EX-1L Custom, First Pit Bull Kit guitar

Hi everyone,
in this build diary I'd like to show you my progress on my overall second build and my first pit bull guitar kit - and probably ask a few questions in the progress ;)
My first build was a LP style with an already glued in neck, so not too much advanced work for a beginner. So I thought I'd step up the game and try to set the neck myself this time. Plus I really wanted an EX shape, which is by itself already hard to find in a left handed version. So, thanks for making that possible Adam!

For this build I ordered a Custom EX-1L with a spalted maple veneer, mahogany body and maple fretboard/neck, black binding and black hardware. But, see for yourself in the attached image. I for myself think it looks really stunning already - that's why I am planning to just leave that natural look and use tru oil for the finish.
Overall the Kit looks well made, however, the holes for the bridge posts are a bit too close together for the bridge to fit. Adam suggested to use a pen wrapped in sandpaper to widen the holes a bit. I already followed that advice and was able to screw in the bridge together with the posts, however it's a bit to tight and the bridge cannot move now ;) I will probably remove it again and sand a bit more.
Further the neck pocket is a bit to tight for the neck to fit in. My plan is to follow Adams suggestion again and sand the sides of the neck pocket evenly until i get a tight fit for the neck.

I'd appreciate any advice/comment on that plans.

Yep, that’s sick. Great custom order! Look forward to seeing this come together.

What a beaut..going to enjoy seeing this build come together as well

Oh my, that does look stunning.

What a great way to join the Explorer owners club.

Cheers, Waz

Hi tobagon, my experience with set necks has been that a little sanding of the pocket/neck is required to get the neck to fit, but proceed with care as you don’t want to mess up angles.
What a nice looking kit you have. That’s going to look amazing when you Tru Oil it.

Hi,

I had the exact same problem with my kit...the bridge stud holes were 2-3mm too close together...meaning I couldn't mount the tunomatic bridge on.

You have a couple options....you could dowel 1 or more the holes and re-drill them...or sand them out so they are broader.

In the end I only discovered it right at the end of my build...I used a thinner style bridge post from a spare I had lying around.

Attachment 31767

I actually joined the Explorer owner club while I was waiting for the kit :o:rolleyes: Just couldn't resist the GAS for a used one for a nice price, hehe.
Thanks!
I think for now I should only sand the sides of the neck pocket. As soon as the neck fits in the pocket I can check the angle of the neck and bridge - nut - distance.... right? I have to remind myself how to properly do that, I think there are some good guides around here.

For the bridge posts I will sand them out a bit further. Too bad I don't have any thinner black bridge posts lying around - that would have been an elegant solution aido78.

Unfortunately, a ~ 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm piece of the veneer came off when i removed one of the bridge posts to sand the hole. I might post a picture of that later. I think I will try to just glue it back in place, do you have any tricks/tips for that?

Here are the pictures of the piece that came off.
Attachment 31773 Attachment 31774

A bit of CA and it will be fine but you will always know, something that bugs me about one of my builds after swapping a nut

Gorgeous top on that guitar!

I finally had the time to sand - unrelated note: with the famous song "I'm still s(t)anding" in my head - and now I was able to make the bridge and the neck fit. The neck fit is not too tight, but also not very loose. I'm still kind of worried that i got carried away by the song and sanded a bit too much.

I also glued in the piece that came off using CA, thanks! Apparently a small piece went missing, but I'll have to live with that.

When I put in the neck and two strings there were a few things I immediately noticed:
1) The string action seems to be very high, even though the bridge posts are screwed in all the way already
2) the low E-string is veeeery close to the edge of the neck, that becomes even more apparent in the picture with both E strings attached
3) the plastic neck humbucker ring doesn't fit into the cavity, because the neck is in the way. In the picture I've somehow pushed it in, but you can see that the humbucker cavity and the plastic part are not well aligned.

I still have to measure the scale length to see how that fits.

For 1) I guess I have to measure the angle and the scale length, and then decide on whether or not I need something to shim the neck?
I don't really have any ideas on how to correct 2) except for redrilling the bridge post holes, which I'd prefer to not do... Do you have any other ideas?
I've seen problem 3) in the other EX thread https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=9684. They tackled the problem by filing/sanding the neck/fretboard. I think I might follow their approach here.

HI,

For the string to neck alignment issue - I would dowel the existing holes and re-drill. This is the best solution and it won't look too bad as the bridge hardware will cover the dowels. Whilst you're at it, what is the e strings spacing like at the nut? If they are not aligned there it would be worth making adjustments to the nut now rather than later.

For the string height - yes, shimming the neck is the way to go. I had to do this on my RC-1 and it was a simple case cutting and graduating enough material to both raise the neck and adjust the break angle.

So after a long time of being discouraged because of this diagnose, I continued working on the kit. Thankfully I was checking other EX-Threads as well and apparently many had the problem of an angular neck heel front. So I had a closer look at mine and sanded carefully to even that out. As it turns out, the neck sits now in a way that the strings are correctly aligned :)
Further, I experimented with maple veneer to get the right shim height. It took a bit, because somehow the neck was rocking up and down a bit in the neck pocket, but I figured that i just had to put more veneer closer to the bridge to angle the neck even more and that worked out. If put into the pocket, the neck now sits tight, the strings have a reasonable distance and the bridge posts don't have to be all the way down.

Now that that was taken care of I sanded everything, watered, sanded again and started applying the birchwood sealer and filler to prepare for the tru oil application. I diluted the Sealer with naptha to make it easier to apply. Unfortunately, I have gotten a few runs which I will have to sand out again. You can see though, that there's already a nice shine to the body.
I used spray can lacquer for the fretbord and gave it several coats.

While that was happening/drying, I used the maple veneer to build new covers for the Truss Rod and the electrics to replace the plastic parts.

I also bought a new graphtech TUSQ nut that I will put in once the neck is glued in, in order to then sand it to the right height.

I've been thinking of putting my signature or a logo on the headplate of the guitar. Since I didn't come up with a nice logo so far I will probably go with the signature. Do you have any recommendations what could work well with tru oil? In one of the pics you can see a discarded shim with some markers I tried with the tru oil and how they bleed
out.

Plenty of people here use sealed decals. You could try an inlay with black glitter if you have engraving tools. You can see I did this with gold glitter in my ES-3 diary. But practice on scrap first.

This is what I did (close enough so you can see where the chisel slipped. Sigh).
Hollowed out the headstock in a circle, using a circle cutter for the edges, same cutter to make a circle of veneer and abalone (I think), cut in halves and a Laser printer transfer/decal on top. Goodness knows how many layers of Birchwood sander/filler on top (don't worry if it wrinkles) and tru oil finish. I was worried about the sealer/filler solvent and the decal, but as you can see it was OK. Scan or photo your sig, tidy up the graphic and make a decal from it and you should be good to go.
Attachment 32708

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Plenty of people here use sealed decals. You could try an inlay with black glitter if you have engraving tools. You can see I did this with gold glitter in my ES-3 diary. But practice on scrap first.

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that looks very nice!
I don't have engraving tools, but am now considering getting one.... Would it be fine to engrave on an already finished surface? How did you glue in the glitter and how did you seal it afterwards?

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Originally Posted by JimC

This is what I did (close enough so you can see where the chisel slipped. Sigh).
Hollowed out the headstock in a circle, using a circle cutter for the edges, same cutter to make a circle of veneer and abalone (I think), cut in halves and a Laser printer transfer/decal on top. Goodness knows how many layers of Birchwood sander/filler on top (don't worry if it wrinkles) and tru oil finish. I was worried about the sealer/filler solvent and the decal, but as you can see it was OK. Scan or photo your sig, tidy up the graphic and make a decal from it and you should be good to go.
Attachment 32708

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That also looks very nice! It is nice to hear that there weren't any problems with the decal and the tru oil finish! I think that a decal would definitely look better than just signing it. Plus: I got more than one try.

Thanks for the advice, I will have a hard time choosing.

[QUOTE=tobagon;187396]that looks very nice!
I don't have engraving tools, but am now considering getting one.... Would it be fine to engrave on an already finished surface? How did you glue in the glitter and how did you seal it afterwards?

I have tested this on an already stained and sealed surface (page 14) using fast drying super glue and it worked, but it requires sanding and reapplying clear coats. Afterwards I just sealed it with whatever I was using-wipe on poly. The inlay process is outlined on page 8 of the diary. If you are considering it, have some practice tests first.

Laser printed decals should be fine with most finishes. Ink-jet printed decals are likely to be less ink-fast so they may run a bit into the finish. Jim's decal was a laser printed one.

Thanks! I think I will go for a laser printed decal then, as that seems to be easier to apply and I feel like I tried enough new things in this build already.
So for the next days/weeks I will come up with a design of the signature using a tablet pen and said tablet. With that I should be able to make it look almost calligraphic.
I will also continue to increase the grit between the tru oil applications - I am already using micro mesh pads and it's starting to be a very soft glossy finish.

I also got some bat-fretboard stickers and am wondering if I should put them on and secure them with a bit of spray can clear coat, like I did with the rest of the fretboard before. I have heard that these kind of fretboard marker stickers are pretty durable, so maybe that's not necessary.

I'm having trouble to get a nice and even shiny finish, often streaks are visible (even with diluted tru oil) and although it does look kinda glossy, glass or plastic like, there are some parts that are not as smooth as others. Maybe I can post pictures later. Any ideas or recommendations how to apply the last coats of tru oil?
Or do I just leave it like that, wait a few weeks and then sand/polish?

Hard to say when one hasn't been involved in putting the finish on directly. When I did my only attempt at TruOil finish, I put a lot of coats on, with the last 15-20 being thinned 50:50 with turps. That got pretty shiny, and as I'd been sanding it back from time to time, it was quite smooth. Never got to polish it back up as my final sand went through to the stain at one high point, so it all got stripped down. But it's certainly worth waiting a few weeks before final sanding and polishing as it does take a while to fully cure and go really hard.

Not quite sure what you mean about streaks, so posting some photos would most definitely help.

I know it's hard to tell from the distance, especially since English is not my first language. Thank you so much for trying.

I'm in at approx 15 coats maybe and did sand in between every now and then. Starting with i think 240 or 320 grid, up to 400 and then continuing with micro mesh up to 3200.
With that it got smooth, but also more satin. I could tell that the finish was not even because there were still some glossy parts, though.

I have attached the images and I hope it becomes more apparent of what I was talking about. With the streaks I meant the "uneveness" of the newest coat following the strokes of how I applied the oil.

In the first image it now seems to me like there's something in the oil. Maybe it's dust?

It could well be dust, though you can also get small clumps of dried TruOil that form around the neck of the bottle which then get transferred to the cloth you're applying TruOil with. So always keep the neck of the bottle clean and use a different cloth or rag to wipe the neck of the bottle free of them before use.

Yes, you've got some small dips in the finish and some particles stuck there. They should all go once you do a proper levelling sand to a flat surface. You are probably moving up to the next grit too soon. I'd stick with wet 240 until the surface is as flat as you can get it, with no dips or pits that you can see when you hold it up to the light at a shallow angle. Only then start moving up the grits.

Finer grits remove less and less finish, so you are never going to get rid of any pits with that. They'll polish the flat surfaces, which will leave the dips more obvious by comparison.

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Originally Posted by tobagon

I also got some bat-fretboard stickers and am wondering if I should put them on and secure them with a bit of spray can clear coat, like I did with the rest of the fretboard before. I have heard that these kind of fretboard marker stickers are pretty durable, so maybe that's not necessary.

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I have used a couple of sticker kits and added several coats of TO to keep them stuck down where one kit was rectangular block inlays on my maple fretboarded J Bass. You can also do the same with clear acrylic as that is what you have already done on rest of the fretboard.

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Originally Posted by tobagon

I know it's hard to tell from the distance, especially since English is not my first language. Thank you so much for trying.

I'm in at approx 15 coats maybe and did sand in between every now and then. Starting with i think 240 or 320 grid, up to 400 and then continuing with micro mesh up to 3200.
With that it got smooth, but also more satin. I could tell that the finish was not even because there were still some glossy parts, though.

I have attached the images and I hope it becomes more apparent of what I was talking about. With the streaks I meant the "uneveness" of the newest coat following the strokes of how I applied the oil.

In the first image it now seems to me like there's something in the oil. Maybe it's dust?

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Sometimes the TO can go 'off' in the bottle once it has been opened for a while or when temp has been higher than usual. What Simon said also makes sense as you need to make sure each application is as clean as possible.

Tend to think you may have skipped up through the fine grits a bit too quick and suggest doing a wet sand with 1200. If feeling brave maybe you could use a 50:50 Tru Oil to Mineral Turps solution as the wetting agent and do a wet sand and next coat application all in the same process. Need to be careful things don't dry out too much when doing this....it still needs to be fairly wet and shiny, just as it would be when applying with a small scrap of cloth.

Thinning TO down means more overall coats will be required as it is amazing how many you strip off on each wet sand (with water) and even more when doing the final polish. On my last build (ES1) I was under a tight time frame to complete and instead of using 50:50 thinning ratio just added a few drops of turps as that gave just a slight watery mix but still thick enough to provide better coverage. Once you have done 15-16 thick coats with a couple of wet sands in between, maybe you could switch up to 1500 grit, and somewhere after 20 coats it is time to move up to 2000 grit. Best to save anything higher for doing the final polishing only otherwise it becomes too shiny for subsequent coats to grip onto.

Cheers, Waz

Thanks for the great advice! I will let you know how the sanding and the next coat goes and I hope I don't sand through.

I've been doing a guitar with tru oil, and my chosen method was to lightly sand with 600 (european) after every 3 or 4 coats, with no attempt to take it down flat, simply to take all the high points, runs and dust off - so the surface looks about half sanded, half shiny. I started with one coat of sealer filler on the front then put a couple of tru oil on, but I was concerned that I might not have enough depth so I gently sanded it then put another couple of layers of sealer/filler on before going back to tru oil. I finally took it down flat only after I had put all the coats I wanted to on, and I was quite confident there was minimal chance of going through. I used 600 and 800, then went up to 1200. I then used an abrasive polish, but it was evident that the finish hadn't cured enough for it to burnish to a really high polish, so I'm going to wait a few weeks and give it another go. My feeling is that there's little to be gained by sanding completely flat more than once, and a lot to be lost. I haven't used thinned tru oil, because I trust that the burnish will do all I need for gloss. Thing to bear in mind though I'm not into super gloss finishes, so if you want a real showroom job pay more attention to those that have achieved it...

Your photos do look a bit dusty to me. If you have a dust problem, and I do like crazy, its good if you can figure up a way to hold the work when you've put the oil on to minimise the amount of dust that can fall on it. Even propped up vertically helps. Of course then its ten times as many runs, but who said it was easy?

It's been quite some time and in the meantime I glued together neck and body to let it cure during the Christmas break. Before I did that I checked the neck angle several times by putting one or two strings and checking their height. I then adjusted my shim made out of maple veneer until I liked the result.

After almost a month I sanded the oil finish moooore or less flat, ordered a new bottle of tru oil and started oiling again.
I changed my method of application and am now using a cut out of the soft side of a kitchen sponge and I'm oiling the guitar hanging in the closet (with windows open, gloves and mask, just to be sure).

This time around I'm keeping track how many times I put oil and am currently counting 8 additional times with one light sand in between and I think now the finish is slowly becoming what I want it to be.
Thanks for the advice, I will keep you posted and once I'm done send additional pictures

Wow, great looking top on that, can't wait to see how this one goes.

I gotta confession dude. (Sorry Wazkelly) I do not like Explorer shapes. But Damn man that kit looks great!!!

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Originally Posted by Andy40

I gotta confession dude. (Sorry Wazkelly) I do not like Explorer shapes. But Damn man that kit looks great!!!

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All good Andy.

You need to play one to truly appreciate them as the shape is more comfortable than it looks.

agreed! Explorers are way more comfortable to play than they look, because of the long armrest they offer.

I have decided on a logo and already printed it on waterslide decal paper. This weekend I should be able to present it to you already!

For now I have changed my method of tru oil application again. I had great results with wet sanding and using the oil as lubricant. Then of course I could only do one side at a time. With the guitar laying, runs don't happen that easily and I applied some nice coats afterwards. The spalted maple veneer is now filled and almost flat everywhere -> I should be done soonish! :) and I should - it has been 16 more coats already. I can't wait to put it all together.

As promised, here's the attached waterslide decal. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, there's no visible border and after one coat of tru oil there's nothing else standing out than the ink. perfect! thank you for the suggestion.

I used some of the remaining decal paper to "decal" a mug for the girlfriend - I can only recommend that to make up for the guitar building time ;)

Other than that, the spalted maple veneer is now almost all filled with tru oil and I hope that I will get done with applying the oil this week. And then I will need a lot of patience before the final polish and doing the electronics.
Damn, I want to know how my explorer sounds! :D

I'm a bit confused what my best course of action is now, so just to make sure, what is my best course of action to get a nice finish now?

I was planning to
-wet sand it flat with oil again (Do i wipe off the excess and the "oil dust" or do I let it stay and work it in with the application of oil?) starting with European 240 paper and then going up or, since i already flatted it with that, directly with 600-1000?
- then maybe 1-3 very thin coats of oil again.
- After that letting it cure for ... about a week (??)
- Fine sandpaper again (1000?) dry or wet (with oil again or regular water with a bit of dish soap?) and then polish with silicon-free car polish
- Applying Carnauba wax
- Done

Please let me know what you think, and/or if you have any tips, do's or do nots, let me know as well, as this is the first time I'm trying to polish an oil finish.

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I was planning to
-wet sand it flat with oil again (Do i wipe off the excess and the "oil dust" or do I let it stay and work it in with the application of oil?) starting with European 240 paper and then going up or, since i already flatted it with that, directly with 600-1000?

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If you're intention is "grain filling" DO NOT wipe off the Tru Oil. The whole idea of grain filling using the "slurry" method is to allow the particulates (dust) to combine with the finish oil and fill the grain.
You need to let the slurry coat dry, then very lightly dry sand to knock down the high spots, nibs, pool spots etc. Then repeat wet sanding with Tru Oil as needed until everything is filled and levelled. THEN apply desired number of straight TO until you build up to the depth/gloss you want.

Personally I've never thinned Tru Oil. IMO it doesn't need it, but that's only my opinion. YMMV.

Another thing I'll add is when I grain fill with Tru Oil/slurry or when levelling the slurry coat, I don't go coarser than 600.
Once the grain filling is done and I start applying my build coats, I de-nib with a fine synthetic sanding pad (aka synthetic steel wool) but only after every 3-6 coats as needed.

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- After that letting it cure for ... about a week (??)

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I leave any top/clear coat for at least 14 days now (Tru Oil, Lacquer, Polyurethane etc)
The hardest part of finishing is waiting...

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- Applying Carnauba wax

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Completely unnecessary IMO. The clear coat should have all the gloss you'd want if the final polish is done properly.
I never used any kind of wax on top of a guitar finish. I know some do, but not me.

I read an interview with a Fender Custom Shop guy where he recommended using carnauba wax on sticky feeling nitro-finished necks. A couple of applications should see any sticky feeling disappear. Apart from that, no need for it.

I've thinned TruOil (in my one failed attempt to do a TruOil finish) and it does lower the surface tension a bit and so make it easier for the TO to fill small cavities without simply following the previous contours. Also, the TO does tend to thicken as the bottle empties, so adding a small amount of turps to a half-empty bottle can get it back to the original viscosity. The downside of thinning is that your layers are thinner (well less actual TO content per wipe), so you need more applications.

Wet sanding TO & small amount of Turps added should be done with 1200 or 1500 grit Wet & Dry paper as 600 or 800 have too much bite and will strip off more than what you bargain for. Even 1200 can strip the best part of 3 coats off.

Would recommend this twice or maybe 3 times only up until about 20 coats down and then switch to proper wet sanding every 2nd or 3rd coats using water with a drop of dishwashing detergent added as the lubricant. 1500 & 2000 grits work best the nearer you get to 30+ coats down.

Cheers, Waz

Thanks for the great answers, it is already somewhat clearer what has to be done. Although not quite everything - sorry I'm new to almost all of this.

So, since the TO build up should already be flat, I will wet sand with water and soap and wipe the excess away. And I'll use 1500 grit paper.
If I then build up TO layers and go to finer grits until i reach the desired gloss, do I even need to polish afterwards? If yes, how would I tackle that, after two weeks of wait?

Am I aiming for very thin TO coats now, or for medium/thick application?