The Clueless German got herself a GR-1SF kit

[Cliff Rogers]

.... I'm considering cleaning the house. Or doing my taxes .....

You need a hobby..... ever thought of taking up a musical instrument?

[ThatCluelessGerman]

I briefly considered it.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Currently my least favorite part of guitar building: Building the finish up. Adding coat after coat, light scraping in between, leveling out the biggest flaws/ridges, more coating, more gentle scraping, and even more coating....





Back and neck start to look okay. Sides and front need more work. Having a dispute with the husband about the kind of finish. I would like to go for a semi gloss/semi matte finish, he wants high gloss. Torn here...

Also ordered these vintage style tuners as I like them better than the ones it came with - except for these ugly machine heads. I know they're supposed to resemble jade stone, but they don't, they just look like 70s style plastic. Me no gusta.
Any ideas what to do with these? I was looking for replacements, as I like the shape, but not the color. Was only semi successful, ordered some from China but who knows how long it will take to get there. I found nice, real pearl replacements here in Germany, but I don't feel like I want to spent 30 bucks per machine head. So.... Maybe spray paint them?

[Simon Barden]

I have some Schaller machines like that that are that snot-green. But most of that style are a much lihgter cream/light green colour.

I now use Klusons for that style which have much lighter coloured heads.



I get them from WD Music, who now own the Kluson brand name and make them.

They aren't that expensive for the basic tuners, these no Kluson name stamp ones are £33 for a set, though you'll also need adapter bushings for 10mm holes. https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/hardware-p...o-stamp-p13262

[Simon Barden]

Though these machine heads with silver tulip heads might be worth considering. Korean, made at the factory that does Wilkinson parts (basically unbranded Wilkinsons) https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/j...shape-buttons/

Proper Gretsch-style Grover Imperials are very expensive, about £135 a set for chrome.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Thanks Simon, in your photo, they look nice. The product photo however on the website does not do the knobs justice.
I have some of the Wilkinsons, but I wanted to go for the "vintage looking" style for this guitar. It's just the knobs' color that I hate. As they are just cheap plastic, I might as well just spray paint them black. Nothing to lose here, right?

I can almost see light on the finishing tunnel. Just a few more coats and then let it sit and dry. Still waiting for my sheet of super thin mother of pearl from Rothko & Frost, so I can do the headstock. Not sure WHAT I'll do with it, but I'll figure it out =)

[Simon Barden]

I can't see any reason why you can't paint them. Rough them up with sandpaper first to give a bit of grip for the paint, and put a few layers on, as the edges will wear through quite quickly.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Thanks again, Simon. I'll see what colors my husband has hidden in his drawer ;-)

Currently thinking about the wiring. I have standard cables with plastic around them. Are these good enough in regarding to shielding, or should I get these vintage style cables with cloth and an extra insulation layer? Would it even make a difference? Planning to use 2 humbuckers, but if I don't like them, I have some humbucker sized P90's I'd really love to try...

[Simon Barden]

You'd need screened single core wire to make much difference, not just cloth covered. So either the Gibson style braided single core wire like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-silv...913496&sr=8-25

or more modern insulated screened wire like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fafeims-Shi...6913545&sr=8-9

You're starting out with humbuckers as pickups, which is where 99% of the noise usually comes from, so you may not see much benefit from using screened wires. P90s are single coils, and normally very noisy, though the humbucker sized ones are a lot quieter being enclosed in a nickel case.

However, screened wires can cut down the number of actual cables you have to run, an can make life easier.

This guy does pretty good 'how to wire a ...' videos, but hasn't got one for a Gretsch style guitar (yet). So here's a 335 wiring example. You'll just need to extend the cables a bit and use common sense for the differences. But the general connection principles are the same.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Thanks Simon, I think I'll go with the more modern wire, then.

This morning, I realized I put a whole can of polyurethan on this thing. OK, it was a small can, but still. This thing is huge.

As I'm now out of poly (I still have a can of wipe on poly just in case...), I decided to do an initial light sand to smooth out the biggest lumps and bumps, and then let it completely cure. As I didn't use a filler or sealer on this build, the poly might sag in a little, so let's see. I ordered a new can (a bigger one this time) of poly, as I still need to do a headstock decal and I don't want to even try filling and leveling it with thinned wipe on poly. It would take years









Unfortunately, this plonker is too big for my wall hanger

So I'll need a pet safe corner to store it for a while.

Oh, and I bought a brass nut. I ordered it for another build but it would look good on this one, so I could make matching brass accessories. It would finally lead me to a "theme" for this guitar.