Hi looking to start my Rcm-1 which will be my third Pitbull guitar the first 2 being the sta-1 and the tl-1 .
In regards to the body im going to grain fill, then sanding sealer the back before a solid colour, with the veneer top do i just sand it and paint or do i have to fill/seal this aswell? (whole guitar will be soid color)
With the neck and headstock being mahogany, do i fill/seal this aswell? (previous guitars i just sanded/stained but they were closed grain)
Also with the pickups they are advertised as humbuckers......does anyone know what they look like with the cover off?
Just like coverless humbuckers but smaller?
No need to grain fill the veneer top, but any mahogany needs grain filling in order to get a smooth finish, including the neck and headstock.
No idea about the pickups. I'd be careful about removing covers on the kit pickups as I've no idea what they've used inside them. It may be standard wax (which shouldn't be a problem) or it may be a resin (which would probably mean damaging the coils to remove). And what goes for one type of kit pickup may not be the same for another type (e.g. if someone here has removed the covers on a full-sized humbucker). So if you are thinking about it, I'd definitely be prepared and have a pickup replacement plan ready. Those kit pickups aren't at all expensive units, but replacements will certainly cost more.
In the Gibson world, the Epiphone-style mini-humbuckers (LP Deluxe) with adjustable pole pieces aren't just thinner versions of standard humbuckers. The coil with the adjustable pole pieces is similar, but the other coil has a single steel bar rail slug. Like a standard humbucker, there is a bar magnet underneath.
The Firebird-style mini-humbuckers coils are different as each have a bar magnet where the slugs would go, with no magnet underneath, so are much more like a Fender coil construction.
Based on lowest cost manufacturing, I'd expect the kit mini-humbucker coils are probably two steel bar slugs with a ceramic magnet underneath - but I am only guessing.
What I don't know is how different a Ric pickup is compared to a Gibson one. I do know that Ric ones use thinner 44AWG wire compared to the standard 42AWG for Gibson and Fender, and Ric pickups are epoxy encapsulated rather than wax potted.
For general info, here's a good video on the difference between Gibson full-sized and the two types of mini-humbuckers they use:
Great thankyou for the info, i think ill leave the pick ups as is just incase.
Also my other kits were bolt on, should i glue this neck on before or after starting the project?
And ive read that titebond is the best , my local total tool shop stocks it but its on back order, ive heard people use aquadhere, are there other options etc?
thanks mark
It's certainly best to do as much preparation as you can before sticking the neck on as a whole guitar is so much more unwieldy. So certainly do the grain filling and sanding that down whilst it's all separate. Mask off all the neck joint areas where glue will go, as you don't want anything between the glue and the wood. Titebond (and similar wood glues) stick to the cellulose in the wood, so they need to see the wood directly for the strongest join.
After that, it's often down to personal preference as to when the neck gets stuck on. Painting the neck and body separately is certainly easier to do if you haven't got lot of room to spray in, but then you've always got the issue of having to spray the neck join area after you've done everything else. On my EX-1, I glued the neck on at the beginning because I wanted to sand away some of that neck heel area for better upper fret access and fill in any gaps before painting for the smoothest neck/body transition.
But it did make for awkward spraying in the small pop-up tent I use as a spray booth (though the body shape does make it a bit longer than other guitars).
There is no right or wrong way, but doing most of the painting separately does mean that you need to spend some time getting the join area finished, whilst doing it on a neck + body does mean having sufficient the space to do it. Also, a complete guitar is heavier than a neck or body alone, so make sure whatever you use to hang it up is up to the job. I used an old mic stand with the EX-1, and had issues with the boom arm drooping over time and dropping the end of the guitar on the floor (ruining the finish).
You can use straight PVA, but I'd hold out for the standard red-label Titebond, or else the Titebond liquid hide glue. Whatever glue you use for the neck, make sure that it's an interior grade/non-waterproof glue. The neck is the one area of a guitar you may want to take apart and reset, which you'd normally do by steaming the joint. Waterproof/exterior grade glues have a much higher melting point than interior grade glues and can't be steamed apart.
Don't be tempted to think that the stronger join Titebond 2 or 3 is a better glue to use than the red-label stuff for this purpose. It's not and ordinary Titebond is more than strong enough. It will always be the wood around the join that will give, not the glue itself (if the mating surfaces are flat and the neck is clamped with sufficient force to ensure the thinnest possible layer of glue).
So I'd do the body sanding (remove any tooling marks on the sides and back) and the grain filling. It's recommended to grain fill twice and if you have to wait for the glue, then wait a bit before the second gran fill, to allow for the filler to dry and shrink fully after sanding back before the second coat is applied. The flatter you can get the surface now, the easier job you'll have later.
Great advice thanks.
I think now i might do the grain filling x2 and sanding sealer ,up until the paint stage and then glue the neck.
And yes i did read that the titebond 2 and 3 were not suitable because of waterproofing or similar.
I have a stand for painting that is sturdy enough (so far haha), but i might run a chain to the roof just incase.
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