PRS-1TS, my first build

[Alexis]

I received my PRS kit some weeks ago, and it looked great at first sight. I like the flamed maple top, and overall it looks promising! I plan to do some upgrades, like a Schaller bridge and stoptail, a graphtech nut and a Neutrik locking jack.

I found little defects in the neck socket, but I think I will fix them with woodpaste and sanding. Neck fits very tight, which I think it's the best: better than a loose fit. The scale is 62.4 cm (24 1/2''?). According to my rough calculations in the mock build, the bridge and pickup routings are good. Only I may need to adapt holes for the Schaller stoptail.

I started to look at the fretboard, and I found some of the frets not properly seated. In some frets, there's space under the fret where I can slip a paper inside. I tried to hammer them (with a wood block for protection), but after some minutes most of them pop out again. I plan to glue these frets in my next step.

Which glue is better for the frets? Do you have any other ideas to keep the frets properly seated? I do not want to start fret leveling and then suddenly some frets popping out.

Thank you in advance!

Alexis

[Wayne.Mumford]

Hi Alexis, welcome, I hope all goes well for you. Looks like a nice kit.
Wayno.

[wazkelly]

Hi Alexis, that is a really decent thickness of maple top to work with. Cool fret markers too.

Cheers, Waz

[Simon Barden]

I think you'll find by looking closely that it's still a thin maple veneer, even if the top is more ordinary maple underneath it. You can see the line in the photo if you zoom in a bit. So you'll still need to be very careful when sanding as it is very thin.

The general quality of the wood does look to be higher than on most PBG kits, so I'm surprised about the fret problems. I'm just wondering it it's a) because the slots aren't quite cut deep enough or b) because the fretboard isn't holding on to the small barbs sticking out from the tang. If it's a), then knocking the frets in or even trying to glue them in probably won't work because there's nowhere for the fret to go. If it's b), then superglue is normally used, but you'll really need to pull the fret right out, put superglue in the slot then push the fret back in and keep it clamped until the superglue has set. Just trying to squeeze some in under the fret won't work well at all, and it's impossible to stop the glue getting on the fretboard.

Even if you take the fret out and glue it back in, you'll need to mask off the fretboard either side of where the fret sits to stop and glue getting on it.

When knocking frets in, rest the neck on something soft but supportive, and ideally use a hammer with a soft face (brass or nylon), or a block of wood between a normal hammer and the fret. You don't want a steel hammer hitting the fret directly as it can dent it, and it's not on a soft surface, the compression wave from the hammer hit can bounce back through the wood and push the fret out a bit.

[FrankenWashie]

I think you'll find by looking closely that it's still a thin maple veneer, even if the top is more ordinary maple underneath it. You can see the line in the photo if you zoom in a bit. So you'll still need to be very careful when sanding as it is very thin.

The general quality of the wood does look to be higher than on most PBG kits, so I'm surprised about the fret problems. I'm just wondering it it's a) because the slots aren't quite cut deep enough or b) because the fretboard isn't holding on to the small barbs sticking out from the tang. If it's a), then knocking the frets in or even trying to glue them in probably won't work because there's nowhere for the fret to go. If it's b), then superglue is normally used, but you'll really need to pull the fret right out, put superglue in the slot then push the fret back in and keep it clamped until the superglue has set. Just trying to squeeze some in under the fret won't work well at all, and it's impossible to stop the glue getting on the fretboard.

Even if you take the fret out and glue it back in, you'll need to mask off the fretboard either side of where the fret sits to stop and glue getting on it.

When knocking frets in, rest the neck on something soft but supportive, and ideally use a hammer with a soft face (brass or nylon), or a block of wood between a normal hammer and the fret. You don't want a steel hammer hitting the fret directly as it can dent it, and it's not on a soft surface, the compression wave from the hammer hit can bounce back through the wood and push the fret out a bit.

In the case of a) you’ll either need to deepen the slots, very hard to do without removing binding but it can be done, or trim the fret tang down.
These may help: https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tool...aning_Saw.html
https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tool...et_Barber.html

if its a case of b) I’ve had good results using the gel type thicker superglues. They don’t spread everywhere like the thin stuff and it is a little easier to control application.
You will still need to mask off well as Superglue wicks where you don’t want it to go like crazy. And wear a respirator, and disposable gloves, unless you want to be really, really p attached to your guitar!

[Alexis]

Thank you guys for the tips. You're right Simon about the top: it's really thin specially on the edges of the guitar. In the volume knobs holes I see only about 1 or 2 mm thickness of the top. I'll be careful when sanding.

I think it's b) because some frets stayed perfectly seated after I hammered them (yes, I used a wood block in between as you said!). Others stayed seated several minutes then popped out in the center of the fret. I will extract them and put super glue in the slot. I have this gel type super glue, FrankenWashie. To do this, I will wait for the fret puller pliers I ordered, because I am afraid of damaging the fretboard. I already extract one fret very carefully with a Swiss knive, but this is not the way to go. Let's be professional .

In the meantime I extracted the nut and sanded the new Graphtech nut to have a nice fit and correct height. The new nut (Black TUSQ XL 6060) is very similar to the original plastic one, only it has more E to E distance (just 1mm total). I hope there will be no problem with 1st and 6th strings coming out when playing: there's still 3 mm space from border of E strings to the edge of the fretboard.

Thank you guys!

Alexis

[Wayne.Mumford]

Ooh, nice black nut. I was wondering,is that device holding the neck, made from ply wood or laminated rubber? Looks interesting.
Wayno.

[FrankenWashie]

Yes, that neck rest seems nice and high and beefy looking doesn't it? Might have to make something similar.
Great work on that new nut Alexis, looks the business as we say here in Aussie!

[Alexis]

Yeah, it's a tool I found in amazon: http://a.co/8TbXrQF

Seems wood, but it's made of highly compressed foam, very sturdy and smooth. The rounded part allows you to stand in angle!

[Alexis]

Hello everybody,

I would like to show the progress. I filled up and re-drilled stoptail holes, because they were too loos for the Schaller bushings. Maybe I will have to do the same with bridge bushings drills. I will see when the Schaller bridge arrives.

The belly carve is finished, and I am happy with it. I think it is not bad for the first time I work with wood. Initially I wanted to do a cutaway carving, like most PRS have:

http://www.12fret.com/wp-content/gal...-cutaway-1.jpg

Now that I see the difficulty, maybe I don't do it. It's difficult to get a perfectly round cut, and there's also the binding. Probably I would make a mess!

I am still working in the fret levelling.