GS-2Z build - first one in a looooooong time

G'day all,

Figured there are few better ways to spend the hours locked indoors right now than building a new guitar, so here goes! I did a couple of kits (a V and 7-string) six or seven years ago without ever posting here, and a non-kit build before that, so I daresay it'll take a while to pick it all up again. Still, looking forward to getting stuck into it.

Opted for the GS-2Z, with a couple of bells and whistles; upgraded the tuners to a set of mini locking Grovers and the pickups to a set of Entwhistles - a Dark Star for the bridge and an HVX for the neck. I'm... I'm not really aiming for a subtle sound here.

Kit arrived today and gotta say, very pleased with how the veneer looks:

https://i.imgur.com/zW9EQKW.jpg

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

Plan is to stain the back and sides black, and the top and headstock red. Hopefully the brown streaks in the zebrawood darken up under the stain to give it a strong red/black contrast on top. I had originally thought about doing a first coat of black stain, sanding it back, then getting started with the red to emphasise said contrast, but I'm not sure the veneer will survive through that. Anyone tried something along those lines with a veneered kit?

Before staining there's a bit of work to be done around the binding. Most of it's fitted nice and snug around the edges, but there are three areas - two in and around the top cutaway in particular - which will need to be filled:

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

https://i.imgur.com/2vZHZ3j.jpg

Any ideas for what'll work best there? Initial thoughts are to get some sawdust from sanding the back of the body and fill it up with a mixture of that and superglue, but would be grateful for any other suggestions.

Other than that, I'll do a mock build either tomorrow night or the weekend and mark off where I need to glue in the neck to get the scale length right, and get sanding and staining after that.

Outside of replacing the binding, your fill method is probably the only way to go. I might be tempted to use a glue that will be more appreciative of your stain than superglue though.

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Outside of replacing the binding, your fill method is probably the only way to go. I might be tempted to use a glue that will be more appreciative of your stain than superglue though.

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I'd even be tempted to go a filler like Timbermate or Earl's. The repair won't be invisible, but at least the filler will take the stain. CA will not.

If you use a filler, you could either try and match it to the colour of the veneer or even completely contrast it with something like ebony.

Filler's a good shout. Think a quick trip to the big green shed might be in order.

I'd get some acetone, some white (not cream or off-white) binding material, melt some binding in the acetone and fill the gap with the mixture. You'll need to sand down the result, so build it up a bit (but not too much), but it should then be an invisible repair. The end of the headstock wood is defined well enough and not all jagged, so it should look really good.

Use just enough acetone to melt the plastic, you don't want it too runny.

Just be very careful when sanding the thin veneer, and I'd mask as much as possible it with tape first.

Other than Simon’s suggestion, what about filling with a matching timber mate colour and drawing on the grain with matching colour pencils?

That's a great idea Simon. Wish I'd thought of it!
I reckon once the gap was filled the outer edge of the binding could be sanded to give the appearance of a uniform thickness.
Good on ya!

In the absence of any filler which matched the body colour, decided to grab some white filler to match the binding. You can notice it up close:

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

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

But from anything resembling a distance, it's imperceptible:

https://i.imgur.com/rmcWt0B.jpg

Naturally will need to ensure it's masked off well when I stain the body, but it's certainly looking considerably better than what it was a few days ago.

In addition to filling in those gaps in the binding, did a mock set-up today. There's a fair bit of wiggle room in the neck pocket - not ideal but by no means the end of the world.

Slightly more irritating is the holes for the bridge have been drilled slightly too far from the pocket, so that when I have the neck clamped at the correct 628mm scale length, the end of the fretboard is too close to the neck pickup cavity to the point where the pickup ring can't fit above the cavity properly - it's off by about a mil. Didn't take a picture of it (smart move, that) but I'm thinking the way to fix it will be by carefully sanding back the end of the fretboard and the top edgde of the pickup ring.

Other than that, sanded everything back to 180, with the exception of the headstock and body veneer. No sign of any scratches or glue marks on the neck, back and sides anymore, so I'll go over it all with 240 and 400 tomorrow.

One thing I did notice is what I assume are small drops of glue which have seeped through the headstock veneer:

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

Not sure if that's actually what they are, but at any rate they'll be a bit noticeable for my liking once stained. They're a pain to get rid of, but with some light sanding and plenty of Goof Off I managed to remove most of it - although not all:

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

There are some similarly affected areas of the body which I'll deal with in much the same way - unless of course I'm not on the right track and someone else has a better idea!

That’s a nice fix. If you wanted to...I think if you had a fine brush and acetone, you could dip the brush into acetone (not too wet) and carefully paint over the edge of the binding (without doing too much damage) and drag it over the area you have filled. It wouldn’t take much to drag a little of the binding colour over the filled area (which looks like it sitting slightly lower than the veneer which is advantageous). But if you have any doubts about your ability to do that I would leave it as is, it’s already fixed.
That glue is a pita but you look like you are on top of it.

Where are your bridge saddles when the neck is clamped? The top E can be pretty far forwards. Personally I'd move the neck back by 1mm as the intonated length is probably going to be 1mm longer than the actual scale length.

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...when I have the neck clamped at the correct 628mm scale length, the end of the fretboard is too close to the neck pickup cavity to the point where the pickup ring can't fit above the cavity properly - it's off by about a mil.

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Simon wrote:

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Personally I'd move the neck back by 1mm as the intonated length is probably going to be 1mm longer than the actual scale length.

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I encountered this on my PRS-1TS build but mine was more like 3mm. I shifted the neck away from the bridge to accommodate the pickup ring. I ended up moving my bridge to get spot-on intonation, but I'm sure if it was only 1mm like yours, it would have been fine.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Where are your bridge saddles when the neck is clamped? The top E can be pretty far forwards. Personally I'd move the neck back by 1mm as the intonated length is probably going to be 1mm longer than the actual scale length.

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Pretty central, if anything slightly further from the neck. Moving the neck back could work, I'll spend a bit more time measuring it up before glueing.

Sanding is all done now, down to 400 grit. Pretty sure I've now got sawdust spliced into my DNA, but everything is nice and smooth and ready for staining.

Speaking of, I'm now having second thoughts about my colour choice. I picked up some Karijiri red Dingotone for the top and headstock, but am now thinking a more natural route might be better - either a very mild yellow/brown or maybe straight to Tru Oil to try to get something like this:

Attachment 34604

Think I'll sit on it for a few days before making a call.

Those type of woods with a dark and light combination, like the zebra wood or spalted maple, generally work best with a natural or just very light tint. Anything too dark and you lose a lot of the contrast and definition.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Those type of woods with a dark and light combination, like the zebra wood or spalted maple, generally work best with a natural or just very light tint. Anything too dark and you lose a lot of the contrast and definition.

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Yes, decided to go down this route instead of the red - which incidentally gives me an excuse to buy another kit to use the DT on. A red/black RD build perhaps... one build at a time though!

Now just a matter of figuring out which natural finish to use. Tru-Oil is what I'm leaning towards, my only concern there is about getting too much of a yellow hue - that's something I really want to avoid. Any suggestions? Living in an apartment, even one with a balcony, rules out any spray-on products.

Wipe-on polyurethane will probably be your best option as it doesn't yellow with age. However, given the apartment aspect, poly may be a bit smelly. I usually advocate for mixing up DIY wipe-on (50/50 mineral turps/poly) but even with low-odour turps, it may be a bit much in an apartment.

FWIW, Tru Oil isn't too odoriferous and not as hard on the nose as poly IMO, but furthermore, I don't find the slight amber hue objectionable even after some time.

Somewhere on the forum someone (can't recall who) posted pics if Tru Oil finished guitars new & old, and the difference was less remarkable than I expected. I'll see if I can find it, but initial searches were bust.

Anyway, below is one of my alder strats (non-PBG) that is shown with a Tru Oil only finish done in 2017. The photo was shot in 2019. Very little difference after two years.

OK, I've edited to add the original 2017 photo. Different angle, different lighting etc, but I can attest that IRL, there's only a hint of colour difference.

Attachment 34692 Attachment 34691

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Originally Posted by McCreed

Wipe-on polyurethane will probably be your best option as it doesn't yellow with age. However, given the apartment aspect, poly may be a bit smelly. I usually advocate for mixing up DIY wipe-on (50/50 mineral turps/poly) but even with low-odour turps, it may be a bit much in an apartment.

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Thanks for that. I'm assuming something like Cabot's Cabothane Clear is what we'd be looking at in this instance? I'm not too fussed about the smell as I've got a decent balcony - at least by Sydney apartment standards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

Anyway, below is one of my alder strats (non-PBG) that is shown with a Tru Oil only finish done in 2017. The photo was shot in 2019. Very little difference after two years.

OK, I've edited to add the original 2017 photo. Different angle, different lighting etc, but I can attest that IRL, there's only a hint of colour difference.

Attachment 34692 Attachment 34691

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That's one gorgeous guitar. And that kind of amber hue I'd not be at all opposed to.

A piece of scrap zebrawood veneer would make all the difference to my piece of mind. Might see if I can find one somewhere this weekend to play around with.

I have actually used Water Based Cabots Poly and it virtually has no odour, cleans up with water and dries really quick so is good in a closed environment and have found it just as hard wearing as spirit base finishes. I used more coats than necessary, probably about 3 or 4 depending on thickness and surface roughness so I could polish to a gloss finish. I found the sponge rubber paint brushes gave a really good finish that needed little or no sanding. I have used Satin and polished to a gloss finish as it was all I had from a previous project. I never wet sand as I have found some Scotch Brite pads that I cut to use with my random orbital and hand sand what I cannot use the sander on. I have pads that are equal to about 2500 wet and dry which is way more than needed, in my experience. I then use cloth pads and a jewellers rouge either as a flat pad in my random orbital or as a cylindrical pad in my drill or do it by hand. I used to use a cutting compound but found if the compound had a wax in it, it was virtually impossible to patch fix a scratch or dint. Whereas using the rouge all I have to do is give it a rub with isopropyl alcohol and I am ready to paint straight away with no adhesion problems. Everyone here seems to keep to the same but I have found that not all that is done here fits all situations. I always do all my finishing then I route out my holes and that way I don't damage my polishing pads or sanding disks and don't have to worry about burning through my finish on sharp corners. I have found ways to protect my finish using newspaper, hand towel and thin slip resistant rubber mats. All this was found by using what I had and just being a little careful but I have had about 40 years of experience so have had a lot of trial and errors and will keep looking at new ways to do what I love doing.

Did one final day of sanding to prep the body for finishing today, plus scraping the binding clean. The fretboard binding was pretty dirty, truth be told - hard to get it to come through on camera, but looked a lot like my Les Paul does after being played hard and not cleaned for six months:

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

After some careful work with a razor blade, it's looking far, far better:

https://i.imgur.com/pzqJjM3.jpg

With that and my sanding done, plan is to do the first coat of finish tomorrow morning, giving it a full 5-6 days to cure before getting to the second next weekend. Have opted in the end for Tru-Oil, although I'll thin the first coat a little with mineral turps - not to dilute the colour, but to instead allow it to penetrate the timber a bit better.

Couple of coats in, and the grain is coming up really nicely under the Tru-Oil. Am doing quite thin coats, letting the oil get tacky then wiping the excess off.

Here's the body without any finish on it:

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

Then after the first coat last weekend:

https://i.imgur.com/B2OnN7U.jpg

And after the second coat this morning:

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

Not sure exactly how many coats I'll end up doing, something probably in the 10-20 range.

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Am doing quite thin coats, letting the oil get tacky then wiping the excess off.

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No need to wipe off excess (especially if you're doing "quite thin coats"). Just let it dry a little bit past tacky and apply another coat.
It will take forever to build up a nice finish layer if you keep wiping it off.
You may not even need to sand between coats unless you get dust or debris in the coat.
I let it build to at least 8 coats before I think about hitting with sandpaper (I use sanding pads)

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Not sure exactly how many coats I'll end up doing, something probably in the 10-20 range.

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I go a minimum of 24. Others go well over 30. It's entirely up to you. Just depends on what your looking for in a finish.
FWIW, I've seen some people do as few as 4 or 5. That's not near enough for my liking, but to each his own.

Worth noting I tend to get 3-4 coats per day on with no problems curing.

Here's my example:

Attachment 34962

Looking good, what did you do with the back?

Talk about a while between updates... (moving house is a good enough excuse, right?)

Lost count of how many coats I did, reckon it must have been at least 25 or 30. Setting the neck went quite smoothly, left it for a good week or so before putting any tension on it. There was a bit of filling required in the neck pocket, which the old sawdust & wood glue trick took care of quite nicely.

Decided to make the switch to gold hardware, and painted all the the black plastic parts white to match the binding. Also grabbed a couple of gold pickup covers to keep with the whol.e gold/white theme, and I ditched the tone pot in favour of having an individual volume knobs for each pickup, what with tone knobs being a little less useful when it comes to metal.

The result is a rather pretty looking guitar:

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

https://i.imgur.com/oHw0mKc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PCw7F2x.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/L59EWJZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3FTFzLh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/6GzToSi.jpg

Absolutely stoked with it. Looks like a beautiful classic rock guitar, sounds like a high-gain screamer - exactly what I was going for. The sustain is pretty impressive too, particularly given it's quite a light guitar.

It could probably do with a little more work - the nut is still a little high and I'll end up replacing the painted pickup rings with actual white ones (I've already put a little scratch through the paint on the neck ring inside two weeks) - but I'm happy to call this one finished.

Nice. great looking veneer. Is the back straight tru-oil on mahogany?

Yep. Same finish front and back - TO diluted with mineral turps, going over it with steel wool and later sanding pads after every 3-5 coats.