Guitar Build #1 - 2/26/2015

This is a post both on what not to do, and what I've had to do as a result...

The Internet is a great place for information. In fact, without the Internet this entire project would have never happened. However, the majority of my fowl-ups are also due to the Internet (my look of despair/shame below...).

Case in point, electrical grounding. Going into this project I read numerous articles about how, in addition to the ground circuit between all the electronics, the bridge needs to also be grounded. I read numerous articles on how active pickups need not be grounded to the bridge, but passive do. I read numerous articles on how covered pickups are shielded and therefore do not need grounding to the bridge. What the hell does all this grounding do anyways?

Well, grounding the electronics is always required, and I won't go into that. However, grounding the bridge, which is really grounding the strings that touch the bridge, is done to prevent the annoying buzzing that occurs when you lift your hands off of the strings. The Internet was both right and wrong on this one. Active pickups do not need grounding, check! Passive pickups need grounding, check! Covered pickups do not need grounding, WRONG! In this style of a guitar, unless you are installing active (battery powered) pickups, you must ALWAYS ground the bridge. This is done by drilling a hole (if one doesn't already exist) between the bridge stud hole and the control cavity. Then, you shove a wire into the hole and pound in your bridge stud creating a friction fit. The other end of the wire is soldered into the ground circuit and BANG, no more buzz.

So, here's what not to do...DON'T BUILD THE WHOLE GUITAR ONLY TO THEN REALIZE YOU HAVE TO GROUND THE BRIDGE!!

Here's what TO do...DRILL THE HOLE FOR THE BRIDGE GROUND LOOOOONG BEFORE YOU POUND IN THE BRIDGE STUDS!!

OK, so what did this mean for my project? Well, today I had to REMOVE a bridge stud...not for the faint of heart. Essentially I could try to use channel locks and some leverage to pull out the stud or I could create a lever of sorts. I found the exact thread for the inside of the bridge stud and bought a bolt that matches. I also bought a large washer and a short section of PVC tube. By putting it all together like the picture below, I was able to simply screw the bolt in thereby pulling the stud out like a lever...sort of...

In the end I did a little damage to the finish around the stud...I guess we can consider that part of the "character" of this intentionally antique-like guitar. Here's a pic after the stud was removed...

You can faintly see the little rings I created in the process (the large rings are light reflections)...ugh. Next up was to drill the hole to the control cavity. This would be the same whether done early in the project or now, so here's a pic. This takes a LONG drill bit...

Drilling at that angle is crazy-making. In the end, I BARELY made it into the bottom of the control cavity...WHEW!! So, I guess some of you might be wondering where the pickups went and such...well, I wired the guitar up over the weekend. Once I plugged it in to my amp, bad things happened haha. I'm pretty sure I had some current running through me, or something. So, I took the guitar into my local shop where I know the owner is a whiz at wiring Gibson (and other styles) style guitars. He re-wired the whole thing, then called me to request that I drill this stupid hole for the bridge ground. So, today I picked up the guitar, performed the aforementioned tasks, and finally returned it to the shop for final wiring (and as you may notice in that last pic, I finally picked up a case for the guitar!).

I should have this guitar back in my hands, and completely done no later than Monday. I'm hoping earlier. I will definitely be posting a video to demonstrate the sound of this beast and I will certainly be writing the final wrap-up and lessons learned.

Until then, cheers!
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/19/2015

Wow, it's been a big couple of days around here...and not necessarily good ones.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have my good friend from work lend me his socket set (no commentary on why I don't currently have a socket set) so I could finish installing the tuners. This process involved sliding the tuners into the holes, then drilling holes for screws from the back of the headstock, screwing the screws in, and finally ratcheting the hex nut on the front side down. The screws were so f*%^ing tiny and a PITA to screw in I ended up trying to drill a little further in for each hole to make it easier. Suffice to say, my fingers got really sore and so my judgement was a little off...soooooo, a little hole accidentally got drilled through the face of the guitar from the back. Needless to say, I was angry to my core. On top of that, even after measuring twice, the tuners ended up a little crooked. Double anger.

After settling down (not by much), I did some research and even Gibson has some QC issues and often lets Les Pauls off the line with crooked tuners...just not holes drilled through the headstock :\
However, I felt a little better...even more so that the task was completed and I was moving on.

Today the remainder of my parts arrived, except I only ordered one volume/tone knob instead of four...which makes me kind of an idiot, but whatever. Since yesterdays issues were fresh in my mind I decided to tackle the next step which could result in the most damage to the guitar, the bridge and tailpiece. These pieces require hammering little posts into the guitar face. Obviously this could lead to hammering directly into the face of the guitar thereby making me want to set fire to the damn thing a la Jimi Hendrix. However, this did not happen.

I carefully hammered in the posts and installed the two pieces. I must admit, they are stunning. I am really glad a spent the extra $15 (<10% difference from stock Tune-O-Matic) on the Gotoh 510 set. Here's a pic!

This pic is a little unflattering of the finish, but that's OK. The lighting sucked...Also, the switch and switch plate were not actually installed. I was attempting to do that, but realized that I need to drill a relief into the wood to make it fit properly. Hopefully that will not be traumatic...so, we'll see you tomorrow for that! I'm hoping that I have this sucker done THIS WEEKEND! We shall see...

Cheers,
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/12/2015

Well, here she is! She looks like a complete (or somewhat complete) guitar! The glue has dried, so I removed the clamp and, after sweating whether or not this was going to be a bust, I picked her up. To my complete elation the joint was rock solid. *WINNING*

Next up, I broke out my measuring tape to make sure that the scale was on. This would certainly determine if the guitar would tune and retain good intonation. So, after measuring from the nut to the 12th fret, and then again from the bridge (of course pretending the nut and bridge were installed), I determined that the measurements were exactly equal and have thus deemed this a success! *MORE WINNING*

Here's a pic with the neck and body as one (it actually looks like a guitar now!)

Once again, the blue tinted photo lights make the grains and colors dance around, which from this angle makes is look like there is no red in the sunburst. Strange, but I like it!

I think I'll take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow I might install the tuners, but after that it's a brief Vegas trip and then waiting for more parts to arrive before I can move forward. You know what that means?!?!?

This.

Wifey made us some margaritas, so...

Cheers!
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/11/2015

Well, today was the day (or, one of THE days...)! Today was extremely short, but will define the success of this project. Sure, having an ugly finish would affect the overall outcome, but the guitar would still be playable and sound good. However, today was all about gluing in the neck...which, if not properly done could result in an absolutely unplayable guitar. Whether it becomes a really expensive paperweight, due to REALLY bad gluing, or a somewhat playable guitar that continually sounds like crap because the neck is *slightly* off resulting in horrible intonation, etc is completely up to the events of today. Unfortunately, even though I've already glued the neck in, I don't have data to report until I can remove the clamp and start taking measurements...ugh.

Here's the latest pic I took of the top (don't mind the awful blue lighting-it makes the colors on the guitar look WAY off, but still cool) followed by a rather unremarkable pic of the guitar with the clamp on the neck/body joint (don't mind the pads of paper, I felt they would be easier on the finish than the steel clamp).

Time to go and worry for 24-48 hours...maybe a libation (or so) will help...

Cheers,
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/9/2015

Just wanted to check in with a new pic for y'all today. The back and sides have been curing now for a few days (I think a few...), and I've still been applying more finish to the face of the headstock, but I wanted to get an idea of how this baby would look all put together. So, over the weekend I removed all the remaining painter's tape and slid the neck into the body...of course, since my hands were now full (and I was excited), I called my wife over with her phone to take a quick snap! So, here it is!

Sometime this week I'll actually glue in the neck and next week, after a brief weekender I'll be ordering and installing the hardware and electronics...ALMOST THERE!!

Cheers,
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/7/2015

Well, I think the finish is complete! I didn't apply nearly as many coats to the back and neck as I did to the top, but I also wanted a somewhat more natural look and feel to it. This means that the pores on the mahogany still feel like pores and are not perfectly smooth like glass. Here, take a look!

In both pics, especially the first, you can see the pores in the shimmer of the light. Personally, I think it looks awesome! I know that the finish will knock down a little bit as it cures, so it may not have quite as much sheen to it (that's OK in my book!). I will, however, be applying several more coats to the face of the headstock to get it more shine, but I can do that while the rest cures.

Probably around Wednesday or Thursday it'll be cured and I'll be gluing in the neck! At that point it will look like a guitar! So, I'll see y'all in a few days!

Cheers,
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/6/2015

Just an update...

Not much visible progress in the past few days. Clear coating the back and sides...just like I did with the top, and just like the top I had setbacks.

The day before yesterday I wiped on some oil finish and realized partway through that the rag I was using was very lint-y which left a boatload of lint all over the finish. This, as you can imagine, was extremely frustrating!

This meant that yesterday I had to wet sand with 800 grit to remove the lint, which does have the side benefit of smoothing out the finish. It also meant losing a day's progress. So, this morning I woke up and wiped on another coat before work.

Long story short, not much progress...but some! No pics though...I'm thinking only 1-3 more coats total because I want a somewhat natural looking finish on the back. Hopefully this means the guitar will be curing and the glued together by the end of next week! Then, it's all downhill....I hope...

Guitar Build #1 - 2/3/2015

Well, today was another short day here at DTR Guitars International (ha ha). The back of the neck was feeling a little rough, so I buffed it a bit with 0000 Steel Wool. I then wiped on the second coat of Tru-Oil to the back of the guitar, neck, and the headstock. The mahogany feels like it's only going to need a couple more coats to achieve the natural look I'm aiming for. Once finished, I'm leaning towards buffing the back of the neck to a satin finish. The headstock, however, feels like it's going to need several coats to shine up just like the top of the guitar...go figure, they're both maple!

Here's the back of the guitar after coat #2:

Notice the buildup and shine on the sides of the guitar. It looks really nice and deep so far. There is very little evidence of the drippage from the top anymore, but really, who cares? If someone is so focused on imperfections of a homemade guitar while I'm performing, I'm probably not playing well enough!

I'll be back tomorrow to buff the whole back and sides followed by another coat. Time for a beverage!

Cheers,
Dean

Guitar Build #1 - 2/2/2015

I had some apprehension going into today. Since finishing the top up (actually since long before that), I had noticed some drippage down the sides of the guitar (Tru-Oil). Additionally, the binding on the sides of the guitar were fairly well caked with the oil. Let me just go on record as saying that as much as I dislike scraping binding with an Xacto knife for cleaning purposes, I REALLY despise doing it when the binding has oil-based finish all over it. Truly messy and nerve wracking...but it got done (I did slip and make a nice small scratch on the top...this guitar is CERTAINLY not perfect)! I took a few minutes to sand down the back and sides, paying particular attention to the sides due to the oil drippage, with 320 grit sandpaper. In the end, there was still some evidence of drippage in the color. My hope was that when I re-applied the wipe-on stain that this would blend end (more on that later).

Like a total scatterbrain I didn't take ANY pics of this...so here's another of the top and all it's shine!!

I then re-applied the wipe-on mahogany stain (check out the first post in this series) to the back and sides. This made the sides and back look really deep and mostly concealed the marks left by the oil drippage. Once again, my hope was that re-applying the oil finish would completely conceal what was left of the drippage (more on that later...once again). Take in mind that all this was done two days ago on Saturday several hours after I buffed and waxed the top. Once again, I didn't take a single pic...I'm very neglectful lately...

Now to today...Today I taped off the fretboard so as not to allow any oil finish onto the board. I didn't tape the ends of the frets because I'm not planning on building the back and sides to nearly the thickness or shine as the top...this means I could easily scrape away (even though not my favorite task) the clear from the fret sides if I needed to. I wiped on a single coat onto the back and sides as well as the headstock (I do plan on making the headstock shiny like the top of the guitar) and that was that. It seems as though the mahogany doesn't soak up nearly as much oil in the first coat. Tomorrow I may buff with some 0000 Steel Wool and wipe on another coat. I may not buff...we'll see. I figure a single coat a day for three to four days should be enough to protect the wood, highlight the pores (it'll make the guitar feel more "real" to me at least), and provide a little sheen. The back of the neck I'm seriously considering buffing to a satin finish. Decisions, decisions...

Here's a pic of the back AFTER the first coat of oil:

Cheers,
Dean