Factory 2nd PRS-1S (1/2 Spalted)

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to my second PBG Build Diary. I have just finished off another ST-1 this week (one that I call the Flash*), so to keep me off these Queensland country streets and out of trouble, I have begun the process of bringing out the latent beauty in this factory 2nd. I am kind of travelling without a map on this one - there is no great plan for it. I am leaning towards an aging process like Kenfu did for his LP-1S in November 2015 GOTM (still scratching my head how he did that black mirror finish on the back) but instead of a black tint, with a bit of pink like Silky Oak wood. If I get the funds approved from the Minister, I think I'd like some Zebra Entwistles in there too ;)

So I thought I'd start at the top this time (normally I go straight into sanding the body) and I have decided that unlike Wokks PRS-1S demo headstock (which is great btw, but similar to the original PRS headstock shape) on the PBG website, I would use another curve (I've used one on a LP-1MQ, called '39').

The photos of 39s' headstock so you can see the curve, the Flash I just finished (with a crazy SSH setup**) and the PRS-1S headstock with the marking for the curve and the finished product are over at:

http://www.redswanguitars.blogspot.com.

This is so that I am a good PBG Forum citizen and don't take up too much space on Adams' servers with my ordinary photos. =D

Now I can't promise that this will be a quick build, but I will do my best to make it interesting. ;)

PS: If in the travels of this build anyone gets an idea for a name for this baby, let me know. So far (I suspect because I have 4 kids who are all loving the Superhero movies/TV shows out atm...) I have other electrics named the Ghost Rider, Booster Gold, the Black Widow and the White Lantern.

*Not as in Flash Gordon, but as in Jay Garrick, Wally West, Barry Allen etc.
**The unique pickguard was wonderfully cut by Pablo Pepper. Much thanks to him.

all photos are good mate, we love pics regardless of quality, sounds like a cool project

OK. Thanks Stan. Just didn't want to be that guy who uses up more Mb than he should.

Before and after shots...

Attachment 11411Attachment 11412

Cool headstock and definitely worth putting up

We are here to support each other, not judge

OK, here's part 2... So my eldest son was sick all last night and as a consequence, my wife and I were up early. I don't really know what she got up to, but I went to my newest girlfriend ;) I finished the headstock off by about 9am. This involved sanding with some 320 grit, moving to 400, to 600 to 800. Then I went to Axe Wax the rosewood fretboard. All was good till I turned it over to make sure none dripped over to the curved neck bit (does that have a proper name?). Well the stuff dripped over there, so instead of slightly tinting the neck, which was my plan, I just rubbed the stuff all over it. Came out OK too. I set it aside to soak in and later today I did 1 coat of Tru-Oil. I'll sand and Tru-Oil the neck at least 2 more times.

Then came the body - 'cause I was on a roll. I started sanding the thin veneer (it looked like it was 1mm thick in the neck pocket) with 600 grit. I used a whole sheet before moving to 800. I then thought, this is smooth enough for some dye. I went with a really light pink. 2 coats of that, then another sand at 600 to try and bring out the chatoyance above the spalting (near the horns). Then I hit it with some light grey (black diluted with metho) and did 2 or 3 coats. Then another sand. This time 600, then 800. Then a darker grey, followed by yet a darker grey and a sand at 800. Then I mixed the small amount of reddy/pink left over with the grey/black and gave that 3 coats. Then I sanded 600, 800, 1500. Admittedly, I couldn't feel the difference between 800 and 1500 but I still did it anyway. Lastly, when the metho had evaporated etc. I gave it a thin coat of Tru-Oil. The photo you see is with out sanding after the Tru-Oil coat. The camera colours are reasonably close. The main thing is I can see the pinky hue at the top (although in the photo it's almost non-existant) and the oldish wood colour at the bottom. I can also make out some striping at the sides and I think the colourisation process has accentuated the spalt marks really nicely. I'm hoping that with a few more Tru-Oil coats and sanding in between, the stripes will come out more.

Started 8:00am.
Guitar work, ate, cups of coffee and did some other stuff in between guitar stuff.
Finished 5:30pm.
If only everyday could be like this...
Attachment 11421

So, it's a few days later and I found my camera (no mobiles out here mate, no reception [even though we live an 1 hour from Toowoomba - grrr]). Let me catch you all up. The most important thing is we had nearly 20mm of rain. So I elected to do 'veranda work'. That is, guitar work on the front veranda. I think I got quite a lot done since the last post. I learnt how to use Shellac. That's probably the most important thing. I used both a rag and a sponge. I prefer the rag method. I also added some alcohol based dye (medium brown) to the shellac for 3 coats over the top of the initial 3 coats. The first 3 turned out to look more like dry honey on the basswood back. Yuck. But the brown worked a treat. I then gave 2 coats over the back of the neck for colour consistency. When the body was dry, a day later, I turned my hand to my least favourite subject when building guitars - electronics. As it so happened, it all went tickety-boo. I very much appreciate the wiring diagrams on the PBG site. Easy to understand and I got it right the first time round. I hate trouble shooting. The rest was just like putting Lego together - knobs, bridge posts etc and ferrules. They all went in nicely except for 2 ferrules on the back. They kept falling out so I just CA glued them all in. Below are photos of the fruits of my labour. Note that the pickups aren't attached yet. My plan is to do that once the neck is glued in. Attachment 11532Attachment 11529Attachment 11530Attachment 11531

Coming along great. I think everyone should keep a spare PBG kit around for rainy days ;)

Yes agree and like the subtle spalting on this baby. Oh it's also raining today and I'm home alone so workshop it is... Lol

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

Yesterday I put what turned out to be a bit too much Titebond Original onto the neck pocket. So after some extra hands helping wipe down the excess, I was able to clamp it for the recommended 24 hours (Titebond recommends this for wood that is going to be stressed. I figured stringing it up would stress it), then 24 hours no clamp regime. I did cheat a little bit by lightly stringing the 2 E strings. This was so that I could line up the humbucker rings properly. To my eye, that all turned out well. Now we just have to wait till I can string it completely and then set the action and intonation. BTW, you may recognise the pickups. They are from another good man on the forums - vh2580. Thanks Victor Hotel 2580 :)

Attachment 11656

looks good Ndroid, looks like you are on the home stretch now.

Yeah thanks Wokks, IMHO I never thought for my first set neck build it would be finished (fingers crossed) so soon. Although granted, circumstances have been on my side for this build. I am looking forward to plugging her in and cutting loose \m/

So I've been taking my time doing the small things that make the guitar lovely - intonation, fret heights, nut filing etc etc. I did notice that the guitar needed a bit of a neck adjustment as there was a little too of a hump in the middle. So I slowly turned the truss rod ANTI-clockwise. Just about a 1/4 of a turn a day so the strings and neck would adjust slowly. Or so I thought... Now I notice (in the following pic) a crack and I can move the head up and down if I'm holding the body against me, if you know what I mean.
Attachment 11806
So, what can I do? I thought I glued everything down the right way. I used Titebond Original. I clamped it for 24 hours as per Titebond instructions for woods under stress. I let it go for another day, without clamps before I strung it up with the setup strings (9-42s?) The only thing I can think of that may have adversely affected it is one of my kids "playing" it when I wasn't watching the guitar like a hawk. Can I break the neck out? Can I drill in a couple of nice black looking furniture(?) screws similar to those found in a IB-5 kit? Is this the end of the world?

All reasonable suggestions/scenarios as to what went wrong will be considered!

So Ndroid has the neck heel come apart slightly from the neck pocket ? Think the only way is to heat the glue and remove the neck and re-glue it. Putting neck screw bushes in would be risky as the thickness of the neck pocket for a set neck guitar is only about 6-8mm thick at a guess.
Can you remember if there was any stain on the neck heel where it is glued to the pocket ? It is important that the neck heel part that is glued is bare timber, not over sanded. Also important that glue is even around the pocket sides is where most of the strength comes from

So, heat it with a hair dryer and make sure the pocket is clean, but not over sanded (I'm guessing because it will change the size of the thing and generally screw it up more)?. I do remember the glue was come out from everywhere. Atm, it looks like it's holding at the bridge end of the pocket. I have taken the strings off now too, btw.

The image on page 1 shows a lot of colour on the neck heel, did you clean it up before gluing? What was the temp and humidity like when you glued it? How old is your Titebond and was it 'stringy' out of the bottle? And yes, if the glue is stressed before completely set that can weaken the bonds and produce a malformed joint.

The reduced body thickness below the neck pocket doesn't really make neck screws an option, so if the joint in not sound then removing the neck and re-gluing is probably going to be the only choice.

Hey Ndroid, would be best to strip all the hardware off and turn the guitar upside down and steam from an iron rises into the pocket. Try get steam up the opening where it has separated. Slowly work a paint stripping spatula in the gap and slowly try and break the glue bond. Don't force it.
By don't oversand the heel if the surface of the heel/pocket are too smooth there won't be any pores/tiny holes for the glue to grip onto.
I'd say adjusting the truss rod has unsettled the neck and put more tension on it possibly has broken the glue bond

Thank you gentlemen. I now have a plan of (slow) attack. I'm going to agree with you Wokka and say that the truss rod adjustments did weaken the loose bond.
@ Weirdy I did try to clean up the pocket, but was a bit apprehensive because of the whole don't overwork the wood thing. I think I'll do the scraper method for my next set neck.

no worries Ndroid, it is important to get all stain off the neck heel that will be in contact with the pocket. I usually do a dry fit, tape off where the heel meets the body, then draw a light pencil line or tape off the area that will be inside the neck pocket so no stain gets on there. Setting the neck is the most important stage of a set neck kit so it's got to be right, as you have found out

Good luck Ndroid, keep us posted as to how you get on.

So as I was removing glue from the tenon, when it dislodged itself. The I saw this...
Attachment 12015
Attachment 12016
Attachment 12017

Is it time for Glen20 after the scrape and clean?

Not sure what the middle shot is but there was definitely too much stain on the heel going into the neck pocket.

Glue left behind in 3rd shot looks more like contact cement based on the colour shown otherwise you gotta wonder why it looks so greenish in colour?

Thanks Wazkelly; The middle shot is looking down the neck to show how deep the mould went. The glue is definitely Titebond original. It wasn't stringy or anything and it was literally the first use straight out of the bottle. I had bought it only a few weeks prior. I am sure it's mould that has coloured the glue. If I remember correctly, it was a dreary day with no rain, but it must have been too moist in the air. As for the stain on the heel, That's my mistake/head explosion. I don't know what I was thinking about going down that far. As it's turning out, this has been a steep learning curve for glueing a neck. Still, a bit of a scrape, a bit of a sand with 60 grit (or there abouts) and then hit it with some mould killer before I evenly spread some glue on the thing, on a warm and sunny day should see this saga come to a close. I hope.

Warm and sunny day.......have you checked this weekend's weather forecast for Southern inland Qld as it is looking the opposite of what you require.

Presume you have a wood heater to keep warm indoors and if the missus doesn't mind maybe she will let you place the guitar near the heater once you have re-glued the neck. The warm dry air near one of those heaters for a couple of days should do the trick.

Not sure about the mould if that is what it is? Probably best just to scrape it clean and lightly sand to remove any glue residue and do same on the neck heel to rough things up a bit to assist with the re-gluing. Introducing moisture through mould inhibitors may add more problems than you are trying to solve.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Warm and sunny day.......have you checked this weekend's weather forecast for Southern inland Qld as it is looking the opposite of what you require.

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I didn't actually mean anytime soon because of the current weather patterns for SE Qld. It is annoying though, it's not quite cold enough to start the fire (we only have a wood fire heater). I think I'll just go and sharpen my chisels or something else "interesting".

How wet was it today in SEQ!!!!

Raining or not when next gluing the neck plenty of stable warm dry air should do the trick. I did mine in summer when daily temps were about 30ish and overnights in the 20's and found 24 hours was all it needed. Mind you I didn't string it up for about another 4 - 6 weeks afterwards as was so obsessed with trying to blend the finish around the neck joint area it took way longer than planned.

I know right! We had about 20mm just on Sunday. So yeah, I'm kinda thinking this might go into the "To Be Finished In November" pile :p The good news on the other hand means that I can save up for another kit between now and then! And seeing as though I obviously need practice with set necks, maybe the world needs another LP kit ;)

I'd go for something a bit different like a Firebird, or double cutaway LP Junior as both come in Mahogany which not many other kits do.