Yes, I've put marks like that on my headstocks and they've sanded off nicely (albeit with a little effort).
Yes, I've put marks like that on my headstocks and they've sanded off nicely (albeit with a little effort).
Cheers, SimonOriginally Posted by Simon Barden
Days 2 & 3 - 4th and 5th January 2022
Well after the heady excitement(!?) of managing to shape my headstock, I started on the very technical scale length voyage.
I've gotta be honest - I went down some very dark tunnels before (with the ever present assistance from our terrific forum members) finally deciding to "grow a pair" and just crack on. PS Holy crumb crackers there is some stuff to learn about scale length - I thought I had a rough idea but that is a whole world of crazy all on its own. Thanks to everyone who tried to explain.
Whilst I had a heads up in the basic instruction guide (ie that aftermarket pick ups might require some further enlarging of the pick up cavity), I was torn between the extent to which I wanted to use the pre-existing bridge holes balanced against the work I would have to do with routing the pick up cavity in order to do so.
I should say this now - if you have access to a router (you own or have a friend or relative who has one) then use that. I used a drill bit rasp and...let's just say that there was a lot of swearing and some hairy moments. It didn't help that today was 25 degrees and very humid in my garage. The rasp bit is difficult to control and I inevitably had to keep coming back at it with sandpaper and a file. I bought sanding drum bits but I couldn't imagine how that would have gone - I think I would have used up all the sandpaper drums and still been needing more.
All up, I'm pretty happy with how the bridge is sitting but have two problems;
- the pick up is very snug towards the neck end of the cavity and I don't think that I'm going to have enough room for shielding material (I'll ask in the other thread I made);
- the drill holes that I wanted to so slavishly preserve are still not quite right - we're talking less than a mm I reckon but enough for me to have to consider filing with a toothpick and doing another hole. Probably not the most arduous task I'm going to undertake.
Hopefully I'll get to the alignment/neck curvature stage soon.
I'm looking forward to doing the grain filling for the body - I can't wait to see how that looks with the grain really highlighted.
Any my observations at this stage:
- I have to keep reminding myself that this is my first go at a guitar and that I am no handyman. So I'm on a big learning curve and there will be inevitable faff ups
- I am NOT looking forward to the soldering (ie none of the wiring diagrams/videos etc, have the configuration of 3 way selector and pick ups which match mine and I am very confused). But, don't worry because, as Baldrick would say, "I have a very, very cunning plan, my Lord". I am going to draw up all my bits and pieces, I am going to label them "A", "B" and "C" or "1", "2" and "3" (or some other arbitrary labeling system) and I am going to ask the good people here to tell me "insert wire A into tab(s) 1 and 2". If I get more than one conflicting answer, I shall throw myself off the nearest balcony.
Anyhoo, next steps are to affix bridge and string some strings.
Cheers, all
Progress up until 10 January 2022
Well, I have to be honest - I'm a bit deflated with the "prepping the body" stage. I feel like more and more effort is producing diminishing results.
There's a lot to it, obviously and perhaps I was a bit naïve in not realising how much would be required.
Thanks again for all those of you who gave me advice on body work up until now (and apologies for missing some of that advice along the way).
I've sanded, applied timbermate, sanded some more, applied more timbermate, sanded some more on top of that and then done more sanding. But the body that I've received has a lot of blemishes and I have spent many hours trying to sand those out. My fear is that I will end up sanding in more disasters than I am fixing and, to be honest, I'm done.
At the very least I think I've brought out the grain in the ash (and perhaps learnt a little along the way).
The photo isn't 100% accurate as it really isn't that dark - but, sigh, I suppose I should sand it back some more, huh?
In the unlikely event that I ever get to actually staining the guitar, I have a few questions:
1. I'm proposing to just start on the back of the guitar, work out the application process, let it dry for 3 days and then see how it looks (if it's disastrous then I suppose I'm back to sanding the crap out of everything again). What do the rest of you do? Do you stain the entire guitar at the one time (back and front) or do it as two (repeatable, if necessary) stages? Is it possible to do one side wait until "touch dry" and then flip it over? If so, what is the "touch dry time"?
2. As I said at the top of this post, I want to do a somewhat tribute to Springsteen's tele. Is Coolangatta gold a fair/ballpark approximation for the body? Or would I need to dilute/alter the colour somehow? Near enough is good enough for me for this build - it doesn't have to be an exact match.
3. Final question - is the neck finishing kit from Dingotones to be used for the (maple) fretboard as well as the back or is the fretboard treated differently? I've watched the videos, read the instructions and still am not quite sure.
Thanks in anticipation.
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