GR-1SF Stage Guitar

After seeing so many of you create such great guitars, I finally decided to have a crack.

Kit arrived in great condition very soon after ordering.
At first look, I am very impressed with the finish.
Binding is neat and no screwy overhangs.
The MOP in the fingerboard looks great
Frets even seen in servicable shape before any work.
Dingotone Uluru is the one Ive chosen, and I look forward so seeing this product used.

The plan is to build a passable stage instrument using all parts from the original package, and measure them on their own merit.
Upgrades will be potentially attempted after we knock this thing together and give it a spin.
I hope to have an instrument that is very playable, and looks good from six feet away under stage lights.

So, we have the kit in mock assembled form.
(Complete with one knob making the maiden voyage into the f-hole.)
Attachment 3234
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After reading a couple of the other threads on this kit, these are my two potential worries.
Neck joint is not as tight as I would have expected.
Attachment 3236

The headstock seems to suffer from all the symmetry problems discussed in other threads.
Attachment 3237

I'm not that worried about the headstock symmetry, so long as it stays in tune well.

Ive watched the videos, and I need to do a lot of rehearsal on the matter of soldering :D

nice looking kit Swinging Beef,
take your time and you should end up with a very playable stage axe !

Looks sweet. After all these great threads, I would really like to put one of these jazz boxes together one day. Will be keeping up with this one.

Love me a jazz box

Hey Beef, the headstock won't be that bigga deal from the audience, I messed up my Strat headstock and it's passable from the audience's perspective, someone even thought it was a Fender!

Should be pretty jazzy (pun intended :D) with your choice in colour! Building a guitar that is stage-worthy is pretty easy if you take your time and not rush anything!

welcome SB, cool project, take your time and it will come out well

Thanks for the support, guys.
I'm not trying to make a Gretsch clone... maybe next time ;)

swinging beef, great to see some one else building the GR-1sf! I am 95% done with mine (all stock hardware except the wiring and one pot) I thought it was both fun and a little more difficult due to the fact that particular model didn't have a wiring schematic. But that made it even more custom. The forum members are really helpful in any questions you might have, Wierdbits took some time and made me a killer diagram of a circuit that I am really pleased with. There are a few build diaries of the gr-1sf that I am waiting to see the finish products since they look like they are turning out awsome. My biggest advice would be to ask questions and actually wait for the answers, I was always too impatient, which lead to a lot of "learning thru failure"!

I got some time up my sleeve in the past few days, so devoted it a bit to guitar build in stead of guitar playing.

The back of the guitar looked like this with no stain.
Attachment 3370

After one coat of Dingotone Uluru Red, it looked like this.
Attachment 3372
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Attachment 3374

It smells awesome!
Liks someone just peeled a mandarin next to me.

I think I would have been happier with a 'redder' colour, or more base coat in the package, but like I said earlier, this is a budget build using as much existing 'out of the box' stuff as I can without changing or upgrading anything.
I expect the colour will change as things progress.

Next turned my tiny, illogical brain to the minefield of wiring.
I'm a bit intimidated by the wiring, and it didn't make it any easier that the site does not offer wiring harness build strategies for this particular kit.
Fortunately, the original designer of this style guitar has kindly left actual wiring diagrams for their instruments on their site.
Unfortunately, the knob and switches provided in the kit are not the same, but I think I got the right idea.

Attachment 3375

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Attachment 3377

The plan is for master volume in top left of the guitar with the pick up selector three way switch.
Master tone in the top right. Volume for each pick up in the bottom.

I have things poked in a cardboard box and Ive watched some videos of poor bastards threading plastic tubing though F holes, using coat hangers, long bits of dowel to locate everything.

Looks beautiful! The Dingotone has worked wonders here, which bodes well for my venture into it.

Thanks JeffSheridan... do you have a build diary of yours?

Hey Beef, looks good with the first coat! As you apply more stain, it will get redder. Also try applying as much as possible (and evenly too) in one coat, can get more in at once, especially when the timber is beginning to soak it in like a sponge!

Also, here is Jeff's build diary: http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=3757

There is no more stain :(
Dingotone comes in Base coat (red), enhancer (red), and clear coat.
I'm out of base coat.
lets hope the enhancer does its job.
I'm not unhappy with it, but could be happier.

Thanks for the link to jeff's fred

Hey Swinging Beef looking awesome. Did you tape off the binding or you have cleaned them up ?
Bushfire sunrise is a more red colour where Uluru red is more a scarlet/purple red colour.
The colour should continue to deepen with intensifying coats

No taping of binding.
Just gave it vigorous rub with a cotton pad, the same ones I put the stain on with, three days later and it came off the binding.
I just got back from Uluru, so I couldn't help myself.
The colour will be what it will be. Its still pretty.

yes uluru is a fantastic colour. You can always try a different stain next build. Karijini red is a much darker deep red as well looks great

'next build o_O

these kits come up so well when stained. nice job Beefy

Yeah Beef looks good! I'm just a little ahead of you on my project. I rattle can'd my guitar with flat black and then satin finish over that. I looked at that circuit also but wanted to do something with less pots. Wierdbits came up with a diagram that's on my build thread and that's what I went with: pickup selector top front, master volume bottom front, pickup balance and master tone bottom left. I plugged the other hole up top which wasn't a problem since I was painting solid color. I ran wires I thru the various holes and attached them to the pots then pulled them thru that way. Look forward to seeing your progress!
Aloha, Jeff

Looking at wiring the insides got me seeing the insides of a lot of acoustic and semi-acoustic instruments.
I liked the way they keep the body clean of serial numbers and the like by using an internal sticker.
The headstock has a different logo planned.
So, other than another coat of stain, that I havent photographed, thats pretty much my progress for the week.
Hopefully build the wiring harness this weekend.
Attachment 3421

SB,
This thing is Far Are King HOT. I love the way the colour has come out. I love the way it has brought out the subtle grain in the Neck.
For the Wiring, I'd go with Weirdies loom with the tone balance set up. It means you will have to spend %25 or so on a doulbe gang pot But I reckon it would be worth it.

I am using a a different bridge set up to standard, but this is because I have already built the PIG(335 copy). so I already have the experience of the fixed post bridges and tremlos(Whammy bars, I am a little older than most on here).

When you get to glueing the neck in just take care that it lines up. The PIG was about 15 mm out. this means the pickups aren't quite under the strings where they should be. That was due to inexperience with set necks. I've now done a few, unglued and reglued a few. :)


Cheers PK

I got some of the wiring one today, put the inner sticker in (my lady hands sometimes come in useful! I could get one arm fully inside the box through the neck hole), and the third coat of DT is on.
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Thanks for the heads up PK.. I will check the pick ups before going glue mad.
I popped the neck in and checked the machine heads to bridge and the cotton threads sat nicely with about a 4mm gap from the edge of the neck all along, but I didnt think to check p/u placement.

Too late on the wiring, Im half in! :)

Far out that neck is looking so pretty. Love the fade

Looks really nice well done look forward to seeing her completed

nice work Beefy, this is looking really good

Lurv that sticker, awesome touch.

Looking really good. Especially like how the back has turned out.

Looking great. Looking forward to seeing it assembled!

cheers,
Gav.

that uluru red is looking sweet Beef. coming along really nicely.
Did you make up the sticker yourself ? nice touch !

Wiring harness is done.
Bleargh... theres three hours of my life and a thousand hail mary's worth of cussin done.
Attachment 3462

Ive checked for continuity and shorts with a multimeter, but if anyone else wants to tell me how to check if all the pots and switches are working using a multimeter, I would be much obliged.

wokka... sticker was just knocked up using shapes in Excel, its inspired by a bunch of ones I saw online and in guitar shops, by peering in the holes of old geetars.
I rubbed it down with a used teabag, too, to give it that aged appearance.
(Who said those treasure maps in primary school were a waste of time? :D )

you can alligator clip pickups to the circuit and follow the passive current using the Ohm setting on your multimeter through the circuit. Follow from pickup leads -> pick up selector -> Vpot lug 1 -> Vpot lug 2 -> Tpot lug 1 -> Tpot lug 2 -> output tip.

That's how I've done it in the past. Not the most electrically inclined (but learning...) so if anyone has better suggestions I won't be offended :p

Beef, coming along very nicely. Love the sticker and looks like you've scored a premium flame maple neck!

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

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Sending this logo off to the printer to get a decal made up now I know the sizing works.

that logo fits the shape really nicely Beef, nicely done.
So will the lettering be black like the mock logo ?
Should look really cool, make sure you try and apply it straight !
Will it be a waterslide decal logo ?

nice work Beefy, that wiring looks neat. I like the logo and it is full of retro goodness, nice job

http://www.guitar-decals.com/crown-d...rl-effect.html

Its a custom job from these guys, using this material.
I hope it comes in looking as good as I plan.
Fungus crust! (as our New Zealand friends say)

I dont think it matters if its not straight... I mean... the headstock isnt actually symmetrical :D
AND!
Look at the lettering on the real deal!
Its a bit kooky
http://s183.photobucket.com/user/vir...stock.jpg.html

Now.. who knows where I can get me some MOP style pick guard material.
Because I would like to redo the truss rod and pickguard to suit.
The stuff on ebay looks good, but our friendly Chinese sellers descriptions do not match the photos, which is a bit annoying.

Realparts have some and Aussie stock
Dont know what it is like, but I have been pleased with previous purchases from them:

http://www.realparts.com.au/pickguar...rd-sheets.html