Sundragon's Walnut 335 tribute build - A gift for a friend

[Sundragon]

So, after many months of poverty, I'm back on the track with this build and a LARGE update
Will be keeping things pretty up to date moving forward now.

Here's the Kit, along with various bits from StewMac



CTS Pots, vintage wiring kit + Gotoh bridge



Special Gotoh Butterbean Gold tuners

[Andy40]

Nice upgrades Sundragon!. I love those tuners.....

[Sundragon]

And to throw the progress part of this job into gear.. Here's the TESTING of colour and clear I've been going through.

The body is from a crappy chinese kit I custom ordered a couple of years ago (in the Deusenberg style) that had a screwed up fretboard. One day I might re-board the neck, seeing as this finish is coming out VERY nicely.

Stragenyl red for a walnut to start with, not sure why
comparing difference in coats at this point.





The little work space I have going on in my garage



Colour balanced out very nicely after a few weeks resting.
Here is after one coat of Min-Wax wipe-on poly.



Second Coat (wet) applied after rubbing lightly with 000 Steele wool, already gaining gloss.

[Sundragon]

Continued:

After only 3 coats, with 000 rub between each coat. Very soft at this point, one coat per day and not hardening much.



4th coat, wet



Looking like this wet after only 5 coats of this process!



Pre and post 000 rub today, for comparison of what the finish looks like



And lastly for this post, this is halfway through applying the (I think) 8th coat today.
Left this finish for 3 days before this coat to see how the hardness is going. Seems to have hardened up quite nicely indeed!

[Sundragon]

And now for the real thing.

Got some gripe points about the kit that I will address as I go as well.

The primary issue that affects anything is the neck pocket. It was cut very poorly. Not quite straight (up and down ways) so the neck, when in place, was as much as 3mm higher on the low e side than the high e sid, and also the pocket cut was not square! BAD.
I have had to do a LOT of delicate and fiddly 'shaving' to try and get the cavity to the point it will accept the neck squarely.
Here pictured is a shim I have had to insert, which has been angled today to give correct break angle.
The good thing about this is that it has added more solid and level material for when the neck is glued in.

You may also notice that the 'taper' angle of the pocket (widening the further toward the bridge) is quite over-pronnounced.
I will be forced to add filler wedge-shaped slivers of material into the gaps between the neck and the body after it is glued in. This is also the reason for the pictured shim not reaching the front of the pocket. I will have to fill this with a small piece of Maple to attempt to fill the gap without seam-gaps.



Testing for break angle



The figuring on this top is very subtle, not quite what I wanted, but might make for a nice understated vibe against the gold hardware



One coat only needed of highly diluted Black Japan for the filler phase on the back and sides. Sanded back with 600 wet and dry, smooth as your best girl's butt!

[wazkelly]

Very nice and shiny. Unusual body with just the high side f hole?

[Sundragon]

Yeah Waz, in the style of a Duesenberg Starplayer.
The controls get mounted to a scratch-plate and drop into a cavity cut in the top.. all nicely hidden.

[Sundragon]

Another update time
Basically a visual diary.

Plugged tuner holes.




clamped veneer.




Starting top colouring wipe.




Back fully coloured.

[Sundragon]

Binding Scraped.

[Sundragon]

First coats of FeastWatson Wipe-on Poly.
I'm actually much preferring this to the MinWax version