H's LPA-1. How much more black?

[UpperCaseH]

Sooooo.... kit for the third build arrived today. This is the kit I was originally going to do as my first build. At the time I was intimidated by the amount of soldering and by the set neck, but the electronics aren't going to be a problem now and I'm pretty sure I've read enough advice about set necks in others' build diaries that I won't have any dramas. I'll probably ask way fewer questions in general this time around too.

Quick mock build to check all the parts were there went OK. There was no cable or allen keys which is fine because I really really don't need any more of those things.

Very happy with the grain in the body (and the headstock, but no pics of that). Black hardware looks good.



I was aware the ash cap was thicker than the veneers, but not aware it was this thick.



I originally thought that the neck heel was not going to fit into the pocket. It does, but it's an extremely tight fit. Tight enough that I got worried about how I was going to get it apart again, and it did take quite a bit of force to get it out. Very happy with that. Didn't have time to take measurements etc today and might not tomorrow either.



I noticed a gap on the underside of the neck/body join when it was together. You can see it a little in the pic above. After getting the neck out again, here's what the front looks like. Is this normal? It's no huge drama, I'm sure it'll be fine as-is, but it looks a little weird to me on the left side of the pic below - I wouldn't have expected that angle there. It's not too visible with the neck in place but it makes me think that against my better judgement with regards to ease of handling, it might be better to get the neck on before proceeding to doing the finish so that the small gap can be filled.




Original plan for the finish is:

Ebony timbermate on the body back sides, and top.

Feast Watson Japan Black undiluted on the back, sides, and neck. Plan is to get a black-on-black effect with visible black grain but still be "black" all over, if that makes sense.

Same stain diluted (I have a can of colour reducer) on the top to get a black/grey effect over the black grain fill. Possibly with a small subtle burst.

Finish in Tru-Oil since I feel like I'm really getting a handle on that now.


Possible alterations to the plan: Very dark red over black timbermate for the top and headstock. Could this be achieved by using the Feast Watson stain over stamp pad ink, if I waited for the ink to dry very thoroughly?

Some other clear coat than Tru-Oil. I have no idea what. I'd like to try various different things though so I can see how they work.

Can't think of any mods just yet, except that the nut's gonna get replaced by something. Kind of want to try one of those fancy adjustable ones, but might also end up carving a bone or graphite one. Looks like there's a fair bit of room in the control cavity too, so I might see if I can come up with something interesting to put in there.

[Zandit75]

Looking good H, that would look great all black with a transparent black top.
Once you get that grain to pop with the Timbermate, it will be awesome!

[wokkaboy]

kit looks good H. You should be able to sand around the neck join to get the gap between pocket and heel tighter. Plans sound great.
That gap at the front of the pocket will be hidden

[wazkelly]

Wow, nice Ash grainy goodness in that cap and presume the rest is Ash too as that is what is stated on the PBG store for LPA-1?

Just a heads up on stamp pad inks as I did a fair bit of experimenting on builds 3 & 4 and found the stock standard colours were quite dull and lifeless. Black is OK and wiped off would give a really cool grey wash effect that you could darken up with subsequent applications. The Red looks washed out already and to the point where red food colouring had more depth and vibrance hence why I went with a blend of fountain pen ink and color tone cherry red stain. For the Blue, stamp pad ink was just the wrong shade for me and looked even more duller than the red. Mind you I was tempted to use fountain pen ink as the blue comes in 2 colours, one is basically blue and the other is blue black and lends itself to a more sultry look. As I was chasing aqua or turquoise ended up settling on diluted Cyan ink jet ink on the Tele. If you are chasing a truly dark black would recommend going straight for the ink jet ink as they seem to have a thicker viscosity, not by much, but when compared to ink pad stuff which is just like coloured water.

Not sure how FW stuff would go on top of inks as their composition tends to lean more towards water based than oil based. Would suggest leaving things to dry and cure for at least 7-10 days and brush on the 1st top coat as ragging with dilute part of the ink stain coat and drag it all over the place.

[Dedman]

the red ink I used on the community build was 2 coats of undiluted, that was pretty intense. They were inks from U-Beaut.

[stan]

Just a thoufht on inks, artists inks for pens etc seems to be great , but I'd question the UV stability of ink pad ink or printer ink, just a consideration

[UpperCaseH]

Proper mock build and measurements done.

Neck's straight, alignment looks nice. Bridge pins held in place with some foam packing stuff and action looks like it'll be fine with the bridge adjusted up a little.

Distance from nut to 12th fret is 314mm both sides. With the bridge adjusted right forward, distance from 12th fret to high E bridge is 314mm also. Distance from 12th fret to low E bridge is either 317mm or 319mm depending on where the measurement should be taken (see pics). I assume that'll be OK? This part kind of does my head in especially since I've never had a les paul type guitar, so I think it's worth asking to be sure.



Kitchen supervisor Coco is still not impressed by the building process.




My brother came by and said "you should make me one of those but with flame maple and in purple". He's right. I should. How would you go about getting a darkish purple finish?

[Zandit75]

If that was my cat, every small piece of hardware sitting in front of your cat would be scattered around the kitchen!!
You just have to look at his face to know I'm telling the truth!!!

[wazkelly]

Hi Zandit, that cat of yours looks like he has plenty of attitude.

G'day H, Darkish Purple......need to start mixing up various samples of red and blue and would suggest starting with 3 parts blue to 1 part red to see how close that might be and then add just one part more or less either side of a base reference point before you find the mix you are after. Sometimes you may also need to add a bit of dilution (water if using water based products) to take a bit of strength out of one of the colours. On the Red J Bass & Blue Tele there were lots of experimental colour sample strips done before finding the right ratios to use.

[Zandit75]

Hi Zandit, that cat of yours looks like he has plenty of attitude.

Yep, he sure does! Plenty of attitude towards me, but he absolutely loves my wife!!