Gabriel - SG

HI Guys' been a while but a SG kit arrived the other day, an 8th birthday present for my grandson, Gabriel.
Now I sure have been slack this time, usually take heaps of pix so I can make a slide show showing the progress.
This time I haven't, but started to take a few now to post in the diary.

I found the body very easy to sand and it came up nice after a bit of rubbing with 180, 240, then some 600 I had floating around.
I really like the Gibson headstock shape but thought maybe some thing a bit different this time. Got out my French curve and, after a lot of scribbling, decided on a shape. It almost came out exactly as I planed but somehow manage to sand the small end (see pic.) smaller that I planed, but still good.

Have been told that it should be a gold finish. I wanted to use a coloured dye, but grandads' do what they told. SO found a white primer and have given it one coat. I was surprised at how good it came up. Am using the same "method" that Dennis used on his Hank Marven start. I all so remember the trouble he got into when the overspray covered the ranch garage floor (for some reason he won't let me do mine at his place). So last Thursday morning I was up at 4:30 (to go SUP'in) there was no wind and very still. Over to the park with the spray tin and presto a nice light coat with the grain still visible.
Today I sanded it ready for a coat of the gold I have, hope it is as easy to apply as the primer was.

In the spare time I shaped the headstock sanded the neck and applied a mahogany stain. Now the neck was so white the stain made it look very red, but after it cured for a day or so it didn't look so bad after steel-wooding it (4x0000), I thought it wasn't so bad. so instead of giving it another coat of stain I put some try-oil on. Today it got a second coat.
It looks a bit blotchy but I sort of like it so will continue with more coats.

A few pix, nothing great but this is how it's looking at present.

That's a lucky Grandson! Look forward to seeing how it turns out Rockmof!

Looks good so far!

ARrrrrr! ok was up early this morning and gave it the first coat of gold.

I think it will turn out ok, maybe another two coats of gold then a few clear coats. The future coats should even the colour.
Haven't worked on the neck and will leave it until Friday for the next coats of gold and tru oil.

Rick

I'd think one more coat of gold would do it. It's amazing how well a second coat evens things up. I'd then spend more time on building up clear coats so that it's thick enough to sand back flat without getting through to the gold, before final polishing.

If the clear coat isn't from the same range of paint as the gold spray, check for compatibility on a piece of scrap wood first. You don't want them reacting and bubbling up.

An SG for an 8 year old....niiiiice.

Gold looks good and the mahogany stain looks great.

Maroon & Gold theme??? Must be a Broncos fan.

Looking good so far. Might need to sand off some of the finish on the part of the neck that gets glued in the body otherwise it won't hold under string tension and most likely break the set neck joint.

Good point Waz. You'll certainly ned to sand off all the stain and tru-oil on the neck where the glue is going to go, or it may not stick at all. I don't know if you taped up the sides of the neck pocket either before spraying, but if not, you'll also need to sand the paint off those.

You may need to do a bit more on cleaning the neck than just sanding, as the oil and wax will have penetrated further than you think. I'd suggest using acetone (pure, not the nail-polish remover which often has other things in) or naptha (liquid lighter fuel) to try and help degrease the wood surface. Use these outside, and be careful, because they are highly flammable liquids.

Looks great and one awesome gift for a lucky 8 year old. I think I was still on the Lego at that age lol

Sent from Android N

Yeah I know about the neck needing to be clean but that is not my biggest stuff up on this build.
I was giving it the second coat of gold when I ran out of paint on tin one, now I knew that was going to happen and I had shaken tin 2 to be ready. When it ran out I threw it in the bin gave can 2 a shake and started to spray well nothing came out so stoped and pressed the button again while the can was stationary facing the guitar. pic shows the result, also there is a strip which I must have missed also visible in the pic.
However the front is ok, I have sanded the 'mark" out so will give it another spray tomorrow morning all being well.

Also happy with the neck, but not liking the uneven stain as much as I first thought (but still ok)

Gold and Maroon? That's gonna look insane!

*** Edit for clarity - Insane is a good thing. IE: Out of this world. Epic.

*** Edit for clarity - I'd hate for you to think I assumed you "wandered around in a dressing gown with your undies on your head" kind of insane

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Originally Posted by depictedminds

I'd hate for you to think I assumed you "wandered around in a dressing gown with your undies on your head" kind of insane

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That's not insane, that's just Tuesday afternoon.

Insane, yep, always good on colours, lets hope.

Ok sanded that heavy patch off gave it another coat, but if it was held at some strange angle it was still visible . another light sand and another light film has fixed it ok so now I'm happy and just let it sit for a few days then a rub with some 800 then 2500 and it's set for the clear coat.

Now the headstock, I almost convinced my self that it was ok, but sanity saw me sand it back and re stain it. Now I'm truly happy.
Found that I had no decal paper left so will need to get some, may be tonight. The neck is nice and smooth so no more on that until I make up the decals'.

Thought I had some photos, no so just went and took some.

Also oiled the fret-board it looks ok now. (not that it didn't before)

Back again, haven't done too much, just finish, let cure, finish and so on.

Now I'm happy with the head stock, so put the hardware on and that's about it for that.

The body, well I was going to give it another coat of clear but though na it's ok. So another few days to cure then a good polish before the fun begins.

A few pics', all self explanatory.

Continued: In the sun the guitar looks "yellow" while in side it appears "Green".
However it looks gold to me in real life.

Next step, put the neck on then wiring. I love wiring but no experiments on this one.

Rick.

Looking good Rick.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by depictedminds

*** Edit for clarity - I'd hate for you to think I assumed you "wandered around in a dressing gown with your undies on your head" kind of insane

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That would be me after just waking up in the morning, right before I've had my first cup of coffee for the day....haha.

hey I'm still doing this, Ok I've had this finished for some time now, just had it siting here and playing it sometimes just to play it in a bit.
Now I had a big stuff up with it when I put the neck in, I measured it and said yeah about there, glued it in then put four screws through it into the boddy. Oh I am hearing a lot of why do a silly thing like that, well, I didn't like the glue join where the heal was glued to the neck, so thought why not, I had a plate and screws so why not use them. So that was a smart move just to be sure that the (factory) glue won't move.
now, you may ask "so whats the big problem". After I strung the guitar I tuned then went to set the intonation..... that is where I discovered I glued the neck in in the incorrect place. I left it for a while hoping it might just be ok, but no mater how long I left it it still wouldn't tune. So! rip the strings off, pull the two bridge anchors out fill the holes with dowl, and redrill, in (I hoped) was the correct position, but after much measuring it was. That was a nice little exercise.
Had a bit of trouble with the action, adjusted the neck but the 12th fret was very high action, again I played it but it didn't get any closer. Why was this? the nut had very hi slots, even after I filed them down a wee bit, the string was almost a 3/4mm above the fret. So forgetting about the 12th fret I again attacked the nut. It is low that a medium pick won't slip down the first fret. HEY! guess what, the action came down at the 12th and I'm a very happy Grandad,
Really today was the day I did the action and it is fantastic the 6th string is a little more than a 1/16th" while the first is a little under. This is the best guitar I have done, even the saddles are some where near the middle id the bridge and intonation is exact.
Even love the sound, to me a late 60s' early 70s' growl (maybe, I can't really remember but like to think this is it). not having played a decent recording for over 30 years but will try to put a sample up, might be in the week end.
Here are three pics, will post some more later as well.A pic of the neck join and the screw plate, the nut where I filed the slots, I really need to file the nut down, but I won't do that, maybe in a few years time if he is going to play it I might.

Hi Rick, you almost had me convinced this was originally a bolt on neck kit?

Good save and glad to hear it is playing how it should.

ok this will be the last post on this, if I get around to a sound demo it will be on the demo page, let me know what you think. Starting to change my mind about the late 60 / 70 sound but think it is still good.

Some pictures of the problems that were created with the neck position and that high nut. You will see how much had to be filed deeper, I will file the excess of the nut as it bugs me, but that won't be much to do (I'll use the Dremel, to rip it off)

Photo.
after filing the string slots and oiling the fret board. (first 2)
the guitar after playing a bit
The nut (#$#%@#$)
the bridge, intoned and the "filler" used to plug the holes. notice the bass side was moved further and just as well as the 3rd & 4th strings may have needed turning to get the adjustment (not that that would have mattered). Also notice the different colour under the bridge, this is extra gold to make the sound richer. (hahaha)

Cant promise a demo but will try, it will be rough but should be able to get the sound, They are the original pups' but still good.

Rick.

Wow what a great result

Looks great...how does she play through the Fender?

ok! I am playing it through 3 different amps (one at a time).

first is my fender blues jr 15 watts just got this about 10 years ago and has had little use.
second is my last gig amp a fender Princeton 65 watts (only used this in the 90s' about 10 times after some of my gear was stolen)
and the one that is going with the guitar to Gabriel, a pig nose which is MeAn! (mEaN). instead of needing to get batteries I re-wired an effects pedal power adaptor (from + earth to - earth) and there is a bit of a hum (although it was loud).

There's a story about the pig...some time after I first got it, I was unable to sleep...so at 2am I plugged my 335 in stuck some headphones in where it said pre amp out (this is so it can be used as a tone box in front of a big amp)... it was LOUD when after about 5 minutes Christine comes out and has a few words to say...yep it don't mute the speaker.
I have sanded the nut down, not perfect but heaps better than when it was high.

The sound is from distorted through over driven to norma(?) but I change my mind and alter the sound a lot.

Have been planing to do a demo, but they just not working out and it's a little embarrassing to publish crap (oops sorry for swearing)
I will try to do one though, warts and all
Oh and I like it when I got the reverb up on the Princeton not a surf sound but cool, and I prefer both pickups working together.

Hope to have a demo some time.

Rick.

If it's a Mk 1 Blues Jr and still has the original speaker, it really is worth swapping it out for a different one. All that boxy tone is down to the speaker. I swapped it out (for a WGS ET65 that came from my Two Rock combo https://wgsusa.com/et65) on a mate's Blues Jr that I was replacing the dead reverb tank on, and the difference was night and day. Sounded absolutely superb afterwards and nearly on a par with my Two Rock (that cost nearly A$3k). Any decent 12" 8-ohm speaker should make a big difference.

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Originally Posted by rockmof

Back again, haven't done too much, just finish, let cure, finish and so on.

Now I'm happy with the head stock, so put the hardware on and that's about it for that.

The body, well I was going to give it another coat of clear but though na it's ok. So another few days to cure then a good polish before the fun begins.

A few pics', all self explanatory.

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looking smick mate, you did a nice job of the restain, looks tops now.

Hi Simon, it's not an early original, it's the tweed with a Jensen speaker. I am still trying to figure out why it was so expensive, a few hundred dearer that the "black" model and I think the Jensen speaker was just over $100, must be the tweed covering is just dearer than the black.

The problem is me apparently I'm deaf and I know that what I hear is not what others hear. It's a long story but I will get a demo some time.

Nice. I had an HR Deluxe with the tweed covering and Jensen speaker. Anything out of the ordinary always costs more money. They have to pull the limited runs out of the normal production line - which costs time and puts the cost up/ Plus any extra cost component bought-in in smaller numbers always suffers from higher unit cost plus relatively larger mark-ups in order to make a similar % profit on the sale. But it should be a very nice amp.

Ok, WOW! I need some help here.
My friend will not play any guitar that I have made (fair enough). So I had to resort to black-mail.

Went something like this --------------- Hey James do ya wanna play my Les Paul? ---------- Ummm yeah ok ------ cool I got a favour to ask ------- what's that ------- I need a demo on a guitar I made ------ well I'll have a look

Some days later -------- S%&^ you make that. Anyway I got some little videos BUT they are too big, so I need to know the name of that
place that you send files to and anyone can access them. I've just forgotten.

So if anyone can remember please send me the link or any other way I can get one out there to you guys.

Thanks for any help.

Rick.

I'm guessing you're referring to Dropbox?

Thanks Guys, don't know anything about drop box, but thought of you tube.
Just posted it 7078CDBF BB3D 4B99 90C4 589421890CF1 HQ
should be the number if you are interested in viewing.

Rick

Ps, let me know what you think, I'm not thrilled with using you tube but will post others if you guys think it's ok.

Sry try
https://youtu.be/uHXZfVroGbo

Thanks.

Hi Rick, sounds great. Was trying to figure what amp that was?

That was the Tweed Blues Jr. Nice sounds.

Yep, Wazkelly, Simon is right with the Jensen speaker.
I also have a clip played through the Roland Blues Cube, which I'll post later.
From memory (yeah yeah I know it was only recorded the last Saturday) the guitar is plugged straight in (no Boss multi effect) but still uses the Dito.

NICE! Sweet sounds Rick, and it looks fantastic to boot!

sounds great Rick and the player James is good !