Gotta be pretty happy with that I reckon!
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Gotta be pretty happy with that I reckon!
Beautiful tobacco burst!
Thanks all, it is starting to get pretty close to assembly. I just sprayed what will hopefully be the last coat of poly. I really do like the Cabots Satin, its very forgiving. Fingers crossed I'll be onto assembly this weekend.
I had the new tail piece rock up on Friday, so here's a quick mock up. I think it's supposed to be for a thicker body more like the GR-1SF, so it may need some minor modification. I'll wait until the bridge is in before I make that decision.
https://i.imgur.com/CCsYitJ.jpg
very nice finish!
Thats a beaut! Nice Job SM!
Thanks for the positive comments guys, I'm happy enough although there is plenty that would annoy me if it was mine, but then it's not really my style in the first place. The satin was a good choice. The difference in elbow grease required compared to a shiny finish is huge.
Its all together and playing now with the crappy kit strings on it. I have a high second fret on the E and B strings but otherwise it's pretty darn good! Intonated beautifully, which is good, I was a little concerned I'd set the neck a fraction too far out, but it's perfect. The 490 pickups are really nice.
Bit annoying that the tail piece doesn't have the veneer centerline running straight through it. I might think about putting something in that window to hide it a bit. Owner probably won't care.
Anyway a few, freshly completed pics. I'll do some nicer ones once I've finished fine tuning and put some decent strings on it.
https://i.imgur.com/s2TtVTg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vySf9Xl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/aCZBm8l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3kGFurk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/V8Y0HYa.jpg
The tailpiece is only about 1mm out with the veneer centre line going by the D and G strings positions where they leave the trapeze, so it's really just the design of the tailpiece that makes it look even more to one side. You were never going to get it looking central, even if the veneer line was truly down the centre line of the neck. Take in that fact and relax.
Cheers Simon, yeah I do need to just relax a bit about the whole thing. It's frustrating though and one of the reasons I think I prefer scratch building. At least if something's wrong I can only blame myself.
Some further nitpicking. What are peoples thoughts on this. The string alignment is a bit more towards the high E than the low E. I did check this before I set the neck and it seemed within the margin of error, plus the neck was a very tight fit in the pocket so I'm not sure I could have positioned it differently.
It doesn't seem to affect playability, but now I've noticed it, I can't un see it.
Any ideas for fixes? At the moment, I have bridge receivers for the roller bridge that are .5mm too big for the current holes. I'm wondering about trying to redrill out to 11.5 and offset them that .5 of a mm (as that's all it looks like it needs at the bridge end) but obviously that could be tricky as its difficult to lay this body flat (Although it does 'just' fit in the drill press. I was thinking a brad point bit might do the trick.
Or perhaps I should dowl and redrill? Might be safer, but same problem with getting a straight path into the body.
What do people think?
https://i.imgur.com/by2ZuuR.jpg
Whew, sorted. So I pulled the posts out - should have taken photos, but basically a bolt, flat bit of wood with a hole in it and a couple of blocks and they popped right out. Interestingly the thread is the same as the after market cam lash adjustment bolt from a 1974 valiant.
I then carefully filed the holes to accept the larger inserts, keeping the side closest to the high e side as it was and enlarging in the other direction. You can see here, I did take a photo of reinstalling the earth wire :). Not super pretty, but all hidden and nice and firm.
Big relief as these kinds of things really bug me, especially on other peoples instruments!
https://i.imgur.com/xVx36ix.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RwdIskG.jpg
Bang on dude! You can sleep well tonight.
Excellent! Once you've nudged the pickup a couple of mil north, the OCD will be settled :)
cheers, Mark.
Yeah lol. An interesting feature of this is guitar is that the humbucker screws are just a little bent, so rotating them moves the pickup around about 1mm, a little tinkering and it should line up fine. Good enough that it won't drive me crazy any way.Quote:
Originally Posted by king casey
I've been chipping away at this on and off today. Fixed the high fret and did various other small bits and pieces such as installing the strap buttons. I messed up the bone nut. It was going so well, then I got ambitious and took a bit much off the bottom. So setup with the plastic one for now. Not too bad, a little high on the treble side, but I'm going to let him take it and play it for a while, then get it back for final setup once it's settled a bit. I'll make up a new nut then.
Currently strung with 11's, which seem a good fit. Might go back to 10's, but given the way he plays I think these might be more appropriate.
Anyway, some "finished" pics. I'm not being fussy with finger prints etc as we kind of want the grime and patina to build up on it.
Thanks for all the support along the way guys, I'll put up a review when it comes back.
https://i.imgur.com/EH68fi6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/TnZbvAk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ChXo3Ug.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2mRLNWH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fF3weKg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qSotZve.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NY4ZXgF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8dCq8I4.jpg
Very very nice! And good job with the string alignment!
Well done! That's a pretty tasty looking ES build. I'm not a fan of "Gibson" bursts normally, though their honey, and tobacco bursts can be nice. I love that the back and sides are kinda Walnut, along with the burst you did.
I'm interested to know more about the guitar this was based on - I'm expecting a custom GR1 kit to be delivered sometime soon, and am going to attempt to reproduce a Blonde Harmony H62 with it. See link for pics: https://shop.gryphonstrings.com/prod...Rj8l2m9aL0XRUn
It appears the GR1 is pretty much the sme body style and shape (also looks to be the same pretty much, as your customer's inspiration). When I get that done, I may well go the ES route also, and love Walnut, but also love Blonde, so your build may well be inspiration for me too, in combining the two!
Cheers, as far as I know the original inspiration guitar on the first page of this thread is an Ibaneze 'Artcore' variant similar to this one.
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/ib...tcore-vintage/
I used Feast Watson stains, with 70%-50% diluted Brown teak and walnut that I airbrushed on for the burst, then Cabots satin poly. All available at the big green shed.
For a finish similar to that Harmony, I'd go and look at DarkMarks builds. He has his finger on the pulse of that style of guitar.
Cheers - I'll check DM's builds!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Hey, that’s me!Quote:
Originally Posted by HarmonIser
NUTS! The last nut I fitted I sanded it too low. I had a second one spare and did EXACTLY the same thing again. Then I glued a piece of purfling to the bottom of the first nut and sanded to the right height.
This has turned out stunning, SM. I think I’ll have to check out this Cabots satin.
Seriously good.