GMS-7F Muliscale

[Barry snook]

I just got mine, does yours have a drill hole for the bridge ground? mine doesn't, would like to see where your going to do that?

i was going to go in here and exit near where the volume pot would be? hopefully the picture uploads...

[Simon Barden]

The bridge sits fairly equally both sides of the line of holes, so I'd drill a hole just forward of that, either (A) to the pickup cavity (if you think you can hide the ground wire from view, or else (B) out to the control cavity. Of course if you go for the cavity option the hole could go either side of the holes (but avoiding where the fixing screws go).

[Sidewinder]

A cover would give you an option for a contrasting color, name plate, or something even more interesting.

[Chaosblade]

I'll probably do it similar to Simon's B line, but the missing hole is an unfortunate factory oversight in an otherwise really nice kit.

And yeah, I might put something in the space above the nut. Some pearl or a small decal or something wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Barry snook]

The bridge sits fairly equally both sides of the line of holes, so I'd drill a hole just forward of that, either (A) to the pickup cavity (if you think you can hide the ground wire from view, or else (B) out to the control cavity. Of course if you go for the cavity option the hole could go either side of the holes (but avoiding where the fixing screws go).

Thanks Simon, ill probably go through to the pickup cavity as you have drawn, as drilling to the control cavity is quite a difficult operation (for me at least). i didn't think about the fixing screws so thanks for pointing that out.

The headstock is a weird one, as just by looking at it the strings will probably rest and rub on the fretboard on the high e and b strings at least. i'll probably just file and sand it down on an angle

[Simon Barden]

Drilling a hole at a shallow angle isn’t easy. You’ll probably need to get a long drill bit in order to be able to get the angle without the drill chuck getting in the way. Or else use a small pin vice and drill manually. Best to drill a slightly wider shallow hole first vertically, and then drill into the side of that hole so the drill bit doesn’t slip. And always mask up around the area, as accidents will happen (especially if I’m involved).

[Chaosblade]

Ordered Colortone sealer, nitro, and pigment. Not the aerosols. Hopefully a quart of nitro is enough to test and finish the guitar. One bottle of pigment and can of sealer should be far more than enough of each.

[Barry snook]

Drilling a hole at a shallow angle isn’t easy. You’ll probably need to get a long drill bit in order to be able to get the angle without the drill chuck getting in the way. Or else use a small pin vice and drill manually. Best to drill a slightly wider shallow hole first vertically, and then drill into the side of that hole so the drill bit doesn’t slip. And always mask up around the area, as accidents will happen (especially if I’m involved).

Thanks simon thats really good advice!

p.s i really like the guitar you posted of GOTM and that SB decal is super!

[Chaosblade]

Need to decide what I'm doing with the back too. The option I've been most heavily leaning toward is "reverse dog hair."


I figure that's white -> thin coat(s) of sealer -> ebony filler (which dries very gray based on my EXM) -> seal -> clear. Would have to get some mahogany scraps to test that on.

Otherwise probably plain white.

[Simon Barden]

No need for sealer if you are spraying.

Not quite sure why it gets called 'reverse dog hair', as it's basically a Gibson TV yellow finish. You don't want to put anything on after the paint that will help fill the pores as they aren't deep on mahogany and the mahogany variety the kits use doesn't have very big ones. I did one one on my Tele refinish. https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=9888

You are very reliant on the wood grain as to what the outcome will be like. Best to get the wood as flat as possible before painting and grain filling. If you try and flatten it afterwards, you'll do what I did and sand off a lot of the grain filler in patches. Spraying a light mist coat (of any colour that shows up well on the wood) before sanding is a good way to tell where the low spots are still. Use a long strip of sandpaper stuck with double sided tape to a flat board to help get a proper overall flat back, rather than relatively flat in areas that you get if you use a small sanding block.