Robbo's MB-1 build

Hi all

My MB-1 showed up today so I'm keen to get stuck in.

I was after a different looking guitar so picked the MB-1. I did plan on changing the shape by shortening the bottom horn and reshaping the top a bit but now I have it in my hands I think I'll leave it as it is.

First go at this type of thing so it will be interesting to see how I go. I was planning on a satin black finish but I'm now considering a black stain and gloss finish, so I'll think that ever for a few days whilst I get my sanding on.

Unopened box...
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First look...
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Edit: photos added

Robbo

Hi Robbo, plans sound good. You can resize the pics to under 1MB and resolution below 1500x1500, or upload to photobucket and post a link, whatever is easiest for you

Thanks mate, all sorted now :)

Robbo

Thumbs up from the QA guy

Attachment 18818

I have a Seymour Duncan "Custom Custom" kicking around somewhere I'll put in the bridge (I use the bridge PUP probably 97% of the time) and probably upgrade the pots for a start.

I also grabbed the Grover machine heads as well.

Looking at the body I'm not sure it's suited to a stain so will probably go with a satin black finish.

Robbo

nice upgrades Robbo, glad the QA guy gave the thumbs up ! Most basswood grain is pretty plain so a satin black finish should look good

having a listen to the Rockfactor demo mixes, good mix of rock classic covers !

Looks great. I can understand your enthusiasm but perhaps you'd be even better off if an adult was around to help out.

cheers, Mark.

Thanks Wokkaboy, we just pick a bunch of songs we enjoy playing and go out and have fun :). We also have a few clips on YouTube

https://youtu.be/HS8dPv_Mn9s for example.

Not too bad for 44 years old hey King Casey :) I try and limit my sun exposure :) :)

How far do I need to take my mock up? Do I need to put a couple of strings on?

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How good are these fretboards as supplied. I like a pretty low action, can I get that with the neck as supplied or should I give that a seeing too before I get too much further?

More questions, sorry!!

The fret markers appear to be painted on. They look ok but I'm concerned they'll wear off. Should I sand them off and install plastic dots or similar?

Cheers in advance, Robbo.

Hey Robbo.

The good news is you can set this one up however you like. if you want lower action, its not too hard to set it up that way, but probably concentrate on building it first.

As its a bolt on neck, I would string up the high and low E strings and centre the neck before drilling the neck bolts. rather than putting the bushings in for the stoptail (you want to finish the body first) get some rubber tubing to hold the posts in place and put the stoptail on when doing the mock string up. Alternatively, you can finish the body and neck first then worry about drilling the neck holes when the bushings are in place.

The mock build is just to check to see if you have all the essentially bits and bobs. and make sure everything fits.

If you intend to do any modifications to the kit, my suggestion is to do that before finishing the body and neck.

Good luck mate, good to have you with us

I'd be surprised if the fret markers wouldn't be plastic inlays. They shouldn't wear off.

Sometimes the frets on the kit may need a bit of work, just use a stanley knife blade as a fret rocker to check for any high or low spots.

Hey Robbo, as Andy said. I've seen one of those necks and the fret markers are painted on. I would do as you suggested and sand them off and get some nice dot markers.
You will need to fret level the neck so will need some tools for that if you want a low action but easily do-able

Keep the questions coming, its the only way you will learn and less chance of making mistakes !

Question please, I have a bosch random orbital sander and some 180 grit paper.

Is a ROS a good idea for the flat surfaces and is 180 grit a good place to start.

I intend to go up through the grades to some pretty fine grit as I get into it.

Thanks in advance, Robbo

Hey Robbo,
yes when I start sanding a kit I use an orbital sander to get the bulk of the machine marks off, then go to a 240 grit and auto stores sell 320 grit papers. Then I move onto hand sanding as the ROS will leave some marks if it digs in on an angle. Keep the ROS flat as you can and lower speeds. If you have a vice to put the body in that's a plus as you should be operating the ROS with both hands

I was going to say that Wokks goes the orbital sander.

I always sand by hand right the way through the grades......gives me time to talk to her.:eek:

I looked at the kit and there's no veneer on it so I would say it would be ok to use the ROS with 180 grit.

But I'm fairly new in this kit building so please wait for the veterans to respond ;)

/edit: Wokka and Andy were faster than me :)

I noticed a crack in the body (see pic) and want to repair it before I spend any time sanding it.

I was going to gently open the crack up and blow in some thinned down glue but it looks like the crack is a bit worse than I first thought (which doesn't concern me too much).

Should I drill and dowel the crack or is that just unnecessary work?

Any ideas appreciated.

Robbo

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Hey Robbo, I think if you can get some thin superglue in the crack it should be fine unless you plan to do a Jimi Hendrix at Monterey haha

Just be careful with the thin superglue. It's has almost no surface tension, has very low viscosity and so runs everywhere, so I'd mask off all around the crack to minimise the sanding you'll need to do. Ideally you should get a needle-nose applicator for it so you can put it right in the crack.

Also if you are planning on staining the guitar, I'm pretty sure that the superglue won't take up any stain, so you really don't want to get it on the surface of the body.

Can you get a thin knife blade or a thin needle down the crack to see how deep it is? If its only a mm or so, then it's probably not worth worrying about and just fill it with timbermate. If it's deeper, then it will need some glue, but I'd also try to then clamp it as tight as possible to seal up the gap. This will tend to squeeze out any glue, so don't use too much and I'd probably use PVA rather than superglue as at least you can clean it off the surface with Goof-Off. I'd put cling-film between the body and the wood you'll use to help clamp it with so that the clamping wood doesn't get stuck as well!

Thanks guys. The more I look at it (you can actually lift the top edge up a little bit) I suspect that the crack goes in pretty deep.

It's hard to explain but it looks like if you pried the edge of the crack up, it would come out as a wedge of timber.

I am going with a painted finish so i will try and get it glued up as best as I can.

I might even just put a few small dowels in to make sure the wedge of timber stays in place when I perform stage-diving heroics ;)

Robbo

Fixed the crack, basically drove a small screwdriver in to open up the gap, dropped in some CA glue and clamped her up. Good as gold, just need to fill the small hole from the screwdriver.

I've been doing some sanding and had a bit of a crack at a headstock design, considering my artistic talent is nought, I think it's a pretty good start.

1...

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2... A bit of a nod to the mockingbird original

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And number free...

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The plan for tomorrow? Why more sanding of course :)

Robbo

I've just noticed that the fold in the paper makes one and three look pointier on top than they are.

That's a neat trick for symmetrical designs Rock! Reminds me of something we used to do when drawing in primary school!
I'm not meaning that in a bad way either, it's amazing the little tricks we forget when we don't use them enough!

Which headstock style have you decided on?

As you are thinning the width of a pre-drilled headstock, I'd just double check that you don't make it so narrow that the body of whatever tuners you plan to use don't stick out over the edge.

I have three kids and my middle one, Blake (5) loves hanging out with me in the shed when I'm working on this guitar.

He is always asking when we are painting it and if he can have a turn sanding, so I asked him which headstock design he liked.

I actually tried to steer him to the middle one but he really liked the bottom one, so that's the one we're going with :)

The tuning pegs actually hit the headstock as it stands, so I measured up my two other guitars from centre of the hole to the outside edge and they were both the same distance, about 5mm narrower than this one, so I will bring the edges in (hopefully makes sense).

I've got two gigs on this weekend so I'm not sure I'll get to cut it out, maybe just more sanding :)

Robbo

Two coats of primer down, one to go, then on with the flat black...

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Robbo.

Hi Robbo, just caught up with this thread and like what you are doing. Presume you were the older guy in the youtube video on the Red Super Strat style guitar?

With the fret board markers if you want to keep them you will need to add some clear coats to the top to seal them in place. I have done that on a couple of maple fret boards using Tru Oil and it works just fine. Either way, if the maple is untreated it will need either wax, lemon oil or some lacquered finish.

Also like your Son's headstock choice.

Cheers, Waz

Nah Waz, the rough looking bloke with the black Gretsch :)

edit: ANZAC day at Tilligerry RSL youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dhOYg3Vwi4

My mate Bernie has the custom Suhr guitar which is just a work of art. He ordered it when he was in the States and picked out the timber used in the body while he was there.

I have cut the headstock and I think it looks pretty good, I'll stick up a photo tonight.

I'm not sure what to do, I was going to paint the headstock the same as the body and stain the back of the neck black and oil it up??? I'm just not sure how a flat black guitar will go with a maple fretboard. if it doesn't look the business my plan B is to ebonise it and stick in some white fret markers.

I'm a complete rookie at this but I have Dr Ducks Ax Wax which I use and like, would it be suitable?

Any ideas appreciated.

Robbo

Photo of the headstock as promised.

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Robbo.

looks good Robbo,looks like there is a slight opposite curve on the top edge. Should suit well

Dr Ducks is fine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rockfactor

I'm not sure what to do, I was going to paint the headstock the same as the body and stain the back of the neck black and oil it up??? I'm just not sure how a flat black guitar will go with a maple fretboard. if it doesn't look the business my plan B is to ebonise it and stick in some white fret markers.

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Hi Robbo, plenty of black guitars around with maple necks & maple fret boards, Tele's & Strat's being the most common and they look pretty good.

Thanks all.

I've been stalled a bit but got two coats of paint on it today.

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Still tossing up on the headstock / neck finish. I think I'll do the front of the headstock the same as the body and just oil the neck and fretboard.

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Once I have the flat black on, do I need to do anything else to it? Satin clear finish? Just leave it as is?

I'm keen to finally get the finish done so I can wire it up and give it a run...

Thanks for your interest and help so far.

Robbo

Couple more questions please knowledgable folk.

I'm planning on a waterslide decal of our logo (my avatar) on the headstock.

Have I made a rod for my own back choosing a matt finish? Can I apply the decal, clear over it then scour if to a flat finish?

Maybe a satin clear coat if such a beast exists?

Thanks, Robbo

I haven't done a satin finish yet Robbo, but ive done plenty of waterslide decals.

I usually do a few clear coats to seal everything up then apply the waterslide decal then apply as many clear coats over the top to seal in that waterslide goodness.

I would normally wet sand to a gloss finish, but if i were doing a satin finish I would just wet sand to a satin finish.

Other guys might have a different take on it.:D

Thanks Andy.

I've found some satin clear but it is a different brand so fingers crossed I have no issues with compatibility.

With the waterslide, do you order of the interwebs or print your own?

Thanks again...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rockfactor

Thanks Andy.

I've found some satin clear but it is a different brand so fingers crossed I have no issues with compatibility.

With the waterslide, do you order of the interwebs or print your own?

Thanks again...

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Mandatory scrap test first up Rockfactor, I'm sure it will be fine, but you never can tell how different brand formulas will react with each other.

^^^ for sure.

I've already spent four times as long on the finishing than I intended, although I find it relaxing turning good timber into timber dust :)

Thanks for the reminder.

or shavings:

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That's the fun of building your own guitar; you can do what you want. I'd go for a black headstock ;)

yes a satin clear should be fine - the only trouble is that you have to get it perfect - this is because you cant polish out imperfections - or it isnt satin anymore. You may have luck with very fine grade sanding if you need to. Axe looks great

Headstock painted, waiting for satin clear coat and decal.

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The nut wasn't a good fit so knocked it out and gave it a reshape.

Before photo... after photo to come.

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I was pretty careful with the prep of the guitar before painting but there is a spot that looks like some sand grit was stuck to the timber that was painted over. I sanded it back a little and gave it another coat but it's still pockmarked so on the weekend I'll fill them up and repaint the area.

I'm really pleased with the results so far.

I'm loving how supportive this forum is. It's a credit to everyone that every comment is positive.

Robbo.

Yeah, black headstock :)