First ever build. GS-2Q

[JohnH]

That stain looks great!

I see what you mean about the neck/body aesthetic. I haven't built one of these kits so I can't speak to it's placement, but I think I'd have to do some contouring if it looked like that too

[marcianotmarsha]

newly shaped contour

[marcianotmarsha]

Can anybody give me a good solid reason to not screw these tuner heads in slightly askew?

[Sonic Mountain]

This looks really cool. Nice work on the heel as well, I always prefer that to be smoothed off a bit.

[maxadudley]

That's a hell of a paint job, friend-o! Love what you've done with the heel sculpting as well. I'm about to try it (likely with far-uglier results) on a build of mine.
Electrical is definitely nerve wracking, I would suggest getting a few wiring diagrams from the web, plus the folks here really know what they're talking about. You're in good hands

[JimC]

The nice thing about electrics is that most individual bits are fairly cheap, and unless you contrive to melt the pickups or something it's hard to do anything irrevocable. The main thing is to make sure the soldering iron can't possibly contact that spectacular finish. Lots of cardboard masks and stuff.

[Mosrite Slab]

soldering really isn't a black art, its very easy when you follow a few basic rules. The surfaces to be joined have to be clean and bright, not such a problem on the wire but the back of pots need abrading to make them shine a bit.

The soldering iron tip needs to also be clean, abrade it the tip with a light rub of wet and dry and then tip cleaner. Dip in in flux (which I personally use for all soldering, even with flux cored solder) and then when it comes in contact with solder the latter should be shiny, if it's dull and blobby you'll get a cold joint which will lead to excessive contact with electrical parts trying to get a good joint and possible burn out of pots.

Also when soldering a resistor to a pot, use a heat sink such as an hair clip to on one of the terminals to prevent over heating of the component.

Soldering if done correctly is in out fast, if the preparation is right that's the way it will go.

[marcianotmarsha]

soldering really isn't a black art, its very easy when you follow a few basic rules. The surfaces to be joined have to be clean and bright, not such a problem on the wire but the back of pots need abrading to make them shine a bit.

The soldering iron tip needs to also be clean, abrade it the tip with a light rub of wet and dry and then tip cleaner. Dip in in flux (which I personally use for all soldering, even with flux cored solder) and then when it comes in contact with solder the latter should be shiny, if it's dull and blobby you'll get a cold joint which will lead to excessive contact with electrical parts trying to get a good joint and possible burn out of pots.

Also when soldering a resistor to a pot, use a heat sink such as an hair clip to on one of the terminals to prevent over heating of the component.

Soldering if done correctly is in out fast, if the preparation is right that's the way it will go.

Not "Black art" you say.
I know SOME of the words in all of what you've said. But not many of them. yikes!

[marcianotmarsha]

decided to make a fret leveler.
First I leveled off an aluminum level by sanding it down until I wore off all the sharpie from the entire surface,
then double sided duct tape for the win to attatch 1200 grit sandpaper.


Also, been shellacking and poly-ing the body and neck...

[Barry snook]

Here is a good link for soldering, it’s for electronic boards but still relevant for some technique

http://mightyohm.com/files/soldercom...erComic_EN.pdf