NKX Build #1 - The LPA-7

Hi everyone,

My LPA-7 kit arrived a little while ago, but I've been working on the tools and bits I want for the build since my joining the forum. It's all getting close to starting now, so I thought I'd get the build diary up and running.

First thing's first, this is the LP-style, ash body, 7-string guitar. I don't have a seven, nor can I really justify the price of a store-bought seven (due to me sucking when attempting to play one)... so here we go. In case you're not familiar with the kit, you can take a look at it HERE. To save you a click, we're talking a carved-top ash body with maple veneer (and cream binding), rock maple set neck (C profile) with rosewood fingerboard (22 medium jumbo frets and dot inlays), and all the other LP kit goodies. And yes, I know this will be a tricky build, as I plan on tuning this 7-string to B-standard, and it's only a 24.75" scale length neck. As add-ons to the kit, I purchased some of the DT copper shielding, and upgraded to a set of Grover 406C Mini Rotomatic locking tuners... which will hopefully help keep the fencing wire (that I'll need for tension at B) in tune, and keep the hum to a minimum (for when all the gain is added).

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I already think it's a pretty nice looking guitar...

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But more impressive than looks, is how awesomely snug that neck pocket is, and how little work it seems to require at this stage. It might sit up at the back slightly, but I won't know until I do a full test-fit later. Why later? Well read on...

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However, now we get to the ARRRRGH moment. On initial inspection of the kit, while I'm super-happy with the rest so far, this neck looks like it is going to take some serious effort. I didn't realise the nut was going to be like it was (requiring re-setting, sanding/shaping, and filing), so I've hit up StewMac for some nut files. But more scary than that... is that the neck looks like it has a double-bow in it (almost like a twist), and the fret jobs is less than ideal. As such, I've ordered a Crimson Guitars fret kit, and will check everything with my notched fret straight-edge when it arrives. Hopefully some truss-rod tension adjustments, and maybe a fret level will fix all that: Fingers crossed. And yes, I also have a fret levelling beam, triangular file, and fret rubbers in the kit too... so I'll be learning that whole process for this project. Yay.

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While waiting for my tools to arrive, I've been coming up with headstock designs and a logo... though I will need to find a way to remove all this glue on the top of the headstock, as I was planning on staining that *sigh*...

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The headstock design and logo I came up with seems to work pretty well, so I can't wait to get started. The awesome people over at The Sticker Art were able to vinyl cut my logo, in white, for a very reasonable price... so I already have these ready to go (but can't attach any more pics for this post). My final order of tools, stains, and oils, should all arrive this week. So, yeah... it's getting close to build time now

Yeah dude, Do all your neck and fret checks first.
You may find that one or more frets are not seated properly and that may give the impression of a bow, or two.

Your 'looking along the neck' picture doesn't look bad at all to me. Best to wait until you've got your notched ruler and can set the neck level and see how it is then. A fret dress can accommodate a very slightly twisted neck but anything more and you'd really need a new neck. However it doesn't seem bad to me, and I've had guitars with what appears to be more of a twist than you have, that have played well.

I was just wondering if you got sent a 3+4 pack of the Grovers? It's just that the standard PBG upgrade sets only offer 3+3 or 6 in line options.

Okay, so I hit the 5-picture-limit in my last post, and I wanted to show a few more things off, so here goes with a second post. The first thing I wanted to share, was my (boring) headstock design, and my simple logo design. I intend to leave the ash body, neck, and back of the headstock pretty much blonde (just oil), but I do intend to stain the top of the headstock on all my guitars. Here's the mock-up I did to get logo sizing/shape, and headstock shape sorted:

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For the logo, I mixed a couple of different fonts, custom designed a few of the letters to make it unique, then used Adobe Illustrator to convert my artwork to compound curves. After a bit of searching, and dozens of emails to various companies, I found a place called "The Art of Stickers" over in Queensland, and they were able to cut my logo out of white vinyl... so it will look exactly (hopefully) like the mock-up above. The turn-around was awesome, and the price very reasonable; especially as most people won't touch white logos, small logos, or small batch jobs. These are outdoor vinyl pieces, and the test application looks pretty sweet.

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At this point, I think I'll get a set of logos in black, just in case I want to leave the top of another kit blonde. Awesome. Oh yeah, can you tell I plan on building more than one of these? Hahaha, buying tools, and already thinking about different headstocks, LOL.

As for the finish I'm going to try my hand at a simple burst on the maple veneer, using blue and black stains. I've seen a few YouTube videos, where people did a similar job using stamp pad ink, so hopefully I can achieve a similar result. Here's what I am hoping for (more or less):

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So far, the tools and bits ordered are (in case anyone is interested):

Crimson Guitars
- Notched Straight Edge
- Fret Levelling Beam
- Fret Crowning File
- Fret Buffing Rubbers
- Stunning Stains 250ml Royal Blue
- Stunning Stains 250ml Black
- Finishing Oil
- Neck Finishing Kit (different type of finishing oil)

Stewart MacDonald
- Fret Guards
- Dremel Buffing Discs
- Heavy-gauge Nut files (13 - 56... though I probably need to go to 70)
- Lemon Oil

DingoTone
- Copper shielding
- 0000 Steel Wool (well, I still need to order that, I forgot last time)

I believe PBG and DT are working on bringing more luthier supplies, and possible some luthier tools, to their store soon... but I couldn't wait. Sorry guys, maybe for the ST kit I plan on building next ;)

Absolutely. I can clearly see a few high/low frets by eyeballing it. And while the picture doesn't really show it, the neck looks like it is slightly thicker on the right (as pictured), until about the 5th fret, then seems thinner. and it switches to being thicker on the left side. Definitely seems like a bit of a twist... though I'm not sure how that could happen unless the rosewood fretboard was torqued and clamped down over an uneven neck top (which I doubt). I'm not the only one that noticed it, so its not just my imagination... but I am hoping it is an optical illusion, possibly created by a neck bow due to truss rod needing adjustment, combined with some fret level issues. Oh well, the new tools should arrive this week, so I'll check it out and post the results. Fingers crossed.

Edit: As for the Grovers, yes. I ordered the upgrade kit through Adam, and he put it through as a 3+3 with an additional percentage charge on top... and that paid for the 7th tuner from the normal upgrade price.

Gosh I could get lost in that blue cap:o great choice

I'm finally back. Turns out, people really do get Australia and Austria mixed up... and half my tools went on a nice holiday through Europe before making it back to me. Oh well, they made it here, and they're cool, so I'm happy.

So yes, the first thing I wanted to do, was check out that weirdness I was noticing with the neck. I used my new notched level to ensure I could tweak the truss rod to make things level, and then set about using my new fret rocker to identify anything going on with the fret height. Obviously, I'm using the trusty Sharpie to mark any high points, and will address any of those a little later.

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And the result is, I both was and wasn't imagining my neck being "twisted". Turns out, it wasn't twisted, however:

a) The truss rod was obviously loose for/from shipping, and the neck had a bit of a standard bow in it (which was part of the optical illusion).

b) The other issue, was the weird fret heights. These definitely did start high at the top of the nut end, and transitioned to being high on the bottom of the other end. This reinforced the "twist" illusion.

These two things, when combined, gave it made things look worse than they actually are. Luckily, I knew this wasn't an Ikea guitar kit, so purchased the tools I needed to identify the issue.

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And that's where I have my first couple of questions:

- What is the fret material used on these kits?
- And based on that, what grit of sandpaper would be recommended for this fret material? Work it with 320? Higher?

Importantly, I also have multiple grit fret erasers, a fret crowning tool, and StewMac fret polishing wheels for my Dremel... so I can deal with any marks the sanding process introduces; I just don't want to accidentally ruin my frets by using too course grit for the job.

And speaking of grit... the sanding has started. The first of many, many, many passes I am sure. The next was pretty smooth, so I took off any roughness with 320g, then moved on to 400g (including wet sanding). The maple veneer was also pretty good, so it got the same treatment as the neck.

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The body, however, was a bit rough... so I've started that at 240g. I've now wet everything down, found, and sanded off any glue marks, so it's coming along nicely.

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Next step, get to work on those frets, and continue sanding, sanding, sanding.

Nice bits of timber you have to work with.

No idea when it comes to the fret stuff you asked about and someone who knows more than me will hopefully drop by soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NKX

I'm finally back. Turns out, people really do get Australia and Austria mixed up... and half my tools went on a nice holiday through Europe before making it back to me. Oh well, they made it here, and they're cool, so I'm happy.

So yes, the first thing I wanted to do, was check out that weirdness I was noticing with the neck. I used my new notched level to ensure I could tweak the truss rod to make things level, and then set about using my new fret rocker to identify anything going on with the fret height. Obviously, I'm using the trusty Sharpie to mark any high points, and will address any of those a little later.

Attachment 22891

And the result is, I both was and wasn't imagining my neck being "twisted". Turns out, it wasn't twisted, however:

a) The truss rod was obviously loose for/from shipping, and the neck had a bit of a standard bow in it (which was part of the optical illusion).

b) The other issue, was the weird fret heights. These definitely did start high at the top of the nut end, and transitioned to being high on the bottom of the other end. This reinforced the "twist" illusion.

These two things, when combined, gave it made things look worse than they actually are. Luckily, I knew this wasn't an Ikea guitar kit, so purchased the tools I needed to identify the issue.

Attachment 22894

And that's where I have my first couple of questions:

- What is the fret material used on these kits?
- And based on that, what grit of sandpaper would be recommended for this fret material? Work it with 320? Higher?

Importantly, I also have multiple grit fret erasers, a fret crowning tool, and StewMac fret polishing wheels for my Dremel... so I can deal with any marks the sanding process introduces; I just don't want to accidentally ruin my frets by using too course grit for the job.

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The frets are made of a soft metal, it doesn't take much to sand them, so don't go too course a sandpaper on them.

Well it's time for a couple more updates, but I'll start with the one I should have posted a month ago (oops).

The first thing I did was remove the nut, then shape the headstock. I also took the opportunity to test fit the Grover locking tuners... but I think I'll need to find some different hardware as they look a little weird.

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After that, it was time to shape the nut and file it out for the strings. I used 13 - 56 StewMac nut files for this, but I feel the bottom E will need to be a heavier gauge to tune to where I want to on this scale length. It's nowhere near perfect, but that's okay: I'm using this as a learning experience, as I'll try to transfer the skills here to a replacement Tusq nut down the road a little.

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But now onto the newer progress... finishing!

With the bulk of the sanding being done, and while I'm still working on the fret levelling situation, I decided to switch to finishing the top of the guitar. So, armed with my Crimson Guitars Stunning Stains, and a roll of blue painters tape to protect the binding and body... I got to work.

In this first shot, I'm trying to bring out some of the grain with the black stain. The flame isn't as awesome as I was hoping, but I was still optimistic of it looking pretty good when I sand and hit it with the royal blue.

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Here's a tip... keep the work surface clean, and consider rubbing back somewhere other than where you are working. Another tip, don't use thick paper roll (like hand towel paper) to apply stains like some recommend... I ended up creating little paper powder lumps, and then accidentally touching the body with that, which slightly stained it and needed some emergency sanding. Oh, and a final tip... don't cheap out and use stamp ink: while I've seen some good results, the Stunning Stains I am using creates perfect blends, and no lines (and I'm sure the DingoTone stains are the same).

So, in this next shot, I lightly sanded the black back with 320 grit, then again with 400 grit, then applied the royal blue stain.

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Once I had the "burst" looking how I wanted, and got the royal blue coverage I wanted, I then sanded the centre back again with 400 and 0000 steel wool, then hit it with another coat of blue. This photo doesn't do it justice, as it actually looks more blue in person, and actually came out pretty nice. Scraping the binding to return it to cream was an interesting experience... but a super sharp blade made light work of it in the end.

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After that, I moved on to the headstock. I wanted the top to be darker so that I could use my white vinyl logos... so I hit that with a light coat of the black stain... which actually turned out to be a really nice deep brown that showed the wood grain. I then sanded the edges to give it a faux binding look around the edge: And I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

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And today's action - with no photos yet - is applying a few coats of the Crimson Guitars Finishing Oil. I'm applying many light coats, lightly rubbed back with 0000 steel wool every few hours (to allow for drying), and it's building up a nice finish. I'll add several coats, and buff to a bit of a semi-gloss finish.

The plan from here (and hopefully before the Xmas break) is:

a) Finish the fret crowning.
b) Finish the nut filing and shaping (and glue it back on)
c) Continue building finishing layers on the headstock and body.
d) Set and glue the neck
e) Apply the finishing oil to the rest of the guitar.

Yeah, I know part (e) seems weird... and I know I could/should do this sooner, but I'm worried about getting finishing oil into the neck joint, so will apply the finish after it is glued and secure. Does anyone see any issue with that? After all this... it's onto the hardware, yay!

this is coming along really nice NKX. I ,personally don't do any clear coats until after glueing the neck, it gives a more continuous finish that way.

Determined to get this build finished by the end of the year, I spent every spare moment smashing this thing out. Unfortunately, as I was clearly too eager, I also forgot to document the process and/or take photos. Oops.

So, after my previous update, it was time to clean things up and apply my "clear coats". By that, I mean many, many, many, coats of finishing oil that will be hand-buffed to a semi-gloss. As this was my first build, and I'm not a painter (at all), I decided this was the safest route. I already discovered a few things i need to do better, so I recommend stain and oil to any first-time builder (that can't paint).

For the back of the guitar, and neck, I relied on the finish oil only. Initially, I only applied a couple of light coats here, but while it looked okay, I didn't think it was dark or shiny enough... so I added a few more coats. Unfortunately, this process made the colour difference between the body and neck timbers stand out even more than they did before... oops. Next time, if I end up with a mixed timber kit, I'll definitely be staining the back and next, or at least the joins.

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The front, however, came up pretty nice. Unfortunately, it's not as smooth as I'd like - especially around the edges - but I was hesitant to keep sanding due to the fear of going through the thin veneer. Oh well, looks pretty cool.

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And this is where another few "oops" moments happened:

1) Yeah, I forgot to take photos from this point on. Oh, well.

2) After getting to this point, I decided to apply a couple more coats of oil to the rear of the guitar again... and didn't realise that a run had formed on the top of the guitar. I managed to sand out most of it, and then did a few more coats of oil to try and hide the mistake. I guess I'll know that for next time.

3) I then decided to glue everything together. And while the DingoTone glue worked like a charm, my test fits mustn't have been ideal, and I didn't notice a few small gaps here and there. As such, there is some glue leakage, and gaps, that I'm unhappy with. Again, I'll know for next time, and will either sand every surface to meet perfectly, or will match some timber filler and glue/sawdust to fill everything.

4) Yeah, Make sure you're happy with the tuning peg layout before you shape the headstock, LOL. Seems my LP-style didn't leave enough space for the top tuner (on the side with four) to sit nicely. Luckily, Adam from PBG hooked me up, and replaced my 3+4 tuner setup with a 4+3, and I simply mounted them backwards. It's weird, and feels weird to tune it, but it actually looks much better like this IMO.

And then we're done. Again, I forgot the photos for all of the above, and all of the wiring and soldering. Needless to say, the PBG YouTube videos were excellent, and aside from a weird centr-position issue with a massively dominant bridge pickup (which I don't think is correct), it went perfectly.

Next post... glamour shots ;)

And I'm done. I've put the strings on, set the heights, adjusted the truss rod, and set the intonation... and am now waiting for the guitar to settle. Once the neck is set up and "used to" the standard gauge strings, my Power Slinky set goes on, and I can start playing with gauges to get the string tension I desire: This is my first 24.75" scale length guitar... so this will be interesting.

Without further delay, here it is:

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All up, pretty happy with the result for the first build. I learned a lot, and can't wait for the next one.

Nice job nkx the top looks sweet

Looks great. The tuners would be considered to be "upside down" by standard practice. Hopefully this won't lead to any tuning issues.

That's come up really nicely.

I agree the grover tuners look odd on the paddle headstocks. I ended up modding some black ones I had using the 'heads' off the kit tuners. Was very straight forward and seems to work fine. The kit tuner shape is just that little bit bigger and more angular so it looks better, and this way you keep the far superior grover moving parts.

https://i.imgur.com/LL5nBNVl.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

I agree the grover tuners look odd on the paddle headstocks. I ended up modding some black ones I had using the 'heads' off the kit tuners. Was very straight forward and seems to work fine. The kit tuner shape is just that little bit bigger and more angular so it looks better, and this way you keep the far superior grover moving parts.

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Nice workaround Sonic, I'll have to keep that in mind.

Also, great job on the kit NKX. That blue is beautiful. What's the next kit going to be?

@Fretworn: I agree, but I didn't really have much of a choice. Unless I wanted a really strangely-shaped headstock, that fourth machine head was looking way out of place. I actually couldn't come up with a design that worked, with the tuners the right way around, as they would hang off the edges... but they do work when mounted "upside down". I did a few tests before deciding to go with it, and tuning/locking was fine, so just went with it. Fingers crossed I don't find any issues with it down the road... but I'm confident it'll be fine.

@Sonic Mountain: Oooh, nice. Yeah, I considered trying to swap the 'heads' over, but assumed it would be too difficult. I'm totally on-board with giving this a shot, and it would improve the overall look a lot.

@JohnH: Thanks. My next kit will be something completely different: An ST-1M I think. While I primarily play rock/metal, my friends all play more melodic and softer "stuff" (think Pink Floyd, etc.)... and I currently have nothing but high gain guitars that sound rubbish trying to play that type of music (clean or mildly-overdriven), so I think an SSS ST will do the job. What I actually need, is a PBG valve head kit that I can plug into my currently-spare Marshall MC212 (English) cab.

Thanks for the kind words. I'll try working on the tuners, continue fine-tuning the setup of this guitar, and look at the next one ;)