PRS 1Q; First time builder.

Hey everyone.
I've been waiting 3 months for this kit and sure enough, it arrived an hour before I left on a 10 day holiday.
Good thing this is a stay at home long weekend here, and I can now take a good look at it.
I put some pieces together tonight to see how they fit.
The neck was too tight, one side of the binding on the body was protruding into the pocket by a mil so needed to be lightly filed back. Now a very snug fit.
The neck has an ever so slight back bow in it, but a tweek of the truss rod should sort it.
There are a few glue spots on the top of the body, so I'm off to Bunnings tomorrow for some Goof Off.
I have bought some Tonerider Alnico IV pickups with the zebra covers. I want to stain the top In the fashion of a faded burst, but not centred. I'm thinking the top horn will have a bit of red, then graded to orange in a curve from the lower horn, between the pick ups and around the top edge, tapering to a finish near the strap button at the bottom of the guitar. The rest predominantly in amber to highlight the quilted veneer.
For the finish. I am playing with the idea of finishing the top with a wipe on poly to protect the front and make it nice and glossy, but using the TRU OIL for the back, sides and neck for the satin finish and to allow the wood to move and breathe a bit. Also seems to feel better on the neck.
I haven't finalised my ideas on the headstock shape yet, but some rounding and carving may be involved.
I have some titebond 1 for the neck joint. Hopefully that's adequate.

This is my first ever guitar build, in fact my first ever fine woodworking project. It's taken me 41 years to get past failing woodwork in year 8.

Looking forward to the chat and your input.

https://i.imgur.com/gpHuz1ll.jpg https://i.imgur.com/hgmcA0cl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/KfRCIOdl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/rzwUk9kl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/pph46KSl.jpg

She's a beaut!
Just opted for some zebra style pickups myself. I also love your fretboard inlays.
I think that's an ambitious finish idea! Not in a bad way, like a great, badass way.
Congrats on taking the plunge after what must have been a devastating foray in year 8.

Hi Grug, and welcome.
I did the Tiger Stripe version of that model (PRS-1TS) 2 years ago.
I just recently did a mod, that in hindsight, wish I had done in the initial building. I scalloped the lower horn to provide better access to the upper frets (similar to a real PRS). Here's a link to the recent thread

I opted for just doing the scalloping now as it was less invasive than what I would have done had I thought of it before setting the neck and finishing.
If I were doing it again, I would re-shape the neck heel and taper the backside of the neck pocket as well as scallop the horn.

The new scalloped horn definitely improved the feel and access up in the higher frets, but it would have been even better with the additional shaping as I stated above.
All this is just food for thought. What you choose to do is of course entirely up to you (especially if this is your first build).

The only other thing I'll add is about your comments re: Tru Oil and poly. You will have no problem getting a high gloss finish with Tru Oil if you use it on the front/top. However if you want the contrast of a gloss front and satin back, you're probably better off using a gloss poly on the front and a genuine satin poly on the back.

If you want a "satin" Tru Oil finish you can "satin-ise" it by rubbing it back with a fine sanding pad, but the result is really just a "de-glossed" look. A bona fide satin poly actually has a proportion of solids within the mixture that diffuse light and minimise reflection.
This still gives the finish some depth whilst not being shiny.

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Originally Posted by maxadudley

She's a beaut!
Just opted for some zebra style pickups myself. I also love your fretboard inlays.
I think that's an ambitious finish idea! Not in a bad way, like a great, badass way.
Congrats on taking the plunge after what must have been a devastating foray in year 8.

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Thanks Maxadudley. If I can match ideas and execution then something good should come out of it.
The fretboard inlays are standard issue with this kit and I agree they look good.
As for the year 8 damage, I discovered year 9 Home Ec was where the food and the girls were at. It was not such a bad outcome.

Hi Grug,
great looking kit.

Hi McCreed.
Thanks for the welcome.
I've been admiring your PRS 1TS build for several months and it has formed the basis for some of my finishing choices.

I really appreciate the idea of reshaping the lower horn and the neck to increase accessibility, and with a little bit of planning and slow and steady, I will most likely follow your advice. Thanks.

Regarding the finishes, there is more to the brief summary I put in the original post. I got genuinely excited about a YT vid I saw where Richard Fortus of GnR was demonstrating his guitars created by LA based luthier Leo Scala.
2 design features really grabbed me for their originality and thoughtfulness.

1) His Tele and LP based designs have a unique chambering and sound vent system. Instead of using F holes in the face of the guitar, he does a line of thin vents along the outside of the body. In my dreams, I would take the current body and slice an 8mm cap off the top, carve said chambers and vents then reglue the cap back on. It would require the neck join tenon to be lessened by the amount removed by the saw, or a similar thickness laminate to be inserted, which in itself, offers some interesting possibilities. But I must acknowledge that this is not a build for a first timer, so have left this idea off and will explore it later.

2) Scala finishes his tops in Nitro but oils the back and sides. It allows a pretty face but also the wood of the body has room to breathe and resonate which has an impact on the dynamic of the sound. I am using this idea as a jumping off point for mixing the poly and tru oil finishes. My combo finish may lack some of the logic but it excites me at this point. I have convinced myself that the poly will give the face of the guitar fairly good protection and a really nice finish. The tru oil on the neck has a nice feel when playing, so extending that to the back of the body doesn't seem like a bad idea, and maybe, just maybe, I'm not choking the wood of the body by doing it all in poly. And it is an idea that I can actually execute at this point, unlike the chambering and venting, so I feel like its a little something unique I can put into the build.

Thanks again for your thoughts and insight, I enjoyed reading your post and am really happy you took the time.

Thanks Trevor.
Hoping I can do it justice.

Wood doesn’t ‘breathe’. If untreated, it can absorb and release humidity from the air, which isn’t a good thing as it makes it move and be less stable (just refer to how much airfreight conditions can affect the fit of neck joints on the kits). Hopefully it will have been dried out sufficiently before it was used to make the kit. So you really want a finish that seals the wood to stop that happening. What you don't want is a finish that’s so thick that it kills any body resonance (2-3mm thick 1970s polyester finishes were the worst for that). Both nitro and polymerising oil finishes (TruOil/Tung/Danish/Boiled Linseed) will seal the surface. How thick the finish is depends on how many layers are applied and then sanded back.

So certainly finish the guitar just how you want to. TruOil certainly gives a nice feel to the neck. Mixing the finishes on the body will make more work for you, but there’s no reason not to. TruOil is a softer finish than Poly, so will be a bit more vulnerable to marking on the back of the body from belt buckles etc. but is also easier to repair if you don’t want a relic look) with some light sanding and a few applications of TO in the damaged areas.

Thank you Simon.
I think my misconception of poly finishes must be informed by the reputation gained in the 70s. Thanks for clarifying that. Time spent on a rethink could change everything or nothing. Really appreciate your sharing.

I prefer nitro finished as they age so much better in my eyes, but polyurethane is a lot harder and less likely to mark in the first place and polyester is harder still, so it will stay very shiny for a lot longer. But both polys chip rather than wear or dent like nitro does,and the chips tend to be sharp edged and obvious. Nitro is also easier to repair as the solvent in the new nitro will simply melt into the existing finish and they'll join together happily, whereas cured poly isn't affected by new poly on the top of it, so it needs roughing up to provide a surface any new finish can grip on to. Nitro is a bit more flexible than poly, so will dampen body resonance very slightly less than the same depth of poly, but any finish with some depth to it will mute body resonance significantly, so you don't want to apply any finish too heavily, plus it just adds to the weight of the guitar.

I know I'll be opening a can of worms here, and I've deleted it three times now, but I'm going to post it anyway.

Whilst how (or if) finish type/finish thickness effects tone or resonance in solid body electric guitars is widely debated, however IMO it is highly exaggerated.
Acoustic guitars... yes, totally different story, and no one will likely dispute that. (and I'll include hollow body electrics in there as well)

There are so many variables that go into generating an electric guitar's tone, it is very often a matter of "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". Not least of which is the player. Then you have pickups, guitar set up, amp etc etc.
Pickups will have a bigger effect on the sound more than the piece of finished solid timber they are mounted to.

I have similar views on the whole "tone wood" debate as well. I'm not saying there are no sonic differences between different timbers but, as it pertains to solid body electric guitars it is not a single definitive factor in determining the tonal characteristics of any given solid body electric guitar.

A former forum-friend of mine used to say "tone [just] happens".
Sometimes you can put all the "right stuff" into a guitar and still end up with a something very lacklustre or even a complete tone turd.

How much body resonance affects the tone of a solid guitar is certainty a moot point and I don't think there's been any proper scientific study of it that's been done with enough samples to get a good, statistically reliable, result. The cost would be pretty exorbitant IMO. But a thick finish can really dampen the body resonance compared to bare wood or a very thin finish.

What I meant to mention was that in this photo...

https://i.imgur.com/pph46KSl.jpg

...you can see the neck angle isn't quite right and the strings are significantly closer to the treble side than the bass side. Some of that may be due to camera angle and some to the fact that the posts are sitting high on top of the body. But it's worth having a closer look at, as you really want the strings ending up running parallel to the sides of the neck. If there's any play in the neck joint at the moment, you may need to make sure that when it's glued in, you have the headstock pulled to the left (left as shown in the photo) to help straighten the strings path.

Simon and McCreed.
Thanks for the further discussion on the finishing pros and cons.
Good food for thought.

Thanks for the pick up on the neck angle Simon. I went back and put some straight edges alon the neck to see how they lined up with the bridge holes. This picture should give a more accurate idea of the neck alignment.
https://i.imgur.com/STR5ILgl.jpg

McCreed, I went ahead and altered the body to improve neck access. A slightly more subtle carve than yours but it felt good. Can modify and refine later if need be.
I went ahead and sanded the body, only 1 real issue I can see. There is a glue sot just above the bridge pick up. Tried Goof Off but not sure of its success yet.
https://i.imgur.com/9340Kd6l.jpg

Here is a rough idea of the colour scheme.
https://i.imgur.com/am1uyAgl.jpg

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McCreed, I went ahead and altered the body to improve neck access. A slightly more subtle carve than yours but it felt good.

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If it feels good to you, that's all that matters! Also, if you're going to do any shaping on the heel and back of the pocket, the smaller scallop is probably all that's required.

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There is a glue sot just above the bridge pick up. Tried Goof Off but not sure of its success yet.

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The best way to find glue spots and check the progress of their removal is wiping down the body with a clean rag dampened with metho. If you angle a torch over the dampened area and sight across at a level plane before the metho evaporates, the spots will reveal themselves. Way better than finding them after you've started applying the colour!

That burst idea is an interesting concept. I could see that working.
Look forward to watching the rest of your progress.

Progress since my last report.
Lots and lots of sanding, got everything down to 400 grit.

Shaped the headstock. Learnt a few things about tear out and tear out repair. Would suggest avoiding it if you can.
https://i.imgur.com/aTLFPDXm.jpg

Next step, I hit the body and the neck with a Jarrah Timbermate slurry, to emphasize and smooth the grain.
Pulled of the excess with a damp cloth and sanded lightly. It highlighted the glue spots on the top which were much bigger and more numerous than I thought. I got to work with Goof Off, 400 grit sandpaper and tte occasional re application of the Timbermate to check progress. I managed to avoid sanding through the veneer and get a consistent finish.
https://i.imgur.com/QIHrtHim.jpg



With some momentum and remaining daylight, I moved onto using wood dyes to colour the body and neck.
I did work out it is better to have a plan, work to the plan, work fairly quickly and don't overdo it.
https://i.imgur.com/8AK4GUGm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/XZnm0jtm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/i4SbOOjm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iKKJnofm.jpg

An interesting thing came to light while I was working on the body.
There is no channel for wires to come out of the switch routing. I'm going to have to drill from the neck pickup routing to the switch routing. Should be fun.

In regard to the neck misalignment, I measured the holes for the bridge and the tailpiece and found that they were centred on the veneer join which, I am assuming, is the midline. I have concluded that the neck pickup is a little out. So I took a few gentle file strokes on the side of the neck pocket and it allowed enough movement to align the neck to be centered on the bridge. Clamping and gluing will be a slightly trickier process but not undoable.

And yes, I missed the glue spot behind the nut.

Typically a hole from the neck to the bridge pickup cavity, and then from there to the control cavity rather than direct from the neck pickup to the control cavity. You'll need a 300mm long drill bit.

Cheers Simon.
The holes from the neck to bridge to control cavity are all there.
There is no hole to the switch cavity which is in the upper horn.
I thought to drill from the switch cavity, to the neck pickup, then follow the regular wiring route from there.

Ah, I see. A long drill bit is still needed to allow you to get a shallow angle.

Nice stain work, BTW.

Thanks mate.

I was wondering about the requirements for the drill bit.
Appreciate the tip.

Hey everyone.
An update and some questions.
Since the last report, I have gone ahead with the wipe on poly for the top, and Tru-Oil for the neck and the back of the body.
I've also added waterslide decals for the headstock logo and the top, with one coat of poly and Tru-Oil over the top of the decals.
https://i.imgur.com/ssA4fFot.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/5sr7HJgt.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/6ndQWN5.jpg?1

I'm getting down to the neck fitting and this is where I'll need to ask for some advice.
First I found that the neck tenon had some bulges which made the pocket VERY tight and the bottom of the tenon did not sit flat in the pocket.
So, some hours of cautious sanding has made the fit snug and maximum contact between neck and body.
This is the join.
https://i.imgur.com/azjcfiht.jpg

I put the bridge on so I could check the neck angle and found 2 problems.
1) String height is way too high, so I am sanding the neck tenon at an angle to bring it down. I need to bring the string height down by about 5mm to have enough adjustability in the bridge. Question to you guys is do you think I have enough meat on the tenon? (I think I do.) Or is there another way to achieve the same effect?
https://i.imgur.com/ozDQyugt.jpg

2) The posts for the bridge are a little far apart and I can't get the bridge to settle on it comfortably.
Any solutions?
https://i.imgur.com/tDS1DHot.jpg

You really need to solve 2) before making any final decisions on 1).

2) looks to have been caused by the post holes being drilled at right angles to the curved top, rather than at right angles to the plane of the body, so that the posts splay outwards,rather than remaining parallel.

Have you screwed both posts right down to the floor to see if the bridge just fits on then? The lower the posts are, the smaller the distance between the posts will be and the more likely the posts will fit.

Short of filling the post holes in and re-drilling them vertically (for which you really need a drill press), the only other solution is to take a small round file and elongate the holes in the bridge.

I just had to do this on my GSM-1 build, though in that instance the posts were too close together.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/I6FJK2.jpg

To reduce the amount of metal removed, you'll want to file at an angle that mimics the angle the posts sit at. You'll need to be careful as there is less metal on the outer edges of the hole that can be safely removed than on the inside.

Once you can fit the bridge on and know what height the strings/neck angle will need to be (a straight edge run across the top of the neck will hit the bridge about 2mm below the top of the saddles when its at the right height for a decent action), then you can think of adjusting the heel angle. You estimate the neck angle gives 5mm too much height at the bridge. Judging that the neck tenon length is about 1/3 of the distance from the heel to the bridge, the body end of the tenon needs to be reduced by 1/3 of 5mm (so approx 1.5mm) if you keep the neck end of the heel the same height, so you just alter the angle. If you simply take 5mm off the bottom of the heel all over, you'll get the same end result. but you could well run into problems with string height above the neck pickup, and the tenon will be very thin. It will still add some extra strength, but I'd prefer to keep as much thickness as possible there, as with the double-cut shape, there's not a lot of glue area for the neck otherwise.

So I'd strongly suggest changing the heel angle rather than just sanding 5mm off overall.

Thanks again Simon.
I agree that solving 2) is the first priority, and your post offers a solution or 2 I hadn't thought of.
Once the sleeves are put in, are the removable?

Happy to report the bridge pin problem sorted.
Thanks Simon.
Really appreciate your input and generosity.

Yes, the posts are removable. You just need the right-sized bit of round wooden dowel (6mm) and cut a short length that fits down the hole leaving a few mm of the internal thread showing. The thread is M8, so easiest to use an M8 bolt. but you can use a post from the stop tail (or use a spare post if you have one lying around), though there's always a risk of marring the screw slot if you don't use a large enough screwdriver. Just wind the bolt into the insert, and the insert will get pulled out of the slot. The splines that really do the holding are only about 1cm deep, so you don't have to wind the post out too far before it becomes loose.

Time for a progress check.
Thanks again to Simon, I was able to resolve the above issues and move forward.

Before gluing the neck, I straightened it using the truss rod, then proceeded to level, crown and polish the frets.
I installed a bone nut to replace the plastic original.
I also gave the fretboard a couple of applications of Lemon Oil.

In the absence of one, I had to drill a 10mm hole from the switch cavity to the neck pickup cavity to put wiring through. Was fortunate to be accurate enough to land in the right spot the second time. The first attempt was harmless and caused no damage.
After a significant amount of time sanding the heel of the neck to create a useable angle, I finally glued the neck into the body with Titebond 1.
The little gaps around the joint I taped off and filled with Maple Timbermate and then added a few more layers of Tru Oil over the neck and back of the body.
I also polished the Poly top with an car polish product, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
Then I started adding some bits to it.

The Tuners are genuine PRS tuners (off an SE I think)
https://i.imgur.com/UYaD0ZBm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/3C24QjFm.jpg?2

ToneRider Alnico IV zebra Humbuckers.
https://i.imgur.com/h3xOy9Rm.jpg

920d Custom Lp50-split Upgraded Les Paul Wiring Harness W/ Coil Split and Pure Tone output Jack.
Note that the tone pot shafts stick way up. I would like to lower them obviously but the the switch itself wouldn't fit into the control cavity.
https://i.imgur.com/OpK9hvCm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RqkpE9sm.jpg?1

Switchcraft 3 way switch.
https://i.imgur.com/j9k5emum.jpg
Which brings me to asking if there are any solutions to putting flat switches on sloping surfaces?

Next step is to sort and solder the Spaghetti vomit.
I'm taking time to think this through as there are some inconsistencies within the supplied wiring diagrams, across the manufacturers.
I think I have it now sorted and will spend time on the upcoming weekend to put it all together.

Sloping surfaces really require the slope of the wood behind the top to match the slope of the top. Which requires some forethought to get right. If the distance between the rout and the top itself is quite thick, then the holes also need to be drilled perpendicular to the plane of the top.

You could make a thin wooden wedge, drill a hole in the middle and fit that in the selector rout to get that switch angled correctly. You may then need to use an extended Switchcraft knurled nut as this will reduce the amount of thread showing, but this type of nut is common fitment on Les Pauls and other guitars where the top is over 2mm thick.

Your long pots just need some nuts and washers fitting on the cavity side to get them to the right height. Those long shaft pots are ridiculously long, I’ve never known a guitar that actually needed them, and the medium length shafts are always sufficient for my needs, but I expect the 920 lot use them as they should fit all scenarios, even if it does leave the pot body in mid-air.

Situations like this are where making your own harness is so much better than buying one as you can choose your own components to fit the space you have. CTS certainly do switched pots that are a bit shorter in the body, but it looks more like you need switched pots with shorter shafts as well. So you may well have to modify that harness with some new components and end up practically making your own.

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You could make a thin wooden wedge, drill a hole in the middle and fit that in the selector rout to get that switch angled correctly.

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This similar to what I did on my PRS-1TS, except I made mine with 2 x 12mm diameter fibre washers (red ones used in plumbing).
I superglued the two together, then filed and sanded them down on one side so it became a "wedge-shaped washer".
I can't recall what thickness it finished up being, but it was easier to manage as a washer in the small cavity than trying deal with a single wedge under one side of the switch (which was my original attempt).
The little wedge kept shifting and falling out whilst I was trying to position the switch and focusing on the front & back at once.

And she is done.

Turns out I made the right decisions about where the wires go and all the push/pull pots work as advertised. Switch has a very positive feel to it and selects the correct pickup accordingly.
https://i.imgur.com/G5W8ocLt.jpg https://i.imgur.com/9r3mJvGt.jpg

The set up of the truss rod, nut, bridge and intonation have worked out well. Good string height and comfortable neck.
https://i.imgur.com/Ulzv3Git.jpg

I really like the way it plays and sounds but I went and got a second opinion.
Good friend has a Gibson Les Paul and so I sort him out to help me with the debugging.
We both liked;
the action,
the feel,
the playability,
the look,
the range of tones, both clean and driven sounded great,
the sustaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnn was remarked on most favourably,
no extraneous noises or buzzes,
taking fingers off the strings made no discernible change,
the balance between pickups.

What we didn't like;
As surprised as I am about how it turned out...nothing beyond a couple of finishing imperfections.
https://i.imgur.com/FhnoF7Mt.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Uv1v4G5t.jpg

Thanks to Simon and McCreed for getting involved and helping out.

You can't really say much better than that. Well done!

Nice job! Glad you ended up with a good player. (it doesn't happen every time!)
How did you go about fixing the switch angle issue?

Some larger pics would be nice to get a greater appreciation of your finished product though!

Cheers

https://i.imgur.com/7qiGvzq.jpg

Thanks Guys.
McCreed, I will get to the switch in time and enjoy the playing it till then.

Ahhhh... that's better!

I do like your offset burst. Good work!
Switch looks ok from that angle.