Started the oiling process today. Linseed oil & turpentine 40% to 60% with 1200 grit wet n dry paper between coats. Will take a few days to get the finish built up but I have time on my hands!!
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Started the oiling process today. Linseed oil & turpentine 40% to 60% with 1200 grit wet n dry paper between coats. Will take a few days to get the finish built up but I have time on my hands!!
Hey there BuffaloGhost, I will only put the video up when I have completed the guitar, but you can see my ES 5V build on You tube. Search Doug Rorison for my channel. Good luck with your build.
Hi Dougr. Your YouTube videos bursting your ES-5V were the inspiration for my ES-5V. They are nice guitars. Look forward to see how this turns out. Ironically I also have a GR-1 ordered.
Thanks DarkMark, I loved doing the ES 5V and it now sounds really smooth. Hope yours turns out how you want it to. Do you have pictures on the forum of it? I will check when I finish this post.
Hi there G-Axe, I am only using pure Linseed oil & Turps in the ratio 40%:60% applying with a soft cloth, letting it dry then rubbing between coats with 2000 Grit wet n dry. I used Feast Watson sanding sealer then sanded it down using 320 Grit then 800 Grit then 1200 Grit. I did some research on oil finishes & I reckon Tru oil is a pretty similar mixture of Tung oil & turps. I actually bought some Feast Watson buffing oil & when I read the blurb on the label they use a 40 60 ratio of Tung oil & a solvent to help the drying process. I have now put on about 5 coats with the sanding between them & I also used 0000 steel wool to rub that coat back. I am getting a nice silky sheen & the neck feels really smooth & glassy. The buffing oil is supposed to give a glossier shine so when I think the Linseed n turps is enough I will put some buffing oil on it & rub like crazy! Hopefully it will do what they say it will do.
I had everything ready for installing the electrics. I got the jack, neck volume & bridge volume knobs in position, placed the pickups in situ & was feeding the 3 way switch & master volume controls into their positions when disaster struck!! I had a loose wire!!!! I attempted to solder it back but decided it was too risky so removed everything. 3 days later I finally got the things back into position after much re soldering!! (other wires kept breaking off during this process!) Not a happy camper at this stage as I now have such a messy looking batch of pots that I have a buzz from the whole lot. I burnt out 1 soldering tip & had to buy a whole new iron from the big green shed as they dont sell replacement tips. During this episode, I actually drew the wires positions onto my plywood template so I would not get confused during the re soldering. Still I got 2 wires completely reversed!! Time to walk away & I did. I came back to it after reading about wiring from WeirdBits (an article from 2013 on the forum.) I got everything back into the body yesterday but the buzz is driving me crazy so I have decided to get some more pots, remove the whole lot & start again. I was so chuffed when I actually got the harness finished at my first attempt & it worked but the gremlins were not going to let me install it without a fight it seems! Now I am going to have a break from it as I await new pots & just to be sure, I ordered 2 new pickups as well. Meanwhile I will be studying the relevant literature regarding all things pick ups etc Meanwhile I might do some more polishing.
How frustrating! The guitar itself looks mint though, so great work there. Hopefully a forced break from wiring will pay off for you mate. Good luck!
Hi Dougr, Your finish is looking really nice. I've got a tru oil and stain on mine.
I am just in the very final stages of my GR 1Sf build.
I had a lot of frustration from the wiring too. And like you got wires soldered wrong! Also ordered new pots. But in hindsight I probably didn't need them.
I did get a roller bridge though, as Adam suggested it would be good with the tremolo.
In the end I ordered the vintage braided wire and did most of the job with that, plus a little of the cloth covered wire.
I found that both these wires were much stronger than the kit wire, and once soldered wouldn't break after moving the loom around.
I covered the braided wire with heat shrink too. And the braid was then grounded to the pot or used as a ground, which made for a cleaner wiring loom.
I would say go slow, and check it all as you go. I had to go back several times as I was getting the buzz too and I tried different wires.
What also helped was plugging my other guitar into the same Amp with volume up to 10 to compare the noise to the new guitar and get a reference or benchmark.