Build number (lucky) 13 - AST-1SW

[McCreed]

The nut does look a little off-centre to me too, but as for the pocket end, that should even up with a bit of a nudge down (toward treble E) from the headstock end. I've seen worse.

The veneer looks a bit thicker than I was expecting if I zoom in the routed sections.

I'd say that looks about right. The veneer is generally .6mm.
IMO, I think people get way too paranoid about sanding veneer. You just can't dig into it with 80 or 120 or go hard with a RO Sander.

Edit:
I meant to add, that's a nice looking kit too!

[m0j0]

Four coats of tobacco brown on the back. The alder isn't taking it all that well and it's nowhere near as dark as I was hoping. I ordered the stain when I originally ordered the TL kit which has an ash body. I knew the alder wouldn't work out the same but figured I'd go for it anyway. Still got half a bottle of stain left so hoping it'll darken a bit more, and the clear coats should deepen it a bit. It's not horrible, just not what I had pictured in my mind.
There's what looks like a glue mark at the neck join area, but it'll be hidden so I'm not overly concerned about that. Didn't take enough care to check for glue around the binding and there's one I missed on the horn but it's on the underside and not visible when playing so hopefully won't bother me too much. Not sure I could fix that up at this stage without ending up making it look worse.
The edges are a bit blotchy in spots but it's getting better with each coat I apply as I'm starting to saturate those areas.

[McCreed]

The alder isn't taking it all that well and it's nowhere near as dark as I was hoping.

I had the same experience last year when I stained a 2-piece alder strat body (non-PBG). I just couldn't get a good even balance that I was happy with. I had one particular light spot on the front that I just could get darker (and couldn't be hidden with a pickguard). Of course the back was bloody near perfect!

I ended up spraying it with lacquer (which was a whole other drama). I'm not saying you should do that, as I think you're doing good there, despite not being the picture in your head! Happens to me a lot!

Looks like the ding steamed out well. I can't find it in the pic.

[m0j0]

I had the same experience last year when I stained a 2-piece alder strat body (non-PBG). I just couldn't get a good even balance that I was happy with. I had one particular light spot on the front that I just could get darker (and couldn't be hidden with a pickguard). Of course the back was bloody near perfect!

I ended up spraying it with lacquer (which was a whole other drama). I'm not saying you should do that, as I think you're doing good there, despite not being the picture in your head! Happens to me a lot!

Looks like the ding steamed out well. I can't find it in the pic.

Yeah, I thought I got it first go but found a bit of it still there so had another shot at it and got it out. Was only a small one and wasn't deep. There was another half-ring indentation that I may have introduced myself because I didn't notice it on my first once over that I also ironed out. If you look really hard and know where it was in the first place, you can see a faint lighter mark where that was but it's not really obvious so doesn't bother me. Besides, I won't be spending much time looking at the back.

I'm delaying the front stain. Really worried I'm going to find glue stains that I've missed with the metho test. On the flip side, I really don't want to have to try and remove glue spots because they'll undoubtedly be where the binding is and I'm nervous about damaging that in the process. But since the stain I'm using for the veneer is quite light, I'm hopeful any little glue spots that I have missed won't be too obvious. Will give it another 4 or 5 checks before I think about applying that stain.

[McCreed]

Will give it another 4 or 5 checks before I think about applying that stain.

Is that all???

When I'm apprehensive or doing something for the first time, I reckon I measure/re-measure, inspect/re-inspect, contemplate/re-contemplate about 40 times!

[Andyxlh]

That looks like it will make a lovely instrument, very nice!

[m0j0]

I had the same experience last year when I stained a 2-piece alder strat body (non-PBG). I just couldn't get a good even balance that I was happy with. I had one particular light spot on the front that I just could get darker (and couldn't be hidden with a pickguard). Of course the back was bloody near perfect!

A couple of years back, my boss sourced a not-at-all-looked-after body/neck from a 1979 Gibson The Paul and gave it to me because I'd expressed an interest in restoring an old guitar rather than building a kit (this was in return for me building a LP kit as a gift for him complete with Zakk Wylde bullseye pattern, back when Pitbull were still selling LPs).
This thing had no hardware and no electronics so it was a gift that ended up costing me over $1000 in quality components. Long story slightly shorter - this model was a stained solid walnut and I wanted to keep the natural timber look so I stripped it right back to bare timber and just Tru-Oiled it until I had enough to polish. The thing was that it was a two-piece body joined right down the middle which wasn't so obvious with the stain or even bare timber, but as soon as I oiled it, the contrast between the two halves was enormous. Fortunately, it's so drastic that it looks like I did it on purpose and everyone who sees it says they love how I did that. I just pretend it was on purpose.

[McCreed]

Fortunately, it's so drastic that it looks like I did it on purpose and everyone who sees it says they love how I did that. I just pretend it was on purpose.

LOL! (literally) That's something I would do also! "Yeah, no, I meant to do that."

[Simon Barden]

I notice it’s a one-piece veneer top. There’s no centre join, so that hopefully means glue spots are likely to be minimal, plus no lighter centre line.

And Pit Bull are doing LP kits again, if you hadn’t realised.

My EX-1 is my only alder kit, but I sprayed that white, so have no staining experience with it. Some woods seem better suited to being painted/sprayed than stained. Probably why Fender used ash for sunbursts and alder for solid finishes for so long.

[m0j0]

I notice it’s a one-piece veneer top. There’s no centre join, so that hopefully means glue spots are likely to be minimal, plus no lighter centre line.

And Pit Bull are doing LP kits again, if you hadn’t realised.

My EX-1 is my only alder kit, but I sprayed that white, so have no staining experience with it. Some woods seem better suited to being painted/sprayed than stained. Probably why Fender used ash for sunbursts and alder for solid finishes for so long.

Nice with the LP news, I hadn't noticed that. I've built three LP's but I keep giving them away and I've never actually done one for myself. I'm one of the few wanting this lockdown to go on longer as it gives me a "mental health" argument with my wife as an excuse to always have one on the go.

As the for staining of alder, I guess technically I'm using a dye and not a stain. Mostly semantics, however the more I've just let this sit today, the better it's looking. I'm still going to put another couple of coats on, particularly around the sides as that's the bit that's struggling the most - I'm not worried about it getting too dark or hiding grain because that was what I was planning on in the first place. But I'm hopeful of some half-decent results once I start putting the clears on as I expect that will bring some of the depth back.