#2 - EXM-1 Guitar Kit...

[wazkelly]

What Simon said.....

As for the ugly joint you really need to do a bit of flat sanding across the top face and then assess how deep and wide you need to fill. Not sure what to use as a filler as it may end up being visible under a light coloured stain. If me, I would probably use natural Timber Mate as that will soak up the stain colour when you start the staining process but it is a large section and may still remain slightly visible.

[Simon Barden]

There are two basic finishing options.

The first one is to stain the wood and then apply some form of clear finish over the top.

The second one is to paint it a solid colour.

For both options you'll first need to get some grain filler and apply that to the mahogany of the body and neck to fill in all the open pores in the wood, then sand it back so the surface is flat.

[rjmc]

The kit's have been on the box for two more days. Today I've tried to attach the neck to the body again, but using some clamps. Here is the result:





One thing I've noticed after doing this is a gap on the sides, and i can put there a finger nail. Also, when inserting the neck I felt it less tight. Should I leave the kit a few more days climating before doing anything?

Thanks

[McCreed]

Everyone above has given you great advice, especially that both Simon & Waz have built EX's.

Those gaps you've shown with the clamps looks very acceptable in my book.

I think your most critical first decision is how you want to finish it, natural or solid colour.
If considering staining, the neck pocket join could finish up well enough, but that top/front is worrying for me. With a solid colour, you could get the neck join absolutely seamless as well as not having to worry about the "butcher's block" look on the front.

Of course the final decision yours to make.

[Simon Barden]

I'd still wait a couple more days before doing anything with the neck and pocket.

Clamping the neck in hard, if the neck is slightly too big in places, will force the pocket wood out slightly and so could enlarge any gaps. Hard to tell exactly what's happening if you aren't right next to the guitar in person. But there will be some gaps that a fine wood filler will fill.

Here's my EX build from the assembly point onwards (ignoring the selector switch routing). It hasn't really moved on from the white nitro paint spray, as I need to wait for the weather to warm up so I can add some decals and then clear coat.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post186725

You can see that I had some fine gaps round the neck joint. I used a filler, then sanded everything smooth.

There are lots of build diaries here showing how people did their finishes, so I suggest that you read quite a few of them to see what others did and the results they obtained. Just ignore the ones using Dingotone as it's not available outside Australia.

[wazkelly]

Don't forget that scale length is a big deal on these builds.....they don't need to have neck pushed all the way in to the rear of routed neck pocket. On mine there was no room left for neck pickup mounting ring but the scale length is perfect. I could have moved neck 2mm to 3mm forward to accommodate neck PUP mounting ring but then it would never intonated properly.

Just need to slow down and thoroughly check everything before considering gluing the neck. The neck glue should do a pretty good job filling those gaps but agree with Simon to leave things sit for a bit longer to see if there is any more expansion or contraction to contend with.

Cheers, Waz.

[Simon Barden]

I'd move the neck back very slightly, say by 0.5mm from the edge of the pickup rout, so the pickup ring can just overlap the edge of the rout without a visible gap. You'll have that much adjustment available in the bridge. I'm using a Tone Pros Nashville style bridge, which gives a bit more adjustment than a standard kit ABR type.

[rjmc]

Good morning,

Thank you for all of your kind replies and advices on previous questions. But I have another one, and probably silly...



Since the body pieces don't match even in colour or grain direction, my question is:

My friend wants a stain finish, water based. So all products must be compatible, I think. One of the steps is to grain fill the body and neck. So, if I use this grain filler that has mahogany color, will it make the pieces match in terms of color? Will it disguise the grain?

http://https://guitarsandwoods.com/m...oodfiller.html

Kind regards to all

[Simon Barden]

No, mahogany grain filler won't make the pieces of wood match. All the wood grain is in the same direction, but there's that one piece which has an additional very noticeable cross-grain pattern, very much like the flame pattern in flame maple.

If your friend insists on a stained finish with clear over the top, then they'll have to live with the mixed wood patterns.

To get something similar, I'd probably try out a translucent finish, with an amber clear coat over a thin pale yellow or cream base coat. But you'll probably need to use nitro sprays to get the tinted lacquer. I did this last year when refurbishing a telecaster body to get a "TV yellow" style Fender butterscotch finish. I probably would go a bit thinner on the base coat if I did it again.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=9888

[rjmc]

Greetings,

Started sanding the body with 80 grit, then 120 grit. I stoped here, on did the top. Found out that the joint is not correctly glued, and as I said before I can put inside my finger nail. Is there any simple method to fill in the gap? I saved the dust from sanding in case it will be needed.



One question, does the grain filler must be applied after the body is sanded do 240 grit?

Some pictures of the top after sanding at 120 grit.