Printable View
Yep! I got the first one.
Initial thoughts, which might change when I once I get to look at it in the sunlight on the weekend, is it the best kit I’ve received yet. Of course I dropped the bridge on it first thing, so I have to steam out two very small dings from the top. At the moment I’m seriously considering just Tru-Oiling it.
Just Tru-oil ??
I'd be wanting to bring that flame out at least a little more than what Tru-oil alone will do... but it's your build...
Tend to agree with Marcel and reckon a splash of FW Golden Teak would work well with the red scratch plate and gold screws. Presume gold hardware too?
A Fretty Build! Woot Woot! This will be well worth following!
Beautiful kit Fretty I’m looking forward to this build
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Oh boy, that is a rad looking guitar.
Once I wet down the top to check for glue spots I’ll hopefully get a better idea of how it pop.
It’s my first maple fingerboard, first Tru oil attempt and first micron thick veneer. I’ll be picking a few brains along the way.
Nice looking kit Fretworn
TO is the easy part. Glue spots, not so easy.
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
I’ve checked over the kit now and done a mock build. Apart from a few little things I stand by my comment about it being the best kit I’ve received. I don’t know if these new kits are from a different factory or they are just designed to be a higher grade of product, but colour me impressed so far.
This is the back dry (right) and wet (left). Notice that, apart from the top, it’s a two piece body. Workmanship is pretty consistent across the whole. I believe it’s alder, the guitar itself is surprisingly light.
Wetting the top doesn’t bring out a lot of contrast, so I will probably have to look at some staining to accentuate the flame. There is a little bit of colour bleed from the binding if you look closely. Also the top is a bit rough and open grained below the f-hole. I need to think about grain filling this.
Only glue issues are in the usual areas, the binding in the cutaways. The end grain at the tail end will need a bit of work too.
The neck is dead straight. The dots are centred. Even the tuner holes are almost aligned, the A string is slightly out. And it came with a black nut to match the binding.
The veneer is pretty thin, but there were no glue spots that I could see on the front.
I’ll have to ditch the black plastic saddle for the neck plate as the holes were drilled too close to the edge. BTW it came with the holes drilled in the neck as well, and they lined up perfectly. The neck fits snug and straight and the scale length seems to be perfect.
The jack plate doesn’t fit snuggly though, I may have to enlarge the hole a fraction, but I need to check if the orientation to the jack itself is effecting it.
The routing appears to be deep enough for the upgraded switch. Its hard to tell from the picture but there is about a mm clearance.
I didn’t get any photos of it with the neck on, but everything lines up perfectly.
What a beautiful kit Fretty. I'm a little jealous. Well maybe ill be the second for the new kits we'll see.
Looking wonderful! Will be keen to follow this build.
The headstock is now shaped and the neck sanded to 240.
I’ve been testing colours as well. FW Golden Teak, with or without popping the grain with FW mahogany first. I’m going to test Tru-oil in the tremolo cavity to see if the back can get away with just that. I really like the natural colour of the alder.
The guitar has spoken, it’s going to be golden. Personally I was hoping it would be a bit more yellow than orange, but as usual the guitar will be what it will be.
Looking superb!
Oh yeah Fretty, I love where this is going.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fretworn
That looks so nice 👍🏻
Oh gosh that looks good. Did you stain with mahogany first and sand it back, or is that just golden teak?
Popped with ‘hog’ first. Sanded as much as I possibly could without going through the top. Then stain with golden teak. The residual ‘hog’ is probably part of what is making it a more orange gold than yellow gold.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkMark
I’ve decided I need a light tan stain for the back. Not too dark, but a bit darker than the natural colour.
Attachment 29564 nice choice guitarQuote:
Originally Posted by Fretworn
I’ve started Tru-oiling the neck and top. It’s coming up a treat so far.
I did discover the problem with pre-drilled holes for the neck screws though. Mud wasps think they are exactly the right size for their nests. I should have taken a picture before I cleaned them out.
Seriously? That’s bizarre!Quote:
Originally Posted by Fretworn
I’ve been a bit remiss in keeping you all updated. But here she is at the moment. A few more coats of TruOil on the back and sides and then I’ll let the body rest for a few weeks before giving the body a bit of a polish and putting the bits together. So glad I decided to try TruOil on this one.
Looks superb mate 👌🏻
If I can stand to go outside, I might finish it this weekend.
Yeah, I’ve only been outside to jump in the pool the last couple of days. Zero interest in being in the lab.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fretworn
I missed last week's snow here because I was away on the Devon coast where it was significantly warmer and never dropped below 4°C, but we've more snow forecast for Tuesday night. Hope that helps.
I couldn’t waste the public holiday. I got the ST wiring upgrade kit with this one and I need to do some subtle reshaping of the cavity so everything would fit.
Then I finished wiring her up. I bought a Gotoh bridge for her, and the ground wire steadfastly refused to solder to the claw. So I had to come up with a work around that seems to be working. I wound the wire tightly through one of the screw holes of the claw and soldered it to itself so it won’t come loose.
Then I put her together. She’s working fine but all the fine-tuning, intonation etc still needs to be done. I have ordered a white tip for the switch. I need to tweak the neck a bit too as the high E string is a little too close to the edge, but I will have to sand a little bit of the neck cavity to do this. The neck is a little wider than the standard Pitbull kits I’ve made before, but that won’t be a problem.
Looks amazing! Can't believe nobody has commented for several days. The pop of mahogany under the teak gives it good depth, and ties it in to the pickguard. How's the semi-hollow body sound/feel? Is it a bit more resonant than your average strat?
Mate that's tidy work Fretty, love the thinline and my fave is the grain in that fretboard.
I’m really enjoying playing it. It’s quite bright acoustically. I haven’t really had a chance to plug it in and give it a good “schwang” yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Axe