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Hey there lads and ladies, it's advice time!
Upon opening the kit, the only real flaw I found was a nasty split, caused by a blunt drill bit, located by one of the bridge pin holes. It wasn't really worth mentioning previously, but now the time has come to fix it. However, I am at a loss as to how to do so.
Any creative ideas out there? Thanks. :)
http://i.imgur.com/DmDctwD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/scbXGuq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/dWbiZkq.jpg
Oooooh poo!
Easy workaround is to force some Titebond glue into the crack and clamp or weight it down.
Great thing is that as you are painting it will not be visible :)
GEE thats nasty the tear out, the split doesn't look too bad, as DB says force as mych titebond under and clamp for 24 hours, then sand it down flat
Awesome. That was my plan, but I just wanted to be sure.
Thanks gents. :)
also the pickup surround will hide part of the crack Brodie, but I'm sure sanding after glueing it won't be obvious and will have enough strength for the bridge bush
@Wokka: Yeah, I did notice that on my test fit of components, which is a relief. Between the Titebond and the pickup screw holding it down, it will hopefully all work out. Plus, as DB said, because of the paint no-one will be any the wiser once it is all done. :)
I have a nice big bottle of Titebond, as well as some clamps, back at my Kangaroo Island home, but being in Adelaide I can't get at them. :x
So, sadly, this build will have to go on the back-burner until I can get home and collect them. :(
UPDATE:
I am heading home in a few weeks, so this build will be back on shortly.
In the mean time, I have taken delivery of some lovely new Dingotone Guitar Wax, courtesy of the man himself, DB. My plan is to begin prep on the neck ready for finishing, which will include shaping the headstock, sanding the back and sanding the fret board.
One question I have though is what would be the quickest way for me to slightly re-profile the neck shape? As it stands it is a little uncomfortable for my tiny hands, and I want to flatten it slightly into more of a 'D' shape. Suggestions?
Thanks. :)
great to hear, looking forward to seeing this one progress
As for the profile, start with a heavier grade of sandpaper to start shaping it. You could use an random orbit sander at first , but it might take off too much too quickly
Depending on how much you need to take off, if you have a decent rasp file, you could use this to be more specific with the area you need to work with. Then finish up with erasers wrapped in various grades of sandpaper. Because the eraser will bend with the contours of the neck as you work it will assist you to get a smooth contoured finish.
I re-shaped my neck profile just with sandpaper. I think I used 80 or 100. It only took me about an hour to change the neck profile from a fat D to a thinner smoother C. Using sandpaper I was able stop regularly and "play" the neck to see how it was progessing.
Awesome, thanks gentlemen. Hit up the Big Green Shed and got some much needed supplies, so a hefty build day tomorrow.
@Gav: Are you a wizard/genius? That is an awesome idea which I shall be using methinks. :)
UPDATE:
I emailed Andyport to rustle up some decals too. Things are slowly coming together.
good stuff Brodie, good thing you have 2 builds on the go !
Only in my own mind..... ;)Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from west0288 on June 16, 2014, 15:23
@Gav: Are you a wizard/genius? That is an awesome idea which I shall be using methinks. :)
But thanks for allowing my delusional state to continue!
Gav has lots of experience and is always full of helpful advice
Yep. Gav is full of it alright!
Sorry man, couldn't help myself. ;)
UPDATE:
So, becoming frustrated with the fact I can't continue working on the body of this beast, I have turned my attentions to the other vital component - The neck.
Being the impatient lad I am, I have sanded the frets to 1200, steel wooled them, and applied a fantastic little thing that looks like this:
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...ax-600x600.jpg
Let me tell you, I am beyond pleased with the results. It feels smooth as silk, and looks incredible over the maple grain. Unfortunately, photos do not do it justice. But have some anyway. :P
http://i.imgur.com/cyb9Y5o.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/evY6kz3.jpg
I'm now moving my attentions towards reshaping the neck, which I might have a crack at today. I'm looking to take a little off the back, to flatten out the profile a bit. Stay tuned for updates as they happen! ;)
http://i.imgur.com/Mu94EP8.jpg
UPDATE:
Big build day today and I smashed out heaps.
Re-profiled my neck:
http://i.imgur.com/DZaVmoh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/kNJZ2sh.jpg
& Re-profiled the heel:
http://i.imgur.com/QsL0xuR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/i1aL00Z.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/sbnVfCV.jpg?1
I'm really happy with how it is looking and feeling now. A few minor tweak are still needed, but it is a whole lot better than before.
I have stumbled onto a problem however. The factory didn't make the headstock square:
http://i.imgur.com/OUUxB3O.jpg?1
Everything shaded in needs to be sanded off (very tedious). To further annoy, all three peg holes on the right of the centreline will need to be dowelled and re-drilled so that it is symmetrical.
After that though, I can move onto reshaping the headstock design, so keep your eyes peeled for that. :)
Carves look good mate.
Thanks Nick. Still a bit of tweaking, but I'm almost happy with it.
Then to find a drill... ;)
Major setback today... :(
Working on the neck, and my nut snapped off, taking a shard of my fret-board with it. Many words were spoken, not appropriate for here I'm afraid.
Upon closer inspection, found out the headstock is not aligned properly in the horizontal plane (not at 90 degrees to the fret-board). Factory tried to compensate, and carved a groove in the neck to seat the nut in, but it didn't make contact all the way along. Glued it in anyway with a dob at each end, and left a big gaping gap underneath it. Clearly not very strong.
Glued the board shard back on and hopefully that holds. Not sure how to proceed from here though guys. I'm not confident I can level the groove myself in order to reseat a nut with full contact.
I really need some help/advice please... :?
Brodie,
From the sounds of it it sounds worse than it is. Generally re-glueing the nut in is not too difficult. May help though if you can post some photos so we can provide the best advice possible. I have alerted DB and the Gavmeister (the local luthiers) - one / both should be along to the forum in the next day or so to have a look.
Had exact same problem with my last build Brodie, it was actually quite a mess once I took the nut off and the factory had even extended the binding under one side of the nut in an effort to level it up. My solution was to lay down some putty and file it flat so I had a nice even surface to re-seat the nut. I would have said take the positive out of the nut coming off and actually replace it with a decent one but it sounds like you've already chucked it back on but oh well.
Don't over think it too much man... it's easier fixed than you think!
@Brendan: Thanks mate. See what advice the pros offer. I'll try and get some photos up. The nut coming off wasn't really my biggest concern. More annoyed about a shard snapping off my board.
@Nigel: I have only glued the fret board shard back on. The nut is still floating around free. I reckon I will replace it, because it is pretty poor quality. Recommendations on where to source one (bone or TusQ) cheap? Also, I like the sound of that putty idea... Might have to try it out.
as long as you know what you need, tusq is easy enough to find on ebay.
shoot DB an email, he can do a bone one for you
I've got bone from DB before ;) (sorry DB, couldn't help myself). It makes a huge difference to the tone compared to the plastics that come with the kits.Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from stan on June 28, 2014, 11:00
as long as you know what you need, tusq is easy enough to find on ebay.
shoot DB an email, he can do a bone one for you
Definitely worth contacting him.
Waiting on the pictures...
Oky doky. Pictures.
Sorry it's taken me a while to get them up, but I'd still appreciate advice from you Gav.
Treble side:
http://i.imgur.com/x8v2Oti.jpg
Middle:
http://i.imgur.com/wXiAihT.jpg?1
Bass side:
http://i.imgur.com/8CfsOY4.jpg?1
Apparently it was only glued with a dab at the bass side and a dab at the treble side. There was none in the middle. It looks a little worse than it did prior to breaking off (due to panic mode, and me sanding the glue off), but it is fairly close to how it looked. There was always a large gap underneath the bass side, with no contact between nut and neck.
Obviously, I intend to replace the nut, because this one is dodgy. But how do I proceed from there?
Oh, and here's one of the bi-level, shonky route. Please excuse my dodgy glue sanding. :|
http://i.imgur.com/uHoQOP0.jpg
Good news is I have seen far worse :)
You will need to grab a flat file, preferably one that has a saftey edge and carefully file the whole shebang flat and square.
Next, i would throw the plastic nut and replace it with a bone one, I can easily cut you an over size to compensate for the loss of height from filing.
Oh, and when you glue any nuts in, all you need are two drops of superglue either end.
All too often folk over do it with the glue and if and when you want to change the nut it makes it next to impossible to remove without causing some damage to the headstock....
...or ripping off chunks out of the first fret on the fretboard!Quote:
/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from dingobass on July 2, 2014, 07:46
... makes it next to impossible to remove without causing some damage to the headstock....
Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from dingobass on July 2, 2014, 07:44
Good news is I have seen far worse :)
You will need to grab a flat file, preferably one that has a saftey edge and carefully file the whole shebang flat and square.
Next, i would throw the plastic nut and replace it with a bone one, I can easily cut you an over size to compensate for the loss of height from filing.
YES! GAV AGREES! excellent pic's btw!
That certainly is a relief then. :D
I'll try and track down a suitable file from somewhere in the next few days.
As for the nut, I will email you about sorting one out DB.
Thanks for the prompt response too guys. I appreciate it. :)
Good news! This build is back on the road again!
Having been on KI with little to do for two weeks I set about sanding all the machine marks out of the body. I have been over the whole thing with a damp rag, and can find none remaining. Currently sitting at a smoothness of 600. 800 will come soon, ready for painting.
Next, I bought some dowel and plugged the neck mount:
http://i.imgur.com/RKKth7b.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/V0NemPh.jpg
Marked out where I need to drill new holes too. Will soon be obtaining a forstner bit to do my flat bottom counter-sinks as well.
Finally got around to shaping my headstock today too:
http://i.imgur.com/sCzzNB8.jpg?1
Pretty happy with how that turned out.
However, as we all know, if something goes right, something must also go wrong. Attached my tuning pegs, to see how they would look. Liked where I had them, so decided to lock in their locations with the screws. Doing one up and *POP* the head snaps off of it. Now the body of the screw is in the headstock, and I have no way of getting it out:
http://i.imgur.com/wG75J9a.jpg
Creative suggestions that won't ruin me mentally or financially would be appreciated. :P
That sucks. Pull the tuner back off, and there should be a bit of the shank of the screw still a bit of proud of the surface of the headstock.
Grab it with either a pair of end cutters or pliers and screw anti clockwise. It may slip a few time and take care not to scar the timber.
Then buy some decent screws and replace them all, these ones are not the best quality, good luck
Same thing happened to mine. Everytime I tried grabbing the remaining shaft it just seemed to splinter and shatter more. Instead of digging into the timber( or investing in something called a counter thread/screw because I couldn't find one small enough) I just offset all l of the tuning pegs by about 20 degrees and redrilled and rescrewed in a slightly. New position.
Goodluck. Hope you have better luck/skill then I did
If you don't have a screw remover and you can't manage to unscrew the broken stub with pliers etc., you could try carefully drilling another hole right beside it inline with the lug of the tuner (so it will be hidden). If the hole is hard up against the broken screw it should relieve the tension and allow you to turn the broken stub. Once the screw is out glue in some toothpicks to plug the holes, trim, sand, and redrill. Make sure your new pilot hole is large enough and use some candle wax on the screw threads to reduce the risk of them binding and snapping. If you're unsure of the size of hole to drill for a particular screw test it in a scrap piece of similar wood first, like a headstock offcut, that way if a screw breaks it will be less catastrophic.
First thing you need to invest in is a screw removal system if you want to preserve the good looks of this guitar. Then, so that you have completely wasted your money (they are $80) invest $40 in the guitar techie screw driver set (both from StewMac. The set has a screwdriver that has a screw bit starter perfect for these screws. If you look after the screw driver bit well you will never need to use the removal system again. Snapping the screw head off is common place because the screw heats up very quickly when there is no predrilled hole and this leads its thin little neck to snap off!
Screw driver set - a must have!
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...river_Set.html
Removal unit
See they are now $70...exchange rate must be better.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...plete_kit.html