Those that cannot be named...

I managed to pick up a Number #5 from the forbidden fruits list, which arrived earlier this week... :cool:

Nothing too crazy planned on this one, I'm going for a piano black finish. I've also ordered some blingier hardware from Guyker to install, but sticking with the kit pickups. The guitar is going to be a gift for my eldest son.

So far, the neck has been dry fitted and the E strings fitted to ensure the neck and guitar cavity were all good. With that, the neck was glued in place (after shaping the headstock) and clamped for a couple of days.

After that was a fair amount of sanding - I blocked the back of the body with 150 grit sandpaper to ensure it was flat and then went over the whole thing with 320 grit on the DA sander. A quick inspection after the sanding and it was time to start the grain filling process - I masked the fretboard and sprayed three reasonably wet coats of Feast Watson sanding sealer over the whole guitar. (Bindings included - I want to minimize the paint edge build-up against the edge of the binding as a result of the masking. The sanding sealer is mostly clear, so can't be seen on top of the binding.)

This stuff needs a couple of days before it can be sanded, which is where I'm a now. It's been known to clog sandpaper if you sand before it dries properly, so it pays to wait. In the next few days it will be sanded back again with 320 grit, the fret board and all bindings masked up again and it will then be sprayed with three wet coats of black 2K primer. The idea with using black primer is that any future chips or scratches with be harder to see.

More posts to come as it progresses.... :D

Looking great so far!

Black primer on, sanded, binding and fretboard cleaned up and re-masked, black basecoat on. Some stencils laid out and a bit of amateur airbrushing done before 3 good wet coats of 2K clear. Once all this is dry enough it will be re-sanded with 1000 grit and re-cleared to help hide any masking lines and give the paint some more depth.

A few more pics I couldn't fit in the last post...

That really is coming up nicely.

+1 for looking nice. I really like the theme and the stencils.

That is nice! I sense that you are going to be wanting to do the Jimmy Page wiring?

https://guitarelectronics.com/2-humb...NeH23PrtDQ_qm0

I am slowly getting ready to build one of these. It won't have as cool a finish as yours. I have pretty much decided not to do the full JP wiring... At the moment I am leaning toward a master coil-cut and a phase switch. I have have a parallel/series switch on my G&L bass that I have never used, and have never been sure what I'd use if for. Evidently JP found a use for it though ;-)

Unfortunately my forte is painting... I'm still a newbie when it comes to wiring and no-one is more surprised than I am when it actually works as it should! I think I'll stick with the kit electrics on this one... ;)

Interesting setup for the JP wiring though, maybe a new challenge for a future build!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Moparnut

Unfortunately my forte is painting... I'm still a newbie when it comes to wiring and no-one is more surprised than I am when it actually works as it should! I think I'll stick with the kit electrics on this one... ;)

Interesting setup for the JP wiring though, maybe a new challenge for a future build!

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I would not call that an "unfortunate" forte. Finishing is my nemesis. You can always buy a wiring harness, although it'll cost double or more the price of the parts. The JP wiring may well be overkill. I have listened to some exemplars and have come to think the out-of-phase setting may be useful. Not as sure about the coil-split or series-parallel. The nice thing about building is that you can always upgrade later if you want to.

So, I gave this a good sand back and polish today! It's not quite the final finish, but it's close enough to get the assembly done while not wanting to touch it at the same time...! I started off with 1200 dry to finger nib the debris in the clear, and then ran over it with 1000 grit on a backing pad on my air powered DA sander. I finished that up with some 2000, 2500 and 3000 grit discs and then polished it with a 150mm rotary buff on a low speed, using Farecla cutting compound. After 4 or 5 good passes with that, I ran over it with a polishing pad on the rotary buff and a smoother grade polish.

I tried a few hardware dummy passes (upgraded machine heads, bridge and tail-stop pieces and aluminium humbucker rings), before I ran out of energy and shut the shed door. There's always tomorrow.

If only you could fit more than 5 pics per post...

Wow, that finish is amazing. I think I need a master class in doing that!

Feel free to post as many times as you need to! Those are great pics. Love the paint job on the back, especially. That's a very cool tailpiece. Curious where you got that? Also curious about the TOM bridge that you are using.

Thanks guys! The tailpiece is from Guyker, I have a gold one of the same design to go on my Explorer once I get back into that. I'm not sure what you mean by "TOM" bridge? I bought the bridge from someone on Trademe, he was selling three brand new ones for $60. Thought it was too good a deal to pass up!

Ah! Tune-0-matic. Got it. The kit actually came with one as well, but there is no way the supplied bridge and stop will fit the guitar... the holes in the body are too big for the posts! They rattle about in the holes.... I reckon the posts are at least a mm too small in circumference. It didn't bother me because I had every intention of upgrading them anyway!

It took me a few nights of copper taping cavities, checking the diagram, soldering, rechecking the diagram, soldering some more and then a little bit more checking, holding the diagram upside down and giving myself a fright and then the relief when I figured I was doing it right in the first place etc.... and now it's alive!! Everything works as it should - I chucked two E strings on it and checked the pots and the switch and then jammed "Whole Lotta Love" for its first tune! It even gave me an epic pinch harmonic on the G when I was mucking about with it. I have to admit, for a kit guitar it sounds pretty damn good! No static, no unwanted noise, no crackles. I just all worked as it should and it sounded great. Very happy! Time for a bit of work on the frets and neck and then finishing assembly. :cool:

It's a great thing when you finally get to hear it as well as see it. Nice that it sounds as good as it looks!

This is looking awesome!!

Love to see it

Loving the look

All the fret work sorted and polished (plus a repaint of the back of the neck thanks to the masking tape protecting the fretboard pulling a strip of clear off the back....!!)

I ended up replacing the cavity covers as you can see... the originals were a cream colour, so that was never going to work! I had planned on using some brushed alloy I have floating around, but it wasn't wide enough to cover the bigger cavity. I have plenty of red perspex, and it dawned on my that it was probably the best choice given the rest of the colours on the guitar. So, out with the scroll saw to make them and then the sandpaper to make them fit in the cavity recesses.

I gave it a final polish over and then installed the strings. It took no time at all to set the action and get the intonation right. It seemed too easy even! Got through some string stretching and had some fun playing to some old tunes on Youtube.

I have to say, this thing plays and sounds WAAAAYYYY better than I expected! Over the years I have owned Gibsons, Epiphones, a ton of guitars from Korea and Indonesia and this thing is up there with the best of them for both playability and sound. Heaps of sustain, lots of grunt from the humbuckers and a beautiful fast ebony neck. It seems a shame to be giving this guitar away!

I'll be back soon with a new build for sure.

That looks absolutely awesome. The finish is spectacular. I cannot wait to see what you do next!

That's looking awesome, I have to say!