Looks awesome, great work.
I'm sure the blister will settle and you'll be able to get it smooth as you keep building the oil and letting it dry out.
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Looks awesome, great work.
I'm sure the blister will settle and you'll be able to get it smooth as you keep building the oil and letting it dry out.
Brother that is sweet, beautiful how that has come up. Nice work!
That is very nice, gotta luv a blue guitar
That's going to look fantastic when it's finished. Just be patient for it to dry and build up those coats. Awesome mate.
I have now put a couple of coats of oil on the top of the body , the first 3-4 coats have been largely absorbed into the timber. This las coat see picture is the first to get some gloss to the finish. And it is starting to look good
Attachment 24490
While waiting for oil coats to dry, I decided to look at the neck and the frets and to try to level them.
Using a straight edge I checked the neck as it came from the factory, it was slightly convex, as should have been
Using a small square I found 2 frets that were sitting high.
I then used the truss rod to straighten the neck and put the straight edge on the frets and used a feeler gauge to look for high and low points
I used a blue marking pen to highlight the frets and used some 320 grit sandpaper around a piece of milled hardwood to carefully level the frets
Attachment 24492
To check flatness I put the straight edge back on the fret board and tried the feeler gauges again, this time it would not go under any of the frets.
Attachment 24493
I believe I now will need to reprofile the frets.
Has any body on the forum made a good diy fret file or would I be better off just buying a fret file?
I just bought fret file myself, unlike decent nut files they're reasonably affordable.
Single nut files are affordable, it's having to buy a set of them that makes them less so!
Quilting looking lovely, Denial.
I have allowed the Tung oil to cure for about 10 days, the body has then been wet sanded with 800 , 1500 and 2000 wet and dry sandpaper
It has then been polished with meguiar's ultimate polishing compound
It is getting a lovely mirror finish.
Attachment 24838
Attachment 24839
Attachment 24840
oooh that looks nice, I'm going swimming in it.
Oh, wow! That’s looking really great. I’m a total noob when it comes to using the polishing compound - is it applied by hand? Or by a buffing mechanism of some sort?
Dude that looks unbelievable, well done
Gorgeous. Top work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Denial
Just a tip when it comes to pushing in your bridge and tail piece receivers. Try and chamfer the edge of the holes a little, lubricate with wax and put the receivers in the freezer for 15 - 20 minutes before you install. shrinking them down in the cold makes them much easier to tap it without wrecking the finish, then they expand out and bite into the wood.
man that is a beautiful job of staining and finishing!
Holy Mo! that is looking so good. Superb work D
Great work there. Very smooth finish. You should be proud of yourself.
Amazing job!
Just... wow...
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JohnHQuote:
Originally Posted by JohnH
I did it all by hand. As the top on the body is all contoured veneer over the maple cap I did not want to use any mechanical sanding or polishing. So it was all done with a cotton rag and elbow grease. Even then on the sides of the body I got too enthusiastic and had to reapply oil to 5 spots where I rubbed through with the finish.
SonicQuote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Thanks for the advice
Do you chamfer the edges with sandpaper?
I like the idea of putting the receivers in the freezer for a while, it is certainly hot here in Brisbane at the moment.
Simply stunning mate. Excellent work.
Thank you everybody for your compliments.
I really like on this forum how everybody is very encouraging and willing to dispense their experience and wisdom.
That’s a magnificent effort Denial, wonderful stuff to see. Standing and Applauding!
I used a small round file. I found the clear had built up a fair bit around the opening and was worried about it cracking. That's an awesome result for hand polishing. I use an electric buffer and a couple of different drill attachments to do mine, cause I'm too lazy/impatient.
Wow that is just stunning beautiful work there.
This week I have glued the neck in
I have put the shielding tape in all of the cavities of the body and soldered up the electronics
And I have strung up the guitar see pictures
I still need to fine tune the action with the nut, at the moment it feels too high.
I would also like to make a truss rod cover. Any suggestions on how to make a custom cover?
At the moment I only have an old practice bass amp to run it through. When I first plugged it in I was a bit disappointed at the amount of hum from the guitar and I started looking at all of my solder joints and wondered if it was the pots giving problems.
I eventually replaced the guitar cable to the amp and all of the hum disappeared. I will be throwing away the cheap cable that came with the kit.
Attachment 25022
Attachment 25023
Attachment 25024
Attachment 25025
Attachment 25026
Looking really good and very nicely polished!
Yes, those cheap/free cables are a waste of time. Just for your own enlightenment, it's worth cutting away the outer sheath on the cable and having a look at how little wire makes up the braid shield. You won't be surprised after seeing all the gaps, as to how RF noise manages to get through.
You can make a truss rod cover from pickguard material. I'd look online for some if you don't fancy re-using the pickguard that probably came with the kit. It's just a question of marking up a shape then cutting it out. A coping saw is best for the round edges if you haven't got a table router, though a small straight-edged saw is easier for cutting straight lines. Then file/sand the edges smooth and give them a bevel.
Hi Denial, just caught up on this thread and really impressed with how things turned out.
Interesting to note that Tung Oil did not discolour the blue too much however there is still an aged yellowing around binding on the headstock that gives a hint as to what level of inherent colour it has. If Tru Oil was used I reckon we would be looking at a Peacock Green/Blue finish as it does have a much darker base tint.
For the truss rod cover I bought a couple of Rosewood ones on eBay for both my Explorers and they were as cheap as and also more shaped like a traditional Gibbo one. You can also buy custom engraved 3 ply black/white/black and plenty of Chinese copies with the usual Gibbo names already laser cut.
Cheers, Waz
This is a beautiful build. I made a trc cover out of aluminium for the Black Cherry build. You an also get a variety of acrylics from the big green shed which are pretty easy to shape and polish.
Please put this in the GOTM thread once you get it finished.
Not a PBG so he can't. A shame, but that's the way it works. Maybe the next one, Denial.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Stunning Build Denial, done well!
Oh right, I thought this was one that had been stashed away prior to the kits coming off the site. Hard to remember which build is which after a while!Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Still- awesome effort.
Looks so good Denial
That’s the guitar build that pushes me to keep trying harder.
Absolutely gorgeous mate. Boom boom !!
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Now that is something to take great pride in absolutely stunning guitar well done.
So that's a denial denial....yeah couldn't resist but should'a.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
cheers, Mark.
SimonQuote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I did cut open the cable. I found that the shielding wire was wrapped around the core candy cane style. It acted as a good antena and picked up lots of interference. It is certainly a trap for first timers. See picture belowAttachment 25050
WazQuote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
The Tung oil in the can is,certainly a yellow to honey colour and has given the binding a yellow tinge, before wet sanding and polishing some of the body had a slight green tinge where the layers might have been thicker.
The kit did come with a traditional looking truss rod cover. But I would like to add a personal touch to the kit and cover up one of the areas that did not finish as well as other areas.
Attachment 25051
I've never seen that braid wrap method used before! I've seen it where the braid is criss-crossed in the normal way but with only a few strands of copper, so there are huge gaps in the coverage and which open up even more on the outside of any bends. It really isn't worth shipping such poor cable with the kits. It could make people think there's something wrong with the guitar/bass wiring.
I've just taken a Pit Bull lead apart and it's the same. Loose strands of copper wire in a loose spiral around the inner core. You might as well just use a bit of two-core mains cable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Denial
I'd have to agree with you there, feel free to check out the DIY Instrument mini-tutorial thread I started in the DIY Pedals section, it shows you how to make your own instrument leads.