Remaining photos showing contrasting tones ...
Back and side
Attachment 34141
Top and side
Attachment 34142
Incidentally, I warmed up the wax in the microwave. Was a bit hot in the centre and formed a thick-skinned blister. Naturally, any self-respecting curious person would poke this thing to see what lay 'neath! I did as nature required and it burst, sending a stream of not-so-temperate wax up my forearm! ... and landing a rather guitar-shaped drip onto my t-shirt, as below;
Attachment 34143
That looks stunning.
Aw, shucks, gpjt. Many thanks. If you'd browsed through the drama I've had with colour and finish on this thing, and the vacillation over which way to proceed, you might sense how happy I am now with this current finish. I'm "stoked", actually! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by gpjt
There was the initial gorgeous Bondi Blue of my expectations. Completely unfulfilled.
Then came the "Blue Heeler" phase. Destroyed by the stain "intensifier" first coat.
It made the sides look like Silky Terrier fur (a consolation prize, really). Crushed by the second, super-dark coat of intensifier.
So it was going to be black. But the thick'n'sticky coat seemed never to cure.
Stripping off intensifier coats left it like it was scorched by bushfire. A keeper! Huzzah!
Untinted finishing oil in the warm sun sweated into "spattered gloss". Ugh ... will I ever win!?!
Went for beeswax instead to finish as decided in recent posts. Very happy now. :D
I love the uniqueness and am not put off by the imperfections. Further, the gold and black hardware complements the gold-ish and black-ish timber of the top.
Top with some gold hardware
Attachment 34160
So, the very very first issue I encountered with this kit has been rendered a non-issue. I originally wanted (unavailable at the time) chrome h/w. Got gold instead ... and now the gold suits the outcome better than the chrome would. Yay! :cool:
"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt10 Neck's Necking and Nearing Assembly
I've beeswaxed the neck too, but it doesn't look piccie-worthy in itself. Moreover, I think I should've stripped off some more of the black. Never mind.
More importantly, last week I commenced fret levelling. I believe I've done ... OK. There's quite a bit of flattening to correct now, but I've had to order another crowning file since I lost the first one a month back. Actually, I'm really happy with progress on this aspect of the guitar. [Update: less than 24 hours after the new file was picked up for shipping, I found the first one! Moyphee's Lorr in action!] :rolleyes:
But for the "learn from others' experience" I have again failed to initiate the process. For this I preferred (as per usual) to follow my instincts. If it turns out badly we can all trash me with an "I tried to tell you so!" Here're some piccies of frets a'flattened ...
Attachment 34164Attachment 34163Attachment 34162
Requesting advice, please, concerning the Dingo Tone oil smudges on the heel. How do I remove them to ensure the glued joint is strong? The dry joint is beautifully snug so I'm loathe to sand much. Please advise. Many thanks, gents. On this point I'd much rather defer to the experience of others ... ;)
What's next? Perhaps the soldering of the electronics or the fret re-crowning will comprise Pt11 ...
Some pictures of the sanded frets from the heel up the neck -- with apologies for resolution issues -- and inviting comment from those with a better eye and more experience.
Attachment 34165Attachment 34166Attachment 34167Attachment 34168Attachment 34169
"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt11 Soldering of the Electronics
Well, soldering finally began today. I'll be onto the fret crowning shortly too, but here's what happened with the circuitry; The photo hopefully matches the instructional alternative 4-pot wiring for the GR-1SF kit ... and if it doesn't then please let me know. I did the requisite hooking up to an amp and plucking another guitar with its strings close to the new pickups. It produced adequate sound, but I'm uncertain about the effectiveness of the volume and tone controls, despite having wired it up "correctly". That remains to be seen ... or heard ... and I'm willing to hear constructive criticism.
Bad lighting of circuit and 3-way switch to pots done via spade bits (to be rectified/"permanenticised")
Attachment 34180
Some of my soldered joints were rather "flaky". Also, testing the circuit with spade bit connections to some components isn't a flash way to ensure good output. Therefore ...
I will rewire the whole danged thing in: Pt12 Re-doing the Whole Circuit
Not happy with my wiring. Supplied wires a bit short for hollow-body and felt I had to improvise, adding wire.Quote:
Originally Posted by Honkenstein
My soldered joints were pretty decent. However, the classic tooth-based wire stripping isn't the best way to go, and I think I weakened some wires. That meant two of them broke off with a little stress.
The contact points on the 3-way switch are small and didn't take to soldering nicely so I jimmied around with some too-large spade bits to make the circuit workable for the test. Next time, I'll be giving the contacts a good "what-for!" with a file to get a better key.
My GR-1SF Gotchas
(1) pots - mine came with 2 log/volume and 2 linear/tone pots where it would've been better to have 3 log/volume and 1 linear/tone pot ... though some folk say all log pots is adequate. I've ordered another log/volume pot from PBG
(2) the "resistor fidelity upgrade" (treble bleed components?) - I didn't realise I needed 1 per pickup ... so I ordered another one of those from PBG
(3) grubby fingers - when applying the stain etc I managed to get smudges on the set neck glueing surfaces ... so use masking tape to keep those parts pristine ... or be prepared to use some acetone to clean it off
Many other things I would've benefitted from knowing/doing beforehand, thus avoiding other "gotchas". However, if you don't read up, then you have the fun of learning a harder way! 8)
I've also purchased some 10 ft of shield braided wire. Yes, I'm re-doing all my circuit work. I want it as good as I can get it without spending too much more on parts excess to what the original kit provided. Already bought some rubber tubing to assist with the pot/jack/switch installation.
I felt disinclined to buy a high quality set of electronics because they'd only benefit from correspondingly high quality PUPs ... and I don't even know if I've done a good job of fret levelling yet. But at the cheaper price point of being a kit, I can part with it more readily, hopefully benefitting an extended family member at the same time.
Log pots for tone can give a more even response in treble roll-off as they operate on tone more quickly (it's the other way round when used for volume). Linear pots for tone can give you a slower response at first, then it all happens over a much smaller range of knob position. It's really a matter of personal preference whether you like the (initially) more gentle approach or the more obvious one. But if you never use a tone control, it really doesn't matter!
"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt12 Re-doing the Whole Circuit
Yikes! Needed to spend AUD ~$35 on a set of snips that would handle the s/s shield braid. Nice, clean cuts ... but most of the time you want to only go through the outer (s/s) braid, not the two cloth braided layers, so chomping half-way through sometimes didn't work. A classic hobby knife facilitated cutting the cloth braid away fairly cleanly most times.Quote:
Originally Posted by Honkenstein
After completing the circuit I tested it in an amp and positioned the pickups in proximity of another guitar's strings. IT DIDN'T WORK!!! No sound at all, for pity's sake. No-oooooo! Looked at the circuit diagram and my soldering ... all looked good! ... except it seemed like one or both of the treble bleed components got pushed back and shorted against the pot body. Bent it/them back into the clear. Tried the amp trick again and got a small modicum of sound.
There's no way I was going to go through a third complete re-wire, so if it didn't work when I installed it, then so be it! (sigh of resignation) So I installed it into the body, then set the neck with glue.
I'd used all of my 10 feet of the wire of the GR-1SF kit. None left. Small amount of waste. Enough "slack" in the circuit to not stress joints when installed in the body. Used rubber exercise tubing to get the components through their holes.
I think my soldering is pretty decent for an amateur! ;)
Attachment 34646Attachment 34647Attachment 34648Attachment 34649Attachment 34650
Time to put it all together: Pt13 Neck Setting and General Assembly
"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt13 Neck Setting and General Assembly
Neck setting isn't very visible, sorry, folks. Used some cardboard packing and a couple of pine blocks and a single clamp. The glue was "Titebond Original Wood Glue", some leftover kindly given to me by master luthier, Chrus Melville. He also kindly gave some of his time cleaning up the stain and oil smudges on my neck's jointing surfaces. (Thanks, Chris!)
What idiot tries to use copper tape to shield an already (theoretically) hum-less humbucker? ;)
Attachment 34651
A horrible little gap between woody bits! ... horrible to those who care :D
Attachment 34652
No gaps to worry about in these two edges
Attachment 34653Attachment 34654
Essentially there: Pt14 In All Its Glory