.
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The next steps will be adjusting the bridge (maybe should have done it at the beginning), the string through body drilling and the neck mounting. Not sure about how to get a small hole to the bridge for the ground wire. From which direction to drill. Through the jack entrance with a small handdrill maybe?
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Veneer on a curved surface is generally kept in place by putting the body in a plastic bag and sucking the air out. There are clothes storage bags that have that capacity and work with a strong domestic vacuum cleaner. I've seen YouTube videos of people using this method, but have never done it myself. as long as the veneer doesn't move whilst the air is being sucked out, it seems relatively straight forward.
For the ground wire, drill outwards from the bridge post hole nearest the control cavity to the cavity. To get a low angle, you'll need a long drill bit so the drill doesn't hit the body and increase the angle. I normally try and set up a couple of staggered height wood blocks to rest the drill bit on and create the right angle. Also, rest some wood or metal by the edge of the post hole so the drill doesn't chew up the edge.
I bought a cheap set of long drills from Amazon for this purpose, something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/300mm-Extra...ps%2C94&sr=8-6 and I use the 4mm one. Being long, the thin drills bend easily, so don't press hard and let the drill do the work.
You'd have to be very luck indeed to hit the post hole if drilling through from the output jack hole. And once you've drilled one wrong hole, it's hard to get the drill to not follow the same hole again.
You do want the hole to be near the top of the post hole, so the ground wire hangs down the side of the hole. This gives a fairly long contact area with the insert and the insert pulls the wire with it when you push/hammer the insert in. If the hole is at the bottom of the post hole and you bend the ground wire strands so they face upwards, the post will just push them down when it goes in and you may either not get a good contact at all, or the wire may stop the post from going in properly and the lip sits proud of the body. So having a hole near the top is good.
Just keep checking how far you've drilled, and mark with tape the approximate length you need to drill for. You don't want to keep drilling and come out the back of the guitar! If the drill goes into the control cavity right where the side meets the bottom of the cavity, you don't always feel the lack of back-pressure on the drill as you hit air, as some part of the drill may always be hitting wood and you may only need to drill a few more mm before you come out the back. So try for as shallow an angle as you can. It's worth trying to drill a shallow indent with a very small drill bit first (or even use a small nail to make a small hole) so there's something for the end of the long drill to rest in, so it doesn't skate off somewhere else.
The black sides look great with the oak burl.
+1 for drilling from the bridge post hole to the control cavity, with a protector for the top of the body.
Thank you Trevor. And special thanks for Simon's detailed instructions. I will take all of that into account.
Now I went for the bridgeadjustment. At least I tried. And (like almost everything with this kit) it did not get totally right. I messed up the holes a bit. They are now a bit more than 74 mm away from each other. Most bridges have something about 74, now it is a bit tight. At least one bridge that I have fits, and the other does not. But somehow it should work.
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What I am more worried about is the neck/body angle. I think about reducing the angle, so the bridge does not have to come out so far catching the strings and preventing them from touching the fretboard. In my eyes it goes quiet far, also for the humbucker. So why not flatten the angle and making the neck and body run more parallel. For example like on an explorer. Actually it should work, or could this negatively affect the whole thing?
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I also think, that for the strings through body version in this case a more flat angle would be better for the strings going in a better flat angel into the body after the bridge. Or am I wrong?
You certainly can reduce the angle, but you need to be very careful and only do it by a minimal amount. I’d first use a very thin shim (say 0.5mm) at the front edge of the pocket and see where that gets you. This should give you a good idea about the angle change required. It should take the bridge down by around 2mm. What you don’t want is to decrease the angle so much that you can’t lower the bridge enough and end up with a high action. A high bridge is preferable! You might consider living with a shim (if it’s not too obvious) as the safe option.