Willem's Epi '84 Explorer EXA-1

And, remember it's a set neck, so you have to be a little careful with the neck heel where it gets glued into the body. It needs a bit of 'tooth' for the glue to grip on, so don't sand the heel too fine in the glue zone. And, when it comes to finishing, make sure you don't get any finish on that area or the glue won't hold. I normally sit the neck in place in the body then use strips of masking tape to mark the position of where the body comes to around the neck heel, remove the neck then pencil a line a few mm's in from the tape's edge around the heel and that's my mark for where to stop for the sanding/finish.

okay so I have it sanded up to 240 and I'm going to go over it one more time before timbermate so my question is how much do I need and how do I go about working out a 10-15% warm water mix and how do I apply it?

Hi Willem, how much timbermate you got about 500g ? I'd put say about 80grams into a container and put a little water in, mix it up, it should be a fairly thick slurry and not too thin. You can apply it with a plastic paint scraper or a piece of wood with a sharpish edge.
Once you have done it a few times you will know the correct water ratio. If you do make it too thin just add a bit more timbermate. Treat it like mixing cement.
Don't mix too much or you will have some left over, it's easier to make another mix if you run out.
Try and apply it over the entire body and let it dry for a few hours before sanding it off

I've got the body set up hanging will that be alright? I'm planing on mixing 41/2 tsp of timbermate with 1/2 tsp of warm water and see how that goes and then apply it while the body is hanging upside down so I can get to all sides

yeah no worries Willem, might be easier to apply it flat on a surface, let it dry then do the other side. See how you go, you can probably apply it hanging if you hold the body with one hand.

Timbermate is on the back and sides now just need to wait for that to dry do the front and then get sanding
Attachment 1311

cool good stuff Willem, looks like you piled it on, nice, that will fill the grain nicely.

top coat is on the mix came out a little chunky rather than completely smooth like the first batch but it seemed to smooth out as I spread it so hopefully that turns out okay
Attachment 1324

Should do the trick nicely.

looks good Willem. If you need to do another coat of grain filler it's no big deal. Looks like you covered the body nicely

looks like an EX birthday cake!

haha love the description Stan, it sure does !

right so I've started sanding it back by sanding with 80 till I could start seeing the wood then switching to a combination of 240 and 320 which has completely worn through one strip of 320 without even clearing the top but I have run into an issue, as I was sanding I have found what appears to be three dents which to the best of my knowledge weren't there pre timbermate application as a result these dents have been filled with the watered down timbermate and have a markedly different feel and texture to the wood so as that they would easily be noticed if they had a gloss finish over them, what should i do about it? at the moment I'm planning on going back to 180 sanding them out and then working back up reapplying timbermate to that area and then I'm back to where I am now, should I try getting the watered down timbermate out of them and then putting in some normal timbermate acting as a filler or?
thanks heaps for any help regarding anything I should do or might currently be doing wrong
Attachment 1347

Hey Will, so are the 3 dents you are talking about the 3 small white areas where there's timbermate ? Might to pay to fill these with 100% timbermate will be stronger than watered down.
Sometimes when bodies are hung up the wind blows them into a solid object, maybe this has caused the 3 small dents.
Some builders have used an iron with a damp cloth to remove dents but I don't know enough about it to give advice on that.
Since this will have solid paint I'd re-fill these areas and sand back

yes those are the dents I didn't end up hanging it for application though it was hung up for a short period I think I'll try refilling it with 100% timbermate and see how that goes, any tips on how to get the timbermate thats already there out?

use a sharp object to pick out pieces of the timbermate but wouldn't be too worried if it all doesn't come out. Just make sure you fill it nice and compact with the 100% filler

Hey all
Sorry I haven't updated in a while I got a bit busy but I've managed to get back to the build and I've got it all pretty well sanded up to 320. I ended up using 240 to sand back the timbermate but only till I hit wood so I didn't sand it out and then switched to 320. There were a few small spots that looked like they might not have been covered but now that it's sanded back I can't see any difference so will that be okay? There's a few spots that still need cleaning up and I was wondering if you could give me any tips on doing that, the areas in question are the bridge post holes the control cavity and control holes and neck pocket as well as a few small spots such as the small hole between the control cavity and the stop tail mounting hole ( I assume this is for a ground wire?) and a few spots along the edges.
I may as well ask now since I'll probably be cracking out my rotary tool, will I need to shield the pickup cavities? I have some copper tape but as it is the pickups are a very snug fit and I'm not sure how to account for the thickness of the copper tape, I think I've heard some say that its not necessary to shield the pup cavities as they're humbuckers but I'm not sure.
Anyway sorry for the wall of text here are some pictures:
Attachment 1561
Attachment 1563
Attachment 1564
Attachment 1567
Attachment 1568

try warm water on a rag and give it a scrub, can sometimes soften and remove thinner coverings of timbermate

Willem,
sanding to 320 grit should be enough for solid paint. Yes the hole in the bridge post bush hole is for the earth wire. Don't forget to expose plenty of bare wire and run the wire to the control cavity when you knock in the bridge posts (once the finish is all done)
I'd put copper shielding in the control cavity and don't worry about the pup cavities if its a tight fit

righto I ought to ask now as I'll most likely be onto paint in the next couple days
first off how do I know when to switch grades of sandpaper? so far I've kind of been bumbling through it switching to the next grade when I think it feels smoother than it was following spending a few hours going over with 180 to start with but it's at the point now where I can't say I can feel any real difference and have just been switching after I've gone over everything once or twice. At the moment I was just planning on going over everything(including the neck, not the fret board though is it okay if I hit the sides a bit or should I try masking it off?) with 400 for about 30min-1hr before starting to try and track down some paint
Secondly,regarding the neck and fretboard, should I glue the neck before paint? As I am planning on painting the neck as well, I thought if I glue the neck first not only will it help create a smoother transition between body and neck but I could use timbermate to to try and in a sense sculpt a smoother transition between body and neck and and fill any spaces as the fit of the pocket is a bit loose,also how long will the glue need to set before I can continue working, and then regarding the fretboard, it's not exactly smooth and there appears to be a couple spots where there are what could be called machine marks the fourteenth fret in particular has three short but certainly noticeable grooves running in line with the neck, how can I remove these without making this fret deeper/lower than the others, I have bought the steel wool kit from PBG as I was initially under the impression that I would be making good use of it if it will be of any use,also the fretboard feels significantly rougher than even the un-sanded neck let alone the body. It might be worth it to note that the nut also seems incredibly tall/high and from what I have been able to tell the frets, while I don't think they're too bad, aren't exactly level. Is there a chance there is a kind soul on here with some tools and skills that I acquire the services of to take a bit of a look a the neck and see what they could do or should I leave it and put it in with a shop when it's done and I can afford it,
Lastly(sorry for another wall of text) I'm going to need to get a can of white auto paint as thats the colour I'm doing the neck and body but I was wondering if there would be a decent alternative to buying a can of black paint as all I will be painting black will be the face of the headstock, I'm okay with getting it if it has a decent shelf life as I have plans for a future build when I will need it but it may be a matter of years before that build comes into being and I believe there are some paints that must be used within a few hours of the first use, and how long do you think it will take to get all the paint on its okay if it takes a while to cure before it's useable as I don't really need to do anything to it while that happens but I would like to have it pretty well finished within the next few weeks if not before the month is out(I'm sure that a bit of a tall order) as I will be going back to school (surprise, I am but a wee spring chicken if you couldn't tell by now)
Anyway thanks heaps for any and all advice and again sorry for all the rambling

First of all you can run a radius of timbermate around your neck to body to hide any joint (it does not crack) secondly before you put paint directly onto the timber you should really look at sealing it first .

if you are using spray cans, I simply use an auto high build primer, sticks to timber just fine. Rustoleum's high build primer works well too

Willem, there's alot of questions there. Most builders paint the neck and body separately mainly due to being too bulky to work with and hang if you glue the neck in early in the build. You should be able to get a smooth transition. I'd try and sand the marks out of the fingerboard, you can wrap say 240 grit paper around an eraser will curve the same shape as the radius of the fingerboard.
As for the black paint for the headstock, you may end up using half the can if you spray several coats so I wouldn't worry about the shelf life of the can, will more than likely have to throw it away after a certain period.
As the others said prime the body and neck before the white coats. Generally spend a bit more on the spray cans will be a better quality. Post any photos of any problem areas of the build will give us a better idea to get the best way to fix any issues

Thanks heaps guys I cant believe I almost forgot primer thanks for the recommendation Stan. Wokka, if I can actually track down an eraser for once I'll give that a shot thanks I'll probably take it slow though. As for the neck though, once I have it glued and clamped to set roughly how long will it take before I can keep working?

Leave it for at least 24 hours. Depending on weather/temperature it might cure faster, but as its such a critical part of the build, best off not taking chances.

yeah Willem as Pablo said let the neck glue dry for at least 24 hours before you move it or put any tension on the neck. Leave it clamped up for the whole period.
Have you got the scale length sorted before you glue the neck in place ?

right so I've sanded absolutely everything back to 400 and now I'm looking to make the necessary adjustments to the scale length.
First off, I've remeasured and at the moment it looks like it is 312mm from nut to 12th and 321mm from 12th to bridge on the low e saddle wound all the way forward with the neck pickup in, with the neck pickup out the measurement sits at about 318mm and I did some measuring on the pocket and neck heel and it looks like taking about 2mm off the neck will allow the heel to reach the back of the pocket
My question is, which part to take out, either the top part which is actually hitting the pickup surround and stopping the heel from making contact as pencilled in here:
Attachment 1638
(it's just that little rectangle and the pencil is a rough approximation)
or, should I file that entire face back so its uniform and a bit simpler and leaves a bit more space in the cavity?
Thanks for your input this obviously isn't something I want to rush into which is complicated by the fact that the only files I've found around the place so far seem to be large bastard files which I don't want to put anywhere near my guitar

Hey Willem,
you need to use the measurement with the neck pup in place. You need to take off about 6mm perpendicular to the fingerboard (toward the 22nd fret) and more than likely take off enough of the heel so the new face of the fingerboard sits flush with the neck pup and ideally you want a 12th to saddle measurement of about 315/316mm should give you intonation.
Here's a pic of the offset of my 22nd fret, I had to take a bit of meat off mine.
If your not sure about this I can help you bandsaw the meat off, thats what I did very late in the build so at least you haven't started the painting

sound like a plan wokka I might have to take you up on that but I'll see what I can do myself I've got my dads birthday this weekend and school starts next week so I'm probably going to be a bit busy

no worries Willem, don't bother doing any more sanding as it may get some small scratches on the side of the neck putting it through the bandsaw on the side but shouldn't be much damage. THis should have been the first thing to sort out.
I never found out till the gluing the neck stage and the neck was all finished

this weekend is shaping up to be pretty busy so I think I'm going to have a shot with the files and perhaps try with a very fine saw though I have a jig saw if that would be of any use

Hey!
sorry I haven't updated in ages just getting readjusted to school and they like to throw all the tests at you early but i think I'm settled in now and I've got permission to use my schools band saw so I think I'm set I'm planning on measuring up and drawing on the cuts for the neck over the weekend, taking it in next week to cut it and then glue and i should be able to paint over the holidays! so just as a quick reminder largely for myself the neck measurements are nut to 12 = 312mm, 12 to bridge low e saddle wound all the way forward with neck pickup out=318mm, and 12 to low e saddle wound all the way forward with neck pickup in =320mm so Im currently planning to take 8mm off the fretboard end ( theres 10mm excess after the last fret) and 6mm off the heel so that the scale length will be correct and the heel will meet the cavity. I will probably make the rough band saw cuts 1-2mm short and then finish it with files and sand paper. So thoughts?

P.S. its been killing me watching it sit around waiting to be finished. is this normal?

Hey Willem, yep very normal that's when you need to double check, triple check your measurements slow it down .just take your time
It'll pay in the end . You'll end up with a beautiful guitar.

okay I know I've been fairly absent for quite some time but! I have five exams over the next two weeks and have permission to use my schools workshop so I'm going to draw up the cuts I need to make for the neck on wednesday hopefully and then I've got thursday and friday of this coming week and thursday and friday of the week after to work on the neck get it cut and then I can glue it at home and the school also has a spray booth which if I'm lucky I may be able to use at some point otherwise I'll just go down the spray can route as planned