First build: GS-2Q (also featuring EX-1 custom)

[Chaosblade]

Couple kits finally arrived today. The EX custom wasn't entirely finished by the factory so I'll need to work on a few things, specifically fixing the neck humbucker route (somehow wasn't routed for the mounting brackets?) and drilling a hole for the bridge ground wire. And of course shaping the headstock.

Shipping wasn't kind to it either, a corner of the neck pocket broke off. And a corner of the fretboard is cracked all the way through. Not fun.



But thread is for the GS-2Q. It has some black scuffs that will hopefully come out without any problems and quite a few machine marks. Not a big deal, they should sand out. There's also a large glob of glue on the headstock near the nut. Hopefully that will come off and not be soaked all the way through the veneer.

Several big dings on the edge near the rear cavity, had a hard time getting my phone to focus on them.



Another even bigger one on the horn.



And whatever all this is on the back.



I'll try some mahogany filler on all that, but it looks like too much to fully hide.


Neck pocket has some play in it. Will let it sit for a while, and might need to shim the right side.




For the time being I'm going to let it settle after international shipping, and need to get the filler for the holes/dents and some grain filler.

[FrankenWashie]

Nice looking kit, shame about the dings.
you can pop a damp towel or cloth over those and apply some heat with a steam iron or soldering iron and see if you can get them to puff out.
other wise they’re definitely filler jobs.

[McCreed]

Definitely a bummer.
Don't know if there's any recourse for you with USPS or Aus Post. It would be hard to say what part of the journey the damage occurred.

I'd give FW's suggestion of steam a go and see if it helps, but some of the dints do look pretty deep.
If you were planning on a solid colour for the back already, then filling isn't really an issue anyway. Still sucks though.

[Chaosblade]

Significant improvement with the cloth and soldering iron. Works even better than I expected it to.

The spot on the horn is almost completely gone. Will probably go over it again later but I don't expect much more from this method, but after sanding it will probably be gone.



Cleaned up the side near the cavity pretty well, but it's still got a spot that's not wanting to come out any more. The rest of that section will hopefully just sand out and be good. My phone camera hates focusing on this.



And finally the back. The hole has to be filled, there's no getting around that. The other big spot on the bottom left of the picture is probably also going to need to be filled. The rest came out fairly well, hopefully with another round of steam later plus sanding the rest will be gone.

[JimC]

That hole is a b*****d*. Is there anywhere within the control cavities you could extract a slice of wood to make into a veneer or plug to slip in the hole? Not sure if it would work, but maybe worth a go.

[Chaosblade]

Worth a shot. The whole cavity is routed pretty rough so I was able to snap off a bit that looks like it should cover it. Will need to fill the bottom of the hole first, then put the plug in and sand it level. Then hopefully after grain filler it won't be too visible.

Then maybe I can try to do something similar with the other spot, but it's not near as deep so plugging might be harder.

[McCreed]

That's some pretty good results despite all of them not coming out 100%, it's the best of a bad situation at least.

What are your finish plans?

[Chaosblade]

Want to leave the back natural, just grain fill and clear coat. So hopefully I can get all those spots cleaned up as nicely as possible. Kit has no hardware, so no control cavity cover. Hoping to get a thin piece of mahogany that matches decently well and cut one out.

Planning to dye the veneer a deep blue, but I need to experiment first. Ideally I think doing black and then blue over it with a bit of a burst would be better but that would involve sanding and risk sand through. I have some curly maple scrap to experiment on, will try straight blue on that and maybe a black burst over the blue.

I've also seen an example of using colored grain filler on veneer. It's subtle, but helps it pop a little and should require less sanding than sanding back dye. So black/ebony grain filler on the veneer could be an option, but I'm not really leaning toward it.

Tru-oil and most oil-based clear coats are out of course. That would make the mahogany pop super nicely but it would ruin the blue. So I have some Varathane water based poly that dries nice and clear in my previous experiment with it.

Hardware is black nickel/cosmo black. I think I have everything except the strap buttons.

[McCreed]

I would recommend using synthetic sanding pads (sometimes called "synthetic steel wool") on the veneer.
They're way less aggressive and way less chance of sand-through.

Working with veneer and dye, all that's really needed is enough to de-nib any little bits that might raise from absorption of the liquid.
Alcohol-based dyes will have less impact than water-based.

[Bakersdozen]

Have a look for white scourer pads from your local cleaning supplies shop. My bloke lets me buy them one at a time. And they last ages if you cut a corner off at a time. Perfect for de-nibbing and no horrid steel specs left afterwards.