Jon's 2nd build: GSM-1

[jonwhitear]

Hello all,

Having (nearly) finished my 335, it's time to start my next build, a GSM-1.

I received the kit this week, and I'm very happy with it. It's a two-piece mahogany body, and the pieces are nicely matched. The neck is a very snug fit. I haven't made any measurements yet, but the neck pocket will require some sanding to allow the fretboard to clear the neck pickup route.



At the moment, I've got something in mind like this:



I think that finish is called Transparent Black. That's obviously on a maple top, so I won't quite get there. My plan is along the lines of:

1. Grain fill with ebony timbermate
2. Lots of sanding
3. Black stain with FW Black Japan
4. Tru Oil on top.

I'd like to get a warmer tone, and I recall seeing photos where people have used another stain underneath/on top of the black, but I can't find them at the moment. The sort of finish that looks black in dull light, but reveals the colour when it catches the light.

I'm planning on getting some Tonerider Rocksongs and chrome surrounds. I might pimp the electronics a bit with push-pull pots to split the coils.

Cheers,

Jon

[king casey]

'Grain fill with Timbermate' Somebody may call around and put you on the barby.

I used it to highlight the grain but not necessarily fill it.

cheers, Mark.

[jonwhitear]

Ah, OK. Didn't mean to start a religious war! I mean "fill in the pores" on the mahogany.

[Fretworn]

When staining I’ve had no issues grain filling with Timbermate. If you are spraying solid colour it doesn’t do the job though. I will be testing that theory again in the near future though.......

[Simon Barden]

I haven't made any measurements yet, but the neck pocket will require some sanding to allow the fretboard to clear the neck pickup route.

Not quite sure what you're saying here. The pocket, or the end of the fretboard? On mine I just fitted the neck so the end of the fretboard was just back from the edge of the pickup rout. The end of the tenon doesn't butt up against the back of the rout.

With TruOil on the black, it will be more of a very dark brown colour. But you may not get that much differentiation between the wood and the figure and you may just get pretty much all black, unless you use a very weak stain. The mahogany is relatively dark to start with, which doesn't help.

The finish in the photo will have been done with a black tinted lacquer over a stained and sanded maple top, with clear coat on top of that. It really is hard to translate a finish on a light wood to a finish on a very different wood.

[jonwhitear]

Simon, yes I didn't really put that into words very well ;-) What I meant was, when I installed the neck, the fretboard was protruding into the pickup route somewhat, and I hadn't done any measurements to see if the scale length was correct in that position. I still haven't done the measurements, but with a little more force pushing on the tenon (i.e. to move the nut away from the bridge) I can get it to the point where the end of the fretboard lines up with the pickup route. In other words, it seems to be a perfect fit.

I hear what you're saying about the finish. Do you think that, with ebony coloured pore filler and then a black stain, that I'll still get some of the wood grain showing through? I'm having a bit of trouble finding another piece of mahogany to try the finish out on. Would you raise the grain with water before applying the timbermate? If not, is it just a matter of filling, sanding flat, and then staining?

Oh yes, still no hole for the bridge grounding wire on these. I haven't knocked the plastic nut off yet, but it looks like it's in the right place, so I'm hopeful there's no spurious pin underneath it.

Cheers,

Jon

[Simon Barden]

Not having done it, it's hard to know. It depends how dark the black stain is. You may see some from close up but from further away, it could just look black, or it may look a dark grey.

Reading around the web, Minwax Jacobean stain over a black grain filler was recommended to give a black grain and slightly lighter body finish on mahogany. But Minwax seems to be US centred, so I don't know if that's an option for you, and I don't know if there are similar alternatives available. The black leather dyes are reported to just go solid black.

AA rub down with water first is generally recommended to raise the loosest grains so they can be sanded off.

But you really need to sand the body flat first, then grain fill, sand that back, then stain. If you sand back the body fully flat and level after grain filling, then you're likely to sand off grain-filled areas and end up with unfilled pores.

[jonwhitear]

Now the guitars had a week to acclimatise, I've tested the neck fit with the scale length measured. Looks good to me. It does, however, leave the heal protruding from the body quite a long way. Would it be safe to shave this down? If so, any tips on how to do it other than go at it with a rasp?!

[Rodc]

Now the guitars had a week to acclimatise, I've tested the neck fit with the scale length measured. Looks good to me. It does, however, leave the heal protruding from the body quite a long way. Would it be safe to shave this down? If so, any tips on how to do it other than go at it with a rasp?!

With mine I had to move the neck out about 6mm to get the intonation right. Would had been a lot further if I had stuck with the original bridge. Bought a Gotoh bridge that has more adjustment. I made up a shim to go between the body and the neck heel so when I went to glue it I knew I had the right measurement for the intonation.
The bridge and tail piece holes where out about 2.5mm as well. Plus there was no earth wire hole to the bridge. The fretboard needed a few cracks filled plus 2 frets needed gluing down. Other then that it went well.

[Simon Barden]

I used a Dremel with a drum sander attachment to reduce the step on my neck heel. I didn't remove it completely, in order to benefit form some extra neck rigidity, but moved the flat heel curve back by about 2cm and modified the neck/heel transition curve to suit so it was a much more gentle one.