Okay, so I've had this baby for a little while now and wanted to get the semi-hollow finished properly before really getting stuck in. Now that time has come!
Really impressed with the grain on this Ash, it's delightful. And the grain going through the neck is also delicious. Going to go for a natural finish on this one, with no pickguard so the holes will have to be filled.
Tossing up between black grain fill using either ebony timbermate or black acrylic paint as per a Highline guitars method I saw. Although Andy40 has since seduced me with his walnut grain fill on his sweet ash tele. Hmmmm not sure yet, but I'm leaning towards black. Finished in truoil. Also torn between ageing the neck with a tiny tint of yellow or not. Maybe the TO will eventually do that job.
Going to set it up so I can swap between a humbucker and single lipstick at the neck, by using a pickup ring and a ring adapter. Will add a quick connect at the wiring level so this is possible quickly.
The neck pocket will need to go south by about 4mm as it is sitting way too proud currently - a general problem with these kits - see picture. I have a hand router with base, which I inherited and hardly used, let alone on a guitar so I'm sure I will have many questions on how to get this done. Will be looking at a bit with a bearing at the base I guess and will have to build a guide jig or at least a levelling jig to get the small router base across the side of the pocket without much around it. Daunting, but I know it needs to be done.
Upgrades are a tusq nut, fully adjustable bridge (new bridge holes to be drilled and old ones plugged), Bourns pots / orange drop and Grover locking tuners. Will also aim for a string thru body on this one too, so I have the ferrules obviously.
Got some ash offcuts too, to test out finish options/methods/approaches however the grain isn't really strong on them, but none the less they will help.
Aiming to take my time on this one - plus there are and will be a few more builds lurking around in tandem. Wish me luck!
Last edited by Bakersdozen; 12-01-2019 at 04:48 PM.
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