The 3D Plasticaster has moved to the status of Complete (ish).
I tried a couple of shim options today. 1.6mm did the job nicely (I know huge by shim standards). I was able to get the action where I wanted it though I needed some slight adjustment to the neck. The intonation isn't perfect. I'm not going to chase that too much just yet. Will let it settle for a while given the necks been off it. The 1st string did snap by the time I was finished. I don't want to open a whole new pack for one string, so I may try to salvage the kit string from the Jurassicaster build when I swap it over to the DR Black Beauties.
I also noticed that the pickup selector is dead at the bottom, and somehow the volume is where the tone should be. I'll swap the knobs rather than the pots.
On the upside, I have a kill switch.
The headstock is a little manky on account of a few layers of paint, and me never being able to get in close to the Plasticaster badge to tidy up. Originally it was white, but paint managed to bleed in under the tape, so I just sprayed it. The rest of the body is pretty grungy, so I can't see much point having a perfectly flat head stock on this build. The back of the neck is a little manky too - you can see where the black finish that was on the neck meets the respray on the headstock. Theres also a little bit of paint on the fretboard that I couldn't see until I took a photo. Again, not high on my care list. It's ugly anyway.
But... does it play?
....
Yes. I wouldn't say it has great tone. It has passable sustain. It's pretty dull on a clean channel until you break it up. Add some crunch or OD, give it some reverb and I'm fairly sure that I've played worse guitars from eBay.
It's more comfortable than it looks. The balance is marginal. It's not quite at neck dive stage, but if I wasn't using a 30+ year old piece of leather I suspect it might go without too much issue.
Verdict?
Great conversation piece that I can pull off the wall, plug in and prove that it plays (the idiot playing it not so much). It's light, it cost me <$50 for a neck, $40 filament, $30 in paint/filler and has about $40 worth of pickups/electronics. The other hardware is surplus from the Jurassicaster kit.
Let's call it $160. The neck's straight, the frets are level, it has a pretty reasonable action and the electronics are at least better than you'd get in a cheap Chinese axe. It isn't humming or buzzing despite the single coils and bugger all shielding. Plus.. well technically it's "made" in Australia, so there's that too.
If it wasn't a bit of a gimmick and pretty ugly, I'd probably invest in a better bridge and tuners. At this stage it's not worth it. If I was going to print it again on a printer capable of higher quality print and put a lot more effort into the body prep, I'd probably go all out and have good everything.
Still, this one will have a permanent space on the wall... just as soon as I can get to Bunnings and buy some more gear to hold up all these new guitars.
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