Bluesmartyboy's Boy Bens First Build

Bit of a story to this one.....

I started my first build about six weeks ago and my then twelve year old son took an interest in it.....(Getting him off the computer i thought, yeah we will run with this!) so you can imagine my surprise when for his 13th birthday we didn't get the usual requests for death zombie army shootem up games and associated electronics.....in fact not even an "i anything" was mentioned.....he simply said " I wanna build a guitar like dads!" My heart swelled with pride....until he then stated "plus mine will be better!"

anyway we went onto the PB website and he decided on an SG......good choice i thought...then i remembered....Glue in neck.......getting just a little bit worried....

A few emails backwards and forwards to PB HQ and a kind offer of t-shirts for the birthday and sharing the birthday with Adam.....and eventually it as arrived.

BTW Adam, i think there is more chance of hell freezing over than us getting the tee shirt anywhere near a washing machine or even off his body...

Now Ben the Builder has this fantastic ability to focus on nothing else and so i expect this build to be quick in fact i may have to slow him down occasionally...

First job was a trip to the naughty Warehouse to get some supplies.....cabots water based tint stain and some pillar box red stain...

The Kit arrived on Thursday, its now Saturday and so far he has done the following.

Headstock cut with a coping saw and sanded.

Neck sanded and 3 coats of stain applied to neck and headstock.

Body sanded to 320 grit, damped, resanded and three coats of stain....

anyway photo time.....

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Oh the exuberance of youth, gotta love it.

No doubt he will be like most teenagers talking up how good he is and doesn't need any help until a massive fail. That's where us Dad's finally become useful human beings at last.

Good luck with the build fellas and hope it all goes smoothly. Just a handy tip with gluing in the neck, make sure you leave enough gap for the neck PUP surround.

Thanks for the tip Wazkelly.....

here is an update....he has stained it and being applying 1 spray coat of poly each day.....

Not perfect but for a thirteen year old, we are both more than happy...Attachment 9971Attachment 9972

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Originally Posted by Bluesmartyboy

Thanks for the tip Wazkelly.....

here is an update....he has stained it and being applying 1 spray coat of poly each day.....

Not perfect but for a thirteen year old, we are both more than happy...Attachment 9971Attachment 9972

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That SG build is coming along really well, I'm liking the headstock shape as it's different to the usual Gibson shape, the colour looks great too, hope it all goes really well.

That's coming together nicely, what imperfections have you detected? It looks pretty schmick from those shots.

love the colour Ben/Bluesy, great progress

Thanks WB....

For everyones information the colour is.......wait for it.....Cabots Water based Jarrah with 3/4's of a bottle of Queens Pillar Box Red Food colouring dumped into it......lol........seems to of worked.

Very slight roughness to the end grain on the sides......because said teenager was too keen to get staining....and also because of the flamed maple we did not grain fill so quite an open grain structure....

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

That's coming together nicely, what imperfections have you detected? It looks pretty schmick from those shots.

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Definitely works with the Flame-Mapling on the top of the body.


If you ever get the chance to do so on your next kit build, definitely consider giving Ebony Timbermate a go, I used it to pop the grain on the strat body that came in my kit prior to applying the Dingotone Coolangatta Gold stain, worked a treat.

Looks great. If you keep adding a few more poly coats it will act as a grain filler and eventually level out. A bit of wet sanding with super fine grits every few coats would also help make it super smooth and shiny.

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Originally Posted by Bluesmartyboy

Very slight roughness to the end grain on the sides......because said teenager was too keen to get staining....and also because of the flamed maple we did not grain fill so quite an open grain structure....

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Ah yes, the impetuosity of youth. I remember it well. Does it ever wear off?

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

Ah yes, the impetuosity of youth. I remember it well. Does it ever wear off?

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Nah, the difference between men & boys is simply the price of their toys.