Hi everyone,
this is actually my first build and I am really looking forward to it. A couple of days ago I received the GR-1SF kit from PBG and after letting it sit a while I did the mock build yesterday. I believe that everything looks quite good so far, however, I found some issues that I would like to have your opinion and help. Thanks in advance.
I hope you can sse the attached pics. In general it seems as if the neck sits nicely in the pocket. Neck angle is correct and the strings run perfectly from the nut to the bridge when the neck is dry-fitted.
Some of the issues that I found (see pics):
There is a small gap on the low e-string side between neck and body - however, this could easily be filled with wood filler.
On the high E-string side there seems to be routing mistake roughly 1 cm below the fretboard? I am pretty sure that the angle is not supposed to be there. I don't think that it'll cause major problems, but I'd like to hear your opinion on this.
Furthermore, there is a slight gap between the neck block and the top - it seems structurally ok but not completely sure.
Of course there are also some glue spots on the body which I hope I can get rid of with acetone and a brass brush. I haven't done a mineral spirits inspection yet, but from the mere visual inspection I found a couple of spots. There are some minor scratches and dings on the top as well - on a solid body I would probably just sand them off, but I am not sure how the laminated ply would take the sanding. I might go over ever so slightly with 240 grit sandpaper to get rid off the worst parts - or do you think I would do more harm than good?
The only thing that really looks bad is the pickguard - it doesn't really fit (which could of course be dealt with). It also has a lot of scratches so I am thinking of using it mainly as a template for self-cut pickguard.
I will probably stain the guitar in some kind of orangy tone and apply wipe on poly for a semi-glossy finish.
Thanks in advance for your help and input along the way.
Markus.