Sounds like good progress Paul looking forward to seeing some more piccies of this.
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Sounds like good progress Paul looking forward to seeing some more piccies of this.
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What was the action like when you did your mock setup with the rick bridge?
wow a stanley knife would have been tedious Paul. Yes think that happens to everyone you find the right tools after the job is done !
Look forward to pics
That's determination, all right! I can imagine how long that would have taken!
The action was good, there is scope for raising the action on the tail unit, as soon as i get chance i'll do another mock up and get some shots, its had another coat of tru-oil tonight and i've hung it to cure.Quote:
Originally Posted by JEPPO
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So far so good shine building nicely.
looking nice and shiny Paul, how many coats of naughty oil is that?
3rd coat, but only really had one good coat as the first two got rubbed down to flat off, should take around 5 then try a buff to see how it polishes up.
Hi Paul
If I can give some advise on my two attepts on TO finish - if you're going for a high gloss finish then put at least 10 coats on before you start to sand it level. Mine took about 20-25 before final sanding and polish and i did two TO sandings in between. Approx on 10 and 15-17 coats and then about 5 more before final sanding and polish. TO is so damn thin that if you sand with say 1000 grit after five coats you're most likely gonna go through the TO no matter how you try to be gentle with it.
Next one I'm gonna do a satin finish so it's not gonna need 20 coats. If this is what you're after then it's propably less. With my RC I was more than generous with my coats so it would propably equal to maybe 30-35 light coats.
Just so that you don't have to suffer the headaches I got when I was doing that...
Cheers Arzi, yeah i'm leveling it with P1500 or P2000 between coats, i will work it down to P2500, each time it gets a better gloss, few more passes and it should be good to leave to cure before buffing.
It's hanging to dry at the moment and the current layer number 7 i think, is looking very smooth and glossy indeed.
Greetings all, well time to update and as i had my birthday recently i am in possession of a mighty fine new camera, its a Nikon L330, courtesy of my lovely wife. So a few snaps of my progress, which has been adding layers of tru-oil to build up then leveling back using P2000 and P2500 rubbing papers, it's a slow process but each time the finish gets better, current photos show it prior to being leveled and buffed to check the finish (its getting close to me being happy with it).
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i have ordered some items off eBay for other projects but spotted a Humbucker pickup for a bass for a bargain price, not sure if i'll use it on my Rick or sell it on.
All in all i'm happy with the progress, i can spot the issues, scars and blemishes within the timber that are only highlighted by the flash and if i decide to do another one maybe the Ash top i can watch out for these and eradicate or disguise them.
I don't have a festive bone in my body but it won't stop me wishing all the best compliments of the season, hope its a happy and peaceful one.
looks excellent Paul and looks like you are on the home stretch. Your new camera takes a nice clear photo !
Glossing up really nice, taken without flash, so a little bit of shake glitches
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looking great Paul, looks like you aren't too far off assembly !
The finish looks fantastic. Good job Paul.
Great job Paul.... i did finishing a guitar using TO and the results were not as i expected.. but yours looks so so good!!
S!
Tru-oil is something you have to know when to leave alone, i do light coats and leave for 24 hours to cure before adding the next, after around 10 coats i level the surface with a used piece of P400 wet & dry then use P1500 i then clean it off and check the surface then a final finish with P2500. i then start the process again but only do a couple of coats before giving a rub with P1500 & P2500.Quote:
Originally Posted by sansan
It's a long laborious task but the finish can be fantastic. The Rick is getting there i'll do a final sufface check then offer it up to the buffer to see how it comes up.
Greetings, spent the day with the buffer and various polishes working on the finish, it is taking shape and i will have another look in light of day before i make my mind up.
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I have notched out the scratch plate to sit around the neck, i will work on getting the overall shape a little better and i may add a chamfered edge to the scratch plate.
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looking good Paul on the home stretch now !
Finish is lookng great! Some really nice shine you've got there.
cheers,
Gav.
Well totally pi$$ed off, attempt to secure the machine heads even with pilot holes 2 screw heads have snapped off, talk about cheap garbage steel. Gonna have to work out how to extract whats left of the screws from the timber without doing too much damage, not impressed one little bit.
Sorry to hear that Paul. I'm beginning to think that tuner screws are the upgrade option that Pitbull really needs.
What a bluff Paul, very sorry...im looking for one solution on spanish luthier forums and find some possible fixings, all of them requires lately refilling with some piece of wood, like a toothpick or something.
The ones i've seen are:
1. Do nothing, if not the lower springs of the machine head, just glue them with some metal superglue for aesthetics purpose..(just the easy one)
2. If you have a drill press, try to make a tiny hole (or maybe 2 around with the same diameter) near of the screw, and maybe you could extract them with some pliers.
3. get some of this tools (here named "sacabocados") and using the smallest try to carve a hole around the screws, not necessarily entire length of the screw, just enough to get the tip with the pliers and extract them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/9x-Sacabocad...wAAOSwDN1URcp4
Paul - sorry to hear that - seems that this can happen with whatever screws you have - I've stripped a couple - luckily they were on a bass so it was one of four on a tuner and I could glue the head back on. DB has done a how to in terms of getting the screws out - may be of some help...
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=2742
Cheers guys, struck on the option of just sinking whats left of the snapped screw into the head stock and rotating the tuner slightly to secure into fresh timber, i've also ordered some new screws from one of my regular suppliers.
I'll keep you posted, in the meantime working on the scratch plate, chamfering the edge ready to start wiring.
Greetings all,
Right new screws arrived, not totally happy with the line of the tuners as i had to rotate slightly to avoid screws still stuck that i could extract, put the strings on to check for any issues and the action, pretty impressed with the action, just a slight adjustment needed to the bridge. I will strip it back down and sort these out then start on the electrics.
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good one Paul glad it's back on track and almost finished. Is that a stain test in the control cavity the darker section ?
Looks like action can come down a bit and should be nice to play.
Have you got a bone nut for this or using the plastic one ?
Any photos of the headstock to see the tuner angles ?
Unhappy with the angle of the tuners i removed them and refitted, i won't show the back as it is something of a dogs dinner with holes and scar marks, i will address them in time, adjusted the tail as well while i had the strings off. I will start to fit the pickups etc. in answer to the nut, it is the original plastic one, it needs re-cutting to give a better action and in time i may look to change it.
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Hey Paul, the angles look fine now, but presume they are the re-adjusted angles. So in this position do you need to remove 2 broken tuner screws ?
Greetings Wokka, yes i fitted them turned slightly to avoid the broken screws but it put the thumb plates a little too close to each other, i took them all off again and spent a little time to alter each tuner to make it pleasing to the eye.
Next task copper foil the cavities ready for wiring
good stuff Paul on the home stretch to making noise !
Greetings people, just another quick update, wired and working, managed to drop a blob of hot solder onto the finish :(
Things left to do, i need the truss rod cover engraving, gonna take off the strings and repair the solder damage, looking to get a custom pickup cover made, i need to speak to a metalworking friend to see if its do-able.
All in all its going well, in time i'd like to try another as i said at the start i wasn't sure what finish to go with, well looking at it i would love to have done natural wood with graduated black lacquer to the edge.
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Good to see you got it assembled. It's a rewarding moment when you get to plug it in and play. Well done.
Hey Paul well done getting to this stage
Bummer about dropping solder. Looking good. You must be happy competing the project
Paul, thanks so much for documenting your build, it's helping me decide to take the plunge. I have always coveted a "Fireglo" Rick, but like most, don't have the $1650 to get the real deal, plus I actually like the way the J pickup is placed on this kit, looks like right where I like to rest my thumb. QUESTION: is yours the RC-4 with basswood body or RCA-4 with ash body? Do you have any thoughts on which wood, basswood or ash, would look better with the transparent "Fireglo" (cherry sunburst) type finish I have in mind? Also, did the neck come with binding already installed, or did you have to glue it in place? Thanks so much!!
Hi Muxorama, sorry for the late reply, mines the basswood body, had no issues with it apart from disguising some very small wood knots, all in all its turned out well, the bassist in one of my bands tried it out and loved it, he had owned a rick copy in the past but said it was awful to play. I am currently waiting on the neck to settle after adjusting the truss rod, touch of buzz off the strings but i'll adjust the saddles to try to overcome this. I'm still looking for someone to engrave me a truss rod cover with the name on it, pic-up cover i am still in 2 minds over this as the best tone seems to be right over the pic-up i may just look for something to make a surround for the J pic-up incorporating a thumb rest, i do have a monster humbucker i was temped to rout out to fit it but at the moment i am looking for a scrap bass body and neck to do up slap it onto for another project. All in all it sounds really good the neck pic-up is very powerful. It's due for a road test soon as the bassist in my other band wants to try it out on a gig and see if he wants to commission a build.