The Clueless German got herself a GR-1SF kit

[Simon Barden]

I'd leave the binding as it is. Even on major brand guitars, you often find the neck and body bindings are slightly different colours.

You can just keep polishing away until the scratches finally go. Just have a go once a day and you'll get there. I've found that brass polish (I use a UK a brand called Brasso), seems to be very good at getting rid of scratches, better than the car polishes like T-cut or Meguire's Scratch X2.0 (at least on nitro). Edit: Only add Brasso to a cloth and apply from the cloth, don't pour it on to the guitar itself. It contains a small amount of ammonia and a pool of it if left, can eat into nitro and acrylic finishes (and maybe others).

I find the long nails on my playing hand keep adding scratches to my finishes, so I have to cut them back when I'm in polishing mode.

The MOP looks fine to me. Putting the tuners on will smarten up the look of the headstock as well.

You are doing fine. Don't despair.

[JimC]

There's no point in getting too wound up about not possessing in full measure skills that traditionally took years to acquire:-)

I use some stuff called T-cut as a polish, which is marketed as a "colour restorer", but basically its an abrasive polish. It 'restores' colour by polishing off the old oxidised paint and exposing what's underneath. Those who use it too often on their vehicle do indeed find out what's underneath!

To share your pain, I've spent the last week attempting to cut a nut for my mandolin project.

I gave up on the first one in disgust. I was using the wrong material.

Work on the second has involved a lot of refilling too deep cuts with filing powder and superglue, and a very great amount of deciding that something else is more important and really needs doing first. Upgrading the case of my 100 year old family heirloom mandolin with better padding, for instance, isn't progressing too badly.

There's going to have to be a third, and I hope by then I'll have managed to get something acceptable.

[McCreed]

The moral of the story is, we all suffer setbacks regardless of our level of experience.
Some builds go smoother than others, but I've not one that has been either trouble-free or flawless.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Guys, you are right. It's a craft that takes years to master - I tend to forget that and then get frustrated when it's not working out as I imagined.. Sounds very millennial-ish

It also has a lot to do with the "inner vision" I guess. I had this vague image in my head of what I wanted to do when I ordered it, but then, between the order and the start of the build, I already had 3 other guitars finished (and, for the record, I think they all turned out somewhat cool, at least in my opinion). So a lot of my initial ideas got somewhat blurred and faded away. Also, when it comes to the details.... I know I want a brass pickguard and trussrod cover, and I want to etch it. But what am I going to etch on it? I also knew I wanted the MOP headstock decoration, but WHAT do I want to have? In the end, I settled on something I copied from an existing headstock, but it's a bit random and meaningless. I still haven't got any idea about the "theme" of the guitar, so I think this contributes much to the feeling of frustration with the build.

Also, the fear of polishing through the poly (again), so I'm not sure what to do about the scratches - try to polish it again, and maybe polish through the poly, or leave them and have my eye catch them every time I look at it?

Sometimes, I think I should have just painted it, but then, on the other hand, I don't see any sense in copying a guitar design that can be bought as is at the music store. If I wanted to have the "standard" orange rockabilly Gretsch guitar, I could just purchase a perfectly fine factory made model. But it's going to be just like any other orange Gretsch guitar. So I should just embrace my not perfect but not standard guitar, even if it's not what I first had in mind.

[Simon Barden]

Remember that the scratches are in the poly, not the wood. So if you can see a scratch, you still have poly. Sanding at anything but a very fine grit is aggressive and you can run the risk of over-sanding. And sanding can hide whether you've removed the scratch or not, so mentally you often keep on sanding beyond the point you should as you don't want to stop sanding, polish and still see a scratch.

You can always try using a paintbrush to run more poly along the line of the scratch to fill it, as it is a single main scratch, (at least in that position), and then sand that flat.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

You are right about everything. Is there a way to know if you have sanded enough and the scratches are gone? Because that's what's happening to me all the time. Sanding, thinking now all the scratches are gone and it's perfectly even and flat, then polish, and tada: shiny with scratches....

[Simon Barden]

No. I sand through all the time! I have the ability to spray and so I spray more coats than I really should but even then I still sand through on and around edges. It just doesn't take as long when spraying to put on enough coats again to have another go at messing it up.

Note that I still haven't finished my original 2016 kit purchase, and you've finished three this year!

[DarkMark]

We’re all suckers for punishment around here and often a little OCD. It must be part of the nature of the people attracted to this pass time. So it’s flawed, but beautifully so. Take a step back and appreciated the good work you’ve done on your unique guitar. All of my kit guitars are flawed either from the factory or my own efforts but as time goes by I wouldn’t have them any other way. Fix your issues if you can, otherwise don’t be too hard on yourself.

[blinddrew]

Besides which, Sod's law says that even if you did manage to create the perfect finish the moment you take it outside to get a photo to show your friends, a bird will poo on it.
I'd take the tiny scratches...
They'll appear the first time you use it anyhow.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

OK, I'll try to relax a little

I ordered some new polishing pads (how often can you use these? Do you wash them with detergents?) and some metal polishing compound for the pickguard and the trussrod cover (which I still need to make btw.).

Just found out that my husband got me an amp for my birthday, yess
Too bad the guitar won't be ready in time, but it's not that it's the only one I have, so...
Need to act surprised tomorrow

The heat wave in Germany has ended abruptly and it's amazing how LONG the poly needs to dry now that it's colder. It even got some milky surface from trapped moisture but I gently sanded the top and this helps with evaporation.



I guess after it's dry, it will take at least a week to properly harden enough to flat it down. I should have done the headstock way earlier...

Will try to polish the finish a little more (carefully!) and then try to install the electronics. Even though my wiring works NOW on the template, I'm afraid the stiff cables will ripp off the soldering points somewhere, so I'm currently contemplating if I'm going to rewire it NOW with modern, flexible cables, or risk it and rewire it later after much cursing.