My first guitar build

[überfuzz]

I've been tinkering with a guitar kit. Now it's more or less done.



Great fun highly recommended, if you're not afraid of getting a bit of paint on your fingers.

[ric]

Looks nice. What kit? Want to describe how you got the finish on?

[überfuzz]

Looks nice. What kit? Want to describe how you got the finish on?

I just searched for electric guitar kit hollow body, or something like that, on ebay.

First I sanded it with 600 paper to get a nice surface.
The staining is done with some standard stain I found in a local shop. It took some coats to get the burst like look I was going for.
When the staining was done I covered it with thin coats of transparent lacquer. Between aech coat i wet sanded it to dullness, I think I used 600 and 1200 for this.
When the surface was to my liking I sanded with 2000 to dullness. After that I polish it with a polish-disk on a standard screwdriver.

[olddawg]

How does it play/sound? Does it have a center block? The F holes look a bit largish?

[dmartn149]

Looks good. I've thought of doing a 335 kit, but I'm scared of scraping binding (not sure I can do it right)

[überfuzz]

How does it play/sound? Does it have a center block? The F holes look a bit largish?

Initial tests are satisfying, so far I've only really tested it with .11 .52 strings. The neck is glued onto the body, similar to as it's done on acoustic guitars. I think this guitar is loosely based on a ES135.

Looks good. I've thought of doing a 335 kit, but I'm scared of scraping binding (not sure I can do it right)

Don't worry, just be sure to start with the backside, When the backside is done you're already a pro. :-)

[Steve A.]

Nice looking guitar! Here's a bigger image of it...



As for unfinished guitar kits some people have recommended Tru-Oil gun stock finish***. I used it on a Squire maple tele "fretboard" that I had sanded down before refretting and was satisfied with the results. (I used the term "fretboard" in quotes because the fretboard *is* the neck - I hate it when it is called it a maple fretboard which suggests that it is a separate piece of wood glued to the neck. Yes, I am a grammar nazi - and so is my grammar on my father's side... )

Steve A.

P.S. Can you post a link to the kit supplier? I'm sure that a lot of the guitar kits out there are not as nice as the one you bought...

*** Tru-Oil s banned in California but I found a gun dealer who didn't mind flaunting the laws here... environmental laws, not gun laws.

[überfuzz]

As i said, it's an ebay vendor: instrumentenpark

I've bought some additional kits now and I wouldn't consider this kit high end, not by a long shot. It needed a fair amount of love to get tidy.

[überfuzz]

Sits perfect with my go to amplifier.