First build EXA-1

[rhyd]

Hey up - FINALLY started my build today after an 11 month wait...

Decisions made so far:

• pick ups - swapped out the supplied pick ups for a ToneRider Octane (bridge) and Rocksong (neck) pair.
• finish - settled on idea of a Danish Oil and Beeswax polish finish for the body and the neck

Today:

• did the mock build as per the instruction manual
• checked the neck with a notched straight edge and made 2 anti-clockwise turns on the truss rod to undo the convex bow then read pro-tip saying "no need to adjust truss rod now" - cursed a bit
• clamped the neck in place to check the scale length but somehow missed the key point to check the distance between 12th fret and bridge

Tomorrow:

• re-clamp neck and properly check the scale length...
• check the frets as per page 15 in the instruction manual
• start sanding body and neck

Questions

1. when should I glue the neck to the body? The instruction manual leaves it open for me to decide... part of me thinks glue it in now and make sure it's right before applying oil/polish - any advice/recommendation much appreciated.
2. I've seen a few YT videos where people use a 'wipe on poly' to protect/finish the body after oiling - am I making a mistake by not doing this?
3. on my Les Paul's tune o matic bridge, the adjustment screws face the tailpiece but this stewmac article says they should face the pick ups/neck - who's right or doesn't it matter?
4. should I swap the plastic nut out for the optional bone nut I ordered now or can I leave that until later?
   

Cheers!

[Drashkum]

Questions

1. when should I glue the neck to the body? The instruction manual leaves it open for me to decide... part of me thinks glue it in now and make sure it's right before applying oil/polish - any advice/recommendation much appreciated.
2. I've seen a few YT videos where people use a 'wipe on poly' to protect/finish the body after oiling - am I making a mistake by not doing this?
3. on my Les Paul's tune o matic bridge, the adjustment screws face the tailpiece but this stewmac article says they should face the pick ups/neck - who's right or doesn't it matter?
4. should I swap the plastic nut out for the optional bone nut I ordered now or can I leave that until later?
   

Cheers!

Welcome

1. Glueing the neck is a personal preference. People here have done both ways. In my current build I glued the neck to the body first. But now during spraying clearcoat I find it extremely difficult to spray hanging my guitar upside down. So if u plan to spray paint the body or the neck I would advise you to finish them both separately and then glue them. Just make sure u mark how far neck slots into cavity as per scale Length and make sure u don't finish the neck below it as the glue needs wood wood contact. In my next build I am definitely going to finish neck and body separately.

2. Provided that you’ve given the oil time to not only dry, but to also cure and harden, then you can apply polyurethane over it. However, you will need to lightly sand the oil film first to get the poly to adhere to it. While an oil finish might be durable, it is nowhere near as resilient as polyurethane.

3. I have seen tunomatic bridge both ways. Most gibson and ESPs use TOM with screws facing pickup.. As long as the saddles are facing correctly screw facing is just you preference when it comes to adjusting intonation

4. You can do that as a last even before you string the guitar.

Cheers. Happy building

Drashkum

Sent from my NE2211 using Tapatalk

[fender3x]

Just a couple of things. I don't use oil finishes, but I have read that they don't always play nice with others. If you use it under poly, I would try it on some scrap first to make sure it works well. And for sure let it cure completely as Drashkum says.

That looks like it may be an ash body? If it is an open grain wood you'll need to grain fill before you finalize the finish. Or seal and grain fill.

One thing that occurs to me is that if you are just doing the oil for a bit of color there are a couple of other options to consider. You could use tinted poly and do both the color and top-coat in one go. Or you could use a dark shellac which would seal and tint at the same time.

What I would avoid is the beeswax polish on the Danish oil. Poly won't adhere if there is any wax. Same is true if you were to go with shellac. You'd need to use the dewaxed kind.

A lot of folks think that with a proper polish of the topcoat you may not need wax at all ;-)

I have seen the screws on the TOM both ways too. I have generally read that they should face the bridge. I don't think it matters much, but I do think it's a bit easier to get the screwdriver in on the pickup side. On the other side you're fighting the break angle.

[rhyd]

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated @Drashkum and @fender3x.

Ordered some grain filler and will apply that first (also found this article advising on same) - thanks.

Have also decided to glue the neck first.

[Drashkum]

What body is that? Basswood?. Does that really need a pore / grain filler? Usually Basswood are closed pore, Not open pore like mahagony. You can usually get away with prep sanding by rising the grain and sanding with 220.

Are u planning to paint or stain?. If u have access to sheac you can use that as a pore filler cum sealer too.

Good luck
Drashkum

Sent from my NE2211 using Tapatalk

[Dikkybee007]

First off the best time to adjust the truss rod and install the bone nut is before you apply finish and installing the neck into the body. Straightening the neck is the time to level and polish the frets and by removing the nut allows you to do so without the worry of knocking the nut off accidentally while levelling the frets.

When I do set necks I adjust the scale length and glue in a piece of wood so the neck is at the right length without the gap at the end as per your photo. You don't have to worry about checking the length when trying to glue and clamp the neck later on. I usually apply the finish to the neck and body before gluing but you have to remember not to apply finish where the glue is being applied. I normally put the neck into the body and apply some masking tape at the join lines, remove the neck and then apply tape to where the glue is going to be applied and leave about 1 to 2mm between the 2 tapes and remove the first lot of tape and apply the finish. You also have to apply tape to the body in the neck pocket. I do this as sometimes it is hard to get the finish evenly around the join and also polishing around the join. Also depends on the body shape as well. Sometimes you can apply too much finish around the join which can make it darker and make the join stand out more.

I have done the poly over the oil finish but found it to be a waste. On a poly finish once you have worn through the poly the wood is a lighter colour and shows up more due to the contrast, same as when a colour painted guitar is damaged. Oil finish if applied correctly actually soaks into the wood a good distance so any wear on the finish has to go along way into the finish before you see the contrast. I never apply any form of poly to a fret board for the same reason as any wear looks ugly and is why I only use an oil finish on my fret boards. The wax you use has to have a carnauba component as it gives you the ability to maybe polish later. Straight beeswax isn't as hard wearing as beeswax with carnauba and I think from experience you can build up several layers to try and impart some sort of shine. Poly is probably harder wearing than wax but I use oil finish and wax on my kitchen benchtops which have much more wear applied than my guitars and they look good all year round. You just have to remember when polishing the wax the more heat you generate with the buff the better the finish but don't go overboard. Good to melt the wax, bad to melt a poly finish.

If the body is ash I have done several ash body guitars and found trying to grain fill so as to leave a mirror surface to be a waste of time, it can be done but the effort in my opinion isn't worth it plus the surface grain under an oil and wax finish gives it character. I normally just sand using 240 paper, either blow or vacuum off the surface and wipe down. I have used a brass wire brush to highlight the grain on one that I put on a colour nitro finish. Apply the recommended amount of finish as per instructions and then the wax but don't apply too much and make sure you rub it into the surface, don't leave it in clumps or allow it to build up as it will make your buffing harder and make a mess. I have achieved pretty good polished finish with oil and wax, no where near as bright as a poly/paint finish but you really are not trying to give the same finish with oil as paint but the oil highlights the wood grain better. Crimson guitars in England make really good oil finishes for guitars. They penetrate really well and are hard wearing and don't need wax as you apply several coats and build up the finish and then buff. Have used on a guitar and found them to be very good and they have a Youtube channel that shows how to use all of their products.

[rhyd]

Thanks for the all the replies and advice!

Day 2 - I'm re-checking the scale length and neck position. Couple of things I've spotted:

1. when I clamp the neck in, there's a visible gap between the end of the body and the heel of the neck - this makes the action very high (when the bridge is at it's lowest point). Do I need to sand the heel of the neck so that it's flush with the body and remove this gap? This seems like the same problem @juan_ibanez is having?
2. when I loosen the clamp to leave the neck flat against the body, the action is down against the frets which I assume is what I want because I'll use the bridge to increase the action?

Thanks

[fender3x]

I am not sure what I am seeing in the pics. In pic 1 it looks like there is a big gap at under the heel and on the upper side of the neck ("upper" with the guitar in playing position). In pic 5 it looks like those gaps have gone away. The clamp looks like it is in position in both pics, though, so it's not clear to me what the difference is.

A first thing to do, as DB suggested, is to make sure that you do all your dry-fit tests with the neck properly positioned. That means from the bridge side of the nut to the neck side of the high-E saddle should be 630mm, with the saddle adjusted almost as far as it can go toward the nut.

Once it is positioned correctly try using two clamps. One on the "tongue" where you have it now in pic 4 of today's post, AND one where you have it in pic 2 of your first post. Apply even pressure using both clamps and see if you can get it to sit flat. If you can get it to lie flush enough so that you can't shove a piece of paper in at the heel or in the pickup cavity, it should be fine. If you are using "red" (aka normal) Titebond as most of us do, you will need to leave the clamps on for at least 72 hours in "warm/dry" conditions before removing them since the bond may be under tension.

One additional thing that I would do, because of pic 1 in today's post, is to string it with the high and low E strings with the clamps in place. You might also put the bridge pickup in place. This is to make sure that the E strings are equally and evenly spaced from the edge of the neck. You can also check to see where the strings go over the screws on the pickup. If everything lines up, nothing to worry about. If not, you might be able to bump the headstock one way or the other to get the strings to line up correctly. Lining up the pickup is much less critical than where the strings line up on the neck if you have to choose ;-)

With regard to the bridge, in dry-fit, you need to measure the height with the bridge in place and few mm higher than the body to accommodate the lip of the flange at the top of the post ferule and the flange at the top of the post with the post screwed all the way into the ferule. In other words, you want to measure at minimum bridge height above the body. If when you do that the strings touch the frets (with the clamps on) you should be fine. Adjusting "up" is not usually a problem. It's when you can't adjust down far enough that is usually the problem.

[rhyd]

Thanks for the feedback. In pic 1 the clamp is fully on which means the end of the neck is pressed against the body (showing the gap under the heel). In pic 5, I've released the clamp a few turns meaning the neck has settled to rest flat against the body (and removed the gap). In my (first timer) view, it seems that the heel of the neck is slightly thicker at the far end (the tongue) compared to the heel meaning that if I were to glue it as is, I'd be left with a gap (if the tongue was fully glued to the body) or no gap (but the tongue would be raised away from the body within the humbucker cavity). Either way, the bond would be weak/incomplete?

Ahhh, I've just re-read your 3rd paragraph and now I think I understand - will retry that approach tomorrow with 2 clamps. Thanks @fender3x 🙌

[fender3x]

...will retry that approach tomorrow with 2 clamps.

Before doing that... You might want to use a straight edge to figure out exactly where the problem is and how bad it is. Something is not perfectly flat. I am guessing it's the neck. Either it has a bump at the nut end or it has a it got aggressively sanded at the bridge end. If a bump, you can sand it off.

If the bridge end is angled up, you could add a little veneer at the end to keep it from rocking. Or you could just clamp it as you did in your first post and ignore the fact that it rises a bit in the pickup cavity. You want to have a good glue bond on the sides and on most of the bottom. However, if it rises a little in the pickup cavity and no one can see it, that might not be a big deal as long as most of the bottom is flush with the body route.

One thing to try is to use just one clamp over the frets as in your first post. Then see how far a piece of paper will go under the neck in the pickup cavity. If it is less than 2cm I'd be inclined to ignore it. Or you could fix it with a little veneer.