First Build Custom GTH-1 27" Baritone

[Autumnstreet]

Hi there,

i am Sascha and this is the diary of the first guitar i’m trying to build. I got the GTH-1 kit with a custom 27“ baritone maple neck with an ebony fretboard and i am really happy with it! Everything looks great and is done very accurate. Other than on the pictures in the pit bull online shop, the holes for the bridge and the neck has not been drilled yet, but that gave me the opportunity to replace the bridge the came with the kit. I now got a Schaller 3D-6 Bridge.

So my first task was drilling the holes for the bridge and the neck. To measure everything i did a little mock build, marked the center line on the front and the back of the body, and also marked the intonation line. To align everything perfectly and mark the holes of the bridge, i ran a long loop of yarn through the bridge, over the saddles of the lowest an highest string, over the nut and through the holes where the machine heads of those strings will later sit. I stretched the yarn loop with the clamp (or whatever this thing is called - sorry for my not-native-english) on my workbench, so everything was sitting tight in its place and it was easy to check if everything aligns perfectly. Here are some pictures of my first steps as a guitar builder:









I was really happy with the outcome, everything seems to be in the right place, so the task i was frightened the most about went pretty well, i think.



Next thing i did was drawing tons of headstock shapes just to go with one of the first designs i did. It is kind of based on the Ibanez headstock shape of my first ever electric guitar, just a little bit bulkier, as it is a baritone neck. I don’t really like the shape of a traditional Tele-head, so this was no option and i think the shape of my headstock is a nice little contrast to the Tele-shape of the body. So heres a picture of my roughly shaped headstock, the last precision-grind will be done when sanding the neck before applying the finish:



That is pretty much where i am at the moment. Now i have to do some research on what finish i am going to use on the neck and what grain filler i need for the body. I want the neck to stay in its natural color and to feel nice and smooth. I have an ESP guitar whose neck finish i really love, but i cant really tell, what finish is used on that as i am complete layman when it comes to different finishes. The body will get a matt wood/olive-green finish. I am planing on painting it with grafitti spray cans from montana, wich should be a nitro combo lacquer. Or is there anything to be said against?

I am really looking forward to building my first guitar and i hope i can find a lot of answers here in this forum as i will most likely have many questions on my way :-)

Cheers
Sascha

[FrankenWashie]

Nice work there Sascha, have you checked the fit of the scratch plate with the neck and your Schaller bridge?

I am envious of your workbench! Very nice!

[Autumnstreet]

Thanks, yes, the bench is really helpful! I will have to do some reshaping on the scratch plate, but i also would have had to if i would have used the bridge that came with the kit. Probably because of the different scale length. But i don't think its a huge problem, just a little grinding with the Dremel.
But speaking of the scratch plate: The one that comes with the kit is a 3-layered scratch plate, top and bottom black with a white layer in-between. As the edges are just cut straight, the white middle layer doesn't really show, so i would like to have the edge beveled (is that the right word?) in a 45 degree angle. Is there a trick to easily get this done in an even and consistent way?

[FrankenWashie]

I have done it in the past using a scraper or a knife blade which is time consuming, and hard on your hands. Ive also used a router table with a 45 degree angle follow bit, but to do this you need to make a template for the router bit to run along and to support the scratch plate. I used 10mm MDF board, used double sided tape to stick the plate to it, and the ran that against the bearing on the follow bit.
You can also use files, but again that can be time consuming, but satisfying.