RD-4 build. An ode to doom metal.
So my kit came in this weekend and it was surprisingly (or not really) good quality...
The Good:
-The neck fits the body flush and tight. Better than most major brands’ fully built instruments.
-The neck is straight, the frets are clean, and the headstock is preshaped, thank god.
-No parts were missing, which is nice as something to note.
The Bad:
-The body had 2 imperfections: one ding and kind of a gouge. Pretty sure I can sand them out.
-The pickguard was hot off the press! In that, the shavings hanging off of it weren’t cleaned off, a quick touch of sandpaper will fix it.
-The body was multiple pieces, like 3 or 4. Between that and the imperfections my original plan of staining might have to changed. Time will tell.
So my first impression upon opening it was this thing is SOLID. It has a good weight to it and seems well balanced. We’ll see it IS an RD after all.
Plans/mods/upgrades:
Bridge - going string through, anyone have tips on where to get ferrules? I can’t find top ferrules for the life of me.
Pickups - Dimarzio Model J
Electronics - Going mad scientist on this one. VVT w/Series Parallel switch, onboard OD/boost. Also relocating the input to the side instead of the front because FRONT INPUTS ARE STUPID!!!
Chapter One: SAND, SAND MORE.
150 grit followed by 220. Damn it’s smooth! Need to pick up 320/350 to make the neck smooth, possibly hit the body one last time. Little bit of hole cleaning too.
That was it for day one, as I work a late schedule and I was sanding at 4AM in my apartment and my neighbors/fiancé/cat already think I’m a loud stupid asshole.
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Cat Tax:
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RD-4 build. An ode to doom metal.
Okay so I sanded the body 120 - 250 - 325, and a quick shot of 400 on the neck. Smoooooooth!
My choice of color? Black Rit Dye!
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I got the idea from the Guns and Guitars channel on YouTube. I had the dye lying around and figured I’d give it a shot.
I’m actually pretty happy with how it looks, it looks weathered:
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Despite how much I sanded (and boooy did i sand!) there were still some deep pits I didn’t catch and they were clear as day once I started dyeing. In my frustration/haste I attempted to pack the color into those areas and made some dark spots. I grabbed some rags and tried to rub it off but rubbed other areas in the process and the result is honestly pretty cool IMO. Good thing I’m not into “pretty” guitars. It looks like a chunk of wood from the Black Pearl.
The neck on the other hand, came out DAMN GOOD:
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The neck thus far has honestly been the All Star of this build. The frets were damn near perfect out of the box and it took the dye like a champ. I’m super happy with it. I might put another coat but it looks great as is. We’ll see how it looks once dry.
Cat tax:
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