The diagram assumes the pickups are factory pre-wired to the switch on a loaded scratchplate. It's the tone pot wiring you should need to connect from the control plate to the switch. Is that not the case with yours?
No it is all wired up already. It's just that everything in the diagram is oriented upside down to the way I'm looking at it, and because the existing wires are not shown I wasn't sure which side of the switch I'm supposed to wire the pots to.
Can you post a photo showing a general rear of scratchplate view, so we can see the switch orientation. Then another one of the back of the switch showing the terminals, and I should then be able to mark it up as confirmation for you.
If I understood correctly then I think I've done this right:
Question about applying a waterslide decal. I cut out the headstock and did some sanding, I'm happy with the result. I thought I'd try putting the decal on and a coat of poly, but it didn't quite go the way I thought it would.
The decal hasn't really stuck, and I realised that there is bare wood under the decal, so the clear part of the decal shows. Is there a trick to getting these to work? Should I put a couple of layers of poly on first and then do the decal? Does it take a couple of layers of poly to get the decal to stay sealed on?
Yes, you’d normal apply decals onto a couple of layers or more of finish. It should then stay on. And then you need finish over the top, after which the edges of the decal should become almost invisible. I normally cut around my decals to have the bare minimum of clear around them.
You’ll need quite few layers of finish over the top of the whole headstock face if you want to then sand it flat and remove the ridge line caused by the decal thickness. Not enough and it’s very easy to sand through the decal. I’ve done it before even though I thought I had enough layers.
At the moment it's not ruined, it has just lost its backing adhesive. I'm thinking either watered down PVA or a tiny bit of poly underneath. But I'm not sure how well they will dry sealed under the decal.
Watered down PVA should work. Or if you've got any other decals, or a sheet of decal paper, the plain backing has glue on, so you can wet it, rub the decal on the sheet, or the sheet on the and stick it down. I use model-making Micro Set decal setting fluid on my decals just to be sure. I'd leave it a good day to dry out before putting any finish on.
It can be beneficial to put a layer of finish on the decal first (when still on its backing paper) before soaking. It provides some protection from scratching and helps prevent the decal from folding up on itself.
Thanks, the decal looks like it's staying on ok now.
I've got a few coats down on the neck and body, it's starting to look pretty good. I used a satin poly because I don't want it really shiny. When should I start doing finer grained sanding, and how much would I want to polish this? Should I wet sand with some grit as well?
The finish is coming along nicely. I'm quite happy with how the body and head are looking. The decal edge is slowly going away with a bit of sanding and a few more coats of poly.
I attached the neck, put the tuners on, put the bridge in, attached the claw and had a rough go at setting things up with the cheap strings on. The biggest problem I had was that after setting the intonation at the 12th fret it was out by almost half a cent on the first couple of frets. The nut might be the culprit, comparing to a couple of other guitars I have it looks very high. Any tips for fixing that?
I got the claw in well enough I think, but my drill was too wide to get the screw holes in at the ideal angle, any tips for doing this better next time?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
