First Build: The 917

[theodosiamo]

Hello all. Thanks to this forum, I've been thinking about this project for a few months now, and finally have the pieces coming together to attempt this build. The Pitbull folks were kind enough to indulge my customizing requests, and delivered a great kit -- a PRS-1Q designed for 12 strings and a 27-inch scale length. So far I've done nothing but dry fit some components and source my supplies, but I hope to begin building in earnest in the next week. Looking forward to the adventure ahead.

- Theodosiamo

[FrankenWashie]

YOWSA! Now that is exciting, looking forward to seeing how this goes for you!

[HarmonIser]

Hey, that looks great - I didn't know they could make 27" scale length guitar necks!

[theodosiamo]

All right, coming back to this after some non-guitar delays. I've only been thinking about this for four months, so what's a few more...

First, I've made some hardware upgrades on my end to move toward what I want:
-- Locking tuners
-- A pair of 500k push-pull pots
-- Custom Zero Glide zero fret & nut on order (more on that later)
-- Wilde/Bill Lawrence pickups (500C & 500L). This last one was the most considered of the bunch so far; I wanted pickups that would handle 12 strings easily, and something that could produce a nice range of tones. This won't be a metal machine, so I'm not setting up for maximum chug sounds. The Wilde bar pickups fit nicely, have some good visual appeal and were quite affordable; I'm excited to get them wired up.

The part of this I've been wrestling with the hardest was the design scheme. From the beginning, I wanted a two-tone wood stain look, with visible wood figuring and clean lines between the colors. That last part is the thing that's captured most of my time on this build so far; I have considered lots of possible stain/filler/gel/dye combinations to achieve what I'm looking for. The secondary consideration is that one of my colors might best be expressed with a touch of white in the mix. I've done a lot of research trying to decide whether to attempt some kind of pickling or whitewash to help get me to where I want to be in the end.

After many tests, I'm about back to where I started, with a simple pair of highly-diluted water stains (TransTint) and high quality tape. The whitewashes I've tried so far -- including store bought versions, tinted homemade mixes and even pigmented wood-grain fillers -- obscure too much grain detail for my taste, and while I know many do some light sanding on these PB laminate tops, I am reluctant to remove any material. The basswood back is less of a concern for me; it'll be something darker than the top, but I'm not terribly worried about it. I did the pattern tonight, and I'll likely start the coloring tomorrow. Fortune favors the bold.

[dozymuppet]

Very cool design idea.

[robin]

Hi Theo, I'm liking what I see so far. Keep us posted.

rob

[theodosiamo]

So, some great progress, and then a hurdle:

I started out with a very dilute dye stain (5 drops dye/4 oz. water/4 oz. alcohol) I then did a follow-up with a similar ratio in just water to deepen the color a bit. The result:

This wasn't bad -- it's about as much blue as I want, but there was just enough residual yellow from the woodgrain that the result was a slight green tint. I realized I would need just a touch of white in there, which might cut down some grain shape, but would get me closer to the shade I want. So I mixed a batch of whitewash diluted with alcohol tinted with wood dye to my target color and...presto, the result I was hoping for. This did cause a bit of seepage around the cut line, but not enough to get me worried just yet:

So then I moved on to my second color, a more intense mix of dye and diluted water, only to discover I had missed a glue seam running through the middle of the laminate top. I read through advice here and elsewhere, attacking it with some light heat and scraping, and even broke down to do a bit of extremely gentle sanding with 320/400 grit. So far, I've hidden it to some degree, but its still more visible than I want:

To be frank, this has me a bit stumped. I either need to find a delicate way of hiding/removing the seam or I may have to switch approaches entirely and go for a different, more opaque finish. Opinions welcome.

[Gary B]

I wondered if 917 was a Porsche reference and your colour scheme suggests I was right
Sorry I have no advise to offer on the glue removal but hope you can get it sorted - good luck.