Build #1 - GR-1SF

[Rossco381]

Hi there,

Kit arrived mid last week - opened the box for inspection - some light cross-grain sanding marks on base of body where the timber join is, and a couple small glue marks - one on the front and one on the back, all seem to have sanded out without to much hassle at all on first light sand with 180.

Taped up the fret board and straight edged the neck and frets - all seems to be spot on, small tap and touch up on one fret with small file and re-crowned and polished - good to go.

Neck clamped to body with hardware fitted and the 2 E strings are dead straight and even down both sides of the neck and through to Bigsby. Between 1.5 and 2mm between string and frets with bridge at close to lowest setting. Drilled small (1.5mm) pilot holes for Bigsby mount.

312.5mm to 12th fret, 311.5mm 12th to high E bridge. (624mm all up)
So far, so good... I think

Couple of beginner questions...
Have I missed anything obvious?
Is there a preferred mounting spot for the neck strap pins on the GR-1SF kit? I have 2 acoustics here and both are in different spots on the neck heel.
How does the Bigsby get grounded? I am thinking a small hole for wire through body under mounting plate and grounded to plate? Where does the earth come from and would anyone have a picture of where and how they have
done this?

Cheers

Ross

[Rossco381]

I have made a template and mocked up the wiring kit sent with the GR-1SF and have realised that I have been sent 2 volume (A500K) and 2 tone (B500K) control pots. The kit wiring diagram states 3 volume (1 neck pickup, 1 bridge pickup and 1 master volume) and 1 tone control. Instructions say A500k for volume and B500K for tone. I have tried a local shop (jaycar) to source a volume pot but none are available with the same fitting for kit supplied knobs. Is there anywhere else that anyone knows of that can supply a A500K volume pot or can a B500k be substituted for either pickup volume or master volume?

[McCreed]

Is there anywhere else that anyone knows of that can supply a A500K volume pot or can a B500k be substituted for either pickup volume or master volume?

You shouldn't have any trouble finding a single A500k pot (audio/logarithmic) mini or full size. The problem may be cost as the postage for one pot is likely to be more than the pot itself.

I would contact Adam at PBG and see if he would send you one.
Alternatively, if it were me and I couldn't get another Log pot, I'd just use a B (linear) for the master volume. That way you have 2 audio for the neck & bridge volumes and a linear for the tone. Some people actually prefer linear pots for volume. Some people prefer audio pots for both vol & tone. There is no right or wrong here, more personal preference.

In very basic terms the difference between the two is, a audio/logarithmic pot will have a quicker volume increase/decrease from 5-10/10-5, and a linear pot will be a more equal increase/decrease in volume from 0-10/10-0. Hopefully that makes sense .

[jonwhitear]

You’d normally ground the bridge with a tune-o-matic. With the bridge grounded, the strings and Bigsby will be too. Bear in mind I haven’t built a guitar with a Bigsby, though.

[Rossco381]

B linear for the master volume might be the way to go. Thanks for the info .... made more sense the way you put it than i could make of it.

Also makes sense that with the bridge grounded the strings to bigsby would be too.

Cheers.

[Rossco381]

Trying to post from phone pictures so I will see how these go.

[Rossco381]

Dingo Karijini red is not quite as dark as I thought, however am pretty happy with the way the grain is coming up. That’s just 2 of the stain coats so far. Couple of issues with the neck being very patchy with stain so am rethinking that one at the moment.

[Rossco381]

is this the right position for the neck and bridge pickups with the taller one at the neck? Seems to be the best spot for string height I think.

[McCreed]

is this the right position for the neck and bridge pickups with the taller one at the neck? Seems to be the best spot for string height I think.

Rings should be other way around, with the tallest at the bridge, and the tallest edge of each ring toward the bridge also. Think of it as everything sloping toward the nut.

The body colour looks nice and even. I've no experience with DT, but I would think it will darken up with subsequent coats. Also when you clear coat it, it should have a similar tone to what it looks like when the stain is still wet.

Maple is a very tightly pored timber (why it makes great necks). Absorption can be uneven. There are a few ways to try and address it.
You can use a pre-stain conditioner (seems harder to find in AUS), you can use thin coats of shellac as a pre-stain conditioner (of sorts),
and sometimes lightly sanding back the light areas and then spot staining can work. With the latter, you need to make sure you get rings of darker colour around the light spots, if that makes sense. The idea is a balance of staining/sanding/staining etc.

[Rossco381]

Thanks for that. The set up in the pic was for neck alignment with everything in place so swapping them over should still be all good.