MPL Megacaster - semi scratch build

[JohnH]

This is sooo close to done. Just waiting on some new CTS pots so I can finish wiring it up, and then the final set-up.

Spent the last week finishing the neck:



And had it all together (bar final wiring, obviously) when I read Waz's post (in this thread) about using Meguirs polishing compound. I bought some and had a crack on the back of the guitar, and realised that actually it made a vast improvement. So, I took the whole thing apart and polished it up, and now it looks 100% better.

This pic was before I polished, and it was taken in the terrible studio light. Will take better pics once it's all done...

[FrankenWashie]

Oh that’s sooooo nice...wonderful stuff John, you’d be rightly proud of that.

[Fretworn]

Can’t wait to see it in the sunlight

[Sonic Mountain]

Oh yeah, looking really nice.

[Andyxlh]

Looks great. Fantastic black/white body

[JohnH]

Thanks guys! I'm really digging this guitar - I think I might build another for myself once I'm done.

[JohnH]

Got the pots in the mail today, so have wired it all up. Annoyingly I've done something stupid somewhere, and only have sound at full volume and full tone. So, will spend the evening tinkering... fingers crossed I can get it all done and set-up tonight before I go away for the week

[JohnH]

Just spent two hours fiddling around, checking ground connections, googling, checking continuity, taking photos and even drafting a question in the wiring forum here only to realise at the last minute that I'd soldered the output and ground the wrong way round on the output jack.

D'oh!

Guitar works fine, though all the resoldering wrecked my beautifully neat work lol.

[JohnH]

Almost forgot to get good pics of this before I handed it over. Stupidly, I totally forgot to give it a dust off before hand so you'll have to forgive the dust.

I really wanted a satin finish to mimic form ply, and had read you could get it from giving a tru-oiled finish a quick buff with very fine steel wool. I couldn't get rid of the swirl lines though, until I tried the Meguires. It's not perfect, but it's not terrible.

I really love the caramel sheen of the back and sides, which I totally failed to capture.

Pretty keen to build another for myself, though there's lots of things I'll do differently next time. Also next time I think I'll just go for high gloss front.

[Richy17]

This came out great! Love the black hardware on the maple neck too