All looks OK to me so far.
I finally finished the fret job.
Probably the worst fret job ever.
Couldn't get the rocking of the fret rocker totally gone so therefore, the worst fret job ever.
Its mostly from fret 15 and higher and only a very slight rocking so I figured I wasn't going to lower the frets any further.
I should have masked the fret board before doing the fret leveling so I got some permanant marker on the fret board so, consider myself kicked.
I masked off the fret board and then proceded to crown the frets with the fret crowing file you will find on the Pit Bull Guitars website.
At 1st I thought this was not working correctly the tutorials I had seen show the a thin sharoie line left in the centre of of the fret indicating that the fret is suffiently crowned.
When I did it, all the sharpie marks seemed to be gone and I was getting very frustrated.
I carried on and the frets were indeed coming out nice.
I then put 400 grit sand paper on a flexable hard sponge and ran that over the frets from fret 1 to 25 and then back again. Then did the same with 800 grit and 1200 to get the sanding marks out.
After searching for polishing compound, I eventually found some at Builders Express. A five pack. Used my "Dremel" type tool, mine is a Ryobi, and polished the frets to finish them off to a shine.
I think the polishing came out OK. Not sure if I did it right.
I have attached a few pics of the frets after polishing and removing the masking tape.
I need some advice on what to treat the fret board with. In South Africa, we don't access to dingotone, or Crimson fretboard restorer. We do have access to Woodoc, and std hardware store type stuff. There is also a local luthier site, blackbeardsden.com, where I can get lynsead oil from. https://www.blackbeardsden.com/colle...ts/linseed-oil
This apparently is used on fret boards???
Any advice??? Fellow South Africans done this before???
I was then looking at using some of the stains they have to try give the body a redish sun burst with it natural colour in the centre of the body. Their products are here, https://www.blackbeardsden.com/colle...iant=332471097
Then sealing it with TrueOil https://www.blackbeardsden.com/colle...l-stock-finish however there are other oils there that could work.
If some more experienced guys could point this newbie in the right direction, I would be most appreciative.
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It's a rosewood fingerboard, so you don't need to put any finish on it.
Lemon oil is the standard treatment for rosewood and ebony fretboards, to stop them getting too dry and the board shrinking. The frets then start sticking over the ends.
Lemon oil is sold in guitar shops; the Jim Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil is my normal choice and is easy to get.
An alternative to that is the food-safe 'mineral oil' sold for seasoning chopping boards, which is the main constituent of guitar-orientated lemon oil. It's a lot cheaper as well. I now use both.
I've never used linseed oil, but I expect it does a very similar job. It's hard to get the pure stuff that the store sells; its normally boiled or has drying additives to give a Tru-Oil type finish. That bottle looks a reasonable size (be nice if they listed the quantity but it looks like a 500ml bottle from comparisons to some other product bottles on that page) and you don't need much. Tip onto a damp cloth held over the opening and you'll probably get one full application from it.
A fretboard straight from the factory can soak up quite a lot of oil. I normally keep wiping it on until it starts to take a long time to dry. After the initial application, its a good idea to apply it every 6-12 months depending on how hot and dry the climate is.
Oil also good for cleaning crud off fingerboards, so if you use your guitars a lot, then make oiling time a string removal, fretboard cleaning and oiling and fret polishing time.
Now you can put a finish or a wax on a rosewood fretboard (e.g. Rickenbacker normally lacquer their rosewood fretboards), but rosewood doesn't need the same level of protection as a maple board does, so it is a matter of personal choice to do so, rather than a necessity.
Found this on one of SA's most popular online shopping sites.
Check this out on takealot: Dunlop Lemon Oil 1oz
https://www.takealot.com/dunlop-lemo...z/PLID71426231
And
Check this out on takealot: Dunlop Formula 65 Guitar Polish & Cleaner
https://www.takealot.com/dunlop-form...r/PLID71783695
These should work. 1st one for fret board.
2nd for polishing finished body, back of neck and headstock????
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The JD lemon oil also comes in a bottle about 4x the volume for about twice the price. I used to use the spray bottle but you waste a lot, so you are better off getting the bigger bottle and using a cloth to apply it. Or spray onto a cloth, not the neck. the big bottle has a felt pad on a plastic ring stuck onto the neck, but unless you keep it upside down it takes a long time to soak the felt enough to get any onto the fretboard, so I pull the felt off with pliers and just pour it onto a cloth.
I have the polish, it came as part of a care kit as a birthday present, but I've never used it.
I've had a 4oz (118ml) bottle of Dunlop 65 from back when it just had an applicator tip. I was told I'd only ever need one bottle. That was the best part of 20 years ago. Rarely do a string change with a fresh coat. Half a dozen guitars and I've barely cleared the neck of the bottle. Great stuff and well worth it.
I tried my hand at, for me, maybe most daunting part. Staining and Oiling / sealing.
I removed the masking tape from the body that I used to mark the centre line and where I calculated the bridge should be......Guess I will have to do those calculations and measurements again.
Touched up the sanding job with 240 Grit sand paper. Seems like pulling the masking tape off pulled up the grain or something.
Was intending to do a burst with Dark Walnut stain on the outside of the body, neck and head stock with a light Mahogany on the insides of the body, neck and head stock.
Might have looked nice but, alas, I think doing a burst on the 1st build and doing a wipe on burst with water based stains is quite a chalange.
I started by applying the Dark Walnut stain on the outsides and intended, but with the Sponge Brush strokes, it did not look good.
Maybe I was a little impatient but decided to just make it all one colour.
The stain use was sourced from Blackbeard Den, a similar Kit Guitar Company in SA.
https://www.blackbeardsden.com/produ...pr_seq=uniform
I applied that and let it dry.
Being a waterbased stain, I suspected it would raise that the grain, and true to form, it did.
Once the pieces were dry, I sanded it back with 240 Grit paper, brushed off the dust and started with the Oil.
As much as I tried getting Tru-Oil, I eventually settled on Gobelins Pure Tung Oil https://www.blackbeardsden.com/produ...pr_seq=uniform.
Using a paper towel folded a few times over, I put oil on the paper towel and applied it to the headstock1st.
Seeing that all seemed good, I applied oil to the rest of the guitar.
Should have mentioned this before, I masked off the fret board with masking take. Hope the paper kind is sufficient to protect it.
Ofter leaving the oil on for a few minutes, I wiped off the excess with a clean piece of paper towel.
Allowed that to dry for a while. The surface felt mostly dry to the touch, so ran over the surface with 1200 grit paper and the applied a 2nd coat of oil using the same method.
The pics attached are were I left off.
A further addition to this build, I just need to add.
Many have said the string that come with these kits are not worth keeping on the guitar once built and setup, so, we were in the city last weekend and I found an awesome Music Shop, Bothners.
Picked up some Ernie Ball Slinky Bass Strings that will go on once all is assembled and setup.
I also managed to find a Kit to assist with Guitar Setups with Feeler Gauges, Radius Gauges, Nut files, etc. that will help with the setup.
I also managed to get some Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil for the fretboard treatment and some Dunlop Guitar polish. These I will also use on the my guitars I am playing at the moment.
So I am ready for this, hope I don't stuff it up.
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That's looking good Christo!
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
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