First build: GS-2Q (also featuring EX-1 custom)

Couple kits finally arrived today. The EX custom wasn't entirely finished by the factory so I'll need to work on a few things, specifically fixing the neck humbucker route (somehow wasn't routed for the mounting brackets?) and drilling a hole for the bridge ground wire. And of course shaping the headstock.

Shipping wasn't kind to it either, a corner of the neck pocket broke off. And a corner of the fretboard is cracked all the way through. Not fun.



But thread is for the GS-2Q. It has some black scuffs that will hopefully come out without any problems and quite a few machine marks. Not a big deal, they should sand out. There's also a large glob of glue on the headstock near the nut. Hopefully that will come off and not be soaked all the way through the veneer.

Several big dings on the edge near the rear cavity, had a hard time getting my phone to focus on them.

https://i.imgur.com/Z7H7tfT.jpg?1

Another even bigger one on the horn.

https://i.imgur.com/qe0kZcU.jpg

And whatever all this is on the back.

https://i.imgur.com/9umXj3J.jpg

I'll try some mahogany filler on all that, but it looks like too much to fully hide.


Neck pocket has some play in it. Will let it sit for a while, and might need to shim the right side.

https://i.imgur.com/2OFStVF.jpg


For the time being I'm going to let it settle after international shipping, and need to get the filler for the holes/dents and some grain filler.

Nice looking kit, shame about the dings.
you can pop a damp towel or cloth over those and apply some heat with a steam iron or soldering iron and see if you can get them to puff out.
other wise they’re definitely filler jobs.

Definitely a bummer.
Don't know if there's any recourse for you with USPS or Aus Post. It would be hard to say what part of the journey the damage occurred.

I'd give FW's suggestion of steam a go and see if it helps, but some of the dints do look pretty deep.
If you were planning on a solid colour for the back already, then filling isn't really an issue anyway. Still sucks though.

Significant improvement with the cloth and soldering iron. Works even better than I expected it to.

The spot on the horn is almost completely gone. Will probably go over it again later but I don't expect much more from this method, but after sanding it will probably be gone.

https://i.imgur.com/dEmvTL7.jpg

Cleaned up the side near the cavity pretty well, but it's still got a spot that's not wanting to come out any more. The rest of that section will hopefully just sand out and be good. My phone camera hates focusing on this.

https://i.imgur.com/j7wNIaY.jpg

And finally the back. The hole has to be filled, there's no getting around that. The other big spot on the bottom left of the picture is probably also going to need to be filled. The rest came out fairly well, hopefully with another round of steam later plus sanding the rest will be gone.

https://i.imgur.com/BHTz4HG.jpg

That hole is a b*****d*. Is there anywhere within the control cavities you could extract a slice of wood to make into a veneer or plug to slip in the hole? Not sure if it would work, but maybe worth a go.

Worth a shot. The whole cavity is routed pretty rough so I was able to snap off a bit that looks like it should cover it. Will need to fill the bottom of the hole first, then put the plug in and sand it level. Then hopefully after grain filler it won't be too visible.

Then maybe I can try to do something similar with the other spot, but it's not near as deep so plugging might be harder.

That's some pretty good results despite all of them not coming out 100%, it's the best of a bad situation at least.

What are your finish plans?

Want to leave the back natural, just grain fill and clear coat. So hopefully I can get all those spots cleaned up as nicely as possible. Kit has no hardware, so no control cavity cover. Hoping to get a thin piece of mahogany that matches decently well and cut one out.

Planning to dye the veneer a deep blue, but I need to experiment first. Ideally I think doing black and then blue over it with a bit of a burst would be better but that would involve sanding and risk sand through. I have some curly maple scrap to experiment on, will try straight blue on that and maybe a black burst over the blue.

I've also seen an example of using colored grain filler on veneer. It's subtle, but helps it pop a little and should require less sanding than sanding back dye. So black/ebony grain filler on the veneer could be an option, but I'm not really leaning toward it.

Tru-oil and most oil-based clear coats are out of course. That would make the mahogany pop super nicely but it would ruin the blue. So I have some Varathane water based poly that dries nice and clear in my previous experiment with it.

Hardware is black nickel/cosmo black. I think I have everything except the strap buttons.

I would recommend using synthetic sanding pads (sometimes called "synthetic steel wool") on the veneer.
They're way less aggressive and way less chance of sand-through.

Working with veneer and dye, all that's really needed is enough to de-nib any little bits that might raise from absorption of the liquid.
Alcohol-based dyes will have less impact than water-based.

Have a look for white scourer pads from your local cleaning supplies shop. My bloke lets me buy them one at a time. And they last ages if you cut a corner off at a time. Perfect for de-nibbing and no horrid steel specs left afterwards.

Quote:

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Have a look for white scourer pads from your local cleaning supplies shop.

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3M makes a whole range of coarseness/colours (Scotch-Brite) widely available in the US (not so in AUS).
I believe the green Scotch-Brite are roughly equivalent to P400.

Quote:

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...and no horrid steel specs left afterwards.

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STRUTH!!!

This is why I never use steel wool on any woodworking, but especially in guitar finishing.

Yep!!

And I've heard the white ones are equivalent to 0000 steel wool.

On the subject of cleaning products instead of steel wool, has anyone tried using magic erasers? They're melamine foam and sound like a plausible option. Googling around I can see some references in auto forums.

It lives.

Went over it again with a wet towel and an iron. That made even more progress on getting rid of all the dings and dents.

Sanded out the cavity with 80 grit the best I could because it was rough. Reeeaaally rough. Decent enough now that I feel comfortable about putting some shielding tape in it at least. Ordered a small sheet of mahogany to cut a cover out of, and some magnets to attach it instead of screwing it in. We'll see how that goes I guess.

Packed the holes with sawdust and glue, which matched somewhat decently, just a touch dark when wetted to simulate a clear coat. Sanded the back and sides with 180 and 220 grit, then grain filled with Timbermate and sanded with 220 again. Made the hole filling worse. It's just going to be noticeable no matter what. All the other problem areas are completely gone now though.

Might need another round of 220 to get a few spots that are still a little saturated with the grain filler, then a 320 pass to finish it out.


I think maybe possibly hopefully I'll be good on glue spots for the body. A coat of mineral spirits and nothing stood out. Ordered a veneer sheet to test dye to get a feel for how much I can sand and how to best approach the dying process. I've done a couple blocks but they aren't nearly as figured, and there's no concern on sandthrough for them.

The headstock is unfortunately not so simple. The glue on it was an enormous glob. Tried to attack it with a toothbrush and Goof Off but it didn't seem to be doing much. Tried to dry it immediately but now I'm worried I just made it worse and have Goof Off and glue in the veneer.

Carefully filing it down with a sanding block got rid of a lot of the height, but I didn't take it all the way to the wood yet. Pretty difficult to see, won't be the case if dye goes on it. Might put some tape around the glue to protect the veneer around it and keep sanding. At least try to get it down to wood.

https://i.imgur.com/p7Im0Cnl.jpg

Oh, and I also made a shim for the neck. Haven't tested it with strings on yet but it was nice and tight, and should have it in place to be straight. That's why I was holding it in the picture posted before. It was a bit loose and if left alone the neck didn't want to line up straight.

Some more or less final comparisons:

https://i.imgur.com/qQSnoqj.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mHEoUCa.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dEuHxmF.jpg

The mahogany will look great when it's clear coated.

https://i.imgur.com/M8wcFEb.jpg



Moving on.

The binding is a little scuffed from sanding. Unless someone informs me it's an awful idea I'm thinking about wiping it with a light application of acetone to smooth it out, since it should "melt out" the scratches. Since I'm not trying to get any embedded dye out that seems like an easier approach than trying to scrape it.

Another couple minor binding issues are on each of the horns. On the upper horn, the binding is slightly higher than the wood. Might try sanding it level before the acetone treatment, with tape to protect the veneer of course.
https://i.imgur.com/Vb3iRFR.jpg

On the lower horn there is a very tiny gap between the binding and wood. I suppose I could theoretically use the binding shavings from the sanding above to fill the gap and use the acetone to melt it all together, but I'm open to better ideas. Hesitant to use any sort of wood filler here since I don't want a spot that doesn't take stain well, especially not in an area that I plan to be darker.
https://i.imgur.com/n9USigV.jpg



Update: Back piece arrived. It's slightly darker than the guitar and the grain isn't going to match, but I think it will still work.
https://i.imgur.com/FBuBa26.jpg



Update 2: After some very meticulous sanding and Goof Off I think I got rid of the glue spot on the headstock. No more appearance of an ugly "stain" in that spot, and it doesn't shine under mineral spirits like it did before. Fingers crossed it will take stain.

Your patience and persistence has certainly paid off. Those dents and dings came out really well. Good on ya.

Great work getting those dings and dents out!

That's some nice recovery work man, well done!

Thanks, don't think I did anything particularly special to get that to come out. The steam iron and a bit of sanding really worked wonders on the vast majority of it.

Bought some 100% acetone nail polish remover at the store today. Basically the same stuff from the hardware store but with ~10PPM of a bittering agent so the less intelligent don't drink it. I threw caution to the wind and applied it to the binding! Veeery lightly, just a dab on a shop towel and quickly wiped it with a dry part.

And... it worked flawlessly. Made me realize just how much the binding had grayed from the sanding. It looks significantly better now, a nice deep black instead of gray. For anyone that sees this and uses this method, a little goes a long way. Seriously. If you slather a rag and soak your binding it probably will ruin it. For the last bit I did my towel felt nearly dry, but it was still enough to work.

Still going to need to deal with the high bit and the gap. Kind of got ahead of myself using the acetone but I have it, so I used it. And it worked.

I decided to grain fill again, think I oversanded or missed some spots.

Starting work on color.

- The top left is just a couple coats of blue. I'm not really happy with it on the test piece.
- Top right is black, sanded back, then two coats of blue. I'm somewhat happy with it but I think it can be better.
- The black one is the next test. It's more concentrated, I used my old black dye before and it came out very gray. Mixed more and it's a much fuller black, so I think it will help it pop more.

https://i.imgur.com/ZFbKoAe.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fRhydZ0.jpg


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That's more like the contrast I was looking for. Hopefully the veneer on the guitar goes similarly.

https://i.imgur.com/cwhuk9V.jpg

Great job on fixing those dings and holes.

I think your idea of using the shavings from the binding to fill the gap is the way to go.
Carefully cut some of the excess off with a scalpel, then turn them on edge and push down into the gap.
The smallest amount of acetone should bind it together and run the flat of a scalpel over it before it is fully cured will blend it all together.

Looking forward to seeing that maple when it is stained.

Cheers
Ricky

Nervous about staining since that's a point of no return, of sorts. Really hoping there aren't any hidden glue spots! Will double check again tomorrow and probably stain on Wednesday when I'm off work.

Aside from the glue spot on the headstock I hopefully fixed, I haven't done anything with the neck. Still need to grain fill that. I'm not sure how to handle a satin finish on it. I know it's often recommended to just sand it a bit and not polish, but I don't know how long that lasts before it starts to smooth out from use. It would be the easiest approach though, since I could use the same finish for the whole thing and just polish the headstock.

Finding a nice headstock decal that isn't trademarked is harder than I expected. Like 99% of what's available is just trademark replicas.


Minor EX-1 update. I thought I lost the broken off corner of the neck pocket. Might go ahead and glue that even though I don't intend to really start that one until this one is about finished.

Yeah, the headstock decal is hard. I tried a bunch of ideas before I just went wacky and used a cartoon dog. It's still a trademark, just not from a guitar.

Any satin finish on the back of a neck will shine up over time, even a satin spray. So you will always have to do some occasional light sanding to get the sating feel back from time to time. But you may get used to the shine as it will develop slowly.

Put the black on tonight. I suppose it wouldn't be a veneer top guitar kit without some sort of glue spots to deal with.

https://i.imgur.com/UoTGKkxl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/M0g1KVJl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/TDzeju3l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yqa52RHl.jpg


Hopefully I can deal with it without making it worse.

A shame. A good candidate for a black burst round the edge.

Considering an experiment mixing the dye and some acetone. Thinking that the acetone might penetrate the glue, allowing the color to get in. Would just need to be careful about the binding and not use too much to avoid damaging the adhesion between the body and veneer. Have a lot of doubts, if that worked I'd probably see evidence of someone else doing it.

Maybe I'll try it on a test piece for the heck of it.

Failing that, I guess I can look into an airbrush or something to go around the edges. I don't know the first thing about airbrushes or paint in general honestly.

Huh. Not entirely dry yet, but interesting results!

This is Titebond rubbed into maple.

https://i.imgur.com/RL7Jze6.jpg


Went ahead and gave this mix a quick test on the guitar. Unfortunately it didn't really do anything on that. It's possible I didn't let the Titebond dry long enough and that's why it worked better.

Or it's not Titebond used on the guitar, maybe straight PVA. But acetone makes up most of Goof Off, so that alone may remove the glue if you brush it in. But it's not so easy being right next to the binding.

If I want to paint on a burst it looks like I want to finish my dying, then airbrush the burst over that.


Put the black on the headstock. Thankfully I did a good enough job getting rid of the nasty glue blob, that spot took dye just fine. Only glue on the headstock is at the edge of the fretboard.

https://i.imgur.com/i2v2Y2v.jpg

Some lines where the dye dried because I was going so slow. Applied it with a cotton swab to try and make sure I didn't get the edges too wet. Just caused a different problem, but it's not a big deal since this is getting sanded back anyway. Will need to do better on the blue though.

It's blue now.

https://i.imgur.com/pdbkpUa.jpg

I'm, uh, kinda surprised at how well the sanding did taking care of the glue spots. I'm also surprised at how horrible a job I did at sanding in general. I'll still try touching up the edges with black for a bit of burst later after another round of blue. But I can do it with dye instead of investing in an airbrush and learning to use it.

That's a really nice colour.

I'd be tempted to do the burst with a spray can. It's very hard to do a good burst with dye, and you'll still have a take-up problem in those areas that still have some glue remaining (mainly round that lower horn).

Dye/stain bursts almost always end up with definite lines at the edged, rather than a gradual transition. I've only seen a couple of stained bursts on here that I'd personally deem to be acceptable, but even then, they weren't as good as a sprayed burst.

Whatever you do, I strongly suggest practising on some test bits of wood first.

More blue. Not the best lighting though. Just need to figure out the burst, if I do use paint I need to find a spray can that won't be incompatible with the water-based poly clear I'm going to use.

https://i.imgur.com/KaNV1ih.jpg

Headstock shouldn't take long to do next, and I still need to grain fill the neck too.


Oh, and after the first round of blue dye I noticed the hairline crack in the veneer. It looks like the dye is penetrating too deeply on the right side of the pickups because of that.

A burst would disguise the contours on that top I reckon, I'd leave it as is.

A black poly spray would be compatible.

You'd certainly need to do a very delicate gentle burst that just covered the edges by 0.5"/12mm or so, not to hide too much of the top. Which means holding the can over the body and spraying outwards, aiming for a point well beyond the edge of the body so only the feather edge of the spray hits the body. This is probably a case where a cardboard mask held off the body by an inch or so would be useful.

I'm with Cliff on this one...

I'd just clear coat it. I like the colour and the pattern.

I certainly couldn't live with the obvious glue marks.

You could try a blue Sharpie. They are pretty good for covering up marks like that. Smudge it with your fingers to help it blend in.

A burst could be a solid matching or slightly blue (rather than black) which would make the burst less obvious.

Lot of votes for no burst. Blue sharpie was only available in an assorted 10 pack, went with a different marker at the hardware store since it came out a bit cheaper and is supposed to work on more surfaces (I guess?). Color isn't exactly perfect but it's better than the slight remaining glue spots on the lower horn. Probably not noticeable unless you are looking for it.

Tried to dab some of the dye out of spots that were more heavily saturated. I think it helped slightly.

Headstock came out great. The glue at the nut is kind of gnarly though. Might be worth going ahead and removing the nut and trying to get rid of that and touch it up, the nut is getting replaced anyway.

https://i.imgur.com/jULAtFl.jpg

Neck needs to be grain filled, then onward to clear coating.




Thinking on it, it might be better to glue and then clear coat.

the blue is looking lovely

Thats looking awesome mate some really nice patterns showing up. Did you put a base colour down or did you go straight with the blue?
I think a burst would definitely look cool - I do see where Cliff is coming from though regarding the darkness around the contour. Maybe a gentle burst?

Either way its looking awesome. Difficult decision whether to mess with something that already looks good. Looking forward to see how you get on.