SG Junior

Started my second build, this time a SG junior kit with the karajini red dingotone finish. I spent some time with a shinto rasp refining the bevels and put on the stain coats - unfortunately the front of the guitar seems to have faded particularly compared with the end-grain. So faded cherry it is :D

Had some difficulty with the stain continuing to come off as I moved to the top coat, and based on the feedback from the forum the suggestion was to use Tru-Oil instead. Luckily I still had some from my first build so I've got four coats on the body, and two on the neck (the neck already had two coats of the dingotone neck finish so I'm not sure I'll need to add more). Plan is to go for a matt to slightly satin finish, so when I'm done adding coats on the body it will be a vigorous rub down with 0000 steel wool, t-shirt and maybe some printer paper. Then a quick buff and polish with dingowax.

Plan for the hardware, I have:

Martin Smith handwound p90 pickup
Kluson keystone tuners
Kluson wraparound bridge - going for old school non-compensated junior goodness
2 x 500k CTS pots with orange drop .22uf cap
Vintage braided wire

Going for an uncomplicated rock guitar

Hi geoffro.

I think this will make a great colour - not sure if I would call it cherry!

Has the red made a huge difference to the (I think) mahogany? It is hard to tell from the picture. In my LP1-SS build (Mahogany body and neck) I added DT Nullarbor Ochre to the back and sides of the body but that did not make much difference!

Hi Trevor,
Yeah initially the Karijini red was very dark cherry coloured - you can really see the difference in the end-grain of the horns. And yes it’s mahogany and there was definitely a difference when I first applied the stain coats.

Testing out headstock logo. Now just waiting on my transfer paper to arrive from the brazilian rainforest...

Is this a GSJ kit, or another one (can't see an SG Jr on the PB shop web site ATM)? My GSJ had symmetrical horns, which yours doesn't seem to have. Is this down to your rasp or was the kit like that?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/o9aU6w.jpg

My only comment on your hardware choice is the bridge. There is no angle on the post holes, which is authentic as far as I can see, but obviously provides intonation issues if you are using a flat-topped wraparound bridge. The first SG Jrs (61-62) had a simple wrapover bridge, but the post holes were staggered, so gave an acoustic guitar level of intonation compensation (although the adjustable screws at the rear of the bridge gave a bit more adjustment). From 63 to 65 they had a compensated (fixed casting) wraparound with no angle on the bridge.

So if you want it to be playable, I'd seriously suggest a rethink on the bridge choice, or else be prepared to plug the existing post holes and redrill so it sits at an angle.

Hi Simon.
That is a nice looking guitar and the colour I was shooting for! But I’m liking the faded look more and more.

Regarding the kit. I think it was old stock and/or discontinued as I contacted pitbull and was offered this.

It may not show in the pics but I’ve already plugged the bridge holes and was actually marking out the new locations last night based on some advice I found in the mylespaul forum. It is angled with both holes slightly further back than the nominal scale length.

I’ve also considered if I really can’t get it to intonate to my satisfaction then I’ll either get a mojo tone (I think that’s the brand) or grind a split intonation line into my bridge.

Great news.

It's difficult to know what peoples levels of knowledge are on these things, so I'd much prefer to point things out than leave something unsaid that could lead to problems down the line.

I can see that your kit is a bit different to mine, as the neck is inset into the body further and the pickup and tailpiece are set further towards the rear of the body as a result.

Thanks Simon appreciate the guidance, there are things I’ve over researched and other I’m sure I’m terribly out of knowledge on.

Also yes your neck is what I was looking for but mine is what was available.

Well I've been struck, unfortunately not thunderstruck but struck with disaster.

Man what a tale of woe that I have to tell, I had marked the locations of the new bridge holes, used a straight edge to check that the strings would pass over the pickup poles, yet somehow I managed to completely screw it up so badly the low E string was off the fretboard by the 17th fret :mad: in the process managing to put a few dings in my lovely finish.

To make matters worse, trying to drill the earth hole to the new hole I popped the screw out through the top. And then managed to snap the drill bit in the hole and can't get it out :( I had also seen people of the 'tube use a small bolt to help pop out the bridge bushing, but it apparently wasn't big enough so I ended up with it getting stuck down there. I managed to pop them using a claw hammer and lots of padding on the body and bridge pin.

So I've plugged the holes up, trying this time to use long grain instead of end-grain (from the dowel) to see if I can make the plugs disappear better! Oh and I also managed to chip some of the plug off the bass side when flattening it, so have tried to make a sawdust and PVA filler.

Wall meet my forehead, multiple times with some force!

Plan is sand back the front, reapply the dingotone stain coat to see if I can hide the patches, possibly even covering the existing dowel plugs with a small long grain plug. And then I've been toying with the idea of a home made finish similar to tru oil (1/3 poly, 1/3 boiled linseed, 1/3 metho) or maybe just buy another small bottle of tru-oil.

Ouch indeed!

I feel for you. Been there quite a few times.

There's always the solid colour option if all else fails.

With the bridge at an angle, the strings will come off the top of it further to the right (looking at it as per the photo above) than the string holes in the bridge, so you really need to check using string from the bridge up to the headstock, and then mark the bridge position using the mounting screw cutouts.

Update: Front almost completely sanded back, plugged the holes with a larger patch which of course chipped out when drilling the new holes!!! :mad: At least I'm getting good experience at patching holes.. will now need to see if I can get the colour to hide the patches.

I had to put it together just to see what it would look like and make sure I got the alignment correct this time. String height was a little high, but I'm hoping I can bring that down with sanding the nut lower and tightening the truss rod (fair amount of bow from the string tension), otherwise I'll have to grind the bridge which will be an experiment.

Intonation was actually pretty close, so that's finally a positive! :cool:

Looking for feedback... I've re-stained the front, patched up the additional damage I caused in the back, starting on my home brewed finish (equal parts oil based poly, boiled linseed oil and metho) and it's starting to build up a slight sheen on the front - although being a satin poly maybe I shouldn't expect too much.

BUT...

I'm not sure this is going well, the patches are now sticking out like the proverbial back end of a dog :( The colour is now what I was looking for originally (assuming it will probably darken the more finish I put on it) but it doesn't match the rest of the guitar which has faded considerably.

Thoughts at this stage:

- Stick with the program, keep applying finish and wait and see what I get.

- Sand the whole thing back, get black india ink and stain it so darkly you won't see the patches, then finish with either the oil, or just the polyurethane?

- Sand the whole thing back, buy some duplicolour from super cheap like https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/...00503#start=14


Oh, I did manage to finish the truss rod cover and backplate, meranti finished with some shellac and dingowax. :)

Quote:

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...starting on my home brewed finish (equal parts oil based poly, boiled linseed oil and metho...

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I hope you mean mineral turps and not methylated spirits.

Oh. Add that to the failure list. I knew they were different but given it is a thinning agent I figured it would be ok.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geoffro

Oh. Add that to the failure list. I knew they were different but given it is a thinning agent I figured it would be ok.

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Yeah, that will generally end badly. Oil based polyurethane need (as well as boiled linseed oil) need to be thinned with turps (mineral turpentine). Mixing poly with methylated spirits will make it go cloudy and it may even get gluggy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

Yeah, that will generally end badly. Oil based polyurethane need (as well as boiled linseed oil) need to be thinned with turps (mineral turpentine). Mixing poly with methylated spirits will make it go cloudy and it may even get gluggy.

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Yep makes sense, further research tells me there is water in metho which won’t work well with the oil bases poly and BLO (major facefalm). Thanks McCreed

Well I don’t know if it’s the screw up with the metho or something else but the guitar got really sticky - even the neck which had only tru-oil. Anyhoo. I’ve done my best to sand off the finish, used some mahogany timber mate to try and grain fill and reapplied the stain coat and I’m hoping this will even out the finish. Ordered a new bottle of tru-oil and will give it another go.