EXA-1 - First build. A Father & Son project

[GerardL]

Well the glue was certainly suffice and the neck is set solid!

But..on re-checking neck angle alignment, it is a little higher than it was when we checked during the 'unglued test fitting'. So this could result in a higher than ideal action.

So we sanded the body a little more and on measuring it seems like we improved (reduced) the potential action a mm or two.
Right now I anticipate that our lowest possible 12th fret action height is likely to be in the 2mm region (too high for my taste).
If that turns out to be correct and the resultant action isn't low enough, then I will try the following countermeasures, incrementally.

1: Countersink the bridge posts just a little. (no more than 2mm) otherwise I suspect the pickup surrounds may interfere with the strings.
2: Of course lower the first fret action/nut slots, a little and modify the overall nut to compensate. (That won't have a huge impact on the 12th Fret action height though)
3: File the bridge string slots a little.
4: Thin the bridge a little (lower the profile), in order that it will sit lower on the posts.

But those are 'potential problems and remedies' and I don't yet know if they will eventuate.

Today, we started applying the finish, and given our time constraint.. (2weeks for the complete build) we opted to just Shellac an amber finish over the natural wood.

Well... I must say this shellacking is way way less forgiving than we had hoped.
We have never used Shellac before and it seems to be a steep learning curve. Our Shellac product (Zinnesers BullsEye Amber Shellac - the waxed version which cannot be thinned, gets tacky almost immediately and so does not spread well.
Within seconds of first applying if you return to touch up a brush stroke, it messes up.. So the result, so far is terribly patchy and uneven .. kinda like finger painting! (We practiced with a test piece of ply and tried applying with a cloth but results were worse)


Hmm... if we had went with spray paint our lives would have been much easier.. But, Shellac dries quick and suits our timeline. So we will continue..