Simon’s G 1SF

This is my first build. Also new to the blog. Working a few things out. Taking it nice and slow. Would appreciate any advice on my build. My working title for this guitar is the EC-A4. Have been lusting over a Gretsch style Rockabilly guitar for some time and also wanted to learn how to build my own guitars. So two falcons with one stone. Finally got around to uploading some pics of the un-boxing and dry build.

With regards to sanding, rather than buying sandpaper from Pitbull, I bought some 400 grade non clogging sandpaper from 'Bunnings'. I can't imagine that this can do any harm?

Good start so far - starting with a build diary. I assume you've read - What to do when you first open the box -
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=5541 and How toy build your Pitbull Guitar -
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ad.php?t=1895?

Others worth reading is how to post photos - the size limitations get quite a few new starters...
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=2616


Being prepared to take your time is also a good start - if you run into anything you're not sure about - grab a bevvy and pop a question on the forum - there's often someone around...

Thanks Brendan. Yes I did get a bit phased about the image restrictions. But will sort that out soon. I have read as much as I can about what to do when I opened the box. Checked through everything carefully and gently assembled for a mock build. I will proceed slowly and watch as my vids as possible before taking any major leaps. A minor bit of sanding was required to get the set neck in place for the mock build.

The neck joints can take a little while to settle down after travelling, especially if by air. The wood can swell or shrink because of changes in temperature and humidity, but normally settle to their manufactured state after about a week indoors.

Good luck with your build. I hope you enjoy it.

Good luck with your first one and welcome.

Good to know. It was tight and I had to give it a very light sand. Interesting that the wood swells. Well I suppose I am here to learn and figure this stuff out. Much appreciated.

Really impressed with the quality of the body and neck. However I am considering spending some money on upgrading the hardware. Obviously Gretsch or TV Jones pickups are going to deliver a higher level of satisfaction than what has shipped with the guitar kit. This is not a criticism. Just common sense given the cost of the kit. Considering putting on a 'real' Bigsby B7. I would be interested in the thoughts of others that have gone before around upgrades to hard ware. Such as general electrics etc...

Upgrading is fun and worthwhile. That said, there is nothing wrong with doing the build using all the stock bits first. It's pretty easy to upgrade later. You'll probably be surprised how well a stock kit sounds and plays.

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Upgrading is fun and worthwhile. That said, there is nothing wrong with doing the build using all the stock bits first. It's pretty easy to upgrade later. You'll probably be surprised how well a stock kit sounds and plays.

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Thanks. That is very helpful. Simon

Well done Simon,

I'm just embarking on my first build, a similar guitar. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by johnnyrotten

Well done Simon,

I'm just embarking on my first build, a similar guitar. Good luck.

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Thanks John. I saw your thread. Let's keep comparing notes. I started fine sanding this week. 400 grit sand paper. I figured that by starting off fine, I wouldn't do too much damage. It will take longer but that is not the point. I got a nice fitting on the neck. Considering upgrading the hardware for my first born...

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Originally Posted by johnnyrotten

Well done Simon,

I'm just embarking on my first build, a similar guitar. Good luck.

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Thanks John. I saw your post. Let's keep comparing notes as we go. I am considering upgrading the hard ware for my first born...

Wow. The mock build alone got me excited. This looks like such a cool instrument!

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Originally Posted by rook

Wow. The mock build alone got me excited. This looks like such a cool instrument!

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The wooden bits are really nice. Great quality. I am keen to upgrade hardware despite assurances from more experienced builders that I will be happy with stock hardware.

Yes, I'd say upgrade now. All of my builds have upgraded hardware. None of the original kit hardware or pickups are being used. You will get a working guitar using the kit parts but if you do have thoughts about upgrading, then it's easier to fit better quality products at the start, including any mods you may need to fit them.

Just beware that the classic Gretsch pickups are a bit narrower than standard humbuckers, so you'll either need adapter rings or buy the larger-sized TV Jones models that fit in a standard humbucker ring. If you plan to go with a sprayed solid colour, then it would be possible to fill in some of the pickup hole so you could fit standard Gretsch pickups.

People have fitted proper Bigsbys to these guitars, so you won't be the first. Some people worry about fixing the Bigsby to the ply top with the screws provided, as they are quite a bit longer than the thickness of the ply. As long as you have screws that are threaded all the way to the head, you should be OK. The ones that come with the kit trem are normally the wrong type and have a solid shaft + screwed bottom part, so that there is no screw thread at the point the screws go through the ply.

Some people have stuck wooden blocks on the underside of the ply to give a more secure fitting. They've drilled the fixing holes, then poked string through and pulled it out of a pickup hole. They've then threaded the string through a hole in a wooden block (with a slightly rounded top surface), tied a thick knot so it wont pull through the block, put some glue on the top surface of the block (a foaming polyurethane glue like Gorilla will help fill any gaps caused by the curvature of the top), then pull on the string so the block is pulled up against the underside of the top, find a way of keeping the string tight (work this out first before applying any glue) and wait for the glue to dry. You can then poke the string back in through the hole and retrieve it through the body. If the glue's stuck the string in place, then you should be able to just drill it out.

You can put the electrics in through the pickup holes, so you don't need to mess around with F-holes. This also means that you can use standard sized pots (which I prefer to use where possible), rather than mini-pots.

Brilliant advice. Thank you. I will look into that and investigate further. Appreciated.

Simon. I have read a number of your posts and build diary. Clearly you have a great deal of valuable experience and have built similar guitars to my Gretsch Falcon build. I have a question to ask you. The bottom of the inside of the neck pocket has been routed in a really rough way. I see this in a number of the build diaries. I appreciate that this is critical in setting the neck angle accurately and can't be sanded too enthusiastically as it might compromise that angle. However, I feel that I might get a neater fit on the neck if it was levelled a bit. I have favoured the side of caution and ONLY used a very fine grade sand paper. 400 so far for about 3-4 hours. My body is pretty good when it arrived. It's had a thorough sand with the 400 and I am now moving onto the 1200 grade. I feel as if this should be enough but Dingo Bass recommends extensive fine sanding. Define extensive... Thanks again for all of your input into this forum.

The amount of sanding required on the body varies from kit to kit. The solid wood bodies are the ones that normally take a fair bit of sanding. The object of the sanding is not to sand for sanding's sake, but to remove any machining marks and the roughness from end-grain exposure. You just want to achieve smooth round edges (where appropriate) and nice even flat surfaces. You don't want to put your finish on and discover that there's a 1mm dip in the middle of the body that's become obvious only after the finish has been applied.

If you are spraying the finish, spraying a light mist coat (a light 'dry' spray where you aren't trying to add a solid layer of paint, just enough to be visible on the body) before sanding the body (using a flat sanding block for the flat areas) is useful, as this will show up the high and low points of the body, with paint remaining in the dips and being removed from the high spots when you start sanding. If you do this, keep sanding until all traces of the mist coat have gone.

The ply bodies, like the GR1-SF, ES-1, ES- etc. really only require a basic light sanding with fine grits to take off loose grain fibres, as most of the sanding will be on the neck and headstock (using slightly coarser grits, especially if you've shaped the headstock yourself). And if you are staining or using Dingotone on the kit, then you don't want to use too fine a grit as this moves into the 'polishing' area and can prevent the wood from taking up the stain evenly. For staining, probably no more than P320. P1200 grit really isn't good unless you are spraying without staining, but even then, that is mainly wasted effort as the paint finish will hide any small imperfections, and you just need to build up enough layers of each coat (primer/colour/clear) to sand that back flat.

On kits like the GR-1SF and my ES-3, the neck pockets are large and there is a lot of surface area that will be glued and hold the neck in place. There's probably a least 4 times the area of an RCA-4, so even with a bit of roughness to the pocket finishing, there's not going to be any danger of the neck being loose. The most important thing is to ensure that there's no finish on as much of the mating surfaces as you can achieve. It's necessary to just go over the edges with your finish so that it sticks to the corners, but only by 1-2mm. Keep the rest as natural as possible for better glue adhesion.

So, what are your plans regarding the finish?

It seems that for wood glues like Titebond, a smooth surface is better than a rough one (despite having less overall surface area for the glue to adhere to). https://www.popularwoodworking.com/t...mooth-or-rough

So careful sanding to remove as much of the roughness as possible is good. Again, too fine a grit and so moving into the polishing area can cause its own problems. It's important to clean the areas to be glued so there are no loose fibres or dust in the join, so a quick suck with a vacuum cleaner whilst brushing the surfaces prior to gluing is beneficial. And clamping the joint tight whilst the glue is setting is of vital importance.

Thanks Simon. Most useful info. That all makes complete sense. The body of the guitar is really good. Very smooth and clean with only one very small dent from machining. Barely noticeable. The neck required a little more work to sort out the shape. I was puzzled why I might need to keep sanding the body when it appeared so clean. Good to know that the bulk of the prep work is almost complete.

As for a finish, I was planning on using a Dingo Tone Bushfire Sunrise on the front and back. This appears close to the classic Eddie Cochrane Gretsch Orange. And the Dingo Tone Black Stump for the neck and sides of the body. All finished off with a Dingo Tone guitar wax. I have however heard superb things about Tung Nut oil. I have used this on my some sanded floor boards in my house. It has a really nice natural smell and feels good on the skin. Apparently it also enhances natural resonance on musical instruments. I will do some more research. I don't feel ready for a shiny gloss finish yet. There appears to be much more work and prep involved. I read your forum post on your ES-1 and felt a little daunted for my first build. I can see how there is very little room for error. I also like matt finishes on guitars.

Hello Luthiers. I am looking to put a classic Eddie Cochrane Gretsch orange on my GR-1sf build using Dingotone Bushfire Sunrise. Has anyone had any experience with this particular colour? It's difficult to really trust colour viewed on-line. Would this be close to what I am after? #gr -1sf

Update. I have been assured by Dingo Bass that the Bushfire Sunrise is close to the Gretsch Orange that I am after. However I have opted for the Stumac Orange which looks exactly what I am after. I would like to have worked with an Australian product but needed to see some better photos of the colour.

I don't know much about the DT finishes, but I know that a lot of people have had a lot of problems with the black stump Patchy finishes and rough surfaces suddenly appearing.

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Originally Posted by Simon Ashford

Hello Luthiers. I am looking to put a classic Eddie Cochrane Gretsch orange on my GR-1sf build using Dingotone Bushfire Sunrise. Has anyone had any experience with this particular colour? It's difficult to really trust colour viewed on-line. Would this be close to what I am after? #gr -1sf

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Hey simon mine came up a treat with bushfire sunrise if you want to check it out and the gretsch black top filtertron sound pretty dam good too

Hello Adam. I would love to see it. I had a quick noodle around your profile but couldn't see a link to it. So it came up like the traditional Gretsch Orange?

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Originally Posted by Simon Ashford

Hello Adam. I would love to see it. I had a quick noodle around your profile but couldn't see a link to it. So it came up like the traditional Gretsch Orange?

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A few more strain coats would go close i only did 1 saturatetd stain coat and 2 intensifier coats

Attachment 25561
My Gotoh vintage Keystone (Kluson Style) locking tuners arrived today.

I like the tuners, I have a set ready for my sg build...

The new tuners seem to be made for 8.8mm holes. The kit has been drilled with 10mm holes. Has anyone had any experience with using conversion bushings? I have seen a few on line. So it must be a standard modification that is commonly made.

Yes, they work fine. Just fit them before you screw the tuners in place, so that you know the posts are properly centred.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Yes, they work fine. Just fit them before you screw the tuners in place, so that you know the posts are properly centred.

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Of course the other option is to dowel them up and drill again.
A practice that I've done a few times with an ever-increasing level of competence.

cheers, Mark.

Attachment 26392
The conversion bushes are fantastic.
The vintage tuners are suited for 8.8mm holes but the pre drilled holes are 10mm.
These conversion bushes work nicely. Learning so much.