Made a start!

[Simon Barden]

It's obviously missing the tone control, but that's easy enough to add in.

[Andyxlh]

Nice colour combo! I like these guitars and don't have one.........!

[juanitasanch]

Hi Johnny..that looks really good and oil finish will give the body a lovely silky look. I love the Jarrah on the sides, the colour is amazing like satin! Great job

Spent last weekend sanding & sanding. Turned out it still wasn't enough!
This weekend I started adding some colour, the pics are early on, it's looking better now. I used UBeaut water based stain for the front & back & Feast Watson jarrah for the sides & neck. The water based dye is very forgiving but it does raise the grain a bit. I found it wasn't a good idea to follow the instructions to wet the surface first, it pulled the grain too much. It worked much better to add the dye to a dry surface in sparing amounts & really work it in.
I was a bit disappointed when I first added some colour to the neck, the 2 different types of wood either side of the skarfe joint absorbed dye at wildly differing rates making the joint really obvious. I always intended going really dark so after a few more coats it doesn't look so bad now.

I'll leave the dye to dry for a few days now before glueing the neck to the body. I'm thinking of using tung oil for the final finish, i've used it on some cigar box project & liked it. Has anyone else used it?

[johnnyrotten]

Hi Juanitasanch,
It's true confession time! The colour was meant to be jarrah, I went to the big green shed and picked a bottle from the jarrah shelf, took it home & slapped on the guitar & after a couple of days noticed that I had actually bought a colour called Brown Japan. Probably a fortuitous mistake as jarrah would have been too red & I wouldn't have got the same contrast. Thanks for the kind remarks.

[johnnyrotten]

Thanks Andyxlh, a hollow body jazz guitar had been on my list for a few years & I had been scouring Cash Convertors for a second hand one for some time. I'd never dreamed of going down this road and just happened to go to a guitar swap meet where Adam was selling a few kits. I think i'm hooked now & already trying to decide on the next kit, I quite fancy something with lipstick pickups, similar to a Danelectro. Not sure if these are available in kit form.

[johnnyrotten]

It's obviously missing the tone control, but that's easy enough to add in.

Hi Simon Looks like a PRail and a switch will cost almost as much as the original kit. I think i'll finish the build without the electrics and see how it sets up & plays. If it's good I can justify the PRail

[Simon Barden]

That's reasonable. With the fully hollow body and pickup hole, it's a lot easier getting the electrical bits inside than if you had to feed them all through the F-hole.

[johnnyrotten]

2 weeks later and about 15 coats of Tru Oil on the body, less on the neck. Rubbed it back with 000 steel wool & polished with gun stock wax. I'm now playing with the setup before I decide about upgrading the pup. Action is too high at the moment, i've obviously got a lot more to learning to do but fingers crossed i've not stuffed up yet!

[johnnyrotten]

Just about complete! Just waiting on some nut files. I'm quite pleased with the result and providing the nut files achieve what i'm hoping for I will probably take Simon's advice & upgrade to a PRail to give the switch something to do!
There was such a wealth of tips & advice on the forum without which i'm sure I would have stuffed up so thanks to all.

[Andyxlh]

Well done, that looks really fantastic