I did the test build today and everything worked fine. I could position the neck to get the right scale length, the strings were evenly spaced down the length of the neck, and it was all a tight fit. No adjustments needed. Then it was onto sanding, sanding, sanding.
Here's my attempt at a hand rubbed tobacco burst. I'm reasonably happy with it... perhaps a little darker than I was aiming for. The only other disappointment are the machine marks in the veneer. The instructions say not to sand the top, and I thought it looked pretty good, but then the stain brought out several marks. They're only obvious on close inspection though.
Looking good. Be prepared that the clear coats may darken it a bit more. What top coat are you using?
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator), FH-5V (Acoustic).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
Since that last photo, I sanded and stained, sanded and stained. The final colour was a lot lighter than what I started with. I then applied about ten coats or Danish Oil, followed by three coats of hand rubbed poly urethane. Although... it still looks dark in the attached photo.
I think it looks great!
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1,TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom, GHR-1 (Resonator), FH-5V (Acoustic).
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
Here is the finished guitar. I'm pretty happy with it. It's playing nicely, although I had to go back and revisit my fret levelling. I didn't realise how important this was when I was assembling it. But I guess, this is the point of building a kit... to learn the importance that "little" things contribute to the playability of a guitar!
I have two remaining bug bears. One I'll have to live with, the other I'll fix. The one that I have to live with - I got black stain on the binding and can't remove it. I masked the binding off, but the stain seeped into very fine cracks.
The other issue, is a hum when I'm not touching the strings, which goes away when I touch any metal part of the guitar. I guess it's a grounding issue, but I can't find it where it's coming from... yet.
Thanks to the many people who have posted on these forums. I found lots of helpful hints. A big call out to Gavin1393 for his excellent post on installing the pots into a 335. It saved a lot of frustration.
That looks so lovely.Originally Posted by JMC
On the Binding issue.. Did u try scraping with A razor?
I am building a FS-1 kit too. I have run into problems with mine. Mr. Adam is shipping me a replacement tomorrow hopefully.
Have a few questions, Do u mind answering?
Did your neck have a bump like this on high E side?
Can you also tell me if you neck fit into the pocket easily or with some force.
Also if there was enough wood on all sides of tail Piece hole? Mine has something like this
Can you also tell me what stain did you use? Alcohol based or waterbased? Did u use a spray gun for the Burst or was it hand stained? Did u sand the veneer before applying the stain? What grit sand paper did you use inbetween staining?
Thank you
Drashkum
Sent from my NE2211 using Tapatalk
Last edited by Drashkum; 10-04-2023 at 06:11 PM.
Hi Drashkum,
Sorry to hear that you're having some troubles. Let me work through your questions.
I don't recall there being a bump in the neck. It fitted snuggly. I need to push firmly to get it into place, but I wouldn't describe it as excessive force.
The holes for the stop bar had wood all around, but it was clearly a bit narrow on one side. That said, I don't see any stability issues.
I hand rubbed the finish, using Feast Watson Proof Tint stains. I then applied several coats of danish oil and three coats of hand rub polyurethane. I gave the veneer a very light sand with 400 grit paper. After applying the danish oil, it became apparent that there were a few glue spots that I'd not noticed earlier. But they add to the character.
I did scrape the binding, but I couldn't move it from the fine cracks in the curves. Maybe I could have tried going deeper, but was nervous about scraping too hard.
John.
Thank you.
Did you sand between coats of tobacco stain or before staining? With what grit?
Drashkum
Sent from my NE2211 using Tapatalk
On the top, I sanded with 400 grit between coats of stain. Being a thin veneer, I was nervous about sanding it. The back and sides I sanded with 240 followed by 400. Between each of the first four coats of danish oil, I sanded with 400 grit. After that, I'd only sand between every three or so coats of danish oil.
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