Viv's Vivenbacker

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I spent most of the day trying to not sand the veneer. It is definitely very thin. I think I can see an area where the glue that hods it on is thicker than the veneer!

Marcel, thank you for the hint on the neck I did wonder how to cope with maybe true-oil on the neck and a stain or paint on the body and glue in- between.

Like a number of people have indicated the neck centre line does not quite line up with the body centreline. But I've never thought to look at that on any guitar I have ever bought or played, so I don't think it will worry me too much. I think I can get it to look straight and end up with the bridge on the centre line of the body.

Knowing it was going to be 6-8 weeks before my Ric-5 turned up, I decided to figure out where I could work. Most of the dusty stuff could be done in the garden. I realised I would need a work area, somewhere I can cut, plane or glue bits of wood and leave it knowing no one will interfere. I decided I needed a workbench. Lidl (possibly the most cost effective shop on the planet) provided me with a workmate type fold up bench. £13 and an hours assembly. It's quite acceptable and sturdy enough to route on.

I found a number of people on line making big wood working benches with 4x2" to make 6 foot work benches. Decided to scale it down to 1mx0.6m to fit on top of some racking. This came out really well and with the addition of a low cost vice from Screwfix, I know have a coal cellar with a woodworking bench. Perfect for carefully sanding down veneer.

Good thing you've got some space to work inside. The weather at the moment is pretty changeable. Gone from clear skies + sun to heavy rain + thunder and then back again about three times so far today.

Hi Simon, yeah changeable, hot and sunny or wet and humid or sunny and wet or sunny and humid. Hoping tomorrow will be a good day for sanding. :)

Check your tuners, mine didn't fit properly, one overhangs a bit

Being a fiver and seeing how Stuzl's turned out I second the motion to double check the tuners for fitment once kit arrives.