First Build - AG-1

[grantxx]

Ok, about to kick off, starting prep work now, did a really rough mockup just to get a bit of idea and look for obvious issues. Nothing to concerning from what I can see (i realised I had the pickups in wrong way around after bit more research).

Decided I am going to use a shellac (french polish) attempt, even though not much in the grain to work with, hoping to get a nice shine on the timber while keeping colour fairly neutral. As a first build want to do something simple and relatively easy yet time consuming which is fine. Will keep track of issues and plan on asking heaps of questions

Thanks

20220603_133631 by Grant McDonald, on Flickr

20220603_133620 by Grant McDonald, on Flickr

20220603_133638 by Grant McDonald, on Flickr

[Juanito]

Hi grantxx and welcome!
I like the grain of the headstock, and while there's not much on the body, it may pop up once you start sealing it. Good luck!

[grantxx]

Hi grantxx and welcome!
I like the grain of the headstock, and while there's not much on the body, it may pop up once you start sealing it. Good luck!

Cheers mate, I really like the headstock and neck looks like will come up a treat.

After reading many of the other builds, such as Simon's I am seeing a lot of initial setup work such as measuring / bridge height / fret levelling had not thought to much about that stuff lots to learn

[Simon Barden]

Some of the kits are fine, some are a bit variable. I can't recall any issues with the AGs. Your bridge and tailpiece posts look to be in the right place. The time to find out about any problems id before you start to put it together.

[grantxx]

A little bit of progress, have about 10 or so coats of shellac on both the neck and body, neck s coming up great, body is getting there, but such soft wood, need some suggestions on a suitable clear to give it a bit of protection, only has shellac on it at the moment, so I am pretty sure I can use just about anything as a top coat. Happy with it so far


Front Face


Back


Neck Front


Neck Back

[Simon Barden]

Polyurethane is probably the hardest finish that’s easy to apply. Then possibly TruOil (after a couple of months), acrylic and nitro. Not sure where the other oil finishes (tung, linseed etc.) are.

Wipe-on poly is probably your best bet if you are limited by the weather and opportunities to spray. You can buy it, but you can make your own more cheaply from 50% oil(not water) based poly and 50% turps. McCreed should be able to confirm that as he uses it all the time.

But enough coats of any of those left to full cure/harden should give a fairly protective finish. You just don’t want too thick a coat as it can damp body resonances and rob the guitar of some sustain.

[grantxx]

Next step for, body and neck are done and had a week to cure, polished up and I am pretty happy with the finish, a few spots not to happy with but great learning this fine wood polishing skills. Went with water based poly top coats, wiped on about 20 coats with 0000 stell wool rub each coat. Will load up some pic's later

Now getting ready to wire up and install neck (fixed), have the bridge and saddle in and want to mark location of the neck pick up to ensure it fits nice and snug against the neck.
My question where do I find the lenght from saddle or bridge to the nut, I have searched and searched and cant find a reference, any help appreciated.

[Trevor Davies]

Hi grantxx,

the AG scale length is 628 mm. I'm sure all the G-style guitars from Pitbull are the same.

[Simon Barden]

Or 24 3/4” in imperial measurements.

[grantxx]

Thanks - just a little more clarity, am I measuring from inside the nut to bridge edge, or top of saddle