Lewis

[Simon Barden]

I'd look at this build diary for a natural GR-1SF/TruOil finish.

Unless it's a special edition, it will have a basswood ply body which doesn't need grain filling. The only areas that might need filling are around the neck join and possibly around the edges of the top and back where the wood meets the binding if the edges have splintered a bit.

The GR-1SF has a much larger wiring harness than the ES-1 due to the way Gretsch sprinkled the controls round the body.

For this guitar, it's probably worth investing in some single score screened cable, either Gibson-style braided or one with a plastic sheath.

Here's the Pit Bull wiring diagram for the GR-1SF. https://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-co...PBG-GR1-SF.pdf

Only the neck and bridge volume pots are close together, the others require cable runs of maybe 45-50cm, so these lengths are more likely to pick up hum and noise and are better off having screened cable. The screen can either be connected at both ends to provide a ground link to a pot or switch, or just grounded at one end to provide a screen fro the signal cable within. You just want to avoid creating big loops of ground connections (as these are more prone to noise).

But we can deal with that once you've got your kit and are further on with the build.

[Lewis Woolcock]

I'm soon to receive my kit and start sanding. I assume the Basswood veneer only needs light sanding. My question is, do I mask up the binding or do these get sanded and coated with oil also? I'm hoping to use a clear hardwax oil by "Whittle" called Evolution. Can I use this oil on the fretboard?

[Simon Barden]

The basswood veneer should need minimal to no sanding.

It is normal practice to mask binding when applying colour coats like stain or paint, but to cover it with any clear finish.

I’ve got no experience with wax oil finishes on guitars. The normal ‘oil’ finishes are polymerising, so you get a hard sealed surface. They will also stick to binding. None of the main ingredients mentioned for ‘Evolution’ seem to be polymerising so it may just wipe off the plastic whilst being absorbed by the wood. It’s not a finish I’ve seen used before on a build here.

If you’ve already got some, then you could try getting hold of a small sheet of maple or basswood veneer and trying it out on that to get a good idea of the type of finish you’ll get on a closed-pore wood.

It’s not standard practice to put finish over a rosewood or ebony fretboard. It certainly wouldn’t be very Gretsch-like. Rickenbacker are the only guitar company that I know who put a clear finish on rosewood boards. It’s more normal to apply lemon oil or mineral oil (chopping board oil) on rosewood or ebony fretboards (or any dark wood fretboard) to replace lost moisture, darken the finish and help prevent the board from shrinking over time.

But it’s up to you if you want to apply it. Some people like glossy fretboards, some don’t. It’s as simple as that.

[Lewis Woolcock]

Thanks Simon that's very helpful.

[Lewis Woolcock]

I have some 4m (over 60 strand shielded) wire. It's heavy duty cable used for dc solar, probably aluminium stands. Any value in using this instead of the standard kit wire on my build?

[Simon Barden]

I’m not at all familiar with that type of wire. Have you got more details on it? ‘4m’ on a web search is only giving me a 4m length of cable.

If it is aluminium, then you can’t use normal solder, it’s probably designed to use crimped or screwed terminals. And aluminium has 30% the conductivity of copper. So for power distribution you end up with bigger diameter cables to carry the same amount of current that a copper cable would. But cost-wise, I know that a few years ago the price of copper was such that equivalent capacity aluminium cables were cheaper, so were becoming popular again.

You don’t need heavy duty cable for guitars. Remember that all the current generated by the pickup will be travelling along very very thin 42 to 44 AWG wire in the pickup coil.

There’s certainly better wire to use than the wire that comes with the kit. That has a very basic PVC insulation which shrinks back from heat when soldering, so it’s easy to have exposed bare wires on solder joints, and on items like pots and switches it’s all too easy to have enough exposed to be a signal shorting risk, especially as the wire is very flexible so will move under vibration.

I prefer to use cloth-covered ‘push-back’ wire for running short single cable lengths, and braided push-back wire for longer lengths where a shielded cable is better (and also convenient for running a ground connection). The push-back wire is also stiff enough to be bent and remain bent, so you can ‘dress’ the wire to follow a certain route and so keep it out of the way of other wires. You can’t di that with more flexible wire, so complex wiring schemes can get very messy and tangled if you aren’t careful.

Whilst there are many ways to make a control harness for a Les Paul style guitar, I do point people at the Six Strings Supplies videos for an example of how to do it well.

https://youtu.be/ZWxz2Ytjk0k?list=PL...feature=shared

Worth looking at the other videos on the site as well for inspiration.












aluminium

[Lewis Woolcock]

I have some Grover tuners (machine heads) on an old Epiphone. Do you think it's worth using these on my GR-1SF build or should I stick to the tuners supplied with the kit?

[Drashkum]

I have some Grover tuners (machine heads) on an old Epiphone. Do you think it's worth using these on my GR-1SF build or should I stick to the tuners supplied with the kit?

Tuners that came with kit are very average. They do the job but not very durable. Some use it and some upgrade. Depends on your budget

Sent from my NE2211 using Tapatalk

[Simon Barden]

I find the kit tuners to generally be OK, and a lot better than tuners that often came on budget guitars 20 or more years ago. They have a decent gear ratio (normally 15:1) and are generally well made.

Things to check are:

1) How evenly they turn. Give each one enough turns so the tuning post makes a full rotation. The force required to turn the tuner button should remain the same throughout the rotation, not hard at some points and almost no resistance at others.

2) Tuning peg tightness. First check that between the tuner button and the tuner body there’s a metal washer and a plastic one. I have seen tuners where the plastic washer is missing; either because it wasn’t added during assembly or because it’s split under pressure and fallen off.

The tuner button is held on to the tuner button shaft by a screw. You should be able to adjust the screw so each tuner button has the same resistance to turning. You don’t want it so loose it vibrates, but not so tight that it’s really hard to turn the button. It’s the plastic washer that’s being compressed between the button and the body of the tuner. If it’s missing the tuner has minimal resistance to turning and it will feel very loose and be much easier to accidentally catch and knock out of tune when tuning adjacent strings.

If those two things are OK, then the tuners will perform well. If not, then you can repair 2) by replacing with washers from another set of similar tuners if you have a spare set from another build as they seem to be a universal size.

You can live with some unevenness for 1), but I know I’d be looking to replace them.

So after those basic checks it comes down to whether you want to fit new tuners, either because you want a tuner that better gear ratio (some guitar ones have 18:1 ratios or more, which means it’s easier to adjust the tuning when almost at pitch), or offers extra functionality (like a locking tuner), or you want a tuner thats either vintage looking or closer to those fitted on the original.

The guitar kits all come with 10mm diameter tuner holes, suitable for ‘modern’ tuners with a screw-down from the top fixing nut and an anti-rotation screw on the rear of the headstock. To fit more vintage-style tuners with push-in bushings that are fixed in place by screws on the rear of the headstock, you’ll need to make sure the tuners come with 10mm adapter bushings, as the vintage bushings generally require an 8.8mm hole. Also make sure the bushings have the right internal hole diameter, as some vintage tuners have 6mm posts, some 6.25mm.

For six-in-line Fender-style headstocks it’s not worth thinking about fitting vintage-style split-post tuners unless you are prepared to plug and re-drill the tuner holes as the kit hole spacing isn’t correct for them and the holes invariably aren’t in a straight line.

If going fit a more authentic look, Gretsch have used different style tuners over the years and on different models. Some were Grovers with stepped buttons or a modified ‘butter bean’ button, and sometimes open-geared tuners. Gretsch sell tuners, but Wilkinson also do Gretsch-style tuners at a lower price and you’ll undoubtedly find some cheaper still on AliExpress. Just keep in mind the tuner hole diameter and the possible need for adapter bushings.

[fender3x]

Thanks for that on the glue. Forgive my ignorance but do hollow body electrics need copper shielding tape. I can't see where it would go?

I am a little late to the party, but it occurred to me that you could use guitar/instrument cable or even TV coax. It's overkill, but I think the wiring diagram is simple enough that it would work. Ground/shield to metal on pots, and switches. Inner wire to "hot." I did something similar on a ES 335 style body. It's dead quiet. That may be because it has relatively short runs as Simon says. Yours has much longer runs. The nice thing about this sort of wire is that the stiffness can help you get it to go where it needs to go. That was a big challenge on my semi hollows. Might be a trifle easier on a fully hollow body like yours. Both are easy to solder.

On another ES guitar, I have used wire braid tubes. It worked, but it seemed like a better idea in the beginning at the end. Getting wire to run through the tube is a pain. I also had to get pretty creative with the cut ends to keep them from fraying. I'd do the coax or guitar cable again. I think I'd try it naked before and see if it hums before I'd use the wire mesh again.