While the body is drying between coats, I thought I'd have a go at the wiring. I remember having a nightmare with the wiring on my semi hollow kit, simply because it was a major operation getting all the pots in position in the body, and if there was a problem (which there was) it all had to come out again. Eventually I treated myself to a set of CTS pots, a good quality 3way switch and a magnet on a stick. I have decided to do the same again with this kit, and also take a good look at the wiring to try to make it neater, stronger and more reliable. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than my last effort. Now I want to go back and rewire my previous kits....
That's a very good point Gavin! And a timely reminder! I remembered to earth the bridge on the IB-6, and it was easy to hide the wire, but it has now occurred to me that I need to figure out where to put the bridge earth on this one, but more worrying, I just realised I didn't earth the bridge on my last build, my 335 type thing. Ooops! That will be tricky!
I've had a look through the forum posts, and the solution was there, of course! I shall drill a small hole under the trapeze tailpiece, feed a wire through from one of the trapeze screws and connect it directly to the earth side of the jack socket. That should be nice and neat, and hopefully nice and safe too.
Oh, and the ribbon wiring was the stuff that came in the kit! Brilliant!
Aha! I found the little hole cross drilled in the bridge mounting holes, ready for the earth wire. I will put a spade connector in the earth lead so that I can remove the whole wiring loom in case I want to change pickups, or if I need to make repairs.
I didn't have so much luck with the 335. I tried to drill a hole under the tailpiece, but I would need a drill at least six inches long to get through the solid centre of the body. I settled for a wire trapped under the bridge, and threaded it under the nearest pickup, and then to an earth point in the loom. That means it is visible, but not obvious.
After lots of time spent with spray cans and sandpaper, I've finally got a nice finish. I stuck with polyurethane varnish, and I'm quite happy with the gloss, and it should be pretty tough.
I've glued the neck in. Quite scary in concept, but in practice it was really easy. Everything lined up perfectly straight out of the box! I used my ancient drill press to push the bridge inserts in, then I used fine cotton thread to make final checks of alignment. The kit was spot on, perfect, and just needed glue and clamping together. I've fitted all the fiddly bits, lined up and fitted the pickups, and all the pots and wiring. Putting the pots in is really awkward and caused several expletives to be expressed at a volume my amp can't reach! I've still got to string it, but I will wait another day until the glue is properly hard, and once strung, I'll post some photos.
Still a bit of fiddling to do, a bit of fret buzz to sort out, and intonation is close, but not quite right, but it all needs to settle overnight. Oh, and I forgot to put the knobs on! The jack socket sticks out too far, but a washer or two will fix that. The best surprise was the gorgeous flame effect in the wood. I just didn't see it while I was working on it, but once I had a good gloss, it jumped out at me. This is by far the best kit I have done, I love it and I would recommend it to anyone. At some point I will go back and put a real inlay on the headstock, to do the fretboard justice, but this will do for now.
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