PRS 1Q; First time builder.

[McCreed]

I know I'll be opening a can of worms here, and I've deleted it three times now, but I'm going to post it anyway.

Whilst how (or if) finish type/finish thickness effects tone or resonance in solid body electric guitars is widely debated, however IMO it is highly exaggerated.
Acoustic guitars... yes, totally different story, and no one will likely dispute that. (and I'll include hollow body electrics in there as well)

There are so many variables that go into generating an electric guitar's tone, it is very often a matter of "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". Not least of which is the player. Then you have pickups, guitar set up, amp etc etc.
Pickups will have a bigger effect on the sound more than the piece of finished solid timber they are mounted to.

I have similar views on the whole "tone wood" debate as well. I'm not saying there are no sonic differences between different timbers but, as it pertains to solid body electric guitars it is not a single definitive factor in determining the tonal characteristics of any given solid body electric guitar.

A former forum-friend of mine used to say "tone [just] happens".
Sometimes you can put all the "right stuff" into a guitar and still end up with a something very lacklustre or even a complete tone turd.

[Simon Barden]

How much body resonance affects the tone of a solid guitar is certainty a moot point and I don't think there's been any proper scientific study of it that's been done with enough samples to get a good, statistically reliable, result. The cost would be pretty exorbitant IMO. But a thick finish can really dampen the body resonance compared to bare wood or a very thin finish.

[Simon Barden]

What I meant to mention was that in this photo...



...you can see the neck angle isn't quite right and the strings are significantly closer to the treble side than the bass side. Some of that may be due to camera angle and some to the fact that the posts are sitting high on top of the body. But it's worth having a closer look at, as you really want the strings ending up running parallel to the sides of the neck. If there's any play in the neck joint at the moment, you may need to make sure that when it's glued in, you have the headstock pulled to the left (left as shown in the photo) to help straighten the strings path.

[Grug]

Simon and McCreed.
Thanks for the further discussion on the finishing pros and cons.
Good food for thought.

Thanks for the pick up on the neck angle Simon. I went back and put some straight edges alon the neck to see how they lined up with the bridge holes. This picture should give a more accurate idea of the neck alignment.


McCreed, I went ahead and altered the body to improve neck access. A slightly more subtle carve than yours but it felt good. Can modify and refine later if need be.
I went ahead and sanded the body, only 1 real issue I can see. There is a glue sot just above the bridge pick up. Tried Goof Off but not sure of its success yet.


Here is a rough idea of the colour scheme.

[McCreed]

McCreed, I went ahead and altered the body to improve neck access. A slightly more subtle carve than yours but it felt good.

If it feels good to you, that's all that matters! Also, if you're going to do any shaping on the heel and back of the pocket, the smaller scallop is probably all that's required.

There is a glue sot just above the bridge pick up. Tried Goof Off but not sure of its success yet.

The best way to find glue spots and check the progress of their removal is wiping down the body with a clean rag dampened with metho. If you angle a torch over the dampened area and sight across at a level plane before the metho evaporates, the spots will reveal themselves. Way better than finding them after you've started applying the colour!

That burst idea is an interesting concept. I could see that working.
Look forward to watching the rest of your progress.

[Grug]

Progress since my last report.
Lots and lots of sanding, got everything down to 400 grit.

Shaped the headstock. Learnt a few things about tear out and tear out repair. Would suggest avoiding it if you can.


Next step, I hit the body and the neck with a Jarrah Timbermate slurry, to emphasize and smooth the grain.
Pulled of the excess with a damp cloth and sanded lightly. It highlighted the glue spots on the top which were much bigger and more numerous than I thought. I got to work with Goof Off, 400 grit sandpaper and tte occasional re application of the Timbermate to check progress. I managed to avoid sanding through the veneer and get a consistent finish.




With some momentum and remaining daylight, I moved onto using wood dyes to colour the body and neck.
I did work out it is better to have a plan, work to the plan, work fairly quickly and don't overdo it.

[Grug]

An interesting thing came to light while I was working on the body.
There is no channel for wires to come out of the switch routing. I'm going to have to drill from the neck pickup routing to the switch routing. Should be fun.

In regard to the neck misalignment, I measured the holes for the bridge and the tailpiece and found that they were centred on the veneer join which, I am assuming, is the midline. I have concluded that the neck pickup is a little out. So I took a few gentle file strokes on the side of the neck pocket and it allowed enough movement to align the neck to be centered on the bridge. Clamping and gluing will be a slightly trickier process but not undoable.

And yes, I missed the glue spot behind the nut.

[Simon Barden]

Typically a hole from the neck to the bridge pickup cavity, and then from there to the control cavity rather than direct from the neck pickup to the control cavity. You'll need a 300mm long drill bit.

[Grug]

Cheers Simon.
The holes from the neck to bridge to control cavity are all there.
There is no hole to the switch cavity which is in the upper horn.
I thought to drill from the switch cavity, to the neck pickup, then follow the regular wiring route from there.

[Simon Barden]

Ah, I see. A long drill bit is still needed to allow you to get a shallow angle.

Nice stain work, BTW.