Guitar Build Diary
Discussion
Guitar build log. The diary of a woodworking virgin numpty.
With my 65th birthday on the way, I decided I wanted a project - something new, something I hadn't done before. I settled for this https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/guitars/pit-bu... and, after a broad hint or two, my dearest clicked the magic button and even organised air freight for it. It arrived from Oz before my birthday, but I left it boxed (but checked over) until the day. I was, however planning what to do with it.
For the finish, I decided - having seen something similar some years ago - to try an ebony dye on the flame maple top, sanded back so just the grain was black, then sealed with oil or wax to preserve it. A red pickguard and black hardware will finish the aesthetics nicely, I hope; black, blonde and red is the desired look.
For the electrics, I wanted three humbuckers, all coil-tapped to increase versatility. Obviously they would need to be the 'hotrails' type as the cutouts in the body are only single-coil sized. I haven't yet figured out how to wire them, whether to use a DPDT switch to keep it simple-ish, or a push-pull volume pot. Any suggestions, you good people?
Although the kit was ordered without pickguard or pickups, it arrived complete with a fully loaded pickguard with single coils, FOC. I might put them on just to hear them before putting them on ebay. Another hint has just been dropped suggesting that a set of all-black Vanson hotrails would nice for Christmas, and perhaps a red tortoise 4-ply pickguard. I await 25th December with hope in my soul, as the vicar in the bath said.
So - birthday over, off we go with the build. Let me say from the outset that although I'm reasonably handy, my main skill lies with lumps of metal as I'm a time-served mechanical engineer. My woodworking skills are limited to stuff no more complicated than sawing and fitting skirting boards and poking screws through things, so this is going to be a bit of an adventure. I do have a phone-a-friend, though who is a luthier and is offering unlimited advice and should the whole thing go tits-up, will sort it and finish it for me. He offered to build it from scratch if I wanted, but this is something I want to keep forever with the knowledge that I did it.
Here it is in the box - the eagle-eyed will notice that I have already drilled some holes, I forgot to take the virgin picture, so to speak.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hQJBdz]
Project in the box[/url]
by charliedelta54, on Flickr
Day 1 of the build. Time for a trial build just to get stuff in the right place and holes drilled before any kind of finishing starts.
Machine heads went on OK after carefully lining them up so they're all parallel. First disaster: Drilling the pilot holes for the screws, I set the 1.5mm drill bit into the chuck so that the face of the chuck acted as a depth-stop. Numbers 1 to 5 went like a breeze but what I hadn't noticed was that the bit had pulled out of the chuck slightly after number 5 hole, so when I drilled number 6, the bloody thing went went all the way through the headstock. Bolleaux. Time to leave it for the night and consider what to do next.
I decided to leave it and continue with the build and attend to it later. Nut was fitted with a tiny blob of glue just to hold it, machine heads were re-fitted and the neck was fastened to the body so that measurements could be made. After three hours of measuring, checking and measuring again, I had (I hoped...) the correct position for the bridge. I cross-checked it against my other Strat which has an identical neck and scale length and this seemed to confirm my measurements were correct. Two small pilot holes were drilled and the bridge fitted temporarily, and both E-strings were fitted and tuned up to somewhere near pitch. With trepidation I tried the octaves (and beyond) with my guesstimated saddle positions. Perfect, absolutely spot-on first time without even adjusting the saddles. Even the action was almost there, allowing for the fact that the neck wasn't under full tension. Yee-hah! Happy that this was going to work with only minor adjustments, I stripped the hardware off again ready for sanding/colour/oil/wax etc.
Pilot hole drilling commenced to secure the bridge properly but - can you see what's coming? - yes, disaster number bloody two. 5 holes drilled perfectly, number 6 again was the bete noir as the drill caught a knot in the wood and snapped off flush with the surface of the maple veneer. Bolleaux squared. Walk away calmy (again) and formulate a plan. Two plans, actually, as the hole in the headstock still needed a repair.
Next day, I had the first part of the plan. I still had the drill dust from the holes in the headstock, so I mixed some of it up with a smidge of PVA glue. I put the screw in to the approximate depth then packed some dry wood dust into the open side of the hole, then followed it with the wood-PVA mix, packing it until it was just proud of the surface and left it to set. I'm hoping it'll be invisible once sanded and waxed.
Now for the broken drill bit. Careful examination revealed that it was about 0.5mm above the surface so I tried some small wire end-cutters on it. I was able to grip it and wiggle it enough to eventually remove it without damaging the veneer. I knew that I had some room for manoeuvre for minimal damage, as the bridge would cover the immediate area of the hole. Happy days, on to the next phase.
Ah yes - just remembered - I need to find someone local with a belt-sander so I can do summat with the headstock. Going to ask around at work first.
(To be continued when Amazon delivers the sandpaper and dye)
With my 65th birthday on the way, I decided I wanted a project - something new, something I hadn't done before. I settled for this https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/guitars/pit-bu... and, after a broad hint or two, my dearest clicked the magic button and even organised air freight for it. It arrived from Oz before my birthday, but I left it boxed (but checked over) until the day. I was, however planning what to do with it.
For the finish, I decided - having seen something similar some years ago - to try an ebony dye on the flame maple top, sanded back so just the grain was black, then sealed with oil or wax to preserve it. A red pickguard and black hardware will finish the aesthetics nicely, I hope; black, blonde and red is the desired look.
For the electrics, I wanted three humbuckers, all coil-tapped to increase versatility. Obviously they would need to be the 'hotrails' type as the cutouts in the body are only single-coil sized. I haven't yet figured out how to wire them, whether to use a DPDT switch to keep it simple-ish, or a push-pull volume pot. Any suggestions, you good people?
Although the kit was ordered without pickguard or pickups, it arrived complete with a fully loaded pickguard with single coils, FOC. I might put them on just to hear them before putting them on ebay. Another hint has just been dropped suggesting that a set of all-black Vanson hotrails would nice for Christmas, and perhaps a red tortoise 4-ply pickguard. I await 25th December with hope in my soul, as the vicar in the bath said.
So - birthday over, off we go with the build. Let me say from the outset that although I'm reasonably handy, my main skill lies with lumps of metal as I'm a time-served mechanical engineer. My woodworking skills are limited to stuff no more complicated than sawing and fitting skirting boards and poking screws through things, so this is going to be a bit of an adventure. I do have a phone-a-friend, though who is a luthier and is offering unlimited advice and should the whole thing go tits-up, will sort it and finish it for me. He offered to build it from scratch if I wanted, but this is something I want to keep forever with the knowledge that I did it.
Here it is in the box - the eagle-eyed will notice that I have already drilled some holes, I forgot to take the virgin picture, so to speak.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hQJBdz]
Project in the box[/url]
by charliedelta54, on Flickr
Day 1 of the build. Time for a trial build just to get stuff in the right place and holes drilled before any kind of finishing starts.
Machine heads went on OK after carefully lining them up so they're all parallel. First disaster: Drilling the pilot holes for the screws, I set the 1.5mm drill bit into the chuck so that the face of the chuck acted as a depth-stop. Numbers 1 to 5 went like a breeze but what I hadn't noticed was that the bit had pulled out of the chuck slightly after number 5 hole, so when I drilled number 6, the bloody thing went went all the way through the headstock. Bolleaux. Time to leave it for the night and consider what to do next.
I decided to leave it and continue with the build and attend to it later. Nut was fitted with a tiny blob of glue just to hold it, machine heads were re-fitted and the neck was fastened to the body so that measurements could be made. After three hours of measuring, checking and measuring again, I had (I hoped...) the correct position for the bridge. I cross-checked it against my other Strat which has an identical neck and scale length and this seemed to confirm my measurements were correct. Two small pilot holes were drilled and the bridge fitted temporarily, and both E-strings were fitted and tuned up to somewhere near pitch. With trepidation I tried the octaves (and beyond) with my guesstimated saddle positions. Perfect, absolutely spot-on first time without even adjusting the saddles. Even the action was almost there, allowing for the fact that the neck wasn't under full tension. Yee-hah! Happy that this was going to work with only minor adjustments, I stripped the hardware off again ready for sanding/colour/oil/wax etc.
Pilot hole drilling commenced to secure the bridge properly but - can you see what's coming? - yes, disaster number bloody two. 5 holes drilled perfectly, number 6 again was the bete noir as the drill caught a knot in the wood and snapped off flush with the surface of the maple veneer. Bolleaux squared. Walk away calmy (again) and formulate a plan. Two plans, actually, as the hole in the headstock still needed a repair.
Next day, I had the first part of the plan. I still had the drill dust from the holes in the headstock, so I mixed some of it up with a smidge of PVA glue. I put the screw in to the approximate depth then packed some dry wood dust into the open side of the hole, then followed it with the wood-PVA mix, packing it until it was just proud of the surface and left it to set. I'm hoping it'll be invisible once sanded and waxed.
Now for the broken drill bit. Careful examination revealed that it was about 0.5mm above the surface so I tried some small wire end-cutters on it. I was able to grip it and wiggle it enough to eventually remove it without damaging the veneer. I knew that I had some room for manoeuvre for minimal damage, as the bridge would cover the immediate area of the hole. Happy days, on to the next phase.
Ah yes - just remembered - I need to find someone local with a belt-sander so I can do summat with the headstock. Going to ask around at work first.
(To be continued when Amazon delivers the sandpaper and dye)
OK - brief update. All supplies have now arrived and trials commenced; I'm so glad I bought some maple veneer to try first!
Ebony dye turned out to be water-based rather than the spirit-based that I thought I'd ordered, but hey-ho, let's give it a try.
Disaster. My colour scheme of blonde with black grain was the the exact opposite of what I ended up with; most the the wood is black, with lighter grain showing in thin strips. Bolleaux again.
I have subsequently tried several other finishes on my sample pieces without finding what I want; clear polyurethane varnish, spirit-based wax, aqueous wax and teak oil do not give me what I want. I am going to try a different tack and have just ordered some cherry-red spirit-based wood dye with the intention of changing the colour scheme to red/blonde body, white pickguard and black hardware. I do hope that the hint for a red pickguard from santa has not yet been actioned...
On the positive side, the test strips, once dried, sanded and waxed seem to give quite a nice finish, albeit in the wrong colour scheme.
Wish me luck!
Ebony dye turned out to be water-based rather than the spirit-based that I thought I'd ordered, but hey-ho, let's give it a try.
Disaster. My colour scheme of blonde with black grain was the the exact opposite of what I ended up with; most the the wood is black, with lighter grain showing in thin strips. Bolleaux again.
I have subsequently tried several other finishes on my sample pieces without finding what I want; clear polyurethane varnish, spirit-based wax, aqueous wax and teak oil do not give me what I want. I am going to try a different tack and have just ordered some cherry-red spirit-based wood dye with the intention of changing the colour scheme to red/blonde body, white pickguard and black hardware. I do hope that the hint for a red pickguard from santa has not yet been actioned...
On the positive side, the test strips, once dried, sanded and waxed seem to give quite a nice finish, albeit in the wrong colour scheme.
Wish me luck!
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