Had my PBG-2F kit for a little while, was thinking about an electric guitar for a while but I thought building my own would create that 'ikea effect' and hopefully port-over to picking it up more often to learn how to play, more often, and thus make more progress. Well, that's the theory anyway!
I really looked the like the G*bson Lucille originally, but when I saw the book matched veneer options available I thought a gloss black finish might be a waste. Consequently, sunburst was on the menu, but I wanted to experiment with mahogony and walnut tones to get someting approximating an oxblood sunburst.
If nothing else it's highlighted all the ways you can tweak and tune an instrument to extract maximum performance out of it, regardless of whether its inexpensive or the price of a small car. I'll throw up a few pictures from time to time and hopefully tap into the brains-trust here in the (likely) event that I come up against some challenges during the build.
Welcome! My first build was also an ES type, although a bass rather than a guitar. I'll be looking forward to watching your build.
I have done a couple of ES style basses...both ended up with sold color tops because that veneer is SO thin and easy to damage--for me at least! Fortunately there have been others that have done better with it. TD has done a couple lately. You might want to peruse the build diaries to see how successful folks have done theirs ;-)
Thanks very much, yes you need to be careful how you look at the veneer in some places it's that thin - fortunately though there were very few areas where glue had seeped through and required goof-off / IPA to open pores. What I've since discovered is that you ALSO need to be supremely careful with how you apply stain.
I wanted some areas to pop a little more and left a dilute pool to soak for 10min before rubbing out - I forgot the veneer is probably paper backed and ended up with a couple of bubbles in the veneer. Not ideal but this is as much a 'learning to build guitar' as it will be 'learning to play guitar'.
I'll post some pictures once I either download them from my phone or get the forum up and runnin on the phone.
Thanks for the advice re other build diaries- will need to check a few out in anticipation of future steps.
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