I've been eyeing the DPZ-4 kit for quite a while. In April I finally pulled the trigger, and the new kit just arrived this morning! This build is going to have a lot of firsts for me, so I have a few questions:
-This is my first time working with zebra wood. According to the DBZ-4 page, zebra wood is made from cottonwood and then treated with color to have the striping effect, so I expect its not a very porous hard wood. I love the striping so the plan is to not add any stain to the body, I want to just use Crimson Guitar's penetrating finishing oil to keep the natural color and have a slightly glossy finish. Do I need to use a grain filler before applying the oil? There are what look like very small little pores or cracks in the body (I circled them in the picture), the oil might just fill those in, but I'm not sure. I would use a transparent grain filler, otherwise I think I would need two colors of grain filler to match the stripes.
-This is also my first kit where the ground wire, bridge, and tuner holes were all pre-drilled. Do those need to be filled or protected before I start putting grain filler/oil on?
-Finally, after a quick build everything looks great except one small issue, there is a small, roughly 1mm, gap between the neck and the pocket. With my first two builds the necks fit really snug, so this is my first experience with a gap like that, is a little wiggle room is okay?
For the neck and headstock I'm going to use the original vintage yellow and top coat from Wudtone. The idea for the headstock is to use a coping saw to shape it like a reverse Firebird headstock shape. I may not have enough wood to work with though, so I'll update that idea as needed. I added the copper shielding tape too, but I think I'm going to use a shielding paint this time. I may end up swapping the white pick guard for a clear pick guard, the paint would probably end up looking cleaner. Thanks everyone!
Last edited by c0ffinspire89; 07-06-2020 at 03:43 AM.
I'm not familiar with the wood, but the web says that cottonwood pores are almost microscopic in size, so they shouldn't be an issue and need grain filling as such. If the surface of the wood feels smooth, then I wouldn't bother. But it it feels uneven like ash does, and you think it's something that sanding won't fix, then a neutral grain filler might be needed. But I don't think other kit builders using this body wood have grain filled to date.
The finish should fill those small holes, but I haven't used that oil, so I don't know how well it will fill, Could be worth having a go on just those areas first to see how many applications you may need to fill them. I tend to try and fill small gaps with the finish, Anything larger and I use a standard DIY store fine interior filler mixed with some cheap artists acrylic paints to match the wood colour as best as possible, applied with the end of a cocktail stick. The striping does make it harder!
Holes don't need to be protected from finish. The only time they may need to be protected is if you do any wet sanding of the finish before polishing, when it's a good idea to fill them with wax to stop the water soaking the wood, expanding it and cracking the finish. Putting any wax on before the finish may prevent the finish from adhering.
The holes may need to be cleared out before wires or screws are fitted, but that's an easy job to do with a bit of stiff wire.
If you are going to shield the cavities, then the underside of the pickguard (at least that part over the control and pickup cavity area) will need to be shielded as well to create a Faraday cage to make the shielding worthwhile. So some of that pickguard will need to be sprayed with the conductive paint.
A P-bass pickup is humbucking, one of the two sections is RWRP to the other, so not shielding the bass is an option if you use a clear pickguard. You are unlikely to pick up much noise at all in the control cavity, except in a really 'hostile' electronic noise environment e.g florescent lights, dimmer switches, large transformers etc. So if you go down the clear pickguard road, you may want to leave the shielding to start with and see how you go. Of course your wiring will be on display, so you'll need that to be as neat as possible.
Thank you both for the information, that was extremely helpful! Simon, thank you for the extra information about the pickups, I may try the white pick guard first without shielding and see how it sounds. I like the idea of a clear pick guard to show off more of the stripes, but I'd prefer it not have shielding on it. I tried to think ahead on how the wiring will look in case I went with the clear pick guard. Wiring is definitely not my specialty, so I got an upgraded wiring kit.
I worked on the headstock and roughly got the style I'm going for. It will need more sanding and a little more off the top, but not bad for day 1
Last edited by c0ffinspire89; 07-06-2020 at 12:32 PM.
Reason: Fixing images
Got the first two coats of stain on the neck, I think it's looking pretty good!
Just a quick side comment, I have to gush for a minute over a recent purchase. Below is a Rockin' Neck Rest from Crimson Guitars. I know these rests can be found just about anywhere, but this is my first project using a neck rest while working on the neck, and it's so much easier! I love the ability to use either end of it based on how the neck needs to be supported. It doesn't hurt that it looks gorgeous too!
For this build I want to do a custom logo, but I have a question about it before I get started. The text will be black, but will have empty spaces inside the letters, as well as the outline of a sword. Will I need to cut away all of the empty spaces, or can it be left as the transfer paper is clear? Thanks in advance!
No need to cut away with clear decal paper. Just make sure that you put some finish on the headstock before you add the decal, otherwise you'll get a noticeable colour difference underneath the clear parts of the decal.
Excellent, thank you Simon! I should have also asked in the previous post, should I put a layer or two of finish on before applying the logo? I will put 3 layers of acrylic spray on the logo, I just want to make sure the logo doesn't dissolve or smear under the final coat. Thanks again!
I'd definitely say yes. I've just been doing decals myself the past couple of days and I've put two coats of clear on them. Decal paper differs. The better stuff (for being as invisible as possible) is thin, but that makes it more likely to fold up when you are applying it, just from the surface tension of the water. I's hard to then put it back straight without it being creased and possibly cracking the ink on it. A couple of coats of spray helps keep it rigid and all in one piece. It also provides protection for the ink itself (if done on an inkjet, rather than a laser printer which is water-fast).
The thicker stuff is less likely to auto-fold under surface tension, but being thicker, it isn't quite as invisible at the edges. But even with the thicker stuff, a couple of coats of clear won't do any harm and helps to ensure that the decal doesn't crickle up when it's applied.
And it's best to slide the decal off the backing sheet from one end, holding the decal in place whilst you pull the backing from underneath it, so that it goes on as flat as possible to reduce the risk of crinkling. It doesn't take much for an edge to fold over. If these are printed yourself, I'd make sure you do a few of the logos on the same sheet of decal paper so that you've got spares and aren't afraid to throw away any damaged ones. I had a 50:50 success rate with mine today on four guitars over the past couple of days. Sometimes it wasn't until the decal came off the paper that I noticed some small imperfections in the printing. I also had the occasional crinkle as well.
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