DIEFOX1 GR-1SF first time build

[Simon Barden]

Note that your pictures haven't attached, DIEFOX1.

The thing to do is use the braided screen as the ground connection between pots where you can to save running separate ground wires. I'd suggest drawing it all out before you begin soldering and posting the drawing here.

Have a look at this video to get an idea how to use shielded wire in a general sense. There are lots of good wiring videos on the Six Strings channel, but unfortunately he doesn't do a big hollow bodied guitar like a Gretsch or ES-175.



You'll need to adapt some of his wiring methods slightly, such as the 3-way switch wiring, but you can still use the solid wire method with the box-style of switch.

[Barry snook]

Is the soldering iron still on when you get the hum? I was having lots of noise and re soldering everything driving my self crazy and found out that the hum was coming from the soldering iron being on 🙄

[DIEFOX1]

Hey all,

After much frustration with the hum and pickup not working and a metric ton of solder I used I got all over and in the pots, I blew everything up, chucked it out…bought new CTS pots and Switchcraft switch so I could start over. After watching the videos from sixstringsupplies, I have attempted to plan out a cleaner layout. Here is a diagram I drew up. Does it make sense? Thanks for any input.

[DIEFOX1]

Here is the completed build. Thanks to all who helped along the way (Simon, McCreed and Gunut75). Starting a first build with the GR-1SF was a challenge (and I got the wiring wrong more times than I want to admit) but I am really pleased with how it came out.

Tuners and nut were upgraded. Pickups were upgraded to Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. I didn’t like the feel of the supplied pots (and I blew up one of them with a bad solder job) so I upgraded to CTS pots which required reaming out all the body holes and new really nice HEAVY knobs.

Body was stained black with water-based dye, sanded back and then red dye on top before countless thinned outTru Oil coats with a few sands in between. Sides were kept black for some contrast. Tried the finger application technique with the oil but a balled up t-shirt scrap french polish technique worked better. All the advice about going thin with the oil seems the right way to go.

Plays really nice. Just finished truss rod, action and intonation fine adjustments and waiting for it all to settle in.

Now…which one to build next? And should I go down the lacquer finish rabbit hole…

[McCreed]

Good job. Nice colour!

[Gunut75]

That looks great! I'm very mystified about how I have seen some builds that don't seem to reflect the yellow tint of the true-oil. Did it change the color on yours?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[DIEFOX1]

As far as i can tell, it dried pretty clear. It was a dark red though

[DarkMark]

Lovely looking guitar! I’d love to hear a sound demo.

[RocknRolf]

That looks stunning!
Love the colour.

How did you apply the phoenix decal?

[DIEFOX1]

Thanks! - the decal is just a mother of pearl vinyl sticker I got on Amazon. On the headstock, I put a few coats of Tru-oil over it. Just stuck it directly on the pickquard. Same with the fretboard inlays. Cant really feel them while playing and I liked how they looked