AGM-1 First Build

After 18 months gestation I finally bit the bullet and ordered an AGM-1 kit to build for an old mate. We played in a band 30 years ago, and after 27 years not really playing he convinced us to reform for his 50th and maybe some nostalgic gigs. It's been fun, but I wish I could remember more of the gigs in our drummer's scrapbook!

He's wanted an SG for decades, and wouldn't put my Epi 50th anniversary SG down. I can also use it as leverage to get my Squire Chambered Tele back.

So the plan;

1. Bevel the body cutaways to approximate my Epi 61
2. Lots of sanding
3. Level and dress the frets
4. Cut the headstock design
5. Measure scale, check alignment and glue
6. Maybe a burst
7. Tru Oil and Birchwood Casey conditioner

Color scheme is Colortone Cherry Red and maybe a thin edge burst with Red Mahogany and maybe even some Ritt black dye (in the laundry) for the outer edges to hide the end grain. Headstock, I'm thinking a light black Ritt, sand and then lots of red to give it some depth. An abalone or Mother of Pearl Gibson crown waterslide and matching witticism based on his name/volume.

Planned upgrades, I ordered locking tuners - but probably not;

1. Bone nut
2. Treble bleed on the neck
3. Grover tulip tuners, maybe something open
4. Looking at the bridge, maybe upgrade
5. Strap locks
6. He has a pair of SD Antiquity 'bukkers!

I'm also influenced by the aged neck on Dan_B's fantastic Jnr https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...hlight=tumeric

The neck looks fantastic, no obvious flaws and the tuner holes are good enough for Government work.
https://i.imgur.com/eNhVXE9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kU90TYS.jpg

The Body looks like it's from the same piece and they flipped the bottom piece.
https://i.imgur.com/RNn6sZ0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/B54VPCi.jpg

So my question to you guys, do you think the body will stain consistently with Cherry Red? Should I highlight the grain with some black?

You could stain the whole body black, then sand back. I used rit dye on my current explorer build and its really easy to layer on then sand back. When you sand back, the grain should be coloured black with the sanded regions of a light haze. As soon as you put the red over that, the grain will really pop out. I find rit dye works best when layering over different colours. Just my two cents.

Being mahogany you probably have to grain fill. To make the grain pop out just a bit you could use mahogany timbermate (which is what I did in my build). If you want the grain to be very visible you could use ebony timbermate. The good thing about timbermate is it is so easy to use just mix with water to form a slurry and then apply with an old plastic credit card, wait to dry then sand off. It fills the grain and helps to end up with a smooth final finish.

Probably a good call. I may add some Red Mahogany Colortone to try and even out the shades of the body wood.

One vote for ebony Timberlake to pop the grain prior to staining

Looking at your first build which had similarly mismatched grains and tones - you may be onto something.

I won't really get anything done until the weekend, but a quick neck fit, the paddle will need sanding but the fretboard is pretty snug. The perfect result I'd say.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hardcoretroubadour

ebony Timberlake

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Wait until the media gets hold of Justin’s blackface controversy!

A much wittier comment than I could summon!

Into it today. Looks like I got an LP hardware kit. When I couldn't find the pickguard I told Adam not to bother sending it but looks like I need a cavity cover.

Inspect sober!
https://i.imgur.com/rfteJBg.jpg

40 grit on the random cut the bevels pretty quickly.
https://i.imgur.com/kjOlCWZ.jpg

Neck fits after 2 minutes with 120 grit. Scale is within 1mm.
https://i.imgur.com/9d6t2hM.jpg

I hate rasps, I learnt fairly young that things can go south pretty quickly - fortunately nothing bad happened today.
https://i.imgur.com/AyqF3jp.jpg

Sand to 240 grit and first raising of the grain.
https://i.imgur.com/NLdfkfV.jpg

After the second raising of the grain, off to the green shed for ebony timbermate and some abraisives. Hand sanding from here to fix some imperfections and onto the neck.

Hopefully get to gluing and staining today and a few weeks to finish!

Looks like a good kit!
Currently doing my first build with an ag-1f.
I used ebony timbermate on my kit mixed with feast watson japan black (spirit based and not sure if it mixed well) on all except the front veneer. It didnt really make the different wood sections of the guitar meld into a similar looking piece (may have even highlighted the difference), but my kit didnt have any hugely contrasting sections (on the back) and it was basswood not mahogany.

But the timbermate definitely gave the grain a black highlight.
The feast watson mahogany stain came out relatively dark with the ebony timbermate and i had no issues with any blotches popping up, nice dark cherry colour onnthe back, but my vener stayed quite dark.
Have a look at some of my pics and they may help you out.
Goodluck!

Thanks Mcgaz and Hardcoretroubador for making me use Ebony. I was considering it but in addition to bringing out the grain, it evened up the 3 distinct pieces of wood.

I tried to make a paste, but being impatient I gooped it on and used a damp rag to rub it around and in.

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

I thought I was following the Colortone dilution guide, and got an almost imperceptable shade of pink.
https://i.imgur.com/TzViQqk.jpg

So a 3rd of a bottle, almost 1 to 1. With the help of a heatgun, 2 more coats after this and it's RED!
https://i.imgur.com/aVMURJq.jpg

Some neckwork tomorrow. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy so far. It's just gotta play well and stay in tune! The bone nut seems a worthwhile upgrade after I popped the plastic one off.

Looking good mate. And great choice on the pickups, I really like the SD Antiquity Humbucker.

The SD Antiquities are sheer dumb luck, I was at my mate's place for a rehearsal last year and he showed me these pickups someone gave him. He had no use for them and gave them to his brother, but technically they're still just laying around.

So yesterday I had chores to do and got called into work for a few hours. But jumped back in after that. Still rushing!

I whacked some Cherry onto the nech because I'd already poured it, noice shade of pink - it's tempting to leave it like that! Anyway, I got the scroll saw out for the first time in over 10 years. Never used it much before that...
https://i.imgur.com/RKsujTC.jpg

I should have done a few more practice runs! It looks passable from about 2 metres - see how I feel about it in a day or two. I may have to redraw and get the Dremel out.

Two passes with Red Mahogany and I think Cherry Red over that will look OK. I think I'll only use the ebony Timbermate on the front of the headstock and leave a lot on. Then Cherry over that.
https://i.imgur.com/c1vqeM1.jpg

My main concern is that I didn't have a pickguard (wrong hardware kit). I thought to use mine as a guide and forgot! But I may have scolloped out the lower horn too much. The pickguard from RealParts isn't wide enough to totally fill the gap between the humbuckers so I may just set it towards back.I'll need to enlarge the pickup routs a little.
https://i.imgur.com/MXxEaGW.jpg

But these arrived so it should stay in tune.
https://i.imgur.com/gGXovxe.jpg

So after half a bottle of Tru Oil and a few old pairs of underpants, it's time to level / crown and dress the frets. A few gentle taps with a rubber hammer and they were remarkably level and the old credit card only rocked in a few patches. A very light sand of the fretboard as well.

Sandedd 800, 1200 and 0000 wool they came up quite nicely before some oil.
https://i.imgur.com/gb7ORAF.jpg

The high E may be a little close to the edge - but I have some room to move when fitting the bone nut. The moment of terror went quite well. The neck is straight and the scale length is spot on.
https://i.imgur.com/v0IkTxv.jpg

And finally a mock-up. I finally have a week's holiday so it'll get to cure before a buff/wax and sone Stock Sheen Conditioner on the back of the neck - pretty red under flash! I had to get the chisel out to fit the Humbuckers.
https://i.imgur.com/d92WWtz.jpg

All up for a first build I haven't been too ambitious - but I'm pretty happy with it.

I found the polish I was looking for and couldn't resist. The frets are amazingly shiny now. I feel a strong urge to do this to some of my other guitars, like The Rickenbacker I've had since 1989.
https://i.imgur.com/gNl8mJh.jpg

Looks great. I was surprised at how much polished up frets improve the playing experience. Definitely worth doing to any guitar.

Well, I did finish it - last November and handed it over. In addition to the Duncan Antiquities, Gotoh tuners, it got CTS pots (Zero load tone pots). Fully shielded.

https://i.imgur.com/HZ8aKJ1.jpg

It ended up super lightweight (compared to my Epi 50th anniversary), the Pickup/tone pot combination go from sparkle to growl and it has about the nicest feeling neck I've ever played. Although, sanding down the bone nut to the correct height was a pain! Finished (sans truss rod cover). Tuning stability is perfect except for the low E string. I may have to revisit it if it hsan't settled down.

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

Old mate was stoked!

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

Great stuff! Well done.

Thanks, it taught me not to be afraid to set up my production guitars properly. It's a tone machine with a great neck and some flaws!

#2 is on it's way :)

That's a fine looking guitar!