1st build -- AIB-1F

Hi all

I started my 1st build today -- an AIB-1F, flame maple "Ib-style/S-series" guitar (as far as I can tell).

I put my grain darkener on, and found a whole lot of glue smears near the edges of the veneer and the binding. Also on the join. The flaming is mostly on one side too. Is that normal?

What is my best way ahead with regard to the glue?

Should I sand it (noting that it is mostly on the veneer), or will 'Goof Off' (or something else) do the job?

Will it still work with the grain darkener having been applied? Also, will it work on the glue join line?

Finally, do I need to try and darken the flaming on the lighter side? Or is it normal to have regions with much less striping?

That is a lot of questions! Grateful for any advice that could be provided.

Thanks!

IMO, the flaming looks great, and I wouldn't worry about it.

For the glue spots, you'll probably need to get some acetone and a clean toothbrush and very lightly work away at those spots. Shouldn't take too much effort (but be careful not to hit the binding with the acetone).

You should be able to lightly sand back the whole grain darkening layer, leaving the grain to pop, and tidying up the glue areas you've just hit with the acetone.

Then wipe down with Shellite, let that dry, then you're good to go with the next layer of stain.

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Thanks for that. I'll give it a go!

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The flaming is mostly on one side too. Is that normal?

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It's not the best book-matching that I've seen, but unfortunately it can be luck of the draw with kits in this price range.
FTR, I'm not having a go at PBG, 9 times out of 10 they are exceptional quality for the price.

That said, the angle of view and lighting effects how & what we see. Below I've posted 3 different perspectives of my PRS-TS1 from 2018. All with same camera (iPhone) first two are outdoors same time of day, different angles, and third one is indoors mostly artificial lighting.
in each one the tiger stripes look a little different. The indoor one looks especially uneven by comparison.

Attachment 40090 Attachment 40091 Attachment 40093

Oh, I am using wudtone azure lake, if anyone is interested

Hmmmm... not having much luck with the acetone and toothbrush. The stain came away easily, but not the glue. And the lower join line is still really obvious.

Do I need to go a bit harder on the glue spots? I was fairly light with the brush as they are mostly near the binding.

I'd mask off the binding to avoid collateral damage and have another go with some stronger brushing.

Will do. Thanks

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Originally Posted by cj18

Hmmmm... not having much luck with the acetone and toothbrush. The stain came away easily, but not the glue. And the lower join line is still really obvious.

Do I need to go a bit harder on the glue spots? I was fairly light with the brush as they are mostly near the binding.

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I had trouble with my ES335 build too. I used Goof Off ( available at the big green shed ) then had to restain the area but it came up perfect, couldn't see the difference.

Goof-off is mainly acetone, but I expect the added extra ingredients help in those more stubborn cases.

I am considering getting an SD Pearly Gate pickup in the bridge and an SD '59 in the neck. Any thoughts?

Also, would a Wilkinson 52.5mm (2-1/16 inch) String Spacing Hardtail Fixed Bridge for a Squier/Mexico Fender Strat be a good replacement for the stock bridge? It seems to be the right size (I hope!), and of a reasonable quality. I am open to suggestions (as long as the bridge comes in gold)

A good pickup choice for a classic rock/blues sound. Both are PAF-style pickups, so will go well together, with the '59 being a more generic PAF pickup, and the Pearly Gates based on the pickups in Billy Gibbon's Les Paul.

Wilkinson bridges are great value and I often recommend them where appropriate. Assuming the kit bridge has a flat base plate and the top of the guitar is flat where the bridge sits, then it should be fine and you'd have to pay a lot more to get any slight improvement.

The bridge can be used for both string-through and top loading, so you could always drill the body and fit ferrules on the rear if you wanted to.

The bridge mounting holes may be in slightly different positions to the kit bridge, so some plugging and redrilling may be necessary. Even if the holes are in the same place, if the Wilkinson screws have a larger diameter than the kit screws, then you may need to enlarge the pilot holes to suit. As with any screw hole, it should be the same size as the solid centre section of the screw (or just under).

Thanks for the feedback Simon.

I am considering splitting the PG, but not the '59. Internet 'wisdom' seems to go that direction.

The bridge that came with the kit is flat, so there should be no problems there! I'm going to go with top loading, but it is good to have the option.

It is a public holiday here tomorrow, so I have a 'building day' scheduled!! :D

Split humbuckers rarely sound anything like a proper single coil. Half of the bridge PG's 8.1k ohms DCR is 4.05k ohms, so is significantly less than the typical 6.5kohms DCR of a vintage Strat pickup. In addition, the PG having alnico 2 magnets, which are less powerful than the alnico 5 magnets of a Strat pickup. So a split vintage-type humbucker will always sound thinner and weaker than a true single coil. A neck '59 has a lower DCR than the bridge PG, but it does have alnico 5 magnets, so it may sound a bit stronger when split.

There's nothing stopping you splitting both pickups,. I have a 1998 Jimmy Page Model Les Paul, obviously with all the switching options, but have fitted PAF-style BK Mules to replace the original Gibson 496R and 500T ceramic humbuckers. The ceramics certainly sounded better than the Mules when coil split due to them being overwound (compared to a PAF) and with far more powerful magnets. But the ceramics were useless for anything subtle. A weird choice of pickups to fit in the guitar IMO.

The split sound is still useable, and if you don't want to take a humbucker guitar and a single coil guitar to a gig just for a couple of single coil songs, then splitting is an easy option to add. And if you split one pickup, you might as well split both. The both pickups on and split in parallel sound I find more interesting than juts one pickup split on its own.

These are just my thoughts, but other peoples views are equally as valid (if based on experience and fact). There's some good info out on the web, but there's a lot of bad info that gets repeated as much as the good stuff does, so it's best to have some experience of your own on the subject to help pick out the good bits.

And if you are putting the guitar through a lot of pedals with compression and drives, then you can generally make any pickup give you the sound you want. It's only the 'guitar straight into an amp' situation where you'll hear all the subtleties, with bits being lost the more processing you add.

Just curious, how'd you go with removing the glue? Did you get it sorted?

I just gave it ANOTHER go, and it is still the same :(

I am going to try very lightly sanding next, as I am now at the point that I don't care if I damage it. I have kind of written it off in my mind, hence I can't exactly ruin it, as I doubt it is really fixable.

I think the lesson might be to avoid buying veneered bodies.

I am going to buy a replacement body from Guitar Fetish, if it all goes wrong, as I know their product is of a reasonable standard for the price.

I have to say that I am pretty annoyed about all of this, and someone on here might be getting a good deal on my unopened explorer kit...

Ok, back on track!

I can tell you that acetone with a toothbrush did not work, but acetone with 0 grade steel wool did. On the body, anyway.

I tried this combo on the join down the centre, but it had minimal effect at best. What worked on that part was 240 grade sandpaper. I was firm, but careful, and it sorted it out!

Brave man! Let!s hope it’s plain sailing from now on.

Good result. Sometimes persistence pays off!

I've got a bit of a finish issue, if anyone can help. A light patch after my first base coat of wudtone.

Has anyone experienced this? I thought the area would blend in with the first base coat, but it hasn't...

I am referring to the centre line that I had to sand. I hope this isn't related to the acetone making the wood less porous...

Attachment 40545

I'm getting a little more colour into that stripe. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to increase the amount of dye being absorbed?

Perhaps a VERY light rouging up with sand paper and/or steel wool?

You need to be very careful, as you're probably already half-way through the original veneer depth. What may be happening is that you are now seeing the bottom layer of the veneer that's absorbed some glue where it's been stuck down. So it's probably not going to absorb much more stain, and more sanding will remove some more of what little veneer is remaining, lightening it even more.

Have you tried brushing on a very strong dye solution to just that area? Be careful as you don't want to create a darker ring around it.

The only other option I can think of that might work, is applying some tinted clear coat just over the light area (before clearing the whole body).
This depends on what kind of dye you've used (alcohol, spirit or water based) and what you're going to use for the clear coat.
The dye/stain and clear need to be compatible to be mixed.

To make this idea work will require a bit (or a lot) of experimenting and careful application, and probably a dozen things I haven't thought about, but it could yield a good result if executed properly.

That's all I got, and that'll be 2 cents please...

Thanks for the suggestions.

There is still flaming in the area, so I know that I'm not all of the way through the veneer...

I've been finger dabbing dye directly onto the area, then lightly steel wooling the area to smooth down the raised sections. It seems to be doing the trick.

It is starting to blend in to the rest of the body now :)

I am learning new skills every day!